Hello Portland

I’m on my way out the door from Portland as I type this, but as usual, Portland brought it last night, in it’s own wonderfully funky way.  (Where else can you get gifts of coffee, beer, fabulous wool underpants, yarn and blackberry jam?

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That says Portland all over it, if you ask me.)

I don’t have much time to talk with you, but I can tell you a few things.

1. One of the coolest things about being on a book tour is seeing repeat offenders, people that I haven’t seen in years, especially if they’re kids, on account of most grown-ups aren’t changing fast enough to be really exciting that way.  Last night I had a bunch of returning readers, but I loved these especially.

That’s Katie, a little knitter who played “Mary had a little lamb” for me back in 2011.

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This is her last night.

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I love the teenager that’s come over her, and that she’s trying to shove her photobombing mum out of the picture with one hand.  She’s still a knitter.

This was Ira, Libby and Gertie, back in 2011

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And this was them last night.

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Still all knitters.  Crazy, eh? It’s like a time warp. (I like the way Libby’s hair is exactly the same. Very grounding.)

2. I still like seeing first socks, but there’s a kind I like especially.  Terrible ones.  You’re supposed to be terrible at something when you start, and I love the knitters who bring me first socks that look like they were recombined out of a malfunctioning teleporter. Such was the case last night when Tara brought me these to see:

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They’ve got heels that don’t match, the toes square and on sideways, and the best part? They’re well worn and loved.   Gotta love knitters man.  You gotta love them.

3. I can tell you that so far, so good.  Last night on the way to the event I was so nervous, so worried,  and then I got there, and it was great. Really great.  The reading was scary, like it always is, and especially scary because it was the first time I was reading from the new book, and until last night, really the only person who had really read it was my mum. (This probably helped a lot, now that I think of it, because I don’t have the lying kind of mum. If the book was bad there’s no way my mother would have let me leave on tour without telling me.) People seemed to like it though, and I think it’s going to be okay. The biggest mistakes I made yesterday were getting lost in the PDX airport (did you know there are tunnels under it? Don’t go down there.) and the fact that I’m the idiot dragging a wool coat,  scarf and mittens all over Portland, where it’s 16C and raining.  The winter is so entrenched at home that it didn’t even occur to me that it wasn’t like that everywhere, which is so ….

I’m going to look like a moron in Arizona.

(PS. Debbi and I have opened registration for the April Strung Along Retreat at Port Ludlow.  Just drop us a line at StrungAlong@yarnharlot.ca if you want a little more info.)