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Bluegrass Festival of KNITTING « »
WOAH!
(photo courtesy of lotus knits)
Was this ever a fun thing to do!
On Saturday, we (me, my editor Jessica Gordon, several charming women who work on the Writers Digest books, and our publicist Greg Hatfield) went to Lexington, Kentucky for the Bluegrass Festival of Books.
When we arrived at the convention center, we were met by show organizer Rachael Ray, the person who invited me to be on the discussion panel. She led us to the table, where we were met by Diane MacDonald and Jane Homeyer, the owners of Magpie Yarns (Because the Yarn Harlot already posted, I borrowed the link from her.) These women are so amazing, as soon as we all got there they started taking a coffee order! AMAZING hostesstes.
On one side of me was Susan Anderson, author if Itty Bitty Hats (which I’m sad that I forgot to ask her to sign.) Itty Bitty Hats is a really sweet and innovative collection of baby hats. On my other side was Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle! I’m just starting my copy, but after meeting Ann and hearing her speak and spending time with her…I know that I will learn a lot from this book. On Susan’s other side was Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, author of (ok, I know you already know.) 
So after we all signed books a while, it was time for the knitting panel. Susan, Ann, and I were on the panel, and my editor Jessica was the moderator. It was really interesting to hear from the other knitters, and in-person get their perspectives on knitting and what it means to them. Susan is one of Wisconsin’s leading entrepreneurs, and Ann has written like 7 novels, so I was the noob in the room of experts!
After the panel, the Magpie Mavens invited all of us knitting people to lunch! So we all piled into the minivan and went to a restaurant downtown. I’m secretly glad that the food took so long to arrive to the table, so that I could talk to everyone longer. We were discussing things like the slang words that you can and can’t say in different countries, and blogging of course, and book-writing, and traveling…I’m so lucky to have had the chance to talk with these women. It was really, really great. I can’t say enough about how fun that lunch was.
After lunch, I signed a few more books and we went home at 5. I totally had to miss the Yarn Harlot’s talk, but I had a lot of fun meeting people at the table. (Who am I kidding, while the Harlot was speaking, every knitter in the building but me and Ann were in the lecture hall.)
I met a lot of really fun knitters when Stephanie was done, though!! I’ll post photos when I get home from Rock City, I promise!
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 26th, 2007 at 6:50 pm and is filed under Book Talk, Trips, events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “Bluegrass Festival of KNITTING”
Stephanie, I assume you designed the sweater you’re wearing in this photo — I fell in love with it when I saw it in my Fitted Knits book. Is there any possibility that the pattern will be available at some point?
Dear Stephanie, I love the sweater you are wearing. Is the pattern available anytime soon?
Ack! There you are wearing the sweater I love!!!!
Oh, just noticed everyone else posting the same thing! LOL!
I see that everyone has wrote about the sweater you are wearing, and I just wanted to add to the crowd…I LOVE THE SWEATER!!! Is there a pattern? It’s very me
That’s a DITO for me too. I love this sweater. Is the pattern available anywhere? I’m just now finishing up the Back-To-School u-neck vest. It’s really beautiful! Thanks so much!