Sock Summit Wrap-up

5000 Stitch Savers made. 313 Stitch Savers sold.

I have a friend/vendor who is going to the Alabama Wool Jamboree (or whatever it's called) and she pm'd me on Ravelry to see if I wanted to send along some Stitch Savers for her to sell for me! Could I send 5 or 10?

Yea. I can send a few.

I just sent 700 to another friend/vendor who will be at Rhinebeck this weekend!

I'm not sad at not having sold out. I'm a little disappointed, yeah, but I really can't complain. The amount I sold paid for my trip. I met about 90% of the Knitting Royalty that made up the Teacher's list. I also met a metric ton of people including a bunch of my "imaginary friends" (which Dave calls the bloggers).

I even got a much needed, mini treatment from Sharon. We traded - I gave her a Stitch Saver and she saved my back! Standing on those concrete floors for 10-12 hours at a time was brutal. Brut. Tal. I had a strap of muscle tissue across my back that felt like it was in a constant state of cramp. She felt along my back, "hmm. mmm-hmm. mmm-hmm.", pinched along the edges of my ears for about 30 seconds, felt my back again, "oh, much better!" And that was all it took to make my back let go! I adore acupuncture! (Well, acupressure in this case) It's always amazing to me how the whole body is connected and it all works together.

A lot of the vendors.... no, that's not accurate. A few of the vendors were very.... I'll say negative.... yes, they were very negative about the whole Sock Summit experience. But, hell, some were crappy before Marketplace even started!

When Donna and I were walking around the Market before opening on the first day, I spotted some Shibui I've been looking for. I said, "Ooh! You have the Shibui I've been looking for! Can I buy it?" There were 2 young people standing at the register and 2 older women standing in the aisle fighting with a strand of felted ovals trying to get it untangled. The young people looked at the older women and asked, "Can she buy it?" The Cranky One said, "What does she want?" I said, "That Shibui. A wine skein and a brown skein. I've been looking for those two colors forever!" Apparently I pronounce it wrong. I say Shih-bee. I like the way it sounds and sometimes when I think of it, I walk around just saying it - Shih-bee, Shih-bee, Shi-bee. (I'll probably be saying it all day today.) Anyway, she felt the need to correct me, "Shibui."

Me: That's what I said, Shih-bee.

Cranky One: No. It's Shibui. You're saying it wrong. It's Shibui.

Me: Um. Ok. Can I buy it? [Although in my head I'm saying, I'll say it however I damn well please. Watch - SHIH. BEE.]

Cranky One: The Marketplace isn't open yet.

Me: I know, I'm a vendor too. See? {shows her my badge}. I have cash if your machine isn't on yet.

Cranky One: The Marketplace. Isn't. Open. Yet. {said like I'm an illiterate child}

Me: {starting to get mad at the rudeness now} O. K. Never. Mind.

This is where the other older lady steps in and says, "It's OK. You have cash? You can buy it now - no problem {gives Cranky One a pointed look}." She leaves the tangled mess for the Cranky One, steps into her booth and lets me buy what I wanted. She even insists on giving me my 42 cents change when I told her she didn't have to open her register and she could just keep it. She is a person who understands good customer relations.

Now I get how the Cranky One was probably nervous about the opening (we all were) was frustrated as all get-out about the tangled mess she was trying to untangle before the doors opened in, like, 5 minutes but I still don't think that excuses her bitchiness! I was trying to give her money! And her obvious need to try to get me to say Shibui correctly (which actually had a few more rounds of her correcting my errant speech then I wrote here) made me think she is a controlling person who was starting to feel things get out of her control and it was making her... well... Cranky.

My point being, I don't think she was going to have a good time no matter what. And the other negative vendors I encountered seemed to have that same attitude.

I talked to people who do a lot of shows and they said that shows are not about making money - if you can cover your costs, it's a good show. They said shows are about making connections. You have to look at your sales over the course of the next 6 months to see if the show was worth it.

And they are right! I walked away with cards from 12 brand-new-to-me LYS's that want to carry Stitch Savers now! And just yesterday I got an email from someone who bought a Stitch Saver at the Summit and showed it to her LYS and they want to order some as well.

Then we kept hearing that this Sock Summit was no Stitches. And, again, another veteran of the industry said to me that that was a ridiculous comparison. Stitches has been going for 10 years. This was the first ever Sock Summit. He also told me that the first Stitches Marketplace wasn't even 1/3 as big as the Marketplace at Sock Summit.

I'd like to show you two new Stitch Savers I premiered at the Sock Summit.

The first is a Basic Stitch Saver with a Pink Ribbon Bead....

It's $10 and $3 of each sale goes to the Susan G. Komen fund. These were quite popular at Sock Summit and raised nearly $300 for SGK!


The next is a solid silver Stitch Saver....

Not a great picture - Sorry. They are about 3" in length from top to tip and the 2.75mm size. I've got them listed for $60.

Both are available in my Etsy store.

All in all Sock Summit was an amazing experience and I'd do it again anyday!

Shih-bee, Ruth!