May 20, 2008

In which Rachel H and I hatch a plan

I don't know if you are going to find this as remarkable a coincidence as I do...but this year my birthday falls on World Wide Knit in Public Day. Seriously. This year June the 14th is not just that day when knitters world wide host events, go out in public and represent knitters everywhere they go, but it is also my birthday, and not just any birthday, but my 40th birthday. I hear what you're saying, and I agree. This spells party. Big party.

Now Rachel H and I, we are the Queens of Knit Party. If you want to have a knitting party then you should call me and Rachel because we know what a knitting party needs. Music, yarn, (free yarn), fibre, (free fibre) beer (not free beer. We don't know any beer people. Just yarn people) cake, sunshine, knitters everywhere and all kinds of stuff, and if it can possibly be arranged, then you should have it in a yarn shop. (This has turned out to be the most difficult part, because Rachel and I do not own a yarn shop and are therefore reduced to invading, stealing and otherwise procuring the yarn shops of others. This can be tricky.)

When Rachel and I realized it was my 40th Birthday, (which is harder than you think, since I was convinced for a while that it was going to be my 39th) we thought yarn party. When we realized it was WWKIP day? We realized we needed a really, really good party. Great in fact. We tried to think about what we, knitters of modest resources could possibly do to show the knitters of Toronto a good time on this auspicious day, and after a couple of days, a couple of phone calls, another planned invasion of a yarn shop we don't own, we made a decision to take a calculated risk, we drank the better part of a good bottle of red wine and we did something crazy.

We bought Franklin and his camera a plane ticket to Toronto for that day.

(Technically, Rachel H bought it, since it went on her credit card. I just agreed to split it with her if our plan doesn't work.) Our plan? Glad you asked. Our plan is an all day photo shoot to get a little Canadian representation into Franklin's 1000 knitters portrait project. Franklin (understanding that Canadians can get a little fired up about these things) has said that we can have 120 spots in the project. (Left to our own enthusiastic devices, he knows we would overwhelm the whole thing.) The project is called "1000 knitters" not "way more than 1000 knitters because boy oh boy do the Canadians know how to show up and party." This left Rachel and I needing a plan to come up with those 120 knitters (and no more than 120) and how two ordinary knitters finance bringing a photographer and his equipment to Toronto for our own amusement. We didn't want to be left out, but on the other hand, it's hard to justify to your family that now you don't just have a yarn budget, but a "bringing other knitters to Toronto to play with " budget. This is where we hatched the plan.

If you would like to be a part of Franklin's 1000 knitters project, you can call Lettuce Knit beginning tomorrow (That's May 21st) morning at 11:00am. Lettuce Knit (who are being really awesome about providing staff and space to work this, considering that Rachel H and I just dumped it on them) will record your name and give you either a slot in the first block (10-2) or the second block (2-6). If there is space you can choose, but the whole thing is first come, first served. Then you come on down to Lettuce Knit on the 14th June and hang out, have your picture taken, Knit in public, have fun with the raffle (there's a raffle. Great stuff from Franklin, great stuff from us) drink some beer (it's byob) and party in general. (NOTE: even if you don't get a spot to have your picture taken, or if you don't want your picture taken, you're more than welcome.) There will be a tip jar there, and we'll be accepting donations from those taking part who can contribute. We're suggesting a $5 minimum, and if we got that much from almost each person, then that would cover the plane ticket and Rachel and I would break even. That's really the only expense, since Franklin has very, very graciously agreed not just to be hauled to another country for our amusement, but to stay on a couch instead of a hotel, and to eat home cooked food instead of restaurants.

Naturally, if everyone participating thinks highly enough of Franklin and his endeavour and decides to donate more than we need to cover the ticket, Rachel H and I will pass on the extra to Franklin, who's been hauling arse all over the place giving great days and experiences to knitters, and he's an artist, and art is worth something and so are knitters and he's making history recording us for posterity and...well. I'm giving him more than $5, but that's a personal choice.

So there you have it. A plan. A fun plan. A plan with a trefoil of fun and glory. Another Knitters party, and it is, I think... a very good one. Who's gonna play?

Posted by Stephanie at May 20, 2008 1:52 PM