the fest

Wow! My head is swimming. I just got home from the Victoria fibre festival and knit out. I meet tons of knitters and had tons of fun.
Friday:
The fashion show was very cool. I was surrounded by creative, talented, fun women. I had a blast. Patti is one of the nicest fashion show organizers I had the pleasure of meeting.
The knitters took over the Queen Mother Waterside Restaurant. Have you ever seen a bunch of knitters scrambling into outfit after outfit. Well you should. I would highly encourage all knitters to participate in a fashion show at least once.
The whole restaurant (even the non-knitters) cheered us on.
Saturday:
Then I did the Yarn Crawl thing. Those of you are fortunate enough to live in a city may not realize the seer pleasure there is for a small island girl (woman) to roam from yarn store to yarn store. Saturday was the perfect day for shopping it rained. We even hit a few stores that weren't full of wool.
Then I meet the Yarn Harlot. Her talk was so entertaining. I couldn't believe that she spoke for 45 minutes. I could have listened all night. I waited in line at the book signing - latest book in hand. In the other hand I had a surprise for her. I got to know a few knitters while standing in line. Knitters are so approachable. Then my turn came. She signed my book. I handed her my surprise: my audio book. She acted very pleased to receive it. What she said was kind and appropriate. ...but still it was Validation. Okay...too much. I have delighted in reading her books and now she was interested in reading mine. I knew I had to leave quick. So I did.

Sunday
I saw the Yarn Harlot again. ...and we won't go into it. Needless to say I did embarrass myself. Please don't force me to go into it. It seems that no kind of yarn is safe when Leanne is around. I am sorry Stephanie.

Let's start again shall we.
D-day at Saxe Point Park. My first off-island book reading. I knew I knew the stories cold. And when the crunch came I froze. I felt defeated but I carried on. What next? The mic died. I stood there for what felt like five minutes like a deer stuck in the headlights. Five minutes...shows how many people where listening. What had happened? I wasn't standing on a cord. The mic wasn't disconnected. Someone came to my rescue. A kindly gentleman and Hubby (not that hubby isn't a kindly gentleman...but you know.) They discovered that the generator had died. Moments later a new supply of gas (or whatever runs generators) had arrived. I carried on...smoothly this time...or so I thought. Turns out I was bringing the mic to my lips and then pulling it away. So some parts where loud and some parts where soft. Oh well.
Then I was done. I thanked everyone for listening and...
I ran to my booth. Tail between my legs. I felt crushed. I didn't hear the applause. I didn't realize that I had indeed had an audience.
Later, knitters did what knitters do best: they supported me. One said,"My friend said, "Look, she's not even reading." We were amazed that you had all those stories memorized. We thought you did very well." How I appreciated hearing those words.

Now we are home.

And if you are keeping score. The weatherman was right for most of the day. Even though the sun did shine and the rain did stop. Wish I could say the same about the wind.

Same time next year - second week-end of June - I hope to return: new and improved.