You’ll have to forgive me if this entry doesn’t quite have it together. Location: Los Angeles, time:
Yee Gods. It is a wonder I am not weeping.
I’m up early to catch a flight (Los Angeles to Denver, Denver to Wichita) and I’m just a little bleary. I did the LA thing last night (more about that later) and I went to bed at 8pm knowing that my wake up call would be 3am and ….it’s still awful. (There may be no way for me to get up at 3am and be chipper about it. I am aiming for “civil”.) I’m going to try, despite the early hour and it’s basic incompatibility with my base personality (and there was 8 hours between the end of an event and when I had to get up, so Jayme is still sock worthy) to get caught on how it’s been going. Simply put, it’s been great. Totally great. Seattle was my first stop and it was a blast and a half. I kitchenered the toe of the first travelling sock and began the second in the cab on the way to Third Place Books
and the last person to hold the old one as well as the first person I got to hold it was my very nice cabbie. (I loved him. He didn’t even ask me why he should hold a sock.)
Hold on, gotta get in the cab to the airport……..
Okay. Location, some car in Los Angeles…time 3:45am.
Man, was it fun. That many people is always scary, but I got up there and looked around and noticed that I’ve been there enough times that the place and the people are starting to look familiar. This is my third or forth time to Third Place, and it’s a powerful and moving thing to feel at home in a bookstore. I spoke, I lived, I went to sign at the desk and then the big fun started.
This is Susan. She’s holding a picture of herself dangling her sock in progress over a rock ledge in Peru…showing it to a llama. (See? I told you there was nothing wrong with me.)
First socks Holly,
Baby Sarah, 4 weeks old and holding her first knitting needles. (Killing two birds with one stone actually. She is both holding the sock and holding her first needles. It can only improve the future of both.)
This is Carol.
I tried several ways to get her whole project into the frame but it’s impossible. The thing was HUGE. This cracked me up. Not because the sweater was huge, that happens all the time….but because it was so much huger than. Carol had intended, and she knew that and kept knitting and even sewed it up. I love knitterly denial.
Karen is getting married next week, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer gal.
She came with Karen Jo and Ann and they brought a big (symbolic) cheque for KWB. Karen had accepted donations instead of gifts at her shower.
Lovely thought. (Karen holds an exteemed positon amoung designers. Her Rock and Weave socks are the only hting I have ever knit more than once without ever changing hte pattern. Only Nancy Bush can also claim that honour. )
Ryan finally finished her Olympic sweater. She came with TMK.
She’s the late arrival of the Knitting Olympics. (In 2010 when we do it again, she’s going to try and get it down to a year.) Not surprisingly, It is a squirrel sweater,
which likely explains everything. Ryan also did us the honour of being the hat lady.
Sorry….hold on again – just have to stagger through LAX for a while.
Right. I’m back. I think I’m going to flip out a little though. Time: 4:35am, location: my gate at LAX, Situation: NO COFFEE. If it doesn’t open at 5am I am going to have some sort of an episode. It’s got to open at 5…right? I’m going to try not to think about it.
Meet Jimmy.
Jimmy is modelling his 2nd project. A binary code scarf knit in the round out of Jumper weight wool. Jimmy is what we in the business call an overachiever. So is Molly, since this is her first sock.
(These people have just never heard of a learning curve.)
Joan and Heather brought me a washcloth:
Which, since the knitter in question is a woman after my own heart, was still damp, having been blocked in the bathroom at the bookstore.
This is Marti’s daughter Shannon. She is a young and lovely knitter, and I don’t know if it shows in this picture,
but she’s keeping her yarn under her HAT.
Marcia is my stalker…I’ve met her a bunch of times. (Once even in Alaska. I half expect to see her today.)
Dawn demonstrates a fine and noble level of geekdom in her Jayne hat.
and Jacob….
Jacob likes to take pictures. Let’s just leave it at that.
Excuse me for a moment. It’s 5:02. I’m going to go check and see if the coffee place is open.
I’m back. Location: sitting on the floor in LAX. Time: 5:18. Situation: NO COFFEE. The place is open but the queue is so long that there is zero chance that I will get one before they call my flight. I have decided to sit here until they call the flight in 15 minutes and then resume hope that something caffeinated will appear.
I don’t know what will happen if that is not true.
After the signing, Ryan, The Mysterious K and I went out to dinner at — I’ve totally forgotten. Somewhere that brews their own beer. It’s awsome beer, and we were served by the charming CJ, who was extraordinarily good at his job. He knew good jokes, suggested wicked beer, could hold up his end of a coffee conversation, had excellent chocolate knowledge and
Had tried knitting in his past. All servers should have half the charm.
Oh, sorry. Calling my flight to Denver.
I’m back. Time: 9:17am. Location: Denver. Situation. I have had one cup of some brown water they called coffee on the flight, and just discovered that my fly has been open for who knows how long. Grand.
So, after taking leave of Seattle, I made my way to Los Angeles, where, within moments of arrival, I found out that I am very short. I have always suspected this, but Los Angeles confirmed it. I made my way to the……
Darn it….we’re boarding for the flight to Wichita…. more later, after I find some coffee.
