On Monday, I had a lovely dinner with a knitting group from Orange County, which was delightful. It was delightful because, even though I’m now writing this comic book and doing this cool thing, I’m still a knitter who likes hanging around people, and once in a while… well, it’s nice to just hang out and knit. You can see pictures from that night here.
Last night’s event was way more than a friendly dinner, though– it was quite an event! I went to A Mano Yarn Center early because I never know what L.A’s traffic will do to my travel time, and I like to sit and knit and have dinner before something like this starts. I got to work on my first Baby Surprise Jacket ever– I’m making it for my best friend’s impending arrival, and when it’s done (and I’ve figured out what gauge does to this jacket), I may need to make a second one real soon.
Anyway, it was A Mano’s usual Wednesday night knit group, but we also had a couple of new folks come in to see the comic and talk knitting. A Mano sold out of the comic, then sold out of the extras I’d brought with me (don’t worry– another batch is on its way to her today). I signed them all! To knitters or to their kids, I had a great time meeting everyone and putting a silver pen to their comics and not getting told “Don’t! You’ll deface it!”
I talked about the comic book, gave the guided tour, so to speak, and did a Q&A session with the lovely folks who were there. Many lovely knitters tried on the scarf and look beautiful:
More pictures of the scarf on the lovely ladies at A Mano are here.
In the course of my travels across the US, I have dropped in on many knitting nights, from Massachusetts to Florida, to Kansas City (more than once), and Texas. Here is something I’ve learned about knitters and crocheters: you are sassy people. I’ve found that many knitters have a slightly bent sense of humor. And they’ll crack a joke that’s a little bent, maybe a little racy, and they’ll often look over at me, and apologize and say something like “I only say that cause Debra and I have known each other for years– we’re not really like this!” and I nod and smile and keep knitting…. and a few minutes later, I’ll zing them back with one that makes them realize yes, we’re in that happy weird-humor knitting basket together.
Which brings me to Knitty. If you don’t know about Knitty, it’s a free online knitting magazine and a source of quality knitting patterns. Each issue has several great patterns of varying difficulty levels– a little something for everyone. And some time between each issue’s release, they post up a few bonus patterns to the site. They’re like finding a forgotten skein of cashmere laceweight in the bottom of your knitting bin. We missed the initial deadline for advertising in the Winter issue, but we got into the “Bonus pattern” sponsorship queue. To my delight, the Knitty bonuses went up yesterday. I’d like to encourage everyone to check it out and possibly give your heart to someone special this coming Valentine’s Day.
Shout outs!
3 Kittens yarn shop in St. Paul has almost sold out of Handknit Heroes, just a few days after they received their order!
Woolly Way in Ireland gives us a great review– very thorough and thoughtful. She also re-linked from another one of her blogs.
Ooo-Shiny posted a squee over finding out she’s in the Sneak Peek group. I hope she got her copy by now and will post an update soon!
Chris Church is giving away a copy of Handknit Heroes as a prize in her What Does the Future Hold? contest.
I found this awesome blog by a knitter who entertains kids on Hollywood Boulevard by dressing as a superhero and posing for pictures.
Finally, I’d like to welcome anyone who found us from LiveJournal’s knitting group.