Eeeee! I already haz one!!!!!

OK, so, while compulsively checking email yesterday I got a thing from Interweave about Franklin’s new book.

If you pre-buy a copy, they will give you a free tote bag. WITH A FRANKLIN CARTOON ON IT!

{bouncing up and down like over-sugared six year old} eeeeee….I already haz one!

SEE, my publisher went to that big Book Expo thingee down in LA back in June? And then we met, you know, in person and some junk to go over my book-stuff. She is guiding me through the process, which is a big job folks because I am one of them-thar blog-essay-message-board type writers? And I do things like actually put them-thar into a sentence and junk like that? And use acronyms like LBYMs and am rather surprised that you can’t just, you know, include a hyperlink in a printed book.

I mean, WHO KNEW?!?!

Anyway.

Guess.
What.
She.
Brought.
Me!!!!

(Like I haven’t totally already given it away…)



OH YES SHE DID!!!!!!!

It was so funny, too. See, she isn’t a knitter (yet) (give me time) so of course she has no idea who Franklin is or anything. So she has no idea that I’m like some kind of creepy Franklin Fanatic, and that I have even Paid! Full! Price! (OH YES I TOTALLY DID!) for Café Press shirts with his cartoons on them.

I laughed so hard over Sheep on a Plane I almost hurt myself.

And then she comes over for her I Am Thy Publisher And Behold I Have Some Notes Which Is Not To Say You SUCK, Exactly, But Let’s Just Say There Is Room For Improvement In A Few Minor Areas session and says, casually, “Oh, by the way, I was watching for knitting swag at the convention, but I’m afraid all I found was this little thing…”

…and produces this bag which I could have seen from across the room without my glasses, even, has a Franklin cartoon on it…

I shall gloss over the more embarrassing parts of what happened next and merely inform you that she is a very talented sort of woman, and fortunately for all of us can still type with just three fingers on each hand.

I love this tote. Love-love-love it. It is made of 100% recycled materials, is very light-weight but weirdly strong, comfortable to carry and holds a surprising amount of yarn. I’m slightly worried about how well it will hold up over time, but so far it seems far sturdier than you expect given how light the fabric is.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that this bag is the same one they’re giving away with the book. But…seems unlikely to me (says the woman who knows nothing whatsoever about how big publishers actually work) that they’d have one set they’re giving away at the convention promotion booth, but different types for the online promotion.

And, speaking of the highly coveted free-with-pre-order Franklin bag…I think I’m going to go knit for a while. Because I have a project in it! I’m making another Pacific Northwest shawl, this time in KnitPicks Shadow Lace 100% Merino, in (apparently discontinued) Aegean.



Yes, I’ve been holding out on you. Frankly, I’m stunned that I’ve gotten this far, because my knitting time has been practically zero! since June. But we had that looooong drive down to LA for the family party, and looooong drives all over the LA basin (why everything is ‘ooooh, 40 minutes or so’ from everything else down there is a great mystery to me…), so I’ve actually made very good and quick-seeming progress.

And yes, this is the third time I’ve made this shawl. Which is a record, because I don’t think I’ve ever made anything more than twice, other than preemie hats and sweaters. But it was a special order, and this pattern is a lot of fun to make soooooo…Pacific Northwest III it is!!

Next, however, I think I need to make something with BIG yarn…all these lace patterns are great and all, but they do not clear out much in the way of yarn stash.

Also, you know what makes for good, clean fun?

Doing a spit-splice in the middle of a very large crowd of parents waiting for their children at gymnastics.

Hee. I think the guy sitting next me almost popped, he was sooooo desperate to know what the @*^&@^ that crazy knitter-lady just did…did she just…no, no, surely not, she couldn’t be…no. No, I must be mistaken. A trick of the light. She wasn’t salivating on her yarn, on purpose, she must have been…biting off a loose thread or…something…

And then, of course, a woman behind me leaned forward and quizzed me about it, so he had to acknowledge that yes, I had put the join into my mouth and sucked on it intentionally getting it wet with EW, SPIT!…

And then, Lady Behind Me and I got way into TMI territory by discussing how many worse things there were in the Mommy World, and how we only wished the worst thing we had to wash out of our clothes was, heh heh, clean old spit, and furthermore…

The poor dude was trying to physically climb into the glossy advertisements for relaxing Hawaiian getaways in his magazine by the time we got through reciting the Parental Catechism of Stain Sources and Removal: Best way to remove blood from cotton…best way to get vomit out of a mattress…best way to remove poop stains from carpeting…

FURTHERMORE. She crochets, but would like to learn knitting…ESPECIALLY since we knitters have such a wicked-cool join. And seeing as how we have a whole entire hour every Wednesday (and the occasional Saturday), perhaps we could craft together…

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Muggles Shocked: 1.
Crafters Given Knitting Virus: 1.

I’d call that a seriously good evening’s work…