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!

Sock Summit - Again

Wow, it's been 2 months since I came home from Sock Summit and I still haven't finished telling y'all about it!

The final day - Sunday - was the slowest of all as far as sales went. But - Barbara Walker came to our booth! She came for her present and wouldn't you know it.... it was missing! I was so embarrassed! And the only thing I could think of was that someone had stolen it - so I was upset, too. She was really nice about it, saying, "Don't worry - it's fine." Then she leaned in and, in a conspiratorial whisper, added, "I live in Florida and, truthfully, I really don't even knit anymore!" We chatted a bit more, she signed my autograph book and went on her way.

I was stewing about the stolen Stitch Saver and I sat there and quickly made her another one so I could give it to her at the Luminary Panel. Later, I found out it wasn't actually stolen. When Donna and I had the overlapping classes and we got help from one of the women in the booth behind us - she sold the Barbara one. We forgot to tell her they were for the teachers!

At the end of the day, another teacher came back - Betsy McCarthy. She had already picked up her present the first day of the Market and now she came back right before Market closed and ordered 2 Customized ones! I made them up for her quickly and told her, "If there's any problem with these - just email and I'll send a new one. I've never made a Customized one that fast!" She was great to talk with and we kept looking at each other in that way you look at someone that you know but can't place.

Also, as we were gathering things up to dash off to the Luminary Panel, I got another visit from the lovely Heide and she brought me two small jars of jam that she had made! I LOVE jam and was so happy I didn't even know what to say! I've since finished the raspberry jam (soooo delicious!) she gave me and am cracking open the plum jam today. Can't wait!

When Market closed, we grabbed some knitting, left our booth as it was (we had until 9p that night to clean/pack it up) and dashed to the Luminary Panel. We got decent seats and I went to the front row where the teachers were sitting and found some of the ones I'd missed, gave them their present and got their autographs. Lorilee Beltman took the wee mini-skein of Donna's out of her little baggie and said, "OH! I've been looking for a skein this small all weekend so I could do this...." Then she took the skein and put it insider her hands and did the "Here's the church, here's the steeple" thing only changed it for the Sock Summit. The Oregon Convention Center has two spires on top and when I first saw it I remember remarking on what a waste of space and construction those were! But later realized it made the damn building a lot easier to find! So Lorilee said, "Here's the building, here's the spires [putting index and pinkies up], open the doors and see all the dyers! (turning her hands over to show the little skein)" Very clever!

Betsy and I were eyeing each other again and she was the first to say it, "Do we know each other?" I laughed and said, "I know right? You look so familiar to me, too!" Then I gave a run down of places we might know each other, Fresno, Clovis, Army, Tucson, Colorado - but no dice. We didn't know each other! Then she told me a funny story about being on a train in Chicago and some guy giving her the "don't we know each other" line. She was blowing him off when he said, "I know!" and said Betsy's cousin's name! He thought she was that cousin. One of those small world things since neither Betsy nor her cousin live in Chicago and he knew her cousin some ten years earlier!

The panel started and I took my seat next to Donna. Donna said she might not stay for the whole thing as the knitting royalty isn't that big a deal to her. She said I should stay because she knew I liked it. Cool! She lasted about the first hour, hour and a half then went to break down her shelves. I felt guilty staying but she insisted it was fine, so I did.

The panel was.... interesting.

Tina and Stephanie took about 20 minutes to introduce everyone. It was kind of sweet and funny as they kept getting all twitterpated and almost didn't' make it through introductions!

So, right to left, we had Nancy Bush, Judy Becker (of Judy's Magic Cast-On fame), Barbara Walker, Meg Swansen, the podium with Tina and Stephanie, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Anna Zilboorg, Deb Robson, Cat Bhordi, and Lucy Neatby.

After intro's, Stephanie asked the first question of the panel and was met with silence. She said, "And this is my nightmare." Everyone laughed and she saw that she was going to have to single people out so she called on the first person (I think Nancy).

The Panel talked about the industry and was it hard to be taken seriously as a knitter when trying to get things done and all sorts of things. At one point, Stephanie asked for each panelist to say how they got into the industry and Meg Swansen quietly said, "I was brainwashed." That got a good laugh! Later Stephanie asked her if she thought it was more difficult in the industry to be taken seriously as a woman, to which Meg replied, "I don't' know, I've never been a man." She's funny!

Anna Zilboorg gave a gem of a thought with this...
"So much of ordinary life is so...ordinary, tedious, and demanding," she said. "When you have knitting, it really carries you through." Then, after a brief pause, "If you're a knitter, that is."

(Seriously want to take that woman to lunch one day!)

