Sunday, November 05, 2006

Like Woodstock, But With More Yarn

Through the miracle of smoke and mirrors I may seem like a nice person, but the fact is I'm a demanding and obsessive martinet. Just ask these three lovely people, who got up at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning to help get ready for the Chicagoland Dulaan Knit-In.

Ladies and gentlemen, my dream team:

buzz

Buzz


bonnemarie

Bonne Marie

sean

Sean

Bonne Marie picked us up from my apartment in her rough-and-tough Jeep. In short order, we had the Alumni House fully prepared (following my very specific instructions) and awaiting the arrival of the Dulaaners. Check it out:

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Encouraging messages from Ryan and Konchog. (Konchog was unanimously voted Sexiest Monk Alive.)

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A table positively groaning with prizes...

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...under the watchful eye of Guess Who.

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Another table, covered with donated wool for Dulaan projects. (Look familiar, Penny?)

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The bust of John Evans in the Library, looking far more cheerful than is his wont. Carol made the hat.

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And on the buffet table, Buddha in Attitude of Contemplating Which Cast On to Use.

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The Dream Team gathered for a moment of reflection before opening the doors. And then, after a pause of about forty seconds in which I actually said, "What if nobody shows up?", in came the knitters.

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Lieutenant Buzz greeted arrivals at the reception desk with a smile and an overview of the facility.

And they started to knit.

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Some of my homegirls from Lakeview Stitch 'n Bitch.

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Aidan's extremely helpful wife Myfanwe (left), and the Two Sock Knitters Jonathan (center) and Meg (right).

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Aidan (rear) and his knitting son Norbert (foreground), one of those rare children with manners and charm.

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Knitters in the window. Knitters on the floor. Knitters, knitters everywhere...

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...but always room for more.

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The boys in the hall.

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Kneeling in front is Lauren, holding her first FO–a Dulaan hat.

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This is Grace, who started knitting in February and is already knitting extempore. She made that hat at the Knit-In, off the top of her head. Scary.

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Emily, who provided us with some of her luscious Sophie's Toes Sock Yarn as a prize. She made the hat she's wearing, start to finish, at the Knit-In.

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Lynette and her faboo cupcakes, which she described as "portion control desserts." So true, unless you eat five of them as some of us did.

In total, we had about seventy-six folks. If there's anybody I did not have the chance to thank in person for coming out to support Dulaan, let me say it here. This event would have been nothing at all without each and every one of you.

And now I need to go lie down for just a little while.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

69 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have the 4 of your contemplated going into the wedding planning business? The description of the martinet's demanding instructions and the photo of Sean doing what seemed to be napkin origami had me wondering!

Good going! Hope a happy knitting day was had by all.

My verification word is omjreoj....which strikes me as an appropriate mantra of some sort.

Rabbitch said...

Splendid!

Anonymous said...

So glad you posted today, as I was wondering how it went. Those of us far away from you wanted to be there in person instead of only in spirit --
Good on you -- all of you.

Cinderellen said...

Oh, to be picked up by the beautiful Bonne Marie...do you suppose she'd consider driving to Oklahoma? Great turnout, great project. Congrats on the success of your event.

marie in florida said...

i'm very proud of you all

Anonymous said...

"What if nobody shows up?" indeed. I knitted and ate chocolate in support of all of you yesterday afternoon.

Any tally on completed items for the day?

Anonymous said...

You deserve a weeks vacation for organizing such a fun event.I really enoyed meeting you, Sean, Buzz, the fabulous Bonnie Marie and, of course, Dolores of the magenta boa!! Thanks alot! Pam

Elizabeth said...

Only 76? It seemed like there must have been over a hundred! Great turnout. Great event! Thanks so much for organizing.

Anonymous said...

It looks such fun. I love the huge Dolores guarding the prizes.(Or is she one?)

Anonymous said...

Franklin, I couldn't make it but I still want to thank you for all the hard work and planning that you did for such a worthy cause. Orphans will have hats because of you.

Aidan said...

You weren't supposed to tell anyone about the cupcakes!

We all had a great time. Thank you for all your time and energy planning a great event.

When is the next one?

Scoutj said...

Wow! You guys all ROCK!

QuietdanMN said...

Bravo to you and your team, and to everyone who participated!

What better way to support a fantastic cause than with a great time and with wonderful people.

La Cabeza Grande said...

Well done, "Dream Team"! Believe me when I say that we Knit In participants truly appreciated your efforts as well as the beautiful setting.

All in all, a splendid afternoon!

Ann said...

I am sooo jealous!

Great job, you folks did!