Now I’m in Wichita…(with coffee). I’m leaving for the auditorium in two minutes. Forgive the lack of links…. I’m telling you. I’m a moving target. As soon as I find some wireless….I’ll post this.
What a great job your have Harlot! I am truly envious…
P.S. I think the fuzziness has fallen out of your camera because your pictures seem much clearer to me or maybe it is the lack of coffee???
Wow! Hope you’re half as chipper when you get to Virginia on Thursday! We’ll have the coffee ready!
Camera be damned. What level of decaffination does one have to achieve (“Stephanie? How tall do you think you are?” cf: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2006/07/06/new_and_improved.html) to fully grok one’s own particular petitosity? Lordy.
I love going on your trips, Steph. Thanks so much for taking us along!! Best part is we don’t have to get up at 3:00 am!
your travel saga brought back memories of touring — w/choir kids, not to promote a book, but jet lag is jet lag, and coffee deprivation is miserable!
happy tour anyway . . .
Wait a minute…LA gets your presence three times and IOWA – the whole stinkin’ state of IOWA – doesn’t even get you once?!
I’m going to sulk in Ravelry.
It’s official. I am completely in awe of you. You were holding pointy sticks and didn’t use them to get caffeine. Wow.
Good news, misery loves company!
your fly could have been open on a large talk show…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ewSS4HRpc
Holy cow. This (“Situation. I have had one cup of some brown water they called coffee on the flight, and just discovered that my fly has been open for who knows how long.”) made me laugh out loud. I’m not a coffee drinker but if I couldn’t get some diet coke for that period of time, I’d be cranky.
Waking up at 3 am is vile. You deserve a medal.
The knitters look great, baby Sarah is a cutie pie and the binary scarf is super cool.
P.S. I taught an actress to knit tonight so she could look like she’s knitting on stage for a play. She really caught on quickly and I hope she’ll continue to learn after the production ends. I may have converted another non-knitter. 😉
Enjoy the rest of the trip!
Believe it or not, I just recently (read last week) started reading a few blogs and yours was the first one I searched out. You are absolutely hilarious not to mention a great knitter. I hope that someday you travel to a location near me.
Dude. *Love* the in-progress blogging; extreme sympathy for the necessity. Without caffeine, yet! But it turned out great, regardless. I especially love the shot of first-socks Holly, as I feel a sort of mirror kinship with her. She’s holding your barely-started sock, her well-along one. Down in PDX, you were holding *my* barely-started sock; I, your well-along now-finished sock. It’s…uh, karmic. Or dharmic. Or something; I have no idea. 😉
And getting up at 3 a.m., even with lots of sleep? At least with also having to *go* somewhere… *Totally* with you. 3 a.m. is the time to think about having lunch, because you woke up around 9 p.m. and you’re finally getting hungry. [g]
Maybe we should be on stand-by for coffee deliveries and fly checks? There are enough of us to carry the load. 😉 If you’re ever stranded coffee-less at Bradley International you just email me. I’ll be your coffee girl. And if need be your fly check. 😉
Well done so far! No crises (except the coffee, which is a crisis, I know, but not of the logistical sort) so far. I laughed my arse off at the fly thing…
I suggest that you get Jayme to ensure that when you have to get up that early, someone from the hotel hands you a coffee as you leave the hotel for the cab to the airport.
But, in general, I wonder about the state of entrepreneurialism. Because it seems to me that if there are flights at 5 a.m. or thereabouts, there are a LOT of people who want coffee. And mostly, they suggest you get there an hour before your flight. So why isn’t some smart guy making a buck opening up at 4 a.m. (or even 3:30) and charging craploads of money for decent coffee. Because, quite frankly, you would have paid a lot to get a decent coffee at that hour.
The adventures sure continue for you, don’t they? I’m so sorry about the coffee situation at LAX, but I am tickled by your fly problem. I know I shouldn’t be, but I am. Hope the rest of the trip is more caffeinated!
What you need is an emergency supply of chocolate covered espresso beans. They can’t take the place of real coffe but they’re a whole heck of a lot better than instant and will give a needed caffeine boost (a double really since there’s both chocolate and coffee). Ask me how I now. If you can’t get them in your neck of the woods (unlikely) let me know and I will gladly supply them.
An interesting bunch. They seem particularly unique this time out.
Desperate times call for disparate measures. It’s high time you stuck a tin of these into your knitting bag: http://www.peppermints.com
Thanks for coming to L.A.! Sorry I wasn’t able to stick around long enough to show you that there are very short people who live here.
Have decided to actually post, since a) it is close enough to the top that you might actually read it and b) I have something pertinent to say. To wit: The llama lady does not prove that you are normal, only that there are crazier people out there. Sorry, but someone had to point that out. On a more sympathetic note, I should add that I would probably have done it also (seriously, a sock with a llama, that’s great!), except I wouldn’t be the one holding the sock, because I have issues with heights. Happy travels; I love “meeting” all the knitters on your blog! 🙂 May the rest of your travels be more caffeinated (sorry if that’s spelled wrong; I’m too tired to tell) than they have been so far.
