Rar!

When I wrote Knitmare, I thought it would be popular   It got Boinged and my site traffic has never been the same.

If I had thought about it a little more, I would have put a watermark on the image to drive even more traffic my way.  I didn’t, so the image went viral without any link back to my site.  Poo.

Anywho, I digress …

Within hours of popping up on Boing Boing, the image started showing up on a lot of blogs – I found them as they linked back to my site.

I also found the ones that didn’t link back.

Several friends emailed me when the image showed up on Regretsy.  Regretsy took it in a whole new direction. After challenging their readers to knit the masks, they were then auctioned off to raise money for a monster-obsessed little boy with leukemia.  They got $1700.  Not too shabby!

Another friend emailed me about Poorly Dressed. A fashion fail indeed!

I am keeping my eyes peeled for more crazy knitting pics.  When I find them, I will be sure to include a watermark!

Lisa.

Blob

I like getting comments on my blog.  Apart from the page hits, it is proof that someone is actually reading my sweet prose.  I have become quite adept at spotting comments written by spam-bots, and they get zapped.  Most spam gets caught by Akismet, but the odd one does get through. I zap it.

Anywho, I digress …

A while back, someone posted a comment on my most popular post, Knitmare.  It wasn’t a spam-bot, it was a Nasty Someone.  As it was a threat, it bothered me.  I dropped by the local police station to report it, just in case the Nasty Someone planned to show up on my doorstep.  I had the IP address and ISP of the poster and some other details that I took along, plus a printout of the offensive comment.  Knitmare got cross-posted on a bunch of sites, some of them dubious.  I am sure one of the dubious sites  is where Nasty Someone found it.

The policeman was kind, but told me that they don’t investigate “internet crime”.  However, he filed a report and took my printouts.  He had a few questions:

Policeman: Do you know who the Nasty Someone is?

Me: No.  Probably a 14-year-old spotty youth in his bedroom.

P: What is your blog about?

Me: It is the musings a 47-year-old woman.  There are no scantily clad people.

P: What was the post about?

Me: Knitting.

P: Er.  Right. Nothing offensive then?

Me: No, but I am not as boring as I sound.  Really.  I am quite interesting.  Witty even.

P: Right.  No problem mam.

Me: Really, I am not dull.

P: Yes mam!

Me: <Sigh>

Strewth, I am dull.

Lisa.

PS.  Yes, I can also report it to the ISP.  I’m on it.

Whoa! Just look at my traffic!

As soon as I saw the Knitmare picture, I thought of Boing Boing.  I thought that they would be interested enough to post it.  Oh boy, was I right!

I was hoping for a decent traffic spike.

On a typical day, I get less than 50 hits – my best day ever only resulted in 180 hits.  I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I got wasn’t it.  Knitmare got picked up by all sorts of unexpected blogs and forums – apparently, knitting unusual balaclavas appeals to people who cruise porn sites.  Who knew?

Anywho, I digress …

I posted Knitmare on AnywhoIdigress at 8.24am and submitted it to Boing Boing’s Submitterator at 9.34am.  BB gets about 60 or so submissions every day.  I wasn’t expecting a quick response.  I got posted in 10 minutes!!

I confess that I spent Wednesday morning just looking at my site traffic spike   And spike it did.

On Wednesday I got 5890 hits.  Woot!  I’d call that a spike.  Thursday was 3632, Friday 1102 and Saturday 380.  Not too shabby.

It wasn’t just Knitmare that was popular, although it took the lion’s share of the hits.  5 people actually read the entire blog – every single post.

The spread of referring sites surprised me.  I plotted four days in the charts below. My excel-fu is not strong.  Apologies.

Interesting things to note:

• Knitmare was almost immediately cross-posted on a knitting forum – ravelry.com.  I am a member there, so I followed the discussion.  It turns out that the designer of the balaclavas is also a member. A much loved member.  Most folks saw it for what it was – a creepy picture.  Others not so much, causing a moderator to call a time out to admonish posters for criticizing another members work.  As the originator, I offer the designer nothing but my respect.  Rosa commented that perhaps the designer took inspiration from knitted masks from Bolivia and Peru.  I would say yes.
• The top referrers transitioned over four days from BB to Ravelry to Lankarkiv.  Lankarkiv is new to me.
• I made it to #1 in the WordPress Growing Blog of the Day on August 5th.  I came in at #52 and #93 in the Top Post of the day on August 6th and 7th.
• I am not on facebook or twitter. That should be the subject of a future post.
• As I mentioned above, one of the referrers was a porn site.   The site is all porn pics (well, I didn’t check them all!) and one knitting pattern.  Very, very odd.  Perhaps knitting is getting it’s sexy back?