Anonymous said...

What a terrific event, and what an amazing dream team! Thanks for the pics, and for organizing such a wonderful event!

erin said...

We had a blast! Sean does look less than enthused with the napkin duty, but he did a fanastic job!

LaurieM said...

That looks like it was a ton of fun.

Angela said...

Thank you so much for planning and hosting. It was so much fun to be there and to feel so welcome. It was a wonderful event.

Unknown said...

I had a lot of fun at the event. I made the pink hat (I forgive you for getting my name wrong--so many people to remember! OMG!) but if anyone wants a rough pattern for the hat you can go to my blog: graceknitsalot.blogspot.com
Hope y'all can understand what I wrote up!

Yarnsnob said...

Franklin,
Thanks for taking the picture with my Socks of Doom, my assassin was much appreciative. http://yarmando.blogspot.com/

Jamie/Yarnsnob/coffeegirl

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the great pictures and thank you for putting it all together. Any day spent knitting is a great day. If you can spend the day knitting with 70 caring and giving people, you have something really special.

Ween said...

It looks like everyone had a lot of fun. I wish I could have been there. But I spent enough time cold in Chicago when I worked for Quaker Oats on the other Clark St.

You are a pretty special person to put something like this together. I'm sure your efforts will bless you with good Karma.

Norskybear said...

I love the picture of Sean! ("I came all the way from Boston to fold freaking napkins?!")

Glad you had a great turnout.

BFF!

Annie said...

Boy, those two sock knitters get around... I met them at Rhinebeck just two weekends ago...Looks like a great turn out, Franklin. Kudos to you and the dream team.

Anonymous said...

Mongolian (and Wisconsinian) blessings on you all!

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing all the fun!

wish I could have been there.....

thanks also for taking pix of some people whose blogs I read (two sock knitters, mollywobbles, buzz, sean). nice to associate blog and face.

congrats on a perfect day!

anne marie in philly

Anonymous said...

Too bad you didn't have time to demonstrate some dance moves! Looks like a memorable time was had by all. Wish I could have been there in person instead of just in spirit!

Anonymous said...

That looks fun! Do you think you can teach us to knit over the internet?

BertandFelix said...

Had a wonderful time!!! Thank you so much! Not only did we all get together for a great cause, it was so nice to be around so many great knitters.

I have already finished a hat and am working on a sweater. See what being around other knitters does to me?

Once again, thanks so much for all your hard work!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for using all your organizational talents to put together a wonderful day of knitting, cameraderie and noshing. It was decided that the mac & cheese with potato chip topping covered the 3 main food groups. And thanks for introducing us to the "Tootsie Rool" a stimulating concoction.

Just finished the hat I was working on there.

Let's do it again.

Pearls Mother said...

Congrats on a wonderful event.
It looks like you all had great fun
but
did you find the time to enjoy yourself?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for throwing a terrific bash. My group really enjoyed themselves and it was so lovely meeting you again. You really know how to toss one heck of a party.

Much love to you and I hope to see you again soon.

Unknown said...

Very AWESOME!
Congratulations to all.
Good job to all those who contributed, organized and worked under Franklin's guidelines!

Franklin you are just GRAND to organize this event. Mucho kudos!

Mary Lynn

Anonymous said...

So many wonderful things to comment on - that Lauren's first FO is being gifted to such a great cause, all the yarn that was donated to knit with, the prizes, the dream team help, all the knitters coming together... And mostly You, dear Franklin, for deciding to bring your time and talents to pulling this together, and being the kind of man so many people want to work with and spend a day with. Namaste.

AuntyNin said...

Applause to the Dream Team! It sounds like you folks had a great knit-in. Like some others did, I spent Saturday knitting and wishing I could be there.

Angie said...

Franklin, it was a lovely, lovely event. I felt like I was amoung greatness on many fronts. Thank all the Dream Team for their efforts.

junior_goddess said...

Bravo, Franklin!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a lovely event and a wonderful job by the four of you. Did YOU get to knit at all?

Shannon said...

And now is the time on Sprockets when I apologize for crashing, hard, after teaching at Arcadia and not making it up to Evanston.

Bad Knitgrrl! bad! bad! I even had something I wanted you to autograph!

However -- the lovely ladies of Arcadia have asked me to come back and by golly, they want you in on it, too. Whaddaya say to a holiday knit-in for Heifer?

Franklin?
Dolores?

(crickets chirping)

Anonymous said...

Wow...you must be so proud! Wish I could have been there....

Oh, and does Bonne Marie always look drop-dead gorgeous? It's unnatural.