DO I need to bring coffee to Atlanta? ‘Cus I’d rather bring beer. It is an evening event after all. I don’t do coffee after noon. But I have been known to have beer BEFORE noon. Go figure.
I caught you this past week on Knitty Gritty and then spent 4 days reading your blog from the beginning. I think that you are amazingingly funny and talented.
Wow! Above and beyond the call of duty to give us an update while actually travelling from one place to another. Hope you finally got enough coffee to make the rest of the trip bearable!
hi forgive me, I am writing this with a terrible cold so I may have missed something – what happened in LA to make you be short? it feels like an unfinished story. what happened? i am so tired and out of it right now i think i can empathize with your tired travel situation. with no coffee. ew. i know everyone appreciates it! i wish it would be easier for you. hope all goes well on the rest of your trip –
Please, someone in Wichita, bring this girl some STRONG coffee NOW, and lots of it.
I missed how you discovered you were short too…..
I hope you find good coffee soon!!!! See you Thursday!
Dude, no one can be chipper at 3 a.m. Nor is anyone responsible for their fly being open at said un-godly hour.
excellent post Stephanie, you always make me laugh (though I feel guilty that it’s kinda at your expense). Anytime you come to Vancouver I will bring you the best coffee beans ever.
Heh- that whole 3 am thing to LAX- I feel you. Whenever I visit my parents in LA and then have to go back to North Carolina, I always seem to end up on the stinkin’ 6 am flight which of course means getting up at 3 if I want to make it to LAX on time. And you are right, nothing opens until 5am, and then its only McDonalds, and the line is nuts. Back before the ban on liquids days my pops used to brew me a large thermos of green tea (I can’t drink coffee- it huts my stomach) and I would take it on the plane, but you can’t take any liquids on anymore….
Heard you are going to be in Atlanta- two of my friends from school will be down there- but I can’t make the 8 hour drive because I have to teach my course (oh priorities.) So when you coming to North Carolina?
As a local I’m amazed that Starbucks at the airport is not a 24-hour operation. I really only do 3 AM from the staying up side, and I do that regularly, so I’d have a major problem with the coffee situation at that hour, too. Sorry about that. Thanks for coming anyway.
Come to Chico, CA, PLEASE! or at least Sacramento. You had me rolling on the floor as you often do,Stephanie. In my little college town we have 8 Starbucks and 3 times as many local coffee places (many will deliver) and are home of Sierra Nevada Brewery (best brew in the west). Love reading about your adventures, girl!
I hope the travels continue relatively hitch-less (early mornings, brown water and open flies while annoying are not too bad and shouldn’t prevent poor Jayme from getting her socks). I had to laugh at the fly — I discovered the same — however I’d just completed a training when I discovered mine — a training that I led — in front of 50 people….
Thanks for coming to LA! I keep remembering parts of your talk and chuckling all over again. Good luck with the rest of the tour dates and all the travel inbetween. May the coffee gods smile upon you from now on.
Thanks for keeping us updated your tour, even though you had no coffee and hectic time constraints and the “fly malfuncton”. It can only go smooth sailing from here, right?
I have one question: why is it light outside at 3:45am? It doesn’t get light here until, like, 6:30. Good on the cab driver for holding the sock.
Cute server… Sorry about your fly, but you’ll never see any of those people ever again, right?
Clearly, I am also suffering from signifcant coffee deprivation. Otherwise, I would have remembered to ask my wonderful Kansas/Missouri family to make sure that you were well-taken care of.
So very impressive… BWC (blogging without coffee)… how do you do it?
BTW, although I’ve never tried it my DH says that coffee you can make in the little pot in the hotel bathroom is usually pretty good.
I just saw you (ok a few hours ago, it was a 3 hr drive home) It was wonderful. You did wonderful (but I why wouldn’t you) and thank you for a wonderful day!
Sleep well!
I just saw you in Wichita too and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the knitting humor you shared with us and the chance to just be in the same room with that many knitters. It was a great atmosphere.
So sorry I missed you in Seattle. Clearly Ryan and TMK took great care of you. They rock it hard,no?
Cannot wait to hear more about KS. Hopefully there will be a picture of you and my gal Laura. She has done such amazing stuff for Greensburg. That woman has a gift, I tell you.
Thanks for going to the heartland, I know they have been waiting for you a while.
🙂
Wait, Wait!!! You did not finish your sentence…” I found out that I am very short. I have always suspected this, but Los Angeles confirmed it. I made my way to the……” I suspect I too am on the short side..how did you figure it out?!!!
Oh and my friend carries a can of expresso drink with her for times like this…it is nasty, but the caffine kicks butt.
It’s very sad but I’m very excited to see the Jayne hat & the idea that the Harlot knows who Jayne is … Yep, I’m a geek.
I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see you in LA yesterday. I can hardly wait for your story about that.
