Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The Other Cool Thing That Happened Yesterday

So I was helping out at the LYS yesterday, as I am wont to do from time to time, and in general, I was doing pretty crappy things. Mostly labelling things, in fact, and answering the phone as it rang off the hook. But one of these rings was very exciting.
"Fringe: A Knitting Salon," I chirped. "This is Sarah. How can I help you?"
"Hi," answered the voice on the other line. "My name is Cookie and I design sock patterns."
I probably cut her off at this point and gasped, "Ohmygod, are you Cookie A?"
Cookie A, in case you do not know, has designed some of the coolest socks on the planet. I have not knit any of them yet, as I'm still relatively new to the whole sock thing, and they are very complicated. Nevertheless, I assure you I have my eye on them. You might know her from knitty, as she has designed Pomatomus, Monkey, and Baudelaire, among others, as well as other really popular patterns that you have to pay for. She also hobnobbed with the Yarn Harlot at sock camp. On the socknitters list, someone mentions one of her patterns at least once a day.
This, in the land of knitting, constitutes a full-fledged celebrity.
As it turns out, she is originally from this area, and was calling up all the LYS while she was visiting. Excitedly, I gave the phone over to Nancy (one of the owners) and they set up a meeting on Friday.
Nancy told me later that we were only the second shop she had called that recognized her, which I find surprising. She probably needs a bona fide book to hit real celebrity status, but the internet is abuzz with her patterns. I will be very, very cranky with the shop if they don't start to carry them there.
I'm trying to find a way the politely crash the meeting and meet her. She seems like quite a character. She achieves a level of design in her socks that I could only dream of. Seriously, go look at the pictures.

7 comments:

Jen said...

I can't believe that you talked to Cookie A on the phone! It reminds me of this time in college that my roommate was the person in charge of bringing Ben Stein to the school to speak. He called our apartment twice and I answered the phone both times. Only, seriously, your story is better! :)

Tammy said...

Oh Cookie is just the girl next door!! Seriously, she is one of the nicest people you will meet. I hope you get the chance to meet her.

Sarah said...

Cool! She really ought to find a publisher for a sock book. I joined a German sock list because they have some patterns in English and even though I don't understand a word of the posts, I recognized "Monkey" and "Cookie A", so she is internationally famous in the sock-world!

DancingFish said...

That is awesome!

Anonymous said...

OMG, I would swallow my hair if I answered the phone and Cookie was on the other end. You HAVE to find a way to meet her. She's a celebrity in my little world.

Anonymous said...

Cool story, however, I'll bet you would have fainted if it had been the Yarn Harlot on the phone!

Carrie Penny said...

Cookie just seems like someone that you could hang out with that has the funniest commentary on life. Very vibrant, talk about someone you wouldn't be upset if they called at a bad time!