Exciting Technological Advances in Knit Night

• Me: The comments just keep coming in. What do I do? Just keep blogging and giving away yarn?
• Mr. Trask: Um…yeah. Or you could declare everyone a winner.
• Me: I can’t do that! We don’t have enough yarn.
• Mr. Trask: That can’t possibly be true.

Franklin shows us the swatch for his new "Feline" pattern. It has a companion pattern, "Canine," so that (as Franklin told us) you can wear cats and dogs together. More photos in this Flickr slideshow.

Overnight, I seem to have a whole passel of new readers, and I suspect it’s mostly due to Google+. After the Franklin Habit Google+ Hangout last night (about which more in a moment), Yana posted a note about my stash giveaway project, and this morning I had many new comments and even a few blog subscribers (hi, everyone!). Yes, I know you’re kind of here for the yarn, but maybe a few of you will stay for the prose. Right? [I’m having flashbacks to being a somewhat shy 10-year-old and watching my mother hire babysitters. I always had this suspicion that she was getting them not because I had a 4-year-old sister but because she felt she had to pay people to be my friends.]

For those who are just joining us, I’ll be posting an FAQ on the stash giveaway later today or tomorrow (depending on how well packing goes this afternoon). Essentially, though, find yarn you want, comment on that post, and wait for the deadline to pass. You can donate to my shipping costs, but you don’t have to. The deadline on the last post is Friday at noon, so there’s still time to get yourself some nice Jamieson & Smith yarn. Scroll down on this post to see more yarn you could win, just by commenting. We leave for England on Sept. 22, so Everything Must Go (except, well, for a few skeins I’m keeping for myself). All winners are selected by the super-duper Random Number Generator.

Shelter Log Cabin Blanket: Franklin Habit saw this! With his Franklin Habit eyes!

The amazing surge in readership leads me to my thoughts on Google+, which I joined a few weeks ago. Here’s the thing: I thought it stood a small chance of replacing Facebook, and it’s not going to do that for me. Too few of my friends are on it, and I believe Facebook’s got a major advantage still in its wealth of distractions (Lexulous, anyone?).  Where G+ is really taking off for me is in its ability to connect me with people I don’t know. On Facebook, I post more personal information, more photos, etc. I’ve never really been comfortable with friending many people I don’t know there. On Ravelry, I am, but since Ravelry doesn’t have a news feed there isn’t that real-time conversation feel that Facebook offers. So far, G+ is giving me real-time conversation with knitters I haven’t met before, and I’m really loving that.

Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky: Recommended by Mr. Trask's neck.

A lot of the connections among knitters there is due to Yana‘s efforts. She was one of the first people on G+, and she decided she wanted to create a community of knitters there. She thought carefully about how to do that, and she has already introduced many of us to one another. She’s figuring out ways we can identify other knitters through one another’s circles, and then what we can do to interact without feeling we’ve been shoved into the Wild West of the Internet. Every week, she seems to have another idea about how to get us all together (today’s idea: an exchange to finish one another’s hibernating Works-in-Progress). It’s pretty neat to see an interactive knitting community take root from the beginning – and I feel I’m seeing that more here even though I was a relatively early Ravelry beta tester. Some of the difference has to be that the online world has changed mightily over the past few years, but some of it is just that G+ is a different animal, with different priorities.

Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran: Just what it sounds like.

So – that’s my plug for you to try it out. It’s definitely one more social media site to cope with, and at the beginning that was a major drawback for me. But in the past few weeks, it’s started to feel different enough (in structure and in the people with whom I’m connecting) to be worth it. Add Yana to your circle if you want to keep up with her knitterly action. And, while you’re at it, add me, too! If you’d like an invitation from me to G+, just go to this link.

One of the new and different features of G+ is the Hangout feature, in which groups can video chat. This is perfect for a virtual Knit Night, which is what the Franklin Habit Hangout of last night was, ultimately. Those of us who had been chosen to participate were a little shy at the beginning, and having a few blips in the technology made me, at least, shyer. Plus, Franklin Habit is one of my favorite knitting people. I love the varied nature of his work: writing, drawings, patterns, historical inquiry into knitting patterns past, documentaries of his pet yarn crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2. He clearly works on what fascinates him, no more and no less. People like Franklin make me think that I might be able to cobble my eclectic interests into some kind of coherent whole, someday. And there he was, on the screen, looking like a man who knows what Einstein and the Queen argue about when they argue about knitting. So I kind of muted my microphone, sat there, and stared. [Eventually, the catatonia got better.]