I’m very relieved to suddenly realize that it was not Sea-Tac but the LA airport that didn’t have coffee until 5 AM. That I can live with.
I hope Ryan posts the name of the place you guys went. It looks worth trying.
BTW, re: Jayne hat
There’s a whole group on Ravelry about the Jayne hat, called “Big Damn Knitters”.
Please come to San Diego, please, please, please. We have A LOT of yarn shops, which means A LOT of knitters!
I had a blast with the last have of your talk in LA once I finally got there. As to the LAX portion of your trip…welcome to my life.(Keep in mind you were there for the ‘easy’ part of LAX before the place gets truely nuts!) Only in order to get up to leave the house at 3am for my 6am flights, I generally don’t go to bed first. I’m paranoid about over sleeping and missing my fights.
I feel your pain there. But I’m sure glad you were here! I’ve been envious of all those others who’ve been able to go hear you talk and I wasn’t in the right place in the right time until now. And I’d do it all over again if I could. Well, not the part about getting lost on the way to the wrong place. That part I don’t need to repeat again.
Thanks again for coming!
you know I meant HALF not have…grrrrrrrrrrr…
I hope the rest of your trip goes well and is better caffeinated. Caffeine is quite essential to travel (it’s almost midnight, and I have to get up in four hours to catch a plane, so I can sympathize).
I’m curious – what was it about LA that made you feel so short?
I was fortunate enough to see you in LA and YOU FREAKIN ROCK! (Not a stalker, just a fan) You made me proud to be a knitter, thanks and good luck with the rest of the tour. (hope you don’t have to get up at zero dark thirty anymore.
Safe travels, Stephanie.
You might try an inversion (think yoga) to tide you over until real coffee is available; a backbend might help, too. Be careful where you practice, though. You might accidently find out if there are any knitters (or yogis) at the airport’s TSA post.
Did you know that you are one of the sweetest people in the world? I love looking at your pictures of everyone.
If you hadn’t mentioned the 3AM thing we in Wichita would never have guessed. You covered it up well. Me, if I have to get up that early, I just don’t go to bed at all. I’m sure that approach would fail me on an extended trip but it’s served me well on one-shot deals.
Now I just have to work on that Irish Cottage knitting. That was awesome!
I have worried for the past two days, since I have been unable to remember if I thanked you for signing my book on Friday. In addition to thanking you for the book, however, I wanted to thank you for the joy that you bring to all your readers lives every day (or every other day). Your blog makes us laugh and makes us cry, and then you sit patiently for hours while you sign our books and look at our socks and other knitterly treasures. You truly are an amazing woman. Thank you for everything.
You are such a dedicated blogger! I love the coming and going. Good luck getting to NOLA – see you there! =)
Sorry if this has been recommended before (I don’t get a chance to read blogs AND comments with a toddler) but have you tried coffee singles? They’re like a tea bag but with coffee inside and it takes 5 min or more to steep. I’m not a coffee drinker – it violently disagrees with me – but my husband drinks these if he’s too lazy to brew. He won’t touch instant and insists that this is not the same. Hopefully you have better luck with finding boiling water or a microwave in the middle a deserted hotel and/or airport.
Dear Stephanie, I hope you’re surviving your epic cross-country trek? I can’t imagine how you do it (at 3 a.m. with NO COFFEE, yet!) but I am SO grateful that you came to Wichita to visit us! Thank you so much! That means a great deal to us, believe me. We’re out in the middle of nowhere, but now that The Yarn Harlot has come…we’re on da map, baby! 🙂 Thank you, also, for somehow getting through that marathon book-signing. How you got through it without having a nervous breakdown is beyond me… A lesser woman (er, like me) would’ve cracked. You are such a cheerful, funny, friendly person. I loved your talk – I really hope to see you again one day, but I guess we need to share you with other places that haven’t seen you yet. Not to mention your family would probably like to catch the occasional glimpse of your face :-).
P.S. I LOVED your story about the self-important hoo-haw whose wife nailed him with, “The Yarn Harlot?!? You didn’t say anything stupid about knitting, did you?” ROFL! I about fell out of my chair over that one. I also would have loved to have seen the look on the ‘Pxxxx’ bookstore manager when far more than 10 knitters showed up. Har! Some peepuls just don’t get it, do they?
My wife and I love reading about your adventures, particularly your travel adventures, etc. A thought occurred to me considering the number of people who can’t get to see you when you visit places: would it be possible to organise podcasts of your bookshop talks? This is probably something your friend Ken could help with, maybe?
Meanwhile, please come to Australia! It’s a hell of a long flight. You could probably finish an entire jumper (sweater) during the trip, it’s so far, but well worth it! 🙂 Thanks for the wonderful blog.
thursday? (friday) Terry Bradshaw (a former US football player) was a guest on the Jay Leno/tonight show.. and about 4 minutes into his appearance, Jay Leno pointed out his fly was undone..
UNTIL you are on national television (CBC or BBC or any US network show) with your fly undone, (and get it announced by the MC!) you can’t be too badly off!
