There aren’t a lot of famous knitters, or at least not a lot of people who are famous for knitting (yes, I am aware that any celebrity who has ever held a pair of needles has been photographed with said needles and plastered all over the Internet). So paying to go see a knitter is certainly not something that a lot of people do, and something that I probably never thought I would do. However, that’s precisely what Sara and I did over Thanksgiving weekend, when we went to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, otherwise known as The Yarn Harlot.

Technically I am in this picture!

Sara is an avid reader of her blog, and it turns out that she happened to be in Fort Wayne while we were there. I was a little skeptical at first, suspicious that I wouldn’t fit in, but actually it was a pretty good time and an excellent date night! I struggled mightily before hand to get my current knitting project into a shape where it could be seen by others. However, I did manage it, and it was pretty fun to sit and knit with a ballroom full of people. It was predictably female-dominated, but there were more than a few other men in the room (although some of them were not actually knitting). I’d say we represented.

The talk itself was more of an inspirational knitting speech about why knitting is great, why it should be more respected, and most importantly, why knitters should respect themselves and their crafts. It was funny and it was perfectly fine, however, I felt Mrs. Pearl-McPhee really shown during the Q&A section. The “Bacon Powder” story and the one about getting locked out of her hotel room were absolutely hysterical, and worth the price of admission.

If I’m being totally honest, I was more interested in her as a story teller and blogger than as a knitter. She definitely has a gift for storytelling (which is not as easy as it might sound!), and I think that is what sets her apart. A lot of people are excellent knitters, but not all of them are cut out to be Yarn Harlots. If I’m being totally, totally, TOTALLY honest, I think it would be pretty damn cool if I could stand in front of people some day and tell stories, even if they’re stories about dumb things I’ve done. And Stephanie made it seem possible. She’s just a regular person who started a blog about something she loves (and, you know, wrote 9 books). On the other hand, the travel schedule sounds pretty brutal, so I’m sure it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Anyway, I’m really glad that I went, and I got a LOT of knitting done over the weekend!