Monday, October 16, 2006

Austin Meet N Greet

Warning: This post is long and picture heavy. Yay!

How do you explain fun? How do you describe how awesome something was? I'll try, but damn, I don't know if I'll do it any justice. Seriously. I honestly figured there would be maybe 5 people there (including me) and that it might be a smidge awkward. I love when I am wrong. Sometimes. This time I loved it anyway.

As usual, I was running late to a function. Now folks, it doesn't matter if I leave at 7 am for a 2 hour drive when I don't have to be there until 10 am. I will be late. There will be accidents, construction zones and funerals. It's a given. I give up trying to be on time. I'm just going to accept my tardiness and be done with it. So I was supposed to be at Opal Divines by 10:30 am to be able to greet everyone and at 11:00 am I called the restaurant because I was still 45 minutes away. Shocked? No? Shut up. At least I called. Jeez. So I told the hostess to possibly expect people and to go ahead and seat them or whatever and let them know I was running late. Her response was that a few people had already showed and had been seated. Huh? People already? Cool! Then I began to panic. There were people already there and waiting. WAITING! Then it hit me. It's knitters. They have yarn. They are so not bored or anything.

So I finally arrived and by golly there was cheering! Mostly by me because I was out of Austin traffic and there was food in my future. Skipping breakfast is not so much for making a fun drive. I'll try and remember that in the future. We had a very nice turn out with folks from Austin, Dallas and Houston. You guys rock, you know that? So this is who showed up for our yarn party.



Let me see if I can get all the names right here. *Crosses fingers.* If I get anyone wrong, please let me know I'm an idiot so I can correct it. K? Thx. Starting with Jo in the blue shirt and going clockwise around the first table, Chris, NanC, Snowden (sadly blogless), Nancy (also sadly blogless), Ellie, Julia (who is hiding here but I got a pic of her tattoo. Hee!), Kristin, Meg and P-La. At the second table is Caro in the background and Stacy.

Here we have (from the left) Meg, Kristin and Amy showing proof that swatching happens. And what happens when there is no swatching?

Rrrriiiiiiiipppppppp. Poor Snowden. And she can't even blog her frustrations, hint, hint. We tried to promote blogging. We were ruthless. Ok, not really, but we can pretend, right?

Jene (below in the blue shirt, but sadly blogless as well) also came and played with us. Look at all the yarn on the table! So wonderful.


But then yarn on the table was the order of the day. Also, there was tattoo showings and adorable purses and project bags every-damn-where. And beer. There was definitely beer



Hi Julia's Leg!!


Also, there were some evil people there from a cool organization called Thundering Paws but y'all, they brought kittens. That needed homes. Kittens + Knitters = Lots of not looking that way cuz there are cute kittens. Also, lots of "Awwwwwwwww how cute!" There might have been a couple of "Well, we had talked about another kitten." and some "No, I cannot take a kitten home." I do not have a picture of the kittens. That would just be cruel. But if you click on the link for them, there are kittens. Consider yourself warned.

So all in all, I would say it was a grand success and will definitely happen again. It was so cool to get to meet everyone and it was just...damn fun, guys. There was yarn petting and pattern drooling and so much laughter. There was music, food and drink. There was talk of rotating the Meet 'N' Greet and I like the idea. I like the idea of rotating between Austin, Houston and Dallas so that the same people aren't having to make a long drive each time. Plus, it will allow those folks who simply cannot afford to drive across state to participate. No, we won't be holding one in El Paso, I'm sorry. There had been talk of San Antonio but, damn, this bunch loose on the River Walk? Scary. We'll see how we progress.

So around 3 pm, Chris, NanC and I headed for the Lonestar Knit Out and Crochet. It was nice and relaxing and we met some really cool folk there as well. I don't know names (unfortunately) but here are some of the pictures taken there.

Scary Doll. Cool sweater.


Now this next photo is a kicker. Everyone know of Mom of the did not give birth to me variety? The woman on the left in this picture, is her sister. I shit you not. I haven't seen her in almost 10 years. I flipped out.



