First of all, yes – I was wrong, Girl of the Limberlost IS set in Indiana. I got mixed up, sorry.
The car’s packed, I’m ready to head down to Indianapolis for TNNA and some good ol’ schmoozing and boozing (let’s be honest…) and some prime knitting, too! I’ve always wanted to open a yarn shop / wine bar and name it Knit One, Sip Two – but that’s another story…
I’ve had a lovely time here in Ann Arbor! I’ve always heard how great it is, but I hadn’t visited it. It may as well be in a different galaxy from Toledo (a scant 44.7 miles from my childhood address) and I really fell in love with it. Not enough to foreswear my move to Minneapolis, but I’d visit here any day and stay for a long time!
I got my hair cut yesterday – it’s very nice. Maybe a little bushier than I’d anticipated, but I think that has to do with relative humidity and the newness of the cut. It usually takes a few days for the effect to settle down – and overall I’m very happy! I went to Grace at Salon Vertigo (everyone has to wear their hair like Kim Novak) and asked for the Jimmy Stewart special.
I also REALLY want to mention how fabulous the guys at Naylor’s were – just spectacular! I might not feel so sanguine if my fuel pump hadn’t been covered by warranty… Everyone there was so nice, so friendly and really helpful – thanks guys!
I walked around downtown Ann Arbor and found one of the fairy doors – with a little, tiny fairy shop inside of it at Peacable Kingdom. I had SUCH a great time at this shop, and bought much stuff for the kids to play with when I get home! I especially like the tiny little locks and keys I bought – and for me the roses to decorate my car windows and the “W stands for WRONG” bumper magnet. I may need to remove that as I work my way further into Indiana…
But even with all of these magnificent treats in the day – the two main events were breakfast and the evening!
BREAKFAST
I ate with Jillian Moreno – and I am very happy! I really love her work, LOVE Big Girl Knits, and love her sense of humor! We shared stories, dished about editors-in-common (only good stuff… yeah, right.) and basically just had a great meal – Jillian, Lisa (my hostess) and me. AND I drank WAAAAAY too much coffee and suffered throughout the day for it!
EVENING
8 Knitters came over to Lisa’s last night and we had a potpourri class of my favorite bits and things – cabling without a cable needle, bobbles, some i-cord stuff, other niceties… We had a really good time, but I think it took them a few minutes to ‘get’ my sense of humor. After that the vibe was most excellent and I feel that everyone left learning a LOT about their knitting and opening their minds to whole new ways of playing with their yarn. I can honestly say that I have SELDOM had a more studious and hard working class – these were AMAZING women. You go, girls!
So off I go, in the newly fuel-pumped PT Cruiser, to Indianapolis! With any luck I’ll be there by dinner, with a brief stop off in Auburn to visit a childhood home (we lived there for a year, I’d love to see our house again) and a DEFINITE stop at Cracker Barrel for a new book on tape and maybe some oatmeal for breakfast!
HOSTESS
I cannot thank Lisa enough for her kind putting-up-with-me for an unexpected 3 days, for arranging some knitting classes to help fill the void created by the loss of my other gig – thank you SO MUCH LISA! I can’t wait until I get my camera to spit out those pictures so I can show you her amazing cottage of a home!
Pictures later when I’m able to upload them