Lexington, For the Third Time

Since we all know it's all about me...

Saturday night I thanked the Yarn Harlot for taking time out of her busy tour schedule each year to come to Lexington to see me. She seemed happy to do it, and we discussed the possibility of a "Drunk & Angry" tour next year. Sounds like a good time. Talk about inexplicable knitter behavior...

Anyway, Saturday was fantastic. I twisted Kimmie's arm to get her out of helping with yard work, and we trekked to Lexington to spend the gift certificate I won last year at Magpie Yarn and visit the Yarn Harlot on her tour stop at Joseph Beth Booksellers. Magpie Yarn had sock yarn on sale for 20% off in honor of the Yarn Harlot's visit. Who could pass that up? I'd been trying to spend the $50 gift certificate for a year now, and I wasted very little time in doing so.

I got two skeins of Noro Silk Garden, colorway 245. I picked this up solely for the colors, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. It is astoundingly beautiful, and I may have to keep it as souvenir viewing yarn, and find a fancy display case for it on a wall of fame. Or not.

I also got two skeins of Crystal Palace Panda Silk. It's shiny, and oh so very soft. I was kind of thinking about Hedera for this yarn, but it might be too variegated. I'll keep thinking.

Lastly, I found some sock yarn from Rio de la Plata that is unlike any other sock yarn I've ever seen. To get the full effect of the colors, I'm sure this will have to be a plainer than plain pair of socks, but I'm really interested to see how this particular color pattern works up.

We left Magpie Yarn to head toward the bookstore where the event would take place, and, thanks to Yahoo Maps, got quite lost. However, my internal GPS kicked in and, at our lowest, most desperate point, we miraculously found ourselves on Nicholasville Road, right where we needed to be. And we were even going the right direction! We were a couple hours early, though, and we needed sustenance. We drove around a bit and decided on a suspicious-looking place that we knew would provide us with a memorable experience:

Sir Pizza! Who could go wrong with Sir Pizza?

Kimmie was particularly impressed with the idea of the Ding-A-Ling telephone for speedier service, although we never actually got to use it. I am eagerly anticipating Kimmie's full review of the restaurant on her blog. She was rather thorough in her documentation.

We finished our pizzas and headed back to the bookstore to grab good seats and wait for the Yarn Harlot's arrival. Kimmie went to browse the stacks and I made some lovely new friends (Hi Barb & Yvonne!!!) and got to share my Knit Knack pictures with some new folks.

The Yarn Harlot was brilliant and funny, just like we all knew she would be. If you get a chance, and you've never gone to see her, I highly recommend it. She's warm and funny and inviting, and you will walk away with renewed confidence in your knitterly abilities and a big smile on your face.

Here's a little behind-the-scenes photo of the photo of me that can be found on yarnharlot.ca. A picture of the picture-taking, if you will. It was great to earn the stalker moniker one more time and even better to have a few minutes to renew and continue a friendship. Good times, y'all.

Barb and Yvonne thoughtfully guided us back to the interstate and wished us well on our way home. Yet another knitterly show of generosity. That's something else that I've enjoyed about these excursions to see the Yarn Harlot or attend fiber festivals or anything else yarn and knitting related... there are a lot of great people to meet that I wouldn't get to know otherwise. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great Saturday for Kimmie and myself and so many others.