Kimberly shows off the penguin Franklin procured at Knit Nation 2011. We never really got the story on the penguin...

When I signed on, Yana was showing everyone the yarn she’d received from a recent stash giveaway, which was so nice. And then there was some awkward silence. We all kind of sat there and knit and stared at Franklin and Kimberly. Eventually Kimberly asked each of us what we were knitting, and after show-and-tell the questions started popping up. I asked Franklin about Knit Nation 2011 (I was sad to have missed it, after the glory of 2010), and we gushed over the gorgeousness of Wollemeise. I also asked him whether Dolores would be writing her memoirs; he said that she’s hard at work on them right now, and that they will be illustrated, “but tastefully, so you can leave them out on a coffee table.”

Neighborhood Fiber Co. Sock Yarn Smorgasbord: The red and the pink probably don't go together, so don't combine those socks.

I also got to show everyone what I was knitting: a blanket made of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter. Tina (who also told us all about working behind the scenes at Rhinebeck) asked me whether I’d sold a kidney to pay for the yarn, and I admitted, in Mr. Trask’s hearing, that I have been buying a few skeins of Shelter each month on the sly, to make the blanket. [Now I will have to sleep on the porch for the rest of the week. But, you know, it’s going to be cold in England!] Yana asked him which of his patterns she should knit first; he said that he’s very proud of the Sahar Stole‘s construction and its knitted-on edging, and showed us his (and now I want to make one. I can’t cast on for anything new! Help!). He also showed us the purple gorgeousness of the shawl he designed for his mother, and several other goodies. A fabulous time was had by all. You can see more photos of the chat (and little anecdotes in the captions) in my Franklin Habit G+ Hangout slideshow on Flickr.

Sheep Shop Sheep One: really shows off the grain of the wood in that antique tray.

On to the yarn!

1. Three skeins Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed: one green, one red, one charcoal. This is crying out for some kind of striped scarf. I bought these skeins and two others at a little knitting shop in rural Pennsylvania – I wish I could remember the name. I used the other two skeins (navy blue and oatmeal-ish) to make a striped scarf for Mr. Trask. People, it is the only item I have ever knit him that he actually wears. It’s coming with us to England and everything. You, too, can make a scarf that will be worn! Imagine the glory!
2. Two skeins Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran – one in Water and one in Natural. This yarn is 45% silk and 55% merino. Scrumptious, indeed. Make yourself a gorgeous lacy beret for the fall…or, heck, whatever you want to make. Why am I going all bossy today?
3. A gathering of Neighborhood Fiber Co. sock yarn: semisolid blue, pink, red. The blue is Watershed and the pink (a special edition called Hypercolor) and the red are Studio Sock. All three are yummy, yummy.
4. Two skeins Sheep Shop Sheep One in a purty green color. There may be a third skein around here somewhere, and if I find it I’ll include it in the parcel. This yarn is single-ply and delightfully sheepy.

The usual info: yarn has been stored in airtight containers in my non-smoking, one-cat home since being purchased. Before mailing, I freeze the yarn for 24 hours. All winners are selected by the handy-dandy Random Number Generator. Comment on the blog by Monday, August 29 at noon EDT for a chance to win: what are you knitting right now? Would you knit “Feline,” “Canine,” or both? Would you ever trust someone else to finish a hibernated work in progress, or are you trustworthy to finish someone else’s? Do you want to hear about Mr. Trask’s and my transatlantic trip on the QE2 in 2003, or should we let the dead past bury its dead?

[Winners of the last giveaway: Syd won the Malabrigo, Laura won the Cash Iroha, Kitten (who must have a lucky horseshoe over her door) won the green Rowan, Jennie (from Wales! Where I’ll be in October!) won the Canopy, and LeAnn won the pink Rowan. Congratulations! Check your e-mail and send me your address!]