Stats and Hats

If you don't run a blog, you probably don't know that all sorts of interesting information becomes available to the author once a reader clicks on the page. Well, things I find interesting. Like how people often navigate to the site and the total amount of page views. For example, one person typed "I got short haircut" into google and checked out blog. Seriously. They must have extensively sifted through the search results because when I replicated the search, I didn't see a SnB link anywhere on the first five pages.

The stats page also informs me that the blog has been viewed over 1500 times! Even when you take into consideration the fact that half of those page views are probably my own, that's still a lot of traffic. (I recently changed the settings to ignore my visits. The number of views per day had decreased dramatically.)

There is also a large world map that indicates the country of origin for each visitor. For a long time the map was boring. The U.S. was a bright green but every other country was beige. Yawn.

Then, a few weeks ago, something exciting happened. Sweden turned the palest shade of green. I had to consult with a nearby friend to ensure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Indeed they were not. Since then, more and more countries have registered page views. Thirteen from Canada. Five from Ireland. Three from the U.K, Russia, and Slovenia. Let's not forget the single views from computers in Albania and Belgium.

Goal: Expand Readership to the Southern Hemisphere

So what if the amount of international views are negligible when compared to the total amount of views? Or that the single page views from some countries indicate that the reader never returned to the blog. Or that it's likely that many people may have navigated to the page by accident. Ignore all those things and consider this instead: Truman Stitch 'n Bitch has gone global.

Please feel free to take a moment to collect yourself. I'm sure you felt the need to high-five random passersby when you read that.

Okay, now on to the actual knitting. Last night's meeting was a bit smaller than in the past few weeks. Even with fewer knitters and crocheters (okay, there were no crocheters this week- didn't they read all that nice stuff I said?) the meeting was still awesome.

There was a considerable amount of headwear in progress.

Chelsea cast-on for her Calorimetry.

Anna continued work on her first colorwork project.

Katherine showed off a newly completed hat.

I love it. The reason why is best decribed by the Venn diagram below. Here you can see how Katherine's hat (indicated by the gold star) meets at the sweet spot of two of my great loves.

Teaser: during the meeting Katherine was working on a special knitting project for an avid blog reader. That's all I'll say about that.

I also happen to be working on a special knitting project for an avid blog reader. I have no problem spilling my own beans, so here are a few shots of the fingerless mitts currently in progress.

If you're a thespian currently residing in Columbia, Mo, these might be for you.

Madeline brought proof that she's been keeping up with her sock of the month club. I think she might even be ahead of schedule at this point.

Yes, those are two-at-a-time-toe-up socks. How observant of you!

I found time to gift a pair of Give a Hoot mittens earlier this week. It only took me three months to deliver on my knitwear promise. I'm proud of myself!

I'm going to leave you with something delightful this week.

I was told it was a "scarf hat" from Norway. Genius. It appeared to be machine knit, but I think it will serve as inspiration for a project involving all of my scrap sock yarn.

It's "Official"...

Well, we're Stitch 'n Bitch official. And it only took five minutes! I registered the group on stitchnbitch.org. I've been doubting the ability of the HUB to hold us if SnB gets any larger but thought, "what the heck?" So take a look at the brief entry and review the group if you wish. The Columbia group has 5 stars. I want 5 stars. I could probably just push the button myself, but that wouldn't be as validating.

Last night we had yet another HUGE group at SnB.

Despite attending the full three hours of SnB, I somehow I only managed to knit this much:

Pitiful. In my defense I was winding yarn/teaching someone how to purl/talking to new people/taking pictures/organizing my knitting bag. Plus I had just finished this hat before the meeting.

The pattern is "Wurm." Don't ask me to pronounce it.

As you might have noticed in this picture, I got a hair cut. It was getting unruly, I was ready for a change, short hair looks better with hats, etc. I never thought of my hair as an entity separate from myself, but judging by the reaction of friends, acquaintances, and strangers, my hair had quite an independent following. Perhaps I should have saved a few clippings to hand out as mementos. Too late. Those experiencing emotional difficulties as a result of my haircut should stop by University Counseling. I'm sure they have an adequate stockpile of Kleenexes. Moving on.

