Knitting in the Snow (warning: photo intense blog)

Those of you who know who the Yarn Harlot is will understand why so many people came out on the windy, showy, icy evening to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak. For those of you who don't know who she is, click here to read her blog.

Here we are at the University of St. Thomas waiting in line for the event to start.

The Yarnery put on the event, scheduled and rented the space, advertised, gave away door prizes, raised money for Knitters without Borders. To help pay for the event, they also sold books that Stephanie was kind enough to sign, as well as miles (kilometers?) of lovely yarn.

This is my friend Betty.

And my friend Ann.

I "Kineared" a gorgeous shawl. I'm not showing her face because she had no idea I was taking her picture. Isn't that beautiful work?

Of course, we started the event with the Canadian national anthem, Oh Canada. Stephanie is from Toronto.

Periodically, the Yarnery lady would draw for door prizes. Pattern books, yarn, you name it. We all got lovely bags that work like little backpacks to put our prizes in.

And, of course, the event wouldn't be complete without some "roasting" in the form of music. I apologize, I can't remember the name of the Yarnery's group! I'm sure some wonderful person can put it into the Comments for me. Anyway, you can see the photo of Stephanie on the slide screen above that adorable young man. There were 4 who played and sang: The adorable young man, the two ladies singing (one of whom played guitar as well), and the piano player. They were very, very good. My next blog may well have a brief video, assuming they don't put a comment in here asking me not to. Of course, they will have to find my blog to do that.

Finally, Stephanie came out to begin her talk.

But first she had to take "sock" pictures of us all.

As always, her comedic presentation had us all in stitches.... (sorry)

Mixed in with her humor was some serious information about knitters entering the "theta brain state" and becoming healthier, calmer, more alert people, who are more aware of our surroundings and able to learn and remember more than those who don't knit. (And did you know knitters outnumber golfers, 2 to 1?)

She was very validating.

After a brief question-and-answer period where she elaborated on her walk to the store for toilet paper and beer (see March 18), we politely ordered ourselves numerically (we were given numbers as we arrived), and lined up to have a brief moment with our hero and have our books signed.

This is Betty again; we're waiting in the line. I was #58.

Ann was number 61.

I "Kineared" a gorgeous, lacy sweater while we waited.

Just behind us was this amazing piece of knitted tapestry. She's doing a series of these.

Finally, Betty and the Harlot.

Me with the Harlot

And Ann and the Harlot.

At the beginning of this blog entry I mentioned the snow. When I left my office in Anoka at 4 p.m., it was just very, very windy. I had to struggle to keep my car in my lane. By the time I reached St. Paul it was snowing heavily. It felt like God was throwing snowballs at me.

After the event was done it was just raining (albeit freezing rain). The drive wasn't too bad. There was a lot of slush on the road but driving up Snelling Avenue at 35-40 mph didn't feel too scary.

But I realized, as I was getting close to home on County Road E, that it was ice, not dirt, that was blocking the light.