Knit BIG!

Ok, how fun was my day yesterday????

TOO MUCH FUN!

That's me in the middle of Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer. Co-Authors of the book "Big Girl Knits". We are at Threadbear in Lansing for their book launch party/book signing.

I had to be there...I HAD to meet Amy especially, since she was the one who picked my Bloom Shawl pattern for the Fall '05 issue of Knitty. I had to thank her for one of the biggest thrills in my knitting life. Jillian is just a bundle of energy and SO much fun too. I was so glad to meet them both.

So I left the house about 12:45 and arrived at Threadbear just about 2:30. The party was supposed to start at 3:00. I first stopped at the front counter to grab a copy of the book, chatted with Matt for a couple seconds, and then headed to the table in the middle of the store where Amy and Jillian were set up. There were already a few others around the table.

As soon as I walked up, Amy said to me "That's a really nice Bloom Shawl". I pointed to myself and said "Creator of the Bloom Shawl!" and she jumped up, saying "OH! It's you! Let me come give you a hug!" She told me how much she liked the pattern, and how she enjoyed all the photos I had sent in along with the pattern. I told her I really enjoyed taking all those pictures of Kaitlyn with the shawl. She said the one they picked for the pattern, with Kaitlyn running with it flowing behind her was the kind of photo they like to see along with the patterns. She asked me several times when I was going to send her more designs. Blush....

I had printed out a fresh copy of the Bloom Shawl pattern, so I asked Amy if she would sign it. A lady sitting at the table thought it was kind of strange that I would ask Amy to sign a pattern I had designed, but we both agreed there was nothing strange about it. We both had a hand in bringing it to life.

Then I had her sign the copy of KnitWit that I had brought with me from home. (She's so glad to meet me?? Wow.... It's the other way around, methinks..... but still, thanks, Amy!)

Meanwhile Jillian was signing my copy of Big Girl Knits, which Amy signed when she was done.

Everyone who came in got a "KNIT BIG" pin, and put their name in a basket for a drawing for a T-Shirt. They were giving away T-shirts left and right and pretty soon everyone there seemed to be wearing one! They are so darned cute...pale pink with brown lettering...KNIT BIG on the front and on the back it has the name of the book, the authors' names, the website URL and the name of the publisher. I'm so glad I got one!


I hung around the store for 3 hours ... sometimes with Amy and Jillian, sometimes up front knitting and chatting with Matt and some other ladies. A couple of times I was asked about my B-4 Bag. I would point the ladies to where they could find the pattern, and one lady asked me to autograph it for her. Cool!

I tried to restrain myself from buying too much this time. I picked up some Baby Alpaca that was on sale, and I also had a few things to get for some friends back home that were requested. I didn't buy much else for myself...just a couple balls of Cascade Fixation in a green that is almost the exact color of my car. I'll use Lynn's Fast Florida Footies pattern again. (Lynn, I missed you! Wish you could have been there, but I know you were having a great day yourself...we need to catch up soon!)

Speaking of my car....I got my license plate about a week ago. I wanted "KNITIOT", which would have been soooo perfect, but it was already taken. I thought about ordering "GOT YARN" but decided I wanted the plate to have something to do with yarn or knitting, plus have reference to my car. So here's what I ended up with. Yarn....lots of yarn....always....in my boxy car.

Kaitlyn got me the pink ribbon license plate frame for Mother's Day. How perfect! And Jake got me the clear plate protector.

So I left Lansing and drove another 2 hours before arriving at my sister-in-law Lisa's 50th Birthday party. Grabbed a bite to eat, sang, and before I knew it, it was time for Kim and I to leave. We were signed up to walk 11pm-midnight at the Relay For Life. We ended up staying until about 1 am, and unfortunately there was rain off and on while we were walking. But it gave us a little preparation for how it's going to feel if it rains while we're doing the 3-Day walk.

I was so tired and sore when I got home, and I couldn't wait to peel out of my soggy clothes and get some sleep. I took some Tylenol PM and was able to sleep til 10am which felt SO good.

It was sure a busy day....fun and rewarding.