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
! My knitting immersion therapy is over and it’s back to the daily grind (yes, Marie, I did go to work today, dragging my sorry behind behind me!). I could have a “booster shot” by attending tomorrow evening’s MKG meeting, recapping the success of Yarnover and listening to Joan Schrouder’s knitting wisdom. We’ll see if family obligations allow me off my leash for another night.
 It was way too obvious being right on the front! I ripped and restarted with a new ball, but should I have to? Isn’t that why they created dye lots? I know handpainted yarnie la la’s can vary a lot, but this is standard Rowan issue. (It doesn’t say anywhere that it’s handpainted). 
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