When Terry looked (and saw Jay wasn’t fooling) he stood up turned his back to the audience, and was so embarrassed.. (HE, not Jay, announce it was time for a commercial break.. and afterwards was a bit closer to a normal skin shade!)
I am so totally delighted that I made it back to your site 🙂 yet bummed that your were here, and I wasn’t. ah well, next time –
I am amazed that you have the coherence to weave together an intelligent sentence with the lack of coffee and no decent sleeping hours. lucky you had some good microbrew – probably was a McMennimans pub. theyrock.
safe journeys; may all your coffee be rich and full bodied, your waking hours be after 8 am and your beers a delicious ale.
If I had known you were flying through Denver, I would’ve waved. And brought you coffee.
…And the coffee in Denver was likely no better. (Mountain states coffee is notoriously weak. I blame the lower boiling point of water.)
You did the LA thing last night????? The date posted on your website put the LA date as 9/23! When did it change? I am seriously bummed that I missed out on the opportunity to see you. Now what do I do with my day off on the 23rd? Please, Please, Please come back to LA again, soon! Gene
Hee, I can beat that! I walked around church today (Sunday) for 2 hours with my pants unzipped. At least you don’t know the people at the airport, they’ll never see you again. But I have to see these folks 2-3 times a week! They’ll be saying “You know, Denise, the one with the orange underwear?”
I was lucky #3 in the stand-by line in Los Angeles. The lot of us were just biting our needles to be able to get in. What a great time! I brought my mom (who isn’t a knitter – but guess what she’s getting for her birthday tomorrow!) and she cracked up. I had never been with so many knitters and it was just inspiring. You instantly have a friend in whomever is next to you. I loved seeing everyone’s projects and yarn. Knitters are the nicest people – and we sure love and appreciate you!
Oh, I forgot to ask at the Q & A, did Crazy Aunt Purl get to the Library to see you too? Several of us kind of looked for her, it would’ve been nice to meet her too.
Thanks again Stephanie, it was fabulous!
Sigh….I missed you. You in the U.S. and me in Canada. Ahhh the irony. But I had a good snort at the fly story. My guess would be you had dinner at Redhook Brewery from the look of the background. So glad the Seattlites treated you well. Come back soon!!!
Steph, we have people in LA who are *much shorter* than you are. We just don’t keep them at the airport.
Great talk. Enjoyed meeting you afterward, too.
Sorry you didn’t have caffeine for the morning– you know I tried.
You know, I’m reading this and I’m thinking “It’s about time The Harlot came to the UK. And came to Edinburgh, of course, as part of her whistle-stop UK tour. “Hand Knits” in Edinburgh would have you like a shot (they have Debbie Bliss next month) and there’s a great hotel venue right next door to the shop. With good coffee!!!!
And we have North Ronaldsay sheep here too. And an airport. And lots of knitters. What’s stopping you?
PS. Ever tried iced coffee in tins? Great emergency caffeine blast.
Oh. I’m not sure anyone would still be alive if I were awake early and had no coffee. One of those two puts people in danger. Both of those would be downright scary.
You know, the fly situation could have been solved by enough coffee. Or at the very least caught earlier. Coffee having certain side-effects and all.
In my next life I won’t laugh at your fly being down. Loved seeing you in LA!
Why should anyone hold themselves back with a learning curve when they can just go for it????
Wahoo for Wichita! I can’t wait to read that one! (no pressure)
We became positively giddy & punch drunk at a diner later that night on the drive back to Kansas City, and made a young waitress’ life, I believe. She laughed so hard she couldn’t speak. In essence, we paid it forward from being amidst your hilarity. Thanks for coming to Wichita & being so delightful!
Aren’t knitting peoples absolutely, positively the best!?!???
Am I the only person who caught the announcement that there won’t be a summer ’08 knitting olympics?
Really?
I know Canada is known for the winter sports but no Knitting Olympics in ’08. C’mon, Steph!
What time zone do you live in? 3am… yikes, I hope you get plenty sleep and coffee before tonight.
I am very very excited about your visit to VA this week. Also, this new book of yours is very very good. I don’t know if enough people have told you that. Thank you for making me snicker so much on the metro train that people move away from me and sit elsewhere. It’s hard enough to find books that make me laugh–it’s even harder to get seats to myself on trains without being a jerk. I hope you are quite proud. I think I will bring you insanely good Scottish Ale as a reward.
I just finished reading your post while at work this morning and as usual, it was wonderful and funny and the best part of a Monday morning at work.
I have a quick question which I’m hoping someone can answer – any idea what pattern and/or yarn was used in Baby Sarah’s blanket? I’m a really big fan of garter stitch and that blanket looks beautiful – second only to Baby Sarah herself.
I love reading about your travels Stephanie – thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us.
Marlaine
3 am and no caffeine… I am surprised you were able to think of us and blogging.
Thank you though. The pics of the baby with the needles is priceless.
