Friday, August 3, 2007

The Yarn Harlot! And a survey

The Yarn Harlot was in the area tonight, and I got to see her! She came to a local bookstore to promote her newest book, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting. She spoke about her life as a knitter as well as her experiences, and more specifically, challenges, in the world of non-knitters. She was hilarious all the way through, but she also talked about some pretty serious things, like the negative social and financial consequences of society's "knitter" stereotypes (knitters have neither money nor buying power, knitters are dumb, are easily entertained, have nothing better to do with their time, etc.). And while Stephanie was too polite to talk about it, this even came up as an issue for this evening's talk, when the bookstore, like so many before on her tour, underestimated the number of people expected, downsized the space they made available for us, and in the end had to turn away a number of people who'd wanted to attend (people who would have fit in the original, larger reserved space).

She certainly gave us a lot to think, and laugh, about. I'm so glad I went! It was a lovely evening. I'm sorry I don't have any pics...I'm not much of an "events" photographer, or any kind of photographer, for that matter. It's a wonder that *any* of my kids' milestones are documented at all!

Speaking of "knitter" stereotypes, I'm hoping that you can help my friend Erin, podcaster of Damknit, who is trying to respond to some ignorant fiber-arts-related comments made by her co-workers. She's been feeling a bit harrassed by these co-workers who put down her efforts as a waste of time, grandmotherly, etc., and she's trying to collect some information from fellow knitters to give her argument some weight. She's made a quick, not very personal survey, and it literally took me less than two minutes to complete. If you are so inclined to participate, I'm sure she would be grateful! You can complete the survey here.

OK, update of my projects, with pics, to come in another post soon!

2 comments:

KnelleyBelley said...

I beat you to post, but you wrote a lot more than I did, and wrote it beautifully, too! What a great night.

Now go take a picture of your Isabella and show it off!

mad knitter said...

Awww, you are so sweet! I had a fabulous time last night! I wish she came around more often!

Isabella pic is actually *taken* already! But I still have to take a pic of the one sock and the next in progress to do an update post...I'm getting there! Maybe by the end of the weekend!