The, um... interesting part was that one panelist in particular kept commandeering the discussion and would ramble endlessly, telling her life story, never really getting to the point (or question at hand) and would talk.

In such a way.

That you never knew if she was finished.

Because she usually.

Wasn't.

It was so strange! At one point, this woman talked (in that odd, halting manner) for nearly 15 minutes straight! And, as I said, she never answered the question posed to her and never came to any point at all except to tell us her apparently very unhappy life story. Also, the last day of Sock Summit happened to coincide with the 99th anniversary of Elizabeth Zimmerman's birth. So, Tina and Stephanie had sort of an EZ bent to some of the questions and this panelist didn't seem to care too much for (or maybe just didn't care about?) EZ and actually was a bit insulting about it! Especially odd (rude) considering EZ's daughter was up there with this panelist. It got a bit uncomfortable for Tina and Stephanie but they handled it with diplomacy and aplomb.

Other then her, the Luminary Panel was a lot of fun! Very bright, engaging women up on that stage. Very cool stuff! (For more on what the panel talked about, Clara Parkes has a great review of it (along with the rest of Sock Summit) here.)

After the Panel was over, they brought out this enormous cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to EZ. Then everyone kind of mingled. I went up on stage and gave Barbara Walker her fresh present. I also gave some of the other teachers who hadn't made it to our booth their presents and got their autographs. I found Stephanie and told her I found all the teachers and ST team members I could but some had left early or weren't to be found and could she pass on the presents to them? She said yes, then gave me a hip bump and said, "I'm pretty sure we have all their addresses as we still have to pay them!" and we had a laugh. She cracks me up! Tina came over and Stephanie told her that I had the extra presents. I had them in this little square, deep plastic lid and I pulled them out one by one and handed them to Tina as I explained who they were for, "This teacher, that ST member, this teacher, blah, blah." By the time I was done, Tina's hands were full and she looked at me and asked, "Can I just put them in the plastic thing?" All three of us cracked up! Of course, how silly of me! Here's Tina standing with her hands overflowing with about 9 of these things and I'm standing there with an empty container! I'm a dork. Again.

I walked around a bit, saw two of the teachers I'd missed and went back to get their presents. (I told Stephanie I was taking them so they didn't think they were missing later.) I took Sivia Harding's and Cookie A's. It was so cool to get to meet all these people!

Then I raced back to our booth and.... sure enough.... Donna had the whole thing broke down and mostly packed up! I told her to just relax and chill out and I'd take care of it when I got back but she couldn't sit still.

Anyway, we got everything packed up and did our shipping forms. We goofed around with Jennifer from Holiday Yarns and her co-hort Tsarina from Tsarina Tsocks.

Then we took our remaining things and went to the car.

We got to John and Melissa's in time for dinner. We took them to their favorite Indian restaurant and had an absolutely delicious meal!

On Monday, Melissa drove and we went to Pine State Biscuits. It was on Diner's, Drive-ins and Dives and was everything the show promised. Holy Cat-Head Biscuits, Batman! I ordered a biscuit and the Grits Cake Sampler (as seen on the show), Donna got the Biscuits and Gravy, and Melissa ordered a biscuit and some Biscuits and Gravy to go (for John who had to work that morning). They told me the Grits Cakes would take awhile as they are made to order. So I ate my biscuit with the delicious jams (strawberry and... loganberry?). When the biscuit was gone, I was still waiting for the food so I ordered another biscuit because damn they were good! (And I still had jam left. Y'all know how I feel about jam!)

The Grits Cakes came out and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I don't like grits. I've had them in the Army and I've had other people (that really know how) make them for me and I'm not a fan. These were not a bowl of grits. These were 3 small round cakes (only about the size of a silver dollar each) and they were topped with 3 different kinds of wonder. The first I ate had a fried green tomato and some pimento spread. Yum! The second had a fair sized piece of their special fried chicken atop it along with some hot sauce and honey drizzled over it. Oh. My. When I speared the chicken with my fork to cut it, all these lovely clear juices ran out. mmmmmslobbermmmm. The last, and my personal favorite, was topped with prosciutto and a sharp white cheese. sigh. So. damned. GOOD! I'm just happy they don't have one around here because I would be enormous and broke from eating there every day!

Donna said she's on a quest to find the perfect biscuits and gravy and Pine State ranks up there, tied for first place with a joint she went to in Miami. Melissa's biscuit disappeared pretty quickly, too!

Then we went downtown and Melissa took us to Powell's Bookstore (another thing I'm happy isn't too near me!). Wow! Is that place big and wonderful! Then she took us to a street full of fun and funky shops. Then the Rose Garden (smells so pretty!). Then back to her place. We said our goodbyes (John was back) and went to the airport.

