Thursday
From Susan:
The Yarn Harlot came to town! But that pales in comparison with the fact that Surly also came to town! Sally arrived today at 1pm. I picked her up at Minneapolis’ best kept secret: The Hubert Humphrey Air Terminal. Maneuvering through that airport is like time travelling back to the Fifties: an age when air travel was fun and uncomplicated.
First stop: two yarn stores — Borealis and The Yarnery. Borealis must have about the best selection of sock yarn in town…but I don’t really knit socks. At least not too many of them. They do have a wonderful selection of yarns and a lovely, friendly staff.
From Sally:
Borealis does have a fabulous sock yarn selection. I can’t even knit right now and I bought some lovely sock yarn from The Great Adirondack Yarn Company. What was I thinking?
From both of us:
The Yarnery hosted Stephanie’s book appearance. They, too, have a wonderful selection of yarn and a lovely, friendly staff. St. Paul is ground zero for some great yarn stores — the two already mentioned and Three Kittens are the trifecta of LYS goodness. Each has great yarns and great staff. We are really lucky here!
Now, on to the “Big Event.” The BE was being held at the University of St. Thomas. Despite the ridiculously horrible weather (from Sally — why did I leave 70 degree Washington to fly into a snow storm?) and need to hustle ourselves through the outside slop, it turned out to be a fantastic venue: roomy and yet intimate. The Yarnery staff had learned many lessons last year and the BE was greatly improved. It was very well organized.
Here are some knitting peeps as they ready themselves for the BE to commence:
They kicked off with a “Sound of Music” theme (hence the title of this post) — the Von Yarnery Family Singers (aka, Angie, Eric, and Jessica) regaled us with songs from the hit musical with a Harloty accent:
Could Eric be any taller, cuter, or blonder (????)
Shelly Kang has YouTube videos linked on her site — a MUST VISIT to hear these clever crooners!
Then out popped Stephanie and the crowd went wild! We laughed, we cried, we knitted — it was great fun.
Many of us stayed for the obligatory book signing/fawning session that followed. Here The Rainey Sisters meet the Yarn Harlot:
She said “hi” to Susan and then mentioned Sally — Susan said “she’s right there” OMG — all three of us in one room.
Friday
Friday was pretty uneventful as we tried to avoid the bad weather that continued to pound the upper Midwest. We rested up for Big Event #2: Yarnover.
Saturday — Yarnover
From Susan:
Yarnover was held at Hopkins HS for the first time — great venue. This year was the first that I was part of the planning committee. Sally was my trusty sidekick and very helpful (thanks for putting up with me!). We got there at 6:30 a.m. and got home at 8:30 p.m. Need I say more? I was a whipped pup, let me tell you!
About 300 people were registered and of course many drop ins checked out the vendor fair.
The list of instructors was a veritable who’s who of the knitting world, and I would hate to leave out any names, but let’s just say I was a bit knitstruck!
The highlight of the day for me was seeing (and touching!) Susanna Hansson’s incredible collection of authentic Bohus knitting. She brought a museum’s worth of priceless, vintage Bohus designs — here are a few examples:
Yes, that is a Blue Shimmer! Sally was wearing her Blue Shimmer yesterday so she fit right in and caught the eye of most of the people in Susanna’s class!
Oh, how I wish I spoke Swedish:
After BE#2, we got to dine with the aforementioned knitting Biggies and had a wonderful time. Here are some of the people at our table:
Sally with Ann McCauley
Chris Bylsma and Joan Schrouder (in a stunning but not-quite-finished Kauni sweater — knitting needles still hanging from the armholes!)
Susanna Hansson and Sally Melville
For all of the knitting-related “activity,” I got NO actual knitting done! Sally and I did pick up a little yarn along the way. Here is another mitered project for the near future:
Ode to Joy Cropped Jacket by Candace Eisner Strick
Sally ordered the Cape Cod colourway and I have the one pictured — Autumn. It is a bit unusual for me (some will challenge that statement!), which is why I chose it. In person, the color looks like water color, and very vintage. Part of it was that Sally and I were staffing the information booth the whole day and sat directly across from this sweater — its siren song proved irresistable!
Today it’s back to the Yarnery to teach a class and then Sally flies home. It has been a whirlwind of knit-tastic proportions. I wonder if this is a legit excuse for a sick call tomorrow? Maybe not! 🙁
From Sally:
Yes, I bought a sweater kit. No, I can’t knit. Is there a problem with that? I met many wonderful knitters and lots of people who read our blog as I sat at the information desk pretending I knew enough to help people. I can’t list everyone’s names, but I want to especially thank Shelley Hermanson and Anna Blomster for their warm welcome to me. They were two of the nicest knitters I’ve met and I was in awe at how hard they worked to make Yarnover such a special event.
