Debbie Bliss and Me (Diana)

Debbie Bliss was wonderful to have at the shop. She was informative, entertaining and and an extraordinarily lovely person. I was pleasantly surprised at her concept of designing for “real” women. Her sample garments, all sized small, fit the majority of the women attending the event.  She instructed us all to carefully read her patterns for not only the size but the EASE.  She told hysterically funny stories of  fashion models who came to photo shoots to wear her knitwear and she feared none of the garments  would look right because the models  simply never ate food. Ms. Bliss came and charmed us all. When she left we all had planned many, many projects and looked foward to her spring projects. Oh joy, oh happiness.

But this day did not begin so well for me. I arrived at 7:40 AM to meet the tent company to set up the heater and lights so everone would be toasty warm at 10 Am when the guest of honor arrived. I watched 8Am come and go, as did 8:30 and 9.  At 9 my phone calls to the company began in earnest.  I was polite in the initial calls.  At 9, the coffee, tea and scones were scheduled to arrive. Need I say more?  More phone calls.  Customers began arriving at 9:20.  At 9:25 rumor had it,  I was swearing into my cell phone, but I will not corroborate these rumors- I generaly reserve my swearing for later in the day.  Well, no heat or light, no refreshments, Debbie Bliss on her way. My head between my knees, I’m fantasizing getting into my car and driving far, far away.

At 9:50 I’m notified the heater and lights are here. At 9:55 the coffee is here.  There is a God.  Rapid scrambling and everything is set up and for a minute I am lulled into the crazy thought that everything will be OK.  I go into the tent to inspect the situation – OK it’s a little chilly.  Some women have dragged their stadium blankets out of their cars.  But now they have hot beverages!  I crank the heater on high.  It sounds as if a small plane is preparing for take-off.  Oh well – conversation is unnecesssary at this point.

It’s time.  Ms. Bliss has arrived.  Breathless with anticipation, I rush in to greet her.  I’m scrambling in my head on how to stall.  I appropriately fawn over everything Ms. Bliss has ever done in her career, then ask her assistant to set up in the tent while I offer Ms. Bliss a cup of coffee or tea.  Why yes, she would love a cup of coffee.  She takes it white you see.  This will definitely buy us a few minutes for the heat to work.  I ask one of the Rebecca’s if they wouldn’t mind getting it for her?

Thirty seconds later she returns with a look of abject horror on her face. She grabs my arm and hisses in my ear,

“There isn’t any more coffee!”

It’s now 10:10 Am. I’ve only had my coffee supply for 75 people for a total of 15 minutes.  This can’t be true.

“The coffee lady went to get more.”

“Where did she go to get more? Her car?”

Sadly I knew the answer.  Rebecca is great, she rolls with the punches, she just started brewing some in our coffee pot and stopped me from beating my head against the door.

I go outside to inspect the tent and ask everyone to take a seat.  It IS marginally warmer, the sun has come out.  People are now shouting over the din of the heater and I think I have no choice but to shut the damn thing down. 

I go back to tell Ms. Bliss it is time to start.  She had taken off her coat while I was gone and is clothed in nothing but a sleeveless shift.  Clearly she must have thought the heater had arrived in a timely fashion.  My mind races, as she walks out I’ll through my mystery afghan on her.  She’ll think its a weird promotional sort of thing. I’ll tell her I’m worried for her health.  Who goes sleeveless in December?  Maybe, since she’s from the UK she’s not familiar with winter on the east coast.  I resisted all of these things (thank heavens) and Ms. Bliss remained sleeveless throughout her presentation and most of her book signing.  At the very end she puts on the darling 3/4 sleeve DK weight number from her new Rialto book (GORGEOUS!!) 

At the end she left with her assistant, her sample garment and a bag of scones for the road.  I had a signed book, many new projects in mind and an appointment with my colorist – could I really have that much grey coming in at my roots?

I really hope everyone who had the chance to meet Debbie Bliss enjoyed her as much as I did(I hope you enjoyed the day much,much more!)