What a nasty surprise we got when we turned the rental car in! Donna found a rockin' deal online. $189 for the 5 days we were there! Plus about $10 a day so I could be a driver, too. So, by my math that takes us up to about $239 - still not bad considering we didn't have any hotel bill. Well. The final bill with all the "taxes" was $313. W. T. F! That totally pisses me off! It's not a deal if they screw you in the end. Donna said it's not the car company's fault as they can't keep track of all the different city, county and state taxes. I say Bollocks! They don't have computers??? There's absolutely no reason they, as a company, shouldn't' know what's being charged where.

Anyway.

Uneventful flight and in Denver about 11p. Donna's husband was kind enough to pick us up so late and take us home. We had a bit of trouble finding each other because DIA is set up stupid. The baggage pickup is downstairs and you can go outside to a curb but it's only a curb for buses and cabs or something. Not really marked that way but there it is. So you have to go back upstairs with your bags to get to a curb where personal cars can do pick-ups.

When I got home, I went to see the boys in their rooms. Trev didn't wake but Davis woke a little. He said, "Mommy!!!" and hugged me and went back to sleep. When I went to see him in the morning (Trev was already downstairs) - he did the sweetest thing!

Before I left, Davis was getting a little worked up that I was going to be gone so long. I sat him down and said, "Davis. I'll always be with you. No matter what and no matter where we are, we'll always be together. I hold you in my heart [I put his hand over my heart]. And I'll always be with you, too. Right here [I put my hand over his heart]." I told Trevor the same thing.

When I woke Davis the morning I was back, he smiled and put his hand over my heart and said, "I was right here all the time." I had to lay next to him and hug him tight so he couldn't see my eyes welling up. My boys are so dear!

So there's the Sock Summit. Only took me two months to write about it! I think I'm still recovering. hah! I'll probably talk about it for the rest of my life. I had such a great time!

Back to the real world, Ruth!

Tantrums Aren't Attractive

Saturday at the Sock Summit....

It started out beautifully! We figured out why we'd been taking cold showers for the past three days - John and Melissa's guest shower has opposite markings! Turn to cold to get hot. Who knew?

Then, the outstanding breakfast! I'd requested oatmeal and Melissa put on an oatmeal that won't soon be forgotten but will often be copied. On the counter next to the real (quick, but not instant) oatmeal was the following:

white sugar, brown sugar, little spice bottles of cinnamon and ginger (cinnamon is appreciated, ginger is genius! I mixed them both in) and on the table was a huge bowl of various fresh berries, cut-up bananas and cantaloupe.

Best. Oatmeal. Ever!

The Marketplace was surprisingly slow. It was a long day but still fun and got to meet some amazing people!

At the end of the day, though, the whole trip had caught up with Donna and I. We were exhausted. Beyond fatigue. And we still had to eat and make it to the Ravelry meetup!

Imbrium and two of her friends asked where we wanted to eat. The choices were a restaurant 5 blocks away from the Convention Center (walk 5 blocks, eat, then walk 5 blocks back to catch the train for the Ravelry meetup) or a bar that was kind of on the way (take the train, walk a bit, eat, walk back to train to Rav meetup). We opted for option 2.

By the time we got off the train, Donna and I were already toast. We walked to the bar. It seemed like miles. I remember Donna and I were walking behind the others and at one point I had a little stomping, "Why the hell aren't we there yet??" fit. Thankfully, Donna was the only witness to this pathetic spectacle. (On Monday, I discovered it was only about 3 blocks.)

Then when we got to the bar, we had to wait. It was Saturday night, after all, and the place was packed to the gills. They asked if D and I wanted to go somewhere else. I said (OK, may have snapped it) no, let's just wait and get something to drink. It was a brewery and all I wanted was a bucket of water to drink. (Being in the CC building all day is like being in an airplane all day - the air is so dry and it sucks the life out of you!)

The wait was actually only about 5 minutes and we got a table. We ordered and I was feeling a little more social and a little less like taking someone's/anyone's head and putting it on a platter. The food was delicious! I ordered the thin crust pizza appetizer with pears and prosciutto and a crumbly white cheese that wasn't feta or bleu (can't remember what kind). D had the fancy mac and cheese. We ate and laughed and talked. I remember being so tired that my speech was actually slurring as if I'd been drinking a bucket of beer instead of water!

By the time we were done, D and I were truly done. What were we thinking?? Super tired, so let's order bread/pasta and cheese. We opted out of the Rav meetup. I was too tired to even be bummed about it! I was so tired that I vaguely remember seeing a HUGE white Hummer at the intersection and thinking that was the funniest damn thing I'd ever seen! We were waiting for the train back to the CC (where our car and a 20-30 min. drive awaited us) and I couldn't stop laughing at having seen that ridiculously large car!