I'd like to take a moment to apologize to the crocheting community. I was mostly wrong. Yes there are horrible crocheted objects out there. But there are terrible knitted things too! In my mind crocheters are the redheads of the fiber community. There's nothing wrong with redheads (I was sired by one), they're just predisposed to be the butt of many a joke. So it is with crocheters. Last night I saw two projects that won me over. The first was more of Jordan II's granny square blanket.

In a word: awesome.

The second was a hat completed by Emily, a newcomer to SnB (we haven't numbered the Emilys yet. Perhaps we should. There are three total now). The pattern was designed by her friend, an obviously talented crocheter.

How fantastic are those balls!? (I tried to think of a more technical term but gave up)

I think Kat and Clara tie for most diligent worker at last night's meeting.

Kat spent the meeting practicing ribbon embroidery on a sash.

Clara said her scarf was coming along slowly. I hope today's school cancellation gave her plenty of time to knit.

Okay folks, it's FO* time!

Blue Baby Hat: Caitlin's first project "in the round."

Katherine's first shawl.

The next blog post should involve stats. If that doesn't get you excited I don't know what will.

*FO=finished object

My Father Will Hear About This: A Tribute to Madeline Nash

Today we celebrate the birth of the vivacious knitter Madeline Nash. As Madeline celebrates her birthday with the latest season of Doctor Who and Mexican food, let us take a moment to rejoice in a few of Madeline's finer qualities.

Madeline is FUNNY.

I could give countless anecdotal tales full of Madeline's use of clever puns and pop culture references. But I don't have photographic evidence of those so you'll have to take my word that they exist. Instead I'll mention the less intentional moments of hilarity. Like when her inside out thrummed mittens looked remarkably like the windsocks on microphone booms.

Madeline is a valued member of the Truman University staff.

During her time time at University Counseling, I'm sure Madeline has helped numerous Truman students cope with the stresses of college life. But that's not what I'm talking about. Who else knits their own Purple Friday gear?

Armed with new haul of purple ammunition, Madeline left the yarn swap prepared to display the proper amount of school spirit every Friday.

Madeline is a tight knitter.

You may not be able to tell in this photo, but I'm 95% sure that sock is waterproof. I have heard it reported that she bent a set of Addi Turbos and I've personally seen her snap lesser needles.

Madeline is a dog lover. You can trust dog lovers.

Bella and Tilda: arguably the two most important women in Madeline's life.

Madeline is a prolific sock knitter.

Thanks to the steady stream of sock yarn provided by her mother, Madeline has produced many a work of foot art. She even started self-imposed sock-of-the-month club this year. I'm hoping the fact that it's now blog official will help motivate her to stay on schedule. The stripy number below has to be my favorite of all of Madeline's sock creations.

But who could forget the Draco Malfoy socks?

"My father will hear about this!"

On this 15th of January, let us send birthday greetings to Mrs. Madeline Nash.

May she live to create many more squirrel themed knits.

22

Twenty two is a fun number. Especially since it's the number of knitters and crocheters who attended last night's SnB meeting. Here are a few more fun numbers:

9: the number of those knitters I taught how to knit

6: the number of ECO members in attendance

5: the number of admitted Doctor Who fans present

17: the number present I think we could convert to Doctor Who fandom.

I'm sure we set some sort of Truman record last night. I doubt there's been a gathering of yarn enthusiasts that large on campus in some time.

We obtained a delightful spread of cheese, crackers, vegetables, etc. from a deity called Beth. It should be noted that cheese connoisseur Mr. John Nash found the smoked cheddar particularly delightful.

Now, I know I've said some things about crochet that have irked certain readers. Most of the time I'm joking. And when I'm not it's probably because I associate crochet with particularly awful acrylic yarn brands. I guess the real issue here is my yarn snobbery. Anyway, crocheting can be cool. If anyone can do crochet right, it's Jordan II. I didn't get a shot of the completed granny squares, but her color and yarn choices are spot on. I would be seen publicly with this blanket.

Two hats were completed during the meeting. Kat finished a very unique mohawk hat.

Teresa finished a hip hat for her niece. Best. Aunt. Ever. It's modeled below by Kelsey.

Since finishing my sweater, I've tried to move on to other knitting projects. I halfheartedly cast on for a new hat. Yawn. It's just hard to follow the excitement of sweater knitting! Even though I should probably finish a few projects (namely, the Give a Hoot mittens I promised a friend back in November) I can't help daydreaming about my next sweater. I think it will have to be Beatnik from the Deep Fall 2010 issue of Knitty. Go ahead. Click on the link. Do it. Explore the Knitty website while you're at it.

