The Harlot Herself

Maker Faire was awesomely cool. This is my second year attending, and I really cannot recommend this event enough to anyone who has an interest in electronics, art, crafting, and anything associated with DIY culture. We saw oodles of cool stuff. One of my favorites is the life-size mousetrap:



This is a recreation of the children's board game. It is a serious thing. That bathtub up there? It's a real full-size bathtub. Very cool! More interesting stuff:



A huge sculpture. There's a head attached to that body. Click on the picture for more on my Flickr page. I also stopped by the Verb/Tactile booth to say hello to Kristine, but I couldn't justify any purchases, especially since I saw them just last weekend. But the best part of the day by far was seeing Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot Herself, speak first thing when we got there. We were actually a teensy bit late because I forgot to account for atrocious parking conditions. Now, the Harlot has been on this book tour almost continuously since the first of April, which can wear hard on a person. Occasionally, folks have brought the Harlot a brew to give to her at the book signing portion of her visit. Now, I wanted to bring Stephanie a beer, but Maker Faire is held at the San Mateo county fairgrounds. This means no beer. In fact, no alcoholic beverages or glass bottles of any kind. So when I woke up on Saturday morning, my brain decided it would be a fabulous idea to make her a beer that she would enjoy, even if it were not refreshing in the traditional sense for beer. That's right, I knitted her a beer.



The brown yarn is Cascade 220 wool left over from the sweater I knit for my brother last Christmas. The label is Tahki Cotton Classic, and the whole bottle was knit on US size 5 DPNs. The black lettering in Jamieson & Smith Jumper-weight Shetland wool. There are two index cards rolled up inside the bottle to provide a cylindrical shape, and some scrap yarn stuffed inside. Sticking out of the top is a single lock of plain wool for the froth. In case it isn't obvious, this is meant to be a bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Now I want to say that although this is not my favorite beer, I believe it is the beer of my people, the northern California twenty- or thiry-something. I think she liked the beer, because she took my picture. Here she is with the beer, proof that I was actually able to part with it:



I told the story of this beer to at least 8 other people this weekend, and I think a few of the significant other's friends were hinting for knitted beer of their own. I am almost certain I will knit another one at some point in the future. This only took a very small amount of yarn, and I have the right colors in my stash to do at least a six-pack. :)

I was able to finish knitting and blocking the Tangled Yoke by the time we left, so I did wear it to Maker Faire sans buttons, but ditched it in the heat of the outdoors. I am now in the happy position of deciding what to cast on next! I'm also thinking about what projects & yarn will come with me to Germany in four weeks. Definitely need some deep thinking there.