Probably the most uneventful day in the whole trip but there it is!

Hey! I forgot to remind everyone about the R.I.P. Challenge!

I had so much fun with it last year, I'm doing it again this year. I believe you can join at any time, so have at it!

I'm tackling the first 4 books of Stephen King's Dark Tower Series. I've already finished the first one. It seemed a bit disjointed and vague but I think that was part of it's mystique. Also, looking at the inside of the title page, I saw it was published in pieces in a short story magazine (they still had a few of those in 1978 when it first came out!). My only beef is that the big reveal at the end had me asking, "Who?!" Maybe I missed something but I don't remember that name being part of the book at all! OK, maybe "not at all" isn't quite right but it was mentioned briefly enough that I couldn't even find it when trying to skim back through the whole book to get more info on that name.

But in Book Two (already started), King gives a brief overview of Book One and tells more about the name.

The Challenge host is also doing Short Story Sunday - very cool! I've been working my way through Strange Attraction - I only bought 3 books last year and this was one of them. It's very cool!

R.I.P. Roarin' and Ready, Ruth!

A Month Ago

A month ago today, I came home from Sock Summit. Wow! Time flies when you're not blogging. It also flies when you get home from a 5 day trip out of state and realize that you have to pack up your whole house and move it to the next town over.

But we won't discuss that today. We won't talk about my strained back, my strained nerves, the fact that if this moving doesn't end soon I'll be eating strained peas in the VA psych ward.

We will talk about Day 2 of the Sock Summit (or, Day 3 of my Portland Trip)....

We got up, ate another wonderful breakfast, spent another exciting, fun-filled (albeit exhausting day) at the Marketplace. I had a class with Deb Robson from 9-12. It was called Cross Your Cables and Dot Your Purls and was about the publishing industry. It was very informative and quite fun! Deb actually lives not too terribly far from me and she said yes to me taking her to lunch sometime and picking her brain! Deb Robson is another of the Knitterati that I'd met previously and had no clue I was in the presence of greatness.

(We moved to Colorado Nov./06. We were broke and stressed but happy to be out of Tucson. The following April, for my birthday, I told Dave that the only thing I wanted was to go to the downtown Tattered Cover (independent bookstore) and see the Yarn Harlot speak (it involved some quite expensive childcare). So I got to see her for the first time! I got there a couple hours early and sat with some lovely women. One of which was Deb Robson!)

Donna had a class from 10-11a and we were lucky enough to have a helper from Lotus Yarns cover our booth. Donna's class was the KnitteRX I'd talked about previously.

So we spent the day selling and meeting and taking turns wandering the Marketplace floor (dangerous business that). If I remember right, this is the day Anna Zilboorg came to claim her present.

She was so funny! When I sell a Stitch Saver, I say, "I hope you never need it" as a sort of blessing against angry Knitting Goddesses. She laughed and said that was unlikely. She went on to tell me a story...
"Let's see... how can I turn this into a knitting lesson? I had a friend who was 40 when he was to discover he had a very bad cancer. He joked and said, "I always knew perfect health was a temporary condition." That's how I feel about knitting. I always know perfect knitting is a temporary condition!"

She's lovely and I would like to take her to lunch sometime! (Does anyone know if she has a blog or public email or anything? I've tried googling her but only come up with Sock Summit and book stuff about her.)

After Market, we met up with Imbrium and set off to find the Sock Hop. (We changed our clothes and pretty-ed up in the Convention Center bathroom.) Imbrium got a tip on an outstanding Lebanese restaurant. So. Damn. Good!

After eating we made our way to the Art Museum where the dance was held. We arrived a bit later then most and the place was well filled with lots of people sitting at tables they'd set up at the top of the stairs. Why would you go to a dance to sit around at tables? To knit of course! And to socialize. And who is sitting at that one table??? Cookie A.! I kind of recognized her but didn't go talk to her.

Some older women were gathered around one of the statues on that upper level. I was coming back from the bathroom and wondered what they were up to. A lot of Sock Summit attendees (including myself) made wee socks and pinned them to our shirts for roundabout town identification. One of these older women had taken her sock and put it on the tiny penis of one of the full-sized nude statues! They were taking pictures and giggling like crazy! One of the women had to put her finger at the base of the... sock to keep it from slipping off - so it looked like she was pointing at the... sock. So crazy!

