Earlier in the day, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably not make it in time to see the Yarn Harlot here in Nashville.  I had to work late and I found out at the last minute that you had to have tickets to get a book signed.  But thanks to my wonderful boss (who I already knew was wonderful, but this just adds to the fact), I was able to leave work at 5:30 and made it to Brentwood in time to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee!

Borders was already full of knitters when I arrived.  I was thrilled to find familiar faces in the crowd — friends from sock club at the Neighborhood Knit Shop!  They even happened to have an extra seat for me in the second row of chairs.  We visited and of course worked on sock knitting.  I don’t think a single person in the crowd didn’t have needles in their hands.  It was great.

At one point, a woman approached me and asked, “Where do I know you from?”  I was startled for a second but then said, “Maybe Ravelry?”  Turns out it was Grandma Barb!  It was so nice to get to meet her.  It was also very weird to get recognized like that.

Stephanie gave a long talk that had everyone laughing nearly to the point of tears.  She’s truly the stand-up comedian of knitting.  (Who knew there could be such a thing?)  She also discussed some really fascinating research relating to how knitting helps relieve stress/trauma and how knitters and Buddhist Monks have super-powerful brains.  I’d love to relate it all here, but clearly I didn’t absorb quite as much of it as I wish I could have retained.  Hopefully she’ll talk about it on her blog, maybe after the tour is over.  It really was interesting.

Here’s a short clip from this evening, for those of you who couldn’t attend:

I also managed to get a ticket so I could have my book signed.

In hindsight, I really hope that I didn’t seem rude … or crazy.

I have this knack for becoming a complete moron when I meet famous people and people whom I admire.  (*ahem* We won’t discuss the time I met Hal Sparks…)

Stephanie was very nice and very patient, taking time to visit with each person in line.  She signed my book of course and posed for a picture.  In the photo, she’s holding my sock-project and I held the sock she’s currently working on.  I thought that was pretty cool of her.

Anyway, Stephanie, if for some crazy reason you stumble up on this blog post, thanks again — thanks for coming to Nashville, thanks for signing my book, thanks for the photo, and thanks for not thinking I was a total fruitcake!