Annie Modesitt in the Haus

OK, so Annie Modesitt really wasn't IN my house - but close enough! Our local knitters' guild had their yearly Knit-In last weekend.

I really enjoyed her presentation. Her comment about her "safe word" went over the heads of the majority of the audience. Considering the average age in the morning presentation - hey, I'm just saying it skewed a little to the upper end of the age spectrum - I was not surprised. I was one of the few laughing at that one. Hmmm, what does that say about me? (Could this be a future contest on this blog - guess my safe word and win some yarn? We'll have to mull that one over!)

She showed us an incredible way to cable without a needle that involved PULLING THE NEEDLE OUT OF ALL OF THE LIVE CABLE STITCHES! The woman has nerves of steel and balls of brass! There's no way I'd be able to bring myself to pull this maneuver off without practicing it at least bajillion times. She also brought along the dress she knit for the wife of an Emmy winner.



Our guild has so many members that the main speaker gives her/his presentation twice - once in the morning and once in the afternoon. So while half of the attendees are listening to the main speaker, the other half have their choice of 1 of 4 classes. One bonus of living in the midst of a knitter's paradise - with more yarn shops per capita than anywhere in the nation, I believe - is that the guild manages to get some of the knitting community's glitterati here. Last year's Knit-In headliner was Jean Moss and at the monthly guild meetings we've had Meg Swansen reading from EZ's journals (swoon), Nancy Bush, Lucy Neatby, and Sally Melville to name a few.

And for you Schoolhouse Press/ Meg Swansen aficionados out there - Joyce Williams and Amy Detjen were in the Haus also! The last time I saw Joyce was when she and I were in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in order to see the Yarn Harlot in person. (Who? Me? Stalker fan? It's not abnormal behavior to drive 6 hours in one day just to listen to her talk, watch her take pictures of her sock with the audience, and then stand in line for another 2 hours to have her sign your copies of every book she has published to date!) I also had the pleasure of taking Amy's class in the afternoon that focused on different cast-ons and cast-offs.

The Knit-In also included a large market area. Mmmm...yarn.....

I was amazingly self-controlled.

But I did make purchases...HELLO! The yarn was calling to me - it was crying for a good home. It was like those ASPCA commercials...you know the ones - with all the clips of the most sweet, pitiful, formerly-abused-but-now-in-a-shelter-but-need-a-good-home-and-you-are-the-only-person-in-the-entire-universe-who-can-save-them cats and dogs while the Sarah McLachlan song is playing as the soundtrack for the commercial...sniff...get me a tissue, would you, dear? DH hates those commercials because each time they air I inevitably suggest we could adopt a 3rd cat - or even better yet, dog #1. But I digress...

You're waiting to see pictures of the newest acquisitions to the show that is my stash, aren't you?

HA! You'll have to wait til later this week for a couple of reasons: (1) I haven't been getting home from work early enough to take good photos; (2) when I'm home, DH is here - and he still doesn't know about this blog. He might even begin to wonder why I'm suddenly photographing my yarn; (3) Rule #287 when living with a muggle with whom you also have a joint checking account - DON'T BRING UNNECESSARY ATTENTION TO THE STASH; and (4) I need more material for the next post.

So instead of the fine fibers of my stash, I'll leave you with a closing shot of one of my favorite fibers in one of her favorite places.