I did the stroll and hung out with people and laughed and even danced with Tina (of STR fame) and Stephanie (of Yarn Harlot fame) at the same time! I believe, on her blog, Stephanie mentioned how Rachel H was born to a poodle skirt. It's so true! And Rachel H seemed a bit tipsy and giddy but maybe it was the lack of sleep. I remember thinking, "heh, she gets tipsy and silly just like everyone else!" I'm a dork.

I also talked with Lucy Neatby again and we were joined by JC Briar and, a bit later, by Joan Schrouder. When Joan walked up, JC introduced us and then leaned over to me and whispered, "Joan is the reason that I'm a teacher now. She's the one who taught me!" Then JC had Joan lift her long skirt and show me her socks. They are a beautiful masterpiece of knee high, cable, twisted Bavarian stitching that has a genius wedge of cabling in the back that creates the calf shaping. Stunning!

I asked Joan, "Wow! Those are so beautiful! How long did it take you to knit them?", then, feeling a bit stupid for asking, I added, "Probably not too long, right? I mean, you probably knit really fast."

She smiled and said, rather ruefully, "Ten years."

I looked at her, stunned, and said, "Stop it.", thinking she was teasing me. She wasn't. She went on to explain that she did the cuff and leg parts in about 3 months. Figuring out the heel shaping was giving her such a hard time that she threw them in a closet and only pulled them out to finish them last month so she could give the class at Sock Summit for them! So, actually, 4 months. Ten years and four months. Hah! Does my heart good to know such amazing teachers also have their own personal Closets of No Return just like me!

So where were Donna and Imbrium during all this? They were wandering around and meeting people too. They aren't as star struck as I am. I know, total dorkasaurus - not a real rare breed though, right? I mean, when I meet these Knitting Stars, I'm cool and casual. I try to be anyway. I don't often succeed. Like when I met Casey and Jess at the dance. Casey and Jess are the creators of Ravelry.com, maybe you've heard of it? I think I said something brilliant like, "So... Ravelry... good job there!" I'm a dumbass.

We met a bunch of other people, too! One woman (who turned out to be Volunteer Extraordinaire as she was introduced at the Luminary Panel "Thanks" speech) had on a pair of lovely socks! Socks that I had just bought the kit for that very day. They are the Nine Tailors sock kit from Tsarina. I was admiring them and saying how I'd just bought that kit and was looking forward to tackling it when I got home. She said that the panel of color was the hardest part, "I mean, 8 colors! Whew! But once you get past that, the rest is a breeze!". Whoa, whoa, whoa. 8 colors?! I thought it was a ball of variegated yarn!! It's not. It's a ball of eight separate strands of color to do some stranded colorwork with! What the hell did I get myself into?! Sigh.

Donna and I were both tired from our Marketplace day so we (along with Imbrium) left the dance by 10p. We got home at around 11p as we took a wrong turn and were (mis)guided by signs through town to the freeway (signs that promised but never actually delivered the elusive highway), then got on the highway the wrong way.... drag.

But we finally made it to John and Melissa's house where we reinflated our beds and tumbled in. Those inflatable beds are never very comfortable, are they? They always seem to deflate a bit during the night so in the end it's more like sleeping in a hammock! But we were usually so exhausted that we slept like the dead anyway!

More Sock Summit next time, Ruth!

Sock Summit the Second

Seriously a LOT of pictures in this post. Hope you don't have dial-up! (Does anyone still have dial-up? I'm so spoiled with the fast internet my husband insists on that if it takes more then 2 seconds to load, I get all twitchy!)



OK, so on Thursday, Donna and I were going to have a leisurely breakfast, go to the Convention Center (CC), take about an hour to set up then mosey downtown and sample some of the famous "cart" food we were hearing about, then we'd mosey back to the CC and wander around the other vendor's booths to see what was available.



HAH! It took us an HOUR just to put together the wire cubicle thingies we bought to showcase her yarn. An hour. We felt completely mental. Other vendors kept walking by and saying, "Oh, I hate those things. We got rid of ours years ago." - but not in a bitchy way, in a very sympathetic way. We got to the CC at about 10:30 and were and we stopped setting up our booth at 3:30. We dashed down the street from the CC to have a tasty meal at Burgerville (fantastic shakes!) and ran back. We were back at 4p and were sort of moseying around, looking at things. We happened to pass the main doors of the Marketplace and saw the crush of knitters waiting to get in.

I did get to take an hour break when I took the Favorite Toe-Up Bind-Offs one hour wonder class with Chrissy Gardinier. Those knitters are clever! I had to run off in the middle to use the restroom and on the way back someone called my name. It was another woman in another one hour wonder class and we had the briefest of hellos as I had to dash back to my class (more