strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive

Adventures with an unreliable narrator.

« culture notes | Main | the nephew marches on »

Sep 18 06: yarn

Spent much of Saturday being Knitting Guy At Large, which was great. I started by going to The Point to meet the fabulous Amy Singer, editor of Knitty and writer of its attendant blog. It was a thril to meet one of the people whom I may conveniently blame for the way my putative novel is still just a big pile of notes. I also got to meet such charming fellow knitters as Kate and Ravi-who-seemingly-hath-no-blog.

When the meet-and-greet ended, I got to show Amy bits of our fair city, as we meandered through SoHo seeking inexpensive art and high-end granola. (Don’t ask.) I’m always delighted to show off the city, especially to people who are such delightful company. We also did a quick lap through the Housing Works bookshop before heading up to Kinokuniya. Amy had A Mission and found precisely what she was looking for among the Japanese knitting books. I was deeply virtuous and bought nothing. (I’d already made my impulse purchase for the day. I’ll reveal it when it is delivered.) (Although I was kind of tempted by the book of Pokémon-themed knitting projects, for sheer absurdist value. A spheroidal Jigglypuff hat! An elaborate intarsia Pikachu sweater! Whoa. Bonkers. Still, I don’t read Japanese and don’t care for Pokémon, so the urge could be resisted.)

Eventually, Amy needed to go dine with Kay, of Mason-Dixon Knitting. Oh, the glamorous life of the knitblog glitterati! But she encouraged me to head on down to the Yarn Harlot’s reading that night at the Barnes & Noble in Park Slope. She pointed out that it would (a) be great fun and (b) a chance to meet Kay and the Harlot, aka Stephanie, at a single event. Imagine the excitement: to meet the creators of my three favorite knitblogs in the same day. The knitblog trifecta!

So how could I say no? I was late getting there, but so was Stephanie, so it all worked out. It came as no surprise that the Harlot in person is freakin’ hilarious. Amy and Kay were nowhere to be seen, but I didn’t care because I had a good time and met many interesting people, all of whom were female. I bought books, which Stephanie signed for me, and then read them all the way back to Manhattan, giggling the whole way like one of them crazy subway people.

The never-ending Leo project may someday be the completed Leo project. A few more days like Saturday, and it will be for sure. Already thinking about cold, rainy afternoons with my feet up, and about what I’ll work on next, instead of the novel.

Commentary

Blame Kay. She was late to dinner and by the time we got in the cab to go to Brooklyn, it was 7:45…we got stuck in the same traffic Stephanie was in, but about 30 minutes behind her. By 8:30, we were at Spring St [!] with no sign of further progress and finally bailed. Glad you went, though!

In happy news, at least Pylones was still open, and I finally got to buy something ridiculous and French to take home with me.

You are a most charming man. Now WHERE am I going to find that damned book?

posted by amyKnitty, Sep 18 06 7:13 PM

Hi Andrew,
Nice to have met and chatted with you at the Harlot’s talk. May our paths meet again! Cheers, Jenny

posted by spider, Sep 19 06 10:08 AM

Hi Andrew….it was nice to meet you, although briefly. I was teaching at The Point and had to run. Maybe we’ll cross paths again.

posted by john, Sep 21 06 10:33 AM

[0 trackbacks]