PS — just received this photo of The Rainey Sisters from Shelly K.:Â
Hi…I was just looking at your gorgeous posting–loving every knit in sight, of course–and had to ask: What pattern is used for the beige and taupe cardigan with the red stripe worn by the sister on the left in the photo with yarnharlot? I just adore it and would love to know. Thank you! Dorothy
Comment by Dorothy — April 13, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
Fantastic! And, I hope you guys hard-copy and frame the pic of you two and The Harlot for your walls or desks! Almost wish I lived near by…except for the weather.
Comment by Nancy — April 13, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
What a great weekend! Boy do I miss the Twin Cities, and I didn’t even knit when I lived there. More fool me.
Comment by anmiryam — April 13, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
Thanks for sharing. Love the pictures too.
Comment by oldround — April 13, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
Dorothy — that’s an older Koigu pattern called the Toreador Jacket (and I knit it in Koigu). I made a few modifications to the pattern, but not too many.
Sally
Comment by surly — April 13, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
And let me tell you Dorothy, it looked even lovelier in person. As much as I wanted to get to the YarnOver, I think I would have suffered from overload. Thursday was an amazing thing. I showed the Von Yarnery Singers (on YouTube) to my husband. He was almost as impressed as I was. (I was also quite amazed that I got home in one piece given the way the snow was blowing.)
Comment by Pam/2muchfun — April 13, 2008 @ 5:13 pm
Wow! Good times! Nothing like that ever happens here :^(
Comment by Marina — April 13, 2008 @ 5:56 pm
You girls have way too much fun! 🙂 You both look fabulous and happy (great combination). The Harlot songs on you tube are a riot. Sally I love your bohus and may just have to do that one when Wild Apples is complete!
Comment by Michelle — April 13, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
Wow! What a fabulous weekend! And it’s really sweet that you girls still have the same bright smiles as in the picture in your banner.
I loved all the sweaters you showed. Every last one. But Joan Schrouder’s Kauni caught my eye and wouldn’t let it go. Even when it hurt.
Comment by LaurieM — April 13, 2008 @ 8:00 pm
Dear Sisters, my sister and I met you at the Harlot’s lecture and it was such a pleasure. Sally and Susan, your sweaters were even more impressive in real life than on film. I absolutely loved the colors in Sally’s, and Susan’s was a work of heart.
Please continue blogging and sharing your wonderful works with us. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy seeing them all.
Comment by Celeste — April 13, 2008 @ 8:24 pm
WOW!!! It looks like you guys had a truly fabulous time! And as far as buying yarn when you can’t knit – well, a gal’s gotta do something to stay out of trouble, right?? Here’s to quick healing!
Comment by Deirdre — April 14, 2008 @ 9:01 am
Ladies- I’m glad to see that you guys are spreading the “Rainey Sisters Love”
all around. Like Mary Tyler Moore.
Comment by Lorraine — April 14, 2008 @ 9:43 am
Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Love love love the Ode to Joy jacket. Hmm… do you suppose there’s an on-line source? Off to look.
Sally – hope you’re back to knitting soon. Susan – lucky you to be so close to so many great shops.
Glad you had the opportunity to be together.
Comment by Wendy O — April 14, 2008 @ 9:52 am
I’m looking at the sweater worn by Sally Melville. Could it be a sneak preview of a design from her new book?
Comment by Judith — April 14, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
YOU ARE SO LUCKY TO SHARE YOUR KNITTING AND GOOD TIMES TOGETHER! WHAT A FANTASTIC WEEKEND YOU HAD!
Comment by katomliz — April 14, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
Oh, how great! You guys look like you had so much fun. I was happy to catch the Harlot with my group when she was here in NY, isn’t she so much fun? (my pictures didn’t come out as good as yours):( Susan, I can’t imagine that you managed to get to work on Monday; impossible!
Comment by Marie — April 14, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
Oh, man! I am so jealous!!! It looks like an incredible time! :sigh: 😀
Comment by Romi — April 15, 2008 @ 12:04 am
OMG! Reading the Harlot’s blog has opened up a whole world of other nuts (er…I mean fabulous knitters…) LOVE the sweaters–I think I just printed pattern for the one on the tall sister (sorry, haven’t got you two sorted out yet–I’m hastily reading before going to work!) What yarn is it from, and where did you get it? Not that I need another project.
I’m so jealous that you got to see YH, and got photos together! Now I gotta come back and read the rest of the blog to see what other neat stuff you’ve done.
Comment by Lisa — April 15, 2008 @ 8:47 am
what an incredible time you must have had.. Fun Fun Fun.. Really nice pictures..thanks for sharing that.
Comment by cici — April 17, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
Hey, I’m in that first photo — extreme right edge, in red sweater and smile, chatting with soxanne!
That was an incredible weekend; I was only able to partake of the La Harlot event, but still… wow!
(Guess who is *finally* catching up on her Bloglines?)
Comment by kmkat — May 16, 2008 @ 12:40 pm