stats! stats! stats!

Google just launched yet another gadget: Google Trends. It lets you know how much people have been searching for key words over the past few years and - more intriguing - where they're searching from.

I looked up a few crafty words, and was very surprised to see how high Vancouver scored on the ratings.

Vancouver ranked #10 in searches for "craft" - the only Canadian city to place. #1 was Tampa, followed by Seattle and Brisbane, Australia.

Vancouver ranked #7 in searches for "knitting" - again, the only Canadian city to place. #1 was NYC. (On the other hand, Vancouver didn't place on searches for "crochet" - and #1 this time was Salt Lake City. I feel that this is somehow related.)

As for other Canadian cities, on a search for "sock monkey", Toronto scored #10! Go Tdot! (Sock monkeys apparently reached their peak of Google popularity in late 2005.) Halifax ranked #1 (!) on a search for "knitted".

With all these stats, Google just knows way too much about everything.