Sing it with me now!
It's Friday! It's Friiiiiiddddaaayyyyy!Ahem.
Friday! Friday! Friday!
(soft-shoe dance break)
Friday Friday Friday Friday!
Tomorrow I don't have to go into the frigging office!
(kickline–bring it on home now, everybody)
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Frrriiiiii-iiiiiii-daaaaaaaaaaaay!
(Picture pose. Slow curtain.)
How I Spent My Tuesday Evening
As planned, I toddled over to the knitting meet-up that dare not speak its name at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Such a crush, my dears, as you never saw.
It was perfectly delightful, apart from the moment when a member of the museum staff addressed us collectively over the microphone as "Ladies."
It should be obvious to anyone who sees me that I am no lady, in any sense of the word.
But no matter. It was a wonderful night. I even helped four newbies learn to cast on.
(And when I say newbies, I mean so new they were still covered in placenta. They all had those kits from Target, with the size 26 needles and the ultra-bulky yarn, and one of them held up her needles and said, "Now, is this knitting or crochet?" Anyhow, I felt proud to be their first enabler. Aidan valiantly stepped in when one of them simply could not get the long-tail method into her fingers. Thank you, angel.)
Aidan gave me something, which is so special it gets its own post a little later on.
In addition to Aidan, Andy from the men's group showed up, bringing the andro contingent up to three.
I was also delighted to see Nancy Kwik and Dierdre again, from the Windy City Knitting Group. (Nancy brought along her non-knitting husband, who was extremely charming and very cute...you go, Nancy.) And the one-and-only Bonne Marie was there. Bonne Marie was working with this delish Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Worsted in a colorway (it's here, on the dress form) that she got right from the Lorna's Laces studio, and which was never issued. She's lucky I like her, or I might have tailed her out of the museum and mugged her in the dark to get it.
And, joy of joys, Jen was there, with little Alec in tow. (Well, actually she was carrying him. I don't wish to give you the impression that she was dragging him across the marble floors by a leg or something.)
Jen is the person who gave the world the bunny hat in Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, and she just keeps getting better. We lucky few got a chance to scope out a showstopping item she's submitted for publication. I won't say more, I will only say it made me want to adopt a toddler so I could knit this thing.
I don't know of any designer who can beat Jen for creating children's designs that go right up the edge of too precious without going over. The pieces are colorful, and whimsical, and yet never make even a dyed-in-the-wool cynic like me want to blow chunks.
She has hat kits on her site. She ought to have more. She ought to have a book, that's what she ought.
28 comments:
What did YOU work on, brother dear? (Love the dancing sheep, by the way. Charming, as always.)
Dear Panopticon,
I LOVE your sense of humor and your sheep cartoons. I know you are copywrighted on a blog, but is it okay for me to blow up a cartoon or two and put them in my cubicle at work? I would love to, but they are too special, and I don't want to feel as if I am stealing anything. - Polly
Hi Franklin,
Cynic, you, really? You don't come across that way to me.
Dawn
For truth-in-advertising, it should be noted that this all transpired TUESDAY evening! We'll forgive you this once, as it's clearly been a rough week (as evidenced by the overly excited, and impressively in-step, high-kicking sheep!). Happy Friday, indeed!
Oh dear. It was Tuesday, wasn't it?
I hope I'm not wrong about it being Friday.
Isn't it lucky to have friends who look out for one?
Oh, and Polly - I don't mind posting in cubicles. I'm afraid they won't print terribly well, but go ahead. I do it with New Yorker cartoons. But thank you for asking!
you know, ive beem waiting for the sheepies kick line for some time now.
Now, here's what we all want next: I want a t-shirt design that says "The Panopticon" on the back, maybe with the kick line, and a little sheepie monogram on the front left quad. Who else is with me?!
We want it baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!
You're a good person, Franklin. Friend or no friend, I'd have mugged her anyway. Because, well, there is friendship? and then there is yarn and then there is one of a kind superwash merino from Lorna's Laces and I have my priorities.
What? Stop looking at me like that. Hey, why're you grabbing that superwash and backing away slowly?