The poor woman on the right with her finger stuck in her eye? She's the one who put the whole Knit Out thing in Austin together. She's allergic to wool, people. I will give you a moment to process the horror that is her knitting life. Bless her heart. She had to have been miserable all day.



I love that bright hat. I covet that hat.

And then this woman was perfectly lovely and fun to hang out with and she knit a Princess Leia hat!! How cool is that??



So around 5:30, Chris, NanC and I headed off to find food. Well, they ate and I sampled a bit. At 7:00 I met up with Jo and her lovely daughters for dinner at the Hula Hut in Austin and y'all, I cannot recommend it more. The food was fabulous, the atmosphere was awesome and the company was way too fun. There was singing and dancing in our seats and food. Damn good food. I won't tell you how late we hung out on the pier where the restaurant is, because it was an ungodly amount of time that just seemed to fly by.

I cannot thank everyone enough for coming out to play and just making it a very kick ass Saturday. I don't think we should do this once a year. I think we should do this once every 4 months so we hit all 3 major cities in a year. I miss everyone already and cannot wait to hang out again.

13 comments:

Plum Texan said...

ACK to have been able to come! I'm cheering for Houston in the next quarter - but Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio are all acceptable drives...and maybe then I could actually *see* the Stalker in person (because I missed you at the Harlot event).

Glad y'all had a blast! I'm Susan Plum Texan (of the finished-in-line-for-Steph's-signing Texas dishcloth), and I stalk the Stalker.

Sugar Britches Knits! said...

Oh I'm so glad ya'll had a good time and plan to do it again!! I'm in Waco so any of those places I can drive to. I'm still sick I didn't get to make it. I was hoping to meet the stalker and bloggers and hit some yarn shops for my birthday. Oh well I got an air condtioner instead and considering its TX that is unfortunately as important as yarn lol.

P.S. We could even do a get together here in Waco since its halfway between Austin and Dallas...if anyone wants to!

Anonymous said...

How fun! I can't wait till I actually LEARN. TO. KNIT. Yeah, sad, huh? I've been trying to get out and make purchases and take classes some weekend but it hasn't happened yet. I need my weekends back! Great pics, though!

Aileen

Anonymous said...

It was much fun and I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer! Hugs! (ps - I owe you some queso...)

janna said...

I'm so sorry none of us could come up from San Antonio. It looks like so much fun! But we'll see (some of) y'all at Kid'n'Ewe....

catsmum said...

do you realise I've been stalking your Blog since saturday? Just as well you finally posted about the day or I would've been on a plane for Texas [ just kidding ] :]
How often are you gals going to do this d'ya think?

Anonymous said...

Well done, Angie! I knew I could count on you for a much better post than I could've done. So much fun!!

I'm completely with you that we should make this a regular thing . . . maybe Dallas in February?

I'm really really really surprised that I didn't end up bringing a kitten home with me . . .

Anonymous said...

Great photos! I'm sorry I had to miss this one, but I'm glad to hear that the crowd is willing to travel. Houston, next??

Carol said...

Sounds like a good time was had by all! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Looks like y'all had a great time! Sorry San Antonio wasn't representin'. The Riverwalk is a cool place to knit. I'm just sayin.

Christine said...

I wish I could have been there. Oh, how I wish I could have been there! I promise, next time I will come. And if it is in Houston, I will even help organize it!

Are you coming to Kid & Ewe? Can I interview you for the Pointy Sticks podcast? Because really, a Knitter Stalker NEEDS to be on the show. Please?

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you went to the other knitter function too! I was so tired, that when I got home and the kiddo was with her grandma for a few hours, I took a nap. It was tons o' fun. I'm looking forward to K&E. Glad I finally got to meet you Angie.

Landstown Poultry said...

Delightful post! I enjoyed every word and am totally over and checking out Thundering Paws.

It was great getting to meet you at the Knit Out.