Well, I suppose I'll go work on my hat.

Chances are, I'll just sigh deeply until my roommate asks me what's wrong.

"I just wanna knit a sweater!" I'll yell.

I imagine she'll give me a sympathetic look before turning back to her computer.

Because she's a knitter now.

And she knows.

New Year, Better Blog

Why, hello there. It appears that I've gone a whole month without posting. My bad. I had every intention of posting over Christmas break but I found myself knitting instead. Good excuse, no? I managed to make all of my Christmas knitting deadlines (three hats and a cowl) but failed to take pictures of any of them.

If I had posted over break, I probably would have included things about crescent rolls that look like manatees:

Dogs begrudgingly wearing costumes:

And two decorative stuffed waterfowl with a bone to pick:

(Yes they are perched on the back of a toilet. It's a long story).

A large part of my break was spent knitting Aidez (if you're a faithful reader, you know that's the sweater I spoke of a few posts back). Knitting meshed well with my newfound obsession of Doctor Who on BBC America so much of my time was spent on the couch.

The couch mid-seaming.

I think the image has a certain war zone quality to it.

I'm fairly certain my mom thought I was developing a touch of agoraphobia, but I digress. I know what you really want. Pictures of the finished sweater! So here's the best I could do with my camera's self-timer:

Today is the first day of classes but due to a canceled lab, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. To alleviate my boredom, I braved a snowy campus (it finally feels like winter in Kirksville) to hang Stitch 'n Bitch's new gender neutral posters, courtesy of Katie Best. I'm not saying the color will attract male knitters, but hopefully it won't deter them. Not that they have to be knitters. They can finger weavers or crocheters. Whatever. With the departure of Alex Klein for bigger and better things, SnB has lost a strong male presence.

Please note the change in time. We will now meet on Wednesdays. Far be it from me to prevent you from knitting in the HUB on Tuesday nights, but I won't be there.

A few of last semester's posters managed to survive, albeit in areas that receive less traffic.

The weather meant there was knitwear everywhere.

Including on my head.

See you on Wednesday! I promise to wear my new sweater.

There Will Be Blog

Tuesday's meeting was full of finished projects

Sock!

Hat!

Scarf!

More scarves!

And one not-cursed sweater!

I finally finished one Christmas present.

I hope it fits my brother's noggin.

Now I get to make a second one for his twin. I think I'll make it brown and green. They're twins, not clones. The only frustrating part about making the hat (Turn a Square by Jared Flood) was that I had to knit it on double pointed needles rather than circulars (my longer circulars still weren't long enough for magic loop). So, if I lent you my size 7, 12inch circulars, you can help ensure my family has Christmas this year by returning them. There's also a good chance they're lost in one of my knitting bags.

Tuesday we're having a super sweet knit-a-thon in the HUB of the SUB starting at 10am. Come for an hour between finals or stay the whole day. This might be your last time to knit with the amazing Alex Klein for a very long time so don't miss out!

If you have a few minutes and would like to geek-out, watch this video Anna shared with me (she's pictured in the blue hat, above). It's about a project that aims to recreate coral using math and crochet. Yes, crochet. I'm trying to be tolerant. Margaret Wertheim is a brilliant public speaker. Then again, maybe it's that killer Australian accent she has.

It snowed in Kirksville yesterday. I fully intend on donning a handknit cowl, hat, mittens, and socks before venturing to the library.

Vanna's Choice

Well, I survived my crazy week. It actually wasn't too stressful. It felt great to be so productive (nerdy, I know).

On Tuesday, Madeline was caught red handed knitting with the most intriguing yarn (her mother-in-law's choice, I believe). It glimmered like a one of those Twilight vampires.

Doesn't she look thrilled to be knitting with it?

Alex also rocked his newly completed sweater. The pattern is Huron by Jared Flood. I'm ashamed to admit that I thought he had bought a new sweater when I saw it from afar. It's so much superior.

The only progress I made on my second thrummed mitten this week was during SnB. See how happy magic loop makes me?

Kat's "Not Cursed Boyfriend Sweater" is coming along nicely. She's discovering how difficult it can be to match self patterning yarn from different skeins.

The faster I finish this post, the faster I can get back to those mittens. So...

Thrums up for Stitch 'n Bitch!