In my dreamworld

Surely, surely some have you have noticed that my life has changed a little. Goodness knows that I have to run a reality check most mornings when I wake up to make sure that I’m actually awake. (I don’t know why I do that actually. If I were really dreaming or have slipped into another dimension then I’m pretty sure that there would be less laundry and my hair would look better, but I digress.)

The last few days have been particularly surreal. Am I awake or asleep?

Evidence that I am asleep include the following moments.

Claudiablogs

Being at Willow books in Acton MA and catching Claudia in the act of photographing the store window full of knitting and knitting books.

David

Watching David, the owner of Willow Books beaming at me. David is a remarkable guy. He designated it “knitter day” at Willow Books and never once spoke openly of what he must have surely thought was rampant insanity. He laughed, he smiled and he tried somehow to manage all the knitters and yarn. It was like trying to nail Jello to a tree. I myself was particularly unmanageable, telling him to “try and stop me” when I insisted on writing more than my name in the books. (I was among my people. He is efficient. We were at cross purposes.)

Lindacake

David bought cake. He very graciously pretended not to remember that I had said that I wouldn’t come if there wasn’t cake. Really, after flying to MA just for this, what did he think I would do if there was no cake. Sit in the car? (That’s Linda Roghaar, my friend and the instigator of the Knitlit series. Note the beautiful yellow Peace Fleece sweater. Linda is probably the only person in the world who looks this good in this yellow. I personally look like I’ve got hepatitis if I wear it, so every time Linda puts it on I spend a whole day looking at her.)

Speaking of walking among my people….

Blogleft

Blogright

This is what it looked like from the front of the room. I would know for sure that I was in a dream world when I saw this, except that I like to believe that in a dream world I wouldn’t be thinking about throwing up all the cake when I saw that many knitters in one place.

(The microphone in this picture is standing nicely at attention, which was not the case when I got up to talk. By then the thing had become oddly flaccid and I had to slouch – thus making myself look even shorter, to speak into it. In my dreamworld, no microphones suffer erectile dysfunction.)

Etherknitter

Look! It’s Laurie!

Clearly I’m asleep. Short knitters with poor attention spans don’t get to hobnob with clever and lovely bloggers from New England except in their dreams. (Cassie, I watched to see what she drank later so I could find out a nifty new wine, but she had beer. Sorry. While I speak of Ms. Toomuchwool, drift on over to her blog and wish her a happy blogiversary.)

Discovered here, a nest of bloggers….

Nest

doing what they do best. Talking about wool and hanging in packs. (No wonder David was nervous.) It was at this moment that I realized that I certainly was awake for this event, as I discovered that my fly was open…and had been for the entire time that I was sitting with the other contributors and while I was reading in front of the aforementioned crowd. Sigh.

From there I jetted (well, it was an 18 seat plane. Scared the crap out of me. In my dreamworld I sit in first class, not cling to the seat back in front of me with two hands while concentrating hard on keeping the tiny plane in the air with the power of my mind.) back to Toronto, opened the front door to my house, threw my suitcase in and left again…sprinting downtown to give a talk to the Downtown Knit Collective. If you live in a place where the knitting guilds are small, restrained affairs then take a deep breath before you look at this picture.

Dkc

This is the DKC in all its glory. When I saw this, I realized that I must be dreaming. There’s just no way that all of those knitters gather together as a force unless the planet is finally starting to turn the way I had hoped it would. (In this case, only the fact that I still have a cold and was forced to snuffle unattractively throughout the entire thing was a grounding force.)

Yesterday I did laundry, wrote on the 3rd book (we shall not speak of what remains to be done there) and knitted. I went to bed early because this morning….oh…this morning…

This morning I realized a personal dream. The best indication ever that the line that exists in my world that separates fantasy from reality has become a scattered blur, this morning I did this.

Metromorning

That’s me and Jane Hawtin (sitting in for Andy Barrie) doing a segment on the CBC’s radio show Metro Morning. (Photo taken by an under-caffeinated but gushing Joe through the control room window). You can listen to it here if you want to hear what I sound like at 7:20am with only two cups of coffee in me. (I have to admit that I clicked on the link, since I recollected very little of the actual interview. I’m pleased as punch that I didn’t snuffle snot, say “arse” or enter a vicious expletive spiral of unladylike language.)

From there, I walked down the hall to the CBC studio for “Ontario Morning” and did it again. Joe, slightly more caffeinated and therefore high-functioning snapped this pic of me, Martina Fitzgerald and the super-nice producer (his name escaped me).

Metro-1

You will note that I have, in my infinite wisdom, having failed at many previous knitterly type events (where people could see me) taken great care and some precious pre-dawn time to make sure that I am wearing a handknit sweater. For RADIO. Sigh again.

All of this, this incredible stunning whirl of fantasy around me was dragging me down the path to my dreamworld and I was becoming more convinced by the moment that I was asleep… creating a world where knitters rule supreme and everyone not only cares about that but agrees that it’s a good idea…an invented reality where knitting finally gets its dues and stands firm and proud in bookshops, auditoriums, radio stations…all places where humans gather and bow to yarn and it’s wonders and I knew suddenly that I had slipped the shackles of this mortal coil and had completely lost touch with the realities of the world and lived only in the world of my imagination… when this happened.

Reallife

I had to yank back 6 rows of the snowflake shawl.

Clearly, I am awake.