Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Toronto Briefly

Last week I went on a last-minute business trip. I was filling in for a colleague who wasn't able to attend a quick two-day conference in that most glamorous of cities, Toronto. Some people refer to it as home of Leaf Nation, but we 51 million knitters know that Toronto is home to the the one and only "Yarn Harlot", Ms. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Or as Greg Kinnear says, the "Michael Jordan of Knitting".

I flew from Boston and arrived in Toronto. While waiting in the taxi line at the airport in Toronto, I spied a thin woman with sort of "wild" hair rummaging through her bags. She was kneeling right beside me. My eyes keyed on the wavy hair, then the glasses. Oh my God! It was her!! The Yarn Harlot, right beside me! What were the odds??!! I carefully maneuvered my cellphone camera and Kinneared her.

Well, okay. I Kinneared her bag.

But turns out it wasn't HER bag. I know this because after I "surreptitiously positioned my camera low and out of her line of sight", I pressed the photo button and the flash went off. Ooopsy! Turns out, it was getting dark in the taxi line, and I'd forgotten about the automatic flash.

The woman turned and looked at me kind of funny. One look at her face and I realized she was not the Yarn Harlot. I did what any good Kinnearing photographer would do. I acted all shocked and surprised. Whoa! Isn't that weird that my camera phone just flashed!! Darn technology, must have hit a button wrong! Silly me!

Thankfully a taxi pulled up to the curb and I made my escape.

The next evening, after a day of meetings, I headed back to the hotel, and Googled my way to the Harlot's favorite yarn shop, Lettuce Knit. It was only a few miles from my hotel. Jackpot! And it was Wednesday. The shop usually closes by 5pm, but on Wednesday it stays open late. Luck was again on my side. Maybe another chance to see her! (And another opportunity to use exclamation points in my blog. Yippee!!!)

With directions from the concierge, including input from the two bellman in the hotel lobby, off I went. Soon, I was standing in Lettuce Knit, probably standing in the same spot the Harlot had stood.

Isn't the internet wonderful? Leading me to this sweet little yarn shop that I never would have found on my own? It was tiny, but filled to the brim with delicious yarns. Bins and bins of Socks that Rock. Hanks of Koigu overflowing from the shelves. In an instant the yarn fast that I'd been on for the past few months ended. I had a credit card in my purse, the U.S. / Canadian exchange rate be damned, I bought yarn. I couldn't help myself. It is Socks that Rock, in the Lettuce Knit colorway.

This little shopping spree was most certainly the highlight of my brief trip to lovely Toronto. And although I kept my eyes open for a Yarn Harlot sighting throughout my visit, it was only while waiting on my flight back to Boston that I learned of Stephanie's whereabouts. As luck would have it, while I was in Toronto, she was in Boston. Oh the irony.

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