“It Itches”
After a busy weekend, I am finally able to write about one of the biggest events I have attended in a guild meeting. For those familiar with the Boston Knit out and Crochet event that was happening yearly, we decided to change the overall attitude along with our appearance into what is now the Common Cod Fiber Guild. Our guest speaker to launch this inaugural meeting was none other than Franklin Habit of “The Pan-Opticon” blog fame. He was there to talk about his 1000 Knitters scarf project and his “It Itches” book. Clicking the link allows a preview of the contents, and will guarantee a giggle or smile from a fellow knitter.
Because I had arrived early at MIT before the crowd’s arrival, I sat with my friend from MetroWest Guild, Melody. Seeing Franklin enter the area outside the conference room, I looked at her and squealed, “OMG! It’s FRANKLIN, and he is so HUGGABLE!! I want to run up and hug him. Think he’ll think I’m crazy?” No need to find out what she thought because my friendly LYSO Lucy Lee of Mind’s Eye Yarns appeared to set up the check in area. I walked up to her to say hello and asked her about talking to Franklin. With a twinkle in her eye, Lucy responded, “Would you like to meet him?” Before long, I was telling Franklin how much I liked his cowboy boots and shyly asking if I could give him bunny hugs. Can I just say that Franklin is one of the most friendliest people in the world? 😀
After the room preparations were done, it was show time. First was guild president Guido Stein of “It’s a Purl, Man” podcast fame to make the introduction, and then we waited with bated breath for Franklin’s speech. Of course Franklin had one of his cartoons as the first slide, but of respect of not being a spoiler, I did not photograph it. I did however, take a photo of him taking a photo of us.
Franklin started his speech by admitting that he should not be standing where we were due to being an alum of a rival down the street (Harvard). Laughing with him at his remark, he continued to describe how he learned to knit during his later years in college as a way to demonstrate he was not a blue-collar kid. He spoke of going to a yarn shop that was unfriendly when he walked into it in search of blue wool. Hearing the audience’s cries of “How dare they!” made our camaraderie with him even stronger. He then talked about his project of photographing 1000 knitters who knitted on his giant scarf. Unrolling the scarf down the aisle, we all gasped on discovering it was the same one he started while learning how to knit. To knit this scarf, there were all types of knitters: blue-collar, white-collar, young children, teens, celebrities (knitting-wise), and numerous ethnic groups. My favorite was his description of one woman who was “rough around the edges” and whose hands were proof of it. She proudly knit her scarf section in her way – without bending in will. During his talk, Franklin also mentioned that his sister was in the audience. Discussion of his niece’s donkey sweater and the Christening shawl immediately engulfed our attention.
After Franklin’s speech, we all mingled around to chat with him and pose for pictures. I just HAD to see if he would pose with my Secret Pal’s socks, and he graciously did. Later, a bunch of us walked over to Asgard’s just down the street for some food and drink. With so many of us there that night there were lots of photos to take. Enjoy checking them out and living through our eyes!! =:8
