802 Online

You don't usually go to a yarn shop to meet bloggers — unless you're going to a book signing by a knitter/blogger, like Stephanie "Yarn Harlot" Pearl-McPhee. Then you can expect to spot at least a few.

Pearl-McPhee stopped by Kaleidoscope Yarns in Essex Junction today to sign copies of At Knits End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much. Williston knitter/blogger Margot Schips bought five copies. St. Albans knitter/blogger Norma Miller already has at least one.

The two cyber scribes already knew each other, though they didn't realize it at first. "Hi, I'm Norma," said Miller. "I'm Margot," said Schips. Then the light-bulbs went off. "Oh! You're Now Norma Knits!, Hi!" "Oh," said Miller. "Margot!" They hugged.

"This is what happens when bloggers meet," quipped Pearl-McPhee. "It's like, someone walks up and says 'Hi, I'm Bruce Wayne,' and then he says, 'oh, and I'm also —" Miller interrupted. "Superman!" she said. "Batman," corrected Pearl-McPhee. "She knows her bloggers, just not her cartoon guys."

Pearl-McPhee, who lives in Toronto, said her blog has undoubtedly driven her book sales. She's sold 80,000 copies so far — "that's enough for like, a revolution, or a cult," she noted. She said she sold 60,000 of those copies before the book tour even started, just by announcing the book on her blog. Pearl-McPhee will be staying at Miller's house tonight — they're friends; they met through blogging — and the two will be having a big blog-a-thon with a New York knitter/blogger who's also staying with them.

Blog-less bystander Helen Soule, who just came because she likes to knit, was intrigued by this offline manifestation of online community. "I feel like I'm getting a glimpse of this underworld I've never seen," she said. Soule conceeds that she'll probably start a blog before long. "I feel like it's one of those inevitable things that will happen at some point," she said.

I actually have more to write, but I have to take a break to attend the Tropical Fish Breeders meeting at the Burlington VFW. Never a dull moment for me.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the coverage in the Burlington Free Press. It's a nice article, but no picture online, and none of their links work, except for the one that lets you email the writer, Victoria Welch.

Picture, L-R: Norma Miller, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Margot Schips