Ladies. . . . that happens to me all the time, except the other way. I can't stand the way people will regularly refer to a group of women or a mixed-gender group as "guys." I'm not a guy. I'm very clearly female. People need to think before speaking.
Love the new cartoon.
I think you mean vernix, not placenta.
And DAMN those dancing sheeps are cute! (I once played the witch in Into The Woods; I love that show.)
Yay Friday!
I meant the afterbirth stuff. That's not placenta?
See, shows you how much I know. I don't even know what day of the week it is. Is it any wonder I wouldn't know the difference between vernix and placenta?
"Vernix" sounds like the queen of Mars in some old 50s sci-fi movie.
"Bow before Vernix, earthling scum!"
Ooohhh... Can the dancing sheep be a shirt, so that I can knit together my love of theater and sheep?
Vernix is the fuzzy stuff that covers the baby--the placenta is the baby-bubble that holds it in the uterus and is a big ole mess when it comes out.
I'd love to meet Bonne Marie. She does great stuff and she was one of the few who blogged when I started. Chicknits, Dangerous Chunky and Red Lipstick were the first knitting blogs I ever read. I have to say that DC and Bonne Marie were the ones who made me want to blog. You have a great group there. Too bad my local meet-up is run by an insufferable designer.
Funny thing about "It's Friday!" That was the first "Happy Thing" that I listed on Lene's Seated View blog a few minutes ago. Now then, for those of us on EST and that start at 7 am...it's time to go home!!!!
Into the Wool.
That made me smile until my cheeks cracked. Even if Sondheim would never have incorporated a kickline into one of his shows if held at gunpoint.
I can't think of any mothers who wouldn't be pleased for you to knit cute hats for their toddlers and I bet they wouldn't even expect you to hang out with said toddlers, either. (Though, hanging out with toddlers for short periods of time can be fun. And mom's would love that even more.)
Well, hey, when someone is born with a caul, that's placenta still on the baby. I laughed out loud at the kickline sheep, loved the play when I saw it. Yes, it's Friday today.
OMIGOD Franklin your essay on Cast-On -- I see a book of your own in your future. Think James Thurber. With sheep.
Re: Your comment on my blog: No, why would I be snobby at all? Even if I were a famous model (not that I'm even a model), I wouldn't be anywhere near snobby. I'm a very shy and polite person...unless I'm furious at something... :p
I love the production number, except I would like to change it to a production about a SNOW DAY! Yes, I was due to work today (so I couldn't get too excited about the whole TGIF thing...no fun to go out on Friday night when you have to be up-and-attem the next morning), but SCHOOL WAS CANCELLED! Yahoo!!! Bring on the fun! Bring on the dancing sheep! I'm ready to play, play, play!
--Judy
I just wandered over here from Brenda's Cast-on - I wanted to say I really enjoyed your essay about the stash, and I love the "Into the Wools" cartoon!!
Hey, why aren't the sheep doing "jazz hands"?
OOOh! those high steppin' sheep are DEElightfully darling! You are so talented!
So much fun the other night - I did not expect such a huge gathering! P.M. - Downtown - could it get any more coolio...
Franklin, this belongs a day or two back, but we've been away, and I've been catching up, and I'm afraid you'd never see it if I put it where it belongs:
There was once we were staying with my mother in her Retirement Community in NJ. We had been to see the Barnes Foundation in Pbilly ... and she had never heard of it and I was trying to explain and wound up saying that it was sui generis.
And one of her old lady friends said, there's such a thing as being sui generis to a fault.
Cheers! Jean
Dude, I notice we haven't seen hide nor hair of your Olympic challenge ...
Just wanted to say I recently came across your blog and have been enjoying working my way through the archives. I'd just like to say that you are one of the BEST knitting writers I've come across. Wonderful essay on stash on Cast-On. Keep on writing and drawing and knitting and taking photos - you do it all very well.
Love the sheep, as always.
As for not having a toddler, may I suggest getting a stuffed bear of appropriate proportions. Or lamb, if you can find one. They're fun to knit for and they never complain that they hate the color or that it's the wrong season.
Well, I don't really suppose this is likely to have effect.
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