A Charlotte Harlot

I feel sort of badly about how little I learned about Charlotte while I was there. I usually learn about a city on its sock picture hunt but I couldn’t do that this time. In fact, this tour is turning out to be pretty poor in the sock picture opportunity department. There’s sometimes a little time in the afternoon (after the flight, before the event) and I think about going out and hunting up some cool sock pictures, but then I think about the other stuff I could do with that time…stuff like eat, or sleep (both of which have been hard to fit in) and then somehow I realize that sock pictures (while hugely entertaining) aren’t actually a human need and I do one of the other things. When it comes to Charlotte though, I feel sort of bad about it, because it is a really, really beautiful city. Gorgeous. The trees are all leafed out, there are flowers everywhere, downtown there are azaleas by the millions and window boxes and it is all especially gorgeous to a Canadian coming out of the end of a wicked long, dark winter. It was great, and warm. I asked one person for a little Charlotte Trivia, but all they could tell me was that Tammy Faye, Billy Graham and Clay Aiken are all from Charlotte. I couldn’t stop laughing when I thought of that particular mix as a Charlotte microcosm. The real Charlotte microcosm, looks like this:

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….and I have to tell you, this was a seriously fun crowd. A whole lotta awesome. It started right away. Shelle (the very pregnant manager) was celebrating a birthday, and Damien (the employee behind her) somehow located a cake (with her name on it and everything) in about 7 minutes flat and all the knitters sang her the birthday song.

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We sang it again later for Stacey.

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We had a ton of first socks. There was Jami, Renée, Judi, Aleta (with her 1st, 2nd and 3rd socks, just to show the learning curve) Allison, Tiffanie, Davey (who works for Mac and told me why Leopard was crashing Imageready.) Sue (who also brought me a very, very funny book for tracking animals, which also includes pictures of their scat. Weasel scat, by the way is very distinctive.) Laura, and Michelle. (As always, click to embiggen)

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There were babies. Doreen brought Zuri-Elizabeth

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and Teresa brought Alexander.

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I got to meet Laura from the Unique Sheep. She’s the lady doing the fantastic fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders here. (Some knitters at the Toronto Launch won some of that great yarn in the MSF colourway.)

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Elizabeth brought me a washcloth (a big one. I told you they get carried away in Charlotte.)

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and she was wearing a really great “unofficial” tour t-shirt. Very funny.

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A real high point came when Cristi asked me to cut her first steek for her.

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I refused. Everyone should cut their own first steek. It’s an honour to be asked, but it’s so cool to see that it really works that I didn’t want to deprive her of the thrill. I provided deep emotional support and held the layers apart so that she couldn’t accidentally cut where she didn’t mean to. (I don’t think that happens much, I just know it was one of the things that I worried about when I started.)

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She lived, and the vest looks great.

Here’s Mandy and her mum sending a shout out to her sister Holly in Anchorage. (Remember her?)

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The last person in line was Dru. He came to collect a book for his mama (who made him that excellent gryffindor scarf that he thought to bring with him.) and he was totally charming. I think the bookstore and I all agreed that Dru’s mother did an excellent job. He’s a total gentleman. (Funny too. He was “ma’am”ing me to death (he’s Texan. It’s a reflex) and I pointed out that ma’am is for old ladies. He switched to “miss” in a heartbeat. Then he “yes miss”ed me to death.)

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Charming boy.

This morning I went to the airport to fly from Charlotte to Nashville, and I totally saw a knitter in the airport.

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She was sewing up a really beautiful greenish sweater. Gorgeous. I was way too shy to talk to her, but I did kinnear her. Anybody know her? She’s really talented.

Finally, on the flight today I totally finished my Rivendell socks. I love them too.

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They are a little big, which is good, because they are not for me. I love the wrapped stitches, the twisted stitches…these are a winner all around. I bet I knit them again.

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It is, by the way, very hard to take pictures of your own feet in a hotel room. (Or anywhere, really)

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Details: Rivendell sock pattern. Dyed in the wool Handmade fingering yarn in “I am the eggplant”.

Onward. Nashville Knitters await me.