Have you ever had an experience that was so fantastic, so true and honest, that it speaks to you right at your core? That it leaves you feeling high afterward? Maybe the word verklempt applies here. That was me last night, after spending the evening at the Knitting in the Heartland event. It was AMAZING. No other word for it. I can’t believe I even considered not going. It was my first knitting conference and now I know how wondrous it is to be in a big room filled with people who speak your language, who understand what knitting means, that it’s not just an idle hobby. It’s so much more.
I mean, I walked into the hotel and there were people in the lobby just hanging out, knitting. Not one, but several. I got in line with all these other nice women who were friendly and helpful, and they were knitting! Or if they weren’t, I could see the yarn in the project bags they were carrying. I think they said there were 300 attendees. 
As I waited, a nice knitter sat next to me and we chatted about our knitting and friended each other on Ravelry. Then the magic truly began: Stephanie began her speech.
If you ever have the chance to hear her, GO. She is hysterical, so down-to-earth and casual and then she’ll drop these lines and have the whole room laughing. Plus she’s Canadian so she says things like “arse” and “eh” and it’s not an act, it’s just her and it’s delightful. She had me in tears at one point from laughing so hard. But it was more than just the funny stuff. It was about the “more”: How generous knitters are. How smart and persistent and creative we are. How knitting does wonderful things for our health, particularly our mental and emotional health. It was about self-esteem. She talked about how we need to own our power as knitters, embrace our talent and skill. We need to stop belittling ourselves before we can expect others to stop belittling us.
One of my favorite parts was when she pointed out often we deflect compliments of our knitting by saying “it was easy”, or “I just followed a a pattern”. Yep. I do that. No, she said, just say “Thank you.” Because it wasn’t easy. It took time to learn the skills, to practice to a point to where you can correctly follow the pattern to create that piece of art. To take it further, it takes creativity to match yarns with patterns, to put together color schemes and stripe sequences. It’s NOT easy, but we sometimes think it is because we love doing it so much. Like Stephanie, like so many other women, I am guilty of low self-esteem much of the time. There are a lot of things I don’t do well. It’s hard to be a mom–I mean, it’s great, but you don’t get a lot of validation that you’re doing a good job on a daily basis. It’s hard to be a writer–the writing is great but sharing it and being rejected sucks. So for her to tell me that yes, my knitting is beautiful, that it speaks to my talent and skill, well. I needed to hear that. Maybe we all did, because after the speech, I had women stopping me to tell me how gorgeous my Hitchhiker was (I wore this one. Loved it, except it gave me a rash where it touched my neck. Oops.) and I practiced saying, “Thank you!”
Okay, so the talk (which lasted an hour and a half, including questions) was fantastic, but then she signed books, and I’d brought one with me, of course. When I got up there, I mentioned that she’d tweeted me and told me I should come, and that I was so glad I had, and I could actually see her face light up with recognition! And then she was gracious enough to allow me to take a selfie with her. 
See? Amazing. Sighhhh. I want to move to Canada and live next door and be her best friend. (Except that’s really hard, apparently, moving to Canada. They don’t let just anybody in.) Heck, I want to BE her.
That would have been enough. That experience made the long drive in heavy traffic and construction worth it. But there was MORE: the market! However, this post is long enough, and that one will be equally long because OMG the market! Yes, I bought stuff. Probably too much. Tune in tomorrow to see what I got!
bonnyknits 
I went to the Interweave Yarn Fest yesterday and had a wonderful time. I sat in the atrium knitting while waiting for a friend and it was wonderful. I made a new friend, talked to many other knitters as we admired hand knits and swapped pattern names, and just soaked in the atmosphere. It is so good to be with your peeps!!
Isn’t it though? Knitters are the coolest. 🙂
“I want to move to Canada and live next door and be her best friend.” That pretty much sums up how I feel about Stephanie, too! I lived in Pennsylvania for a long time, and really have had my fill of snow & cold, but I’d brave it for that chance to hang with her at Knit Night. Fangirl, much?
There are so many stellar knitters for us to look up to now, some kinda wacky, all with great ideas and inspiration for the rest of us. Life is good, for knitters.
Oh yeah, I didn’t think about the cold and snow. Hm. I love her, but that much? Maybe we could all move somewhere with lovely weather, and just have like a knitter’s commune!
I’m so glad you went! I can’t wait to hear all about the market.
I started a Hitchhiker today. I have some gorgeous yarn I have been wanting to use, and I think it will be perfect and beautiful. It’s a worsted weight, so I’m using 5 mm needles. Have you made Hitchhiker in worsted? how did it turn out?
I haven’t but I’ve been tempted! The largest yarn I’ve used is DK. Are you on Ravelry? I want to see photos!
I want that sort of knitting convention here in the UK! Sounds like you had such a lovely time 🙂 And we’d need to have a Scottish speaker over here, so we could hear the word “arse.”
PS – What’s the female version of a bromance?! 😀
Oh, I can’t believe you don’t have anything like it! Surely there’s something? I mean, you all have Yarn Store Day or something like that, right?
PS- not sure but that’s totally the right idea. We could have a squad, like Taylor Swift?
We have knitting shows, but nothing I know with a proper speaking guest, which sounds lovely!
A Knitting Squad – sounds terrifying and funny at the same time 😀
Now that sounds like a lovely day out 🙂
Good you made the best out of having to go there 😉
It was indeed lovely! 🙂
Fabulous! What I really liked about the knit camp I went to last year was that there were knitters knitting EVERYWHERE!
Isn’t that so fun?? Everybody’s knitting something different and you see all the fun yarns and the different ways people knit, and we’re all so cool!
I’m hoping the husband lets me sneak over to the market on Sunday!!!
Oh, I hope you make it! But set a budget for sure! 😉
It sounds like a lovely time. I’m still hoping that I’ll get to hear her speak sometime. She was a big inspiration to me as a write (even though the genres we’re in are as far apart as you can get. So glad you went and had a great time.
Oh yes, I’ve thought for a long time that I should write some kind of knitting-related book. Not that it would be like hers, or anywhere near as good as hers, but she’s definitely proof that there’s a market for it!
Sounds like a brilliant event, and how lovely to spend some time with all those other knitters. Isn’t it great when you meet people who totally ‘get’ why you are so passionate about knitting. Stephanie sounds like she was a great speaker with many words of wisdom. I wish I could have been there too!
Oh, it was marvelous. It was like this blog community in person (wouldn’t THAT be fun??).
Oh yes – that would be amazing!
sounds like a wonderful time – inspiring in many ways! Good advice – “thank you” – I will try to remember it.
Sounds like so much fun except for the drive in the traffic