Anonymous said...

What a great afternoon! A honor and a privilege to participate ... in so many ways! And I even won something! Proud to be among the "boys in the hall!"

Would love to join in for the next gathering ... but ONLY if the person who brought the pretzel/chocolate/m+m taste treats attends!

xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

Oh, man - thanks for all the great, great pix and wonderful report. Even without the commentary one would know you and your Dream Team did a superlative job. Everyone looks like they're having a helluva good time! Congrats to you and the Team, and to everyone who participated. I'll bet the place was just glowing with good vibes and happiness. I've got major warm fuzzies. ;) Slainte!

Carol said...

Silly question: does Buzz knit? Or does he just look ravishing while he checks people in?

dpaste said...

Well done. Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Looks like a really great time! I wish I could have been there, too. Thanks for sharing all the pictures!

Tomme said...

Seeing all you knitters working away for others makes me feel warm all over, like a big ole' chai latte. Makes we wish I lived near Chicago. A private jet would be an acceptable alternative. Kudos to all of you, especially Franklin!

Carson said...

I'm so glad it was a success.
Sean looks very...reluctant
To be photographed.
To say the least

Anonymous said...

Buzz is looks wonderful! What a smile! How come Dolores didn't do something rude to him?

Congrats on the excellent turnout for the knit in. If it hadn't been for you, it wouldn't have been such a success!!!

Anonymous said...

Darn! I'm happy you all had a fabulous time!

How come Buzz always has an expression like his photo's going in a magazine?

Bonne Marie said...

OMG! You sweet man - what a wonderful day you made for all of us - thank you so much for all the time you spent pulling this together Behind the Scenes - the details were seamless and the FUN! that was had by all - I'm still smiling...

Two hats done...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the photos of the wonderful knit-in. I'll be unemployed in a few week--more knitting time. I do plan to do some Dulaan-ng and will not forget what fine company I'll be joining as I knit.

Jude in obscureknitty

Thorny said...

Whoo! What a rousing success! Congrats!

I've been reading the preparations here and wishing I could have gone, but my kids are at the charming-but-still-LEARNING-their-manners stage, and I couldn't find some sucker to offload them on... erm, I mean, a babysitter.

Next time!

MollyKnits said...

Awww, such a cute picture of Erin and her dorky best friend. Wish I could have been there, but alas, my life gets in the way of my knitting.

TheBunny said...

It looks like a fantastic event with a wonderful turnout. Way to go guys! I'd love to see more FOs. And I'm afraid I might need details on the pink(?) and green sweater worn by the lovely dark haired lady in the 25th picture down. Man that looks cool!

Oh, and Sean really looks like you were beating him in that first pic of him! Poor Sean. :-(

Anonmous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonmous said...

Thank you Franklin and Friends for letting me be a small part of this event, I felt genuinly honored to be included. I posted my own little epistle over on my side.

Thanks for the kind comments about my pictures on here, Franklin is one of the few folks who can take a picture where I don't end up looking like a serial killer.

CP Warner said...

Thanks for sharing all those pics, Franklin! Looks like it was a wonderful day. Since I'm in Massachusetts, there was no way I could have attended. I thought of you all as I was at work on Saturday morning, and hoped everything was running along happily and smoothly. Nice to see Meg and The Fool in attendance! (I first found your blog through theirs.) Congrats on a job very well done!

Unknown said...

I am in awe. You guys did such a fab job!! Congrats on the great turn out.
Delores looked lovely yet threatening as the guard for the prizes. How DOES she pull it off?? Amazing.

Arcadia Knitting said...

If Shannon & Franklin & the people want it, Arcadia Knitting is in. Name some dates and we'll get going!
Heifers for everybody!


Kathy

Anonymous said...

Andrew,

So glad you enjoyed the M&M snacks. I will be happy to bring them to the next knit-in.

Anonymous said...

Franklin, I just found your site, and the Dulaan project after the event, and really wish I had found it last week. Sounds like ya'll had a great time for a worthy cause. Next time you have a worthy knitting cause, I would love to contribute some yarn. Thanks Ron

Anonymous said...

wow. your friend buzz is super cute.

drew
http://colorguardblog.blogs.com/knitblog/

Jessica said...

ooh, I've never seen that many knitters in one place! Lucky you...and for a good cause as well! The cupcakes looked yummy as well and who could eat only one?!

Anonymous said...

I think this is the most fantastic project ever. I'm a graduate student with two jobs, so I'm not up for learning how to knit myself, but I've tried to recruit a few out here in L.A. My prayers for all who participate in the Dulaan Project.

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