Franklin and the 1,000 Knitters

Ever since Brian moved to Central Jersey, we like to have an elaborate adventure now and again. Sure, sometimes I just go visit him and his BF* Boomer to play wii on their 122" television screen, but we tend to have the most fun when we go out and make mischief.

Knowing that Franklin was coming within 2 hours of us to shoot for his 1,000 Knitters project, I thought this was the ideal road trip. We love to have brushes with knitting celebs, like our time on the Yarn Bus with Vickie Howell. Plus, I noticed a decided lack of cleavage in the 1,000 Knitters previews Franklin has posted. Seriously, it's a waist-up portrait mostly of women! I know for a FACT that there are a ton of not-so-prudish knitters out there.

I opted to wear my new ruffly spring fling dress with little army planes on it. I got it as a gift from Re/Dress NYC, a new plus-sized vintage store, for modeling for them.

We arrived in Kennett Square, PA and were charmed by the quaint street that Wool Gathering calls home. We were also promptly chased down the street by the Obama supporters since the primary is on Tuesday.

Wool Gathering had everything together for the shoot. Complete with a sitting area outside, a numbered system not unlike a deli counter, a raffle and a 10% off coupon. I would like to think that it was fate that enabled me to be knitter number 69 for the day.

Brian and I spent our time waiting on the sidewalk, got some delightful french toast flavored coffee from the chicken cafe next door, and met up with some interesting knitters hanging outside the shop.

We met Catherine and Joyce from the Philly Burbs SNB. Joyce was selling beaded stitch markers from a sheep purse. So cute. Brian and I both bought stitch markers.

The main event was, of course, our time in front of the lens. Franklin immediately recognized my name when I introduced myself and asked if I was Bevin as in Bevin and Sooner and I pointed to Brian and said, "He's right there!"**

Franklin was so nice and fun. He was wearing sheep earrings, which was totally cute. I wonder if he wears bull earrings when he goes to the gay rodeo? Or if his thematic jewelry is exclusively to the fiber enthusiast crowd?

The scarf is ultra long already and Franklin has plans for a gallery show and a book. My vision for the gallery opening is for Franklin to make his entrance mummified in the scarf and then have a bunch of people dressed as sheep do a sort of maypole dance undressing him.

We also met the Knitting Curmudgeon, who was knitting on a chair behind Franklin's studio set up. She was also very nice and delightful.

I thought I saw a naked ball of sock yarn hiding under her feet but I couldn't be sure. I definitely didn't meet a chain smoking Romney Ewe, which was disappointing. But Franklin more than made up for it. He liked the planes on my dress and my vision of more cleavage for the 1,000 Knitters project.

Things you may not know about the 1,000 Knitters project: The scarf is not actually all garter stitch. Though I chose to knit my row in garter, there were stretches of stockinette, a couple of fugged up stitches here and there, and, of course, the Lucy Neatby memorial hole. Also, Franklin does the entire shoot on his knees. As a girl who has spent a good bit of time on her knees*** I know that is no easy feat.

Brian and I are both really excited about Franklin's project and can't wait for its release.

And, by way of announcement, I am starting a podcast!! It's called FemmeCast: The Queer Fat Femme Guide to Life and will feature Brian as a regular contributor to the Cast (he is my Big Gay Agenda correspondent).

While the knitting content is likely sporadic, it will definitely have a lot of queer content, fat girl fashion and series of mine and Brian's letters to various people, including a reading of our Tyra Banks piece from Gayety, the Queer Comedy Cabaret Brian occasionally joins me for.

The first episode launches this week hopefully, so stay tuned to the site for more info! I'll post an announcement here when we do fiber related features. There may be an expose about how we feel that crochet is bullshit.

*Boyfriend
**Franklin said our blog was one of the first he was reading before he even started his own! That was awesome and will probably jog us to blog more.
***Get your mind out of the gutter, I was raised Catholic.