On Friendship and Brushes with Greatness

My copy of this one is a little crumpled from reading it in the tub....

Once upon a time, many long years ago, I hosted a Knitting Club for homeschoolers and their moms.  We met at various churches in the area (having long ago outgrown my living room) and at one of these gatherings, I met a knitter and her daughter who were both very nice and seemed to enjoy our group.  As we chatted one day, this mom and I, we discovered that we shared the same birthday month and day.  In my mind, it was from this point that we became lifelong friends.

Sadly, as is the case quite often in an area where military families are stationed, they moved away a few years ago and we now keep in touch through email (I'm horrible at this and keep hoping one day she will show up on Facebook, but until then I continually resolve to be a better emailer) and Ravelry.  We trade knitting stories, life events, snowfall amounts (mostly that bit comes from her, not me) and she has been a huge help in my homeschooling journey, having kids who have graduated and become productive members of society.

This morning I opened an email from her to discover that she had had a chance to meet one of her own personal knitting heroes--the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  If you are unfamiliar with the Yarn Harlot, it would be an excellent and wise use of your time to pour yourself a beverage, grab a snack and spend an hour or more reading through her blog (winner of more Canadian blogging awards than my blog), and then grab a few of her books and spend even more time reading those.  She knits.  She's good at it.  She understands us.  And she writes about it all in a way that I promise you will love.

Here is an excellent post to begin with, if this is your first exposure to Ms. Pearl-McPhee.  Read it, appreciate her humor and humanity, feel as I did the twinge of envy that they have enough knitters in their area to host a Yarn Harlot book signing,  and be sure to scroll through all the pics.  See the one of Janna in her shawl, holding up some socks? That's my friend's sweet (extremely talented knitter) daughter.  Isn't she cute?  And I have it on good authority that that shawl won first prize in their county fair.

Congratulations to Janna on your continued knitting, your prize-winning knitwear, and your being featured in an award-winning, internationally famous knitting blog!  I fully expect to come to YOUR book signings some day!  Also, give your mom a hug from me--I sure do miss her, despite my infrequent emails!