I think there should be coffee ordinance that requires all hotels and airports to provide GOOD coffee 24/7. We traveled 3 hours out of our time zone (earlier) when we had a 2 year old. Sitting in a hotel at 3 am with NO COFFEE and an active toddler… well let’s just say he’s lucky to be 14 now!
I vote that this be the construct of blog posts from now forward. The clashing of what you’ve written and reviewed for public consumption with bizzarre real-time POV commentary and a touch of unmoderated id is hi-freakin-larious.
Love the Cabby too!
Yarn in a HAT! Brilliant. Of all the places you’ve mentioned to stash yarn, you missed that one. I think that little girl has a big future.
Sorry about the airline coffee. (Next time, tell Jayme if she wants more socks, she needs to schedule you in hotels with coffee pots and send you with little packets of the good stuff.)
LOVED the waiter – funny, good knowledge of beer and coffee, AND knits? The hotness trifecta.
Well, it’s better to have your fly open than to have your skirt tucked into your nylons exposing your backside. Hope you get some really good, strong coffee and sleep soon.
Sock modeling cabbies, binary code scarves, squirrel motifs, little girls with yarn under their hats, knitting waiters… Ah, the magic of yarn. A magnificent tribe, we knitters.
Sorry to be missing you in VA tomorrow (thank goodness I caught you in MA!), but duty to 12 Brownie Girl Scouts calls. On the bright side, later in the year, I’ll be teaching aforementioned Brownies to spin and knit 🙂
Ouch! Getting up at 3:00am hurts. And if I didn’t have coffee for as long as you did, I’d be homicidal. Very impressed with your coffee-less blogging on the fly skills.
And the the binary scarf? My nine year old has wanted me to make him that since we first saw it in knitty. I have been intimidated…and that very cute young man does it as his second project? ‘Prodigy’ indeed.
3 a.m. hurts. But I really enjoyed your travel log. It’s killing me I will not be able to see you in Virginia. I live 2 1/2 hours away and can’t get out of work early enough to make the trek. You have to come to Richmond (VA that is) Thanks for making us laugh.
WOW on the binary scarf. A coworker found that (after hearing I was a knitter) and a couple were expressing interest…I told them I’d teach them to knit. 😉 I love all my coworkers, but not that much. Craziness.
Thank you for your nice little visit to Seattle. Shannon and I loved meeting with you and you made my little knitter/spinner delerious (sorry, can’t spell) with joy that you love her method of carrying her yarn while she knit.
Dude, the part about your fly made me snort. Oh, how I’ve been there.
Too bad there is no such thing as a wireless portable coffee maker.
I wouldn’t remember to do my fly up either if I had to be up at 3am and still had no coffee 2 hours later.
Wow! Overachievers is right! Holy smokes that’s serious!
Wonderful posting on the run . I just don’t know how you keep up this pace and still be SO comical and with NO coffee !!! Thanks for the laughs that we all need so much.
SOOoo sorry I had to miss LA… try Santa Barbara next time!!! We will be WAY Better, prettier, and more scenic. Coffee guarenteed at my place! My traveling sock is green… the other one is purple. Cast on No. 2 of the purple one and frogged back to ribbing during classes Saturday. I’d have had MUCH more fun listening to YH…
I saw you in Wichita yesterday, you were gracious to the end with the book signing. Thanks!!
Crap- I’m off to a convention for Mothers on Wednesday— morning flight— I’m packing instant coffee— nasty- but I won’t be caught without caffeine;)
Is it too late to add *coffee* to your sock contract? I definitely think coffee should’ve been part of it (tall coffees), especially with wake-up calls before 4am.
Man, you met some cool knitters. Some of those projects were pretty freakin’ awesome.
Hope you had no problems finding coffee today!
You make me so happy to be a part of the knitting community. I could not imagine being a part of a more wonderful group of people. Thank you!
I hope you can make it down to Florida in the near future. I would love to hold your sock.
Okay, I’m still laughing — with shaking — at the part about your fly being open for 2 hours. That totally happens to me and I can relate. Also, about desparately needing caffeine.
I’m SO looking forward to seeing you on Thursday in VA!! YAY!!!!!!!!!! Now, I have to get on knitting the hat for the hat lady.
A Jayne hat! I must have the pattern so I can knit one for my Firefly fan husband! Time to Google…No, I can’t come up with my own pattern, but hopefully someone else has done it for me…
I have not laughed so hard…ever. My husband and I left the library on Saturday with faces aching from laughing so hard and so long. What a gift you have. I think my honey is beginning to “get it” about knitting. This IS my grandmother’s knitting and it is not a lonely pursuit and knitters are the absolute friendliest lot about. Thank you for being our ambassador!
I love the travel adventures – thank you for showing us pix of our knit-community. Hmm, short; did a tall person reach over you into the luggage bin on the plane? Someone lift you up so you could reach your luggage? Can’t wait to find out what precipitated the mention. Have a great rest of tour.
Yay! Found the Jayne hat pattern! Time to start my Christmas knitting…Thanks, Dawn!