Lisa.

PS   Too much time on my hands?  Hey, it was the weekend!

Total hits 5890

Total hits 3632

Total hits 1102

Total hits 380

Rather odd

I was visiting with my knitting buddy a few weeks ago. We were sorting through her yarn stash to find something suitable for my Knitting Brioche project.

She has an astonishing amount of yarn in her stash from her time at a local yarn store back in the 80′s.  Really.  The colors have been in and out of fashion several times.  Lucky for me, they are currently in.  I left there with 2 bin bags full to the top.  All worsted weight.  Lots of great colors.  Woot!

Anywho, I digress …

While we were rummaging in the yarn stash, we came across a most unusual, and frankly disturbing, knitting pattern.  My knitting buddy clipped it from the Dec 91/Jan 92 issue of Threads magazine.

Look carefully at the happy family.

Plus:

• There is pie.
• Family from the neck down:
  • Nicely dressed with the possible exception of the pinny.

Minus:

• Small boy has his finger in the pie.
• Family from the neck up:
  • Daughter (?) apparently has a very unfortunate hobby.
  • Mum is a mouth breather.
  • Son is a one-eyed evil-doer with a pie fetish.
  • Dad looks terrified.

I won’t be knitting these.  And neither should you.

Lisa.

UPDATE: Victoria over at Threads used this image in a recent Spot the Difference column.  Thanks for the comment! For some reason, links in comments won’t display …

Kauai Chicken

I am still obsessed with knitting.  I finished my scarf while in Kauai.  I knit in public all the time, but knitting by the pool brings out the crowds. Everyone else has a book so I guess they are curious.  I don’t have a book, and  I have to be careful where I put the lotion …

Anywho, I digress …

I have started my new project and therefore feel the need to show off.  I came across a knitting shop while on vacation, so I planned on attending their “Tuesday Knitting Nite” to bask in the glory of my talent.  I arrived on time, only to be greeted by a dark store front and the following sign in the window:

Poo

Bugger.  It’s the Ashmolean all over again.

Lisa.

There is such a thing as a nice tangle, and this is it.

I visited a friend this morning to use her knitting equipment.  She has a swift and winder – used to convert a wool skein into a ball.  If you start knitting from a skein, it gets tangled and you spend more time untangling than knitting.  Not good.  It does beg the question, why sell tangly  skeins?  You need to wind it into a ball, preferably with a swift.  The alternative is to either put the skein on your feet (or a friend’s hands) and wind manually.  Also not good.

Anywho, I digress …

Not boots. Spats!

While I was there, winding my balls, my friend showed me her new craft project – a handbag made from some leftover fabric.  Nice.  She showed me the pattern and it is awesome!  The bag is fine, but check out those spats! I had no idea that this was all the rage in the 70′s.  Remarkable.  I have only ever seen them on Poirot before.  Who knew?

Lisa.

I love knitting, but not this much ...

I have lots of hobbies that I pick up and drop as the fancy takes me.  I have many boxes labeled “Lisa’s Forgotten Hobbies”, although I like to think of them as hibernating rather than forgotten.  In addition to gardening, I have rediscovered my love of knitting.  It is odd that my knitting stuff never made it into one of the aforementioned boxes – I wish it had.  I have “lost” my knitting bag that contains my most recent (started 6 years ago!) project.

I have been looking around for a new knitting project to get started.  In addition to the “lost” project, I have found 4 others that I could resurrect, but I like choosing the wool and starting a new project.  Notice a theme here?

Anywho, I digress …

I set out this afternoon to buy a circular knitting needle for the new project – I ordered the wool online.  I have been to the store before.  The service is, well, comically rude.  As I was ready for it, I found it greatly entertaining.

<Walking into the store at 2.53pm>

Comically Rude Shop Assistant: “We are closing at 3pm for an inventory check. Read the sign on the door!”

Me: “I just need to get some knitting needles”

CRSA: <Glares at me. Ouch!>

<Two minutes later>

Me: “I’ll take these. Let me just check the pattern.”

CRSA: “Be quick about it!”

Me: “Actually, I need another one as well, I’ll just grab it.”   <Smiling, giving my toothiest grin>

CRSA: “Another one? You already have two!”   <GLARE with bells on>

Me: “Thanks for your help. I’ll take this one too.”   <Smiling, giving my toothiest grin>

CRSA: <Snatches knitting needle and grabs my credit card. Icy.>

Me: What a delightful store.”   <Leaves the store with 30 seconds to spare, the glare of the CRSA burning into my back>

I can’t wait to go back.  I need wool for my second new project   They are open tomorrow.  At least they should know what is in stock.  That should be helpful … Or not.

Lisa