Hi – love traveling with you – -But — Couldn’t you travel with your own coffee pot? A one cupper that can be packed up warm in its own bag. You get it ready before bed, push the button when you go to bathe not shower and drink as soon as you are out?????? They don’t take up much yarn room.
Fly open…snort!!
Enjoy your time with all the wonderful knitters!!
Maybe you need to up the sock ante to include “coffee to be available whenever necessary!!” ;o)
I’m trying to figure out Ravelry—very exciting.
Creativehands (it’s like my third name on line!)
I have to agree with Patricia: It seems like the less coffee you drink (the more bleary eyed you are) the clearer your pictures seem to be. Not worth the sacrifice I say.
By the way, thank you for making me nearly snort my morning coffee. Seriously. Your humour should come with a “don’t read and drink any hot beverages” warning. Geeze.
I know I probably have a different perspective than you at the moment, but I seriously can’t stop laughing! I hope you found more coffee and some sleep.
if you’re going to be forced to get up at such a god-forsaken hour, you should at least have coffee waiting for you…i think that should be a new condition for Jayme getting the sock. I’m looking forward to seeing you Wednesday in Atlanta. I’ll bring coffee 🙂
If I were travelling at 3 a.m., I’d be wearing yoga pants—no fly to worry about.
Your dedication to your readers is astonishing and gratifying. It is no wonder that you set attendance records across the continent. I have followed every one of your tours and I have enjoyed every minute. Thank you for letting me live the dream vicariously through you.
Yer a rock star, for sure Stephanie! Next time, use the pointed sticks to get to the front of the coffee line. The meek may inherit the earth but the grumpy get the coffee- it always works for me.
LAX on no coffee… the horror… the horror…
I don’t know how you do it. But on behalf of all knitters everywhere, I’m so glad that you do! Here’s to readily accessible, non-swill coffee for the rest of your trip (hats off).
Chocolate-covered coffee beans. Seriously. It’s some kind of candy, chocolate-coated over toffee that has ground-up coffee beans in it. Don’t know where my friend gets it – but it has saved my caffeine-deprived life in the deep woods of Maine when there was no coffee around, and not a snowball’s chance in hell that we would see a coffeepot for an entire weekend.
I work in a hospital in the operating room and we are super slow right now, I think I have converted half the staff to reading your blog because it is sooooo entertaining. Last night, half of us were knitting while I was reading your comedy out loud. Thank you for your humor!!!
I know exactly which gate at LAX you were sitting at, and you didn’t miss anything, that coffee sucks. You won’t have that problem in Seattle.
Next time you set rules with your publicist, make it twelve hours between gig and flight. And that you have to go to Montana.
Squirrel sweater. Hee. (That’s it, just catch the rat bastards and SHEAR them!)
I think if your publicist read all your comments, you would be in big trouble…and probably travelling to all 50 states for your next book tour 🙂
I would like to wholly apologize for our rowdy behaviour towards the end of your signing in Seattle (I’m Libby, the mom to “Jakob The One-Man Paparazzi Show”…we call him “MHP” or “Mister Handsome Pants” on my blog)…I was a little sleep-deprived and Jake had been sitting around for almost 5 hours and was wholly ready to go home.
Thanks for putting up with me and my crazy friends (and our ability to find books like “Dork Whore”) and I wish you the best of luck on the rest of your journeys!
(I’ll email you some pictures that Jakob took of you as well.)
Wow. Tell that binary-knitting Jimmy that there’s a semi-geek girl in NY that wants to date him. 😉
Groovy post, as is usual with your travel posts. I love your blog. 🙂
Someone else made a Jayne hat from Firefly?
I’m laughing my ass off.
I’ve made 4-one for myself, two for my daughters, and one for my friend Jane.
I’m still sad it’s not on anymore, and I’m relieved to know I’m not the only person who searched down orange yarn to make the Jayne Hat.
Does it help to pretend you’re still on Toronto time? Hmm… probably not, since if I know you you’re eating and, more to the point, drinking on West Coast time.
Love your on the road posts. Love all your other posts, too. And I am with you on the coffee thing.
I have read your blog for well over a year and never commented. But today, I was reminded of how amazing you must be to deal with this all of the time (and with such a great sense of humor).
BTW, I have watched your episode of Knitty Gritty 3 times. Does this make me a weirdo? Maybe it does since I still haven’t attempted my first sock! LOL
Thanks for all of the laughs!
It wasn’t really 3AM though – in the east coast time zone it was 6AM … you just went to bed too late (8PM LA time = 11PM east coast time).
Am so jealous right now. A dear friend of mine saw you in Seattle and I just found out another friend saw you in LA AND got to be one of the questions ask-ers. So cool to find out you used cloth diapers on your babies and knit soakers for them! (yep…I know that questioner!) I’m in the process of making a wicked pair of longies…wicked as in too many things have gone wrong for me to be enjoying them anymore. Will have to post pictures on my blog soon.
Loving the on-the-go blogging!
No, no chocolate covered coffee beans (which they do sell at Starbucks), but instead, Penguin caffeinated mints, which come in a cute little tin, and last forever. (I buy them from Amazon.com, BION.) I keep a tin in my car for those moments when you want to sleep and you’re almost home.
Diana
3 a.m.? Ouch. Think of it this way: it’s only midnight here in Hawaii, so maybe that’s not quite as painful. Enjoy your day in NOLA with Dez.
Aloha,
Lisa Louie
May the coffee gods bless you soon, sweetie, but it was a lovely post–and CJ is cuter than a bear’s naked bottom, so thanks for that picture too!
Thanks for coming to Seattle! My face hurt from laughing to much. Too bad I didn’t join the signing line.
From now on I’ll picture a sweaty, sun taned, shirtless, Australian guy shearing a sheep when I go to buy wool. Hey, someone should use that for a knitting themed romance novel 🙂
I wish you well on the rest of your quest to spread the good word of knitting 🙂
I’m going to be seeing you on Thursday, and I have some questions and concerns.
You don’t need a reservation at Borders, and unless they’ve gutted the place for your visit, I have serious concerns about everyone getting in. The DC Stitch ‘N Bitch is organizing carpools so they can all go. I plan to get there EARLY.
Do you need to bring along your Knitting Olympics project?
If anybody has an answer to the last question, my e-mail address is lostarts4@gmail.com.
I’m really excited!
I nearly forgot.
At http://scifikal.blogspot.com/ they have links for two Jaynes hat patterns, and links for lots of other SF patterns.
For Harry Potter fans, check out http://www.knitdowntoharry.blogspot.com for more pattern links.
Does wanting to knit Jayne’s hat make you a nerd?
Delurking to say that my twelve-year-old has been known to carry yarn (and occasionally knitting needles) in her hat. I’ve had to put my foot down on the latter practice — impromptu hugs should not entail risking an eye! Two years ago she asked me to teach her to knit — the beginning of a long road of projects that grew and shrank from one row to another as stitches were dropped or mysteriously appeared, of projects that began bravely, only to be abandoned in frustration. This summer, once again, she picked up the needles of her own volition, and suddenly something clicked. The scarf she’s working on is (relatively) even and smooth, and we’re both thrilled. Now her younger sister is asking me to teach her. Years ago, as a university undergrad, I’d go down to my grandmother’s apartment after class to wait for my lift home. I’d be kntting socks or gloves from a pattern book. My grandmother would be knitting mittens from the pattern in her head, fine-tuned by seventy-odd years of experience. I’m glad to see young knitters coming along (yarn in their hats or not), and I’m proud to be carrying on the tradition in our family.
I love your blow by blow coffee description! I have been in airports like at that time of the morning and there is no java! And yes, I’ve been in LAX at 4:30 am and there was no coffee! What are they thinking?
Yeah for my hometown of Seattle being friendly and nice and knitterly! But where were all those knitting men when I was living there on the make? A man that knits – that’s just hot. Remember – next time you are at Third Place to hit up the Honey Bear Bakery for the best Seattle chai – Morning Glory, and yes it’s caffeinated – and a slice of whatever cake suites your passing fancy. I SO miss that place!
I’m exhausted just reading that! I hope you get some sleep and some coffee…in that order.
I suppose your loving Wichita, KS is akin to my loving Las Cruces, NM. Might I suggest coming to Kansas City during your next midwest trip? You could see Missouri and Kansas quite easily (we’re a border city!).
I love Las Cruces because of the mountains and the desert. My cousins who live there have never really been able to understand this, as it’s kind of the Wichita of New Mexico (or so I’ve gathered).
I think you might have been at Saltoros. That’s what the roof and booths looks like at any rate. Did they have cool weird bright colored lamps everywhere on the wall?
I’m glad you enjoyed Third Place Books. It’s one of my favorite places to be. You were great, I really needed the laughs that night.
I am so sorry I missed you in Wichita. I am 3 hrs away, and forgot to say “NO” when I was called in to work that day. You act like me on Benadryl…allergies are kicking butt in Tulsa right now. I will catch you again.
Okay. It’s 6am and I’ve had only 5 hours of sleep after working a brutal 16 hour shift yesterday and haven’t yet had MY coffee, so that may explain why, upon first read, I thought that Molly’s first sock (right below Jimmy’s freaky binary jumper weight scarf) was BIG…as in bigger-than-the-knitter-who-knitted-it big.
I totally love waking up with your blog.
VERY cute server…if only he would have been wearing a kilt 🙂
What a fun looking time. What a fantastic that was Karen Jo – way to go.
Ummm CJ…talk about the total package!
Hope you are able to find some decent coffee.
O.K., I think I’ve officially lost my mind, but I could swear that I’ve seen that picture of the cab driver before. Yes, I suppose I’ve seen you take a very similar picture of a different cab driver, but honestly, I’m not convinced.
Did anyone else of this odd reaction, or just me? (I’m sure it’s just me, but I had to ask)
there’s a new and really funny; anole posting on lolravelrs group…hehehe
..check out lol lizardz
Aww, I didn’t get in the picture. Anyways, I hope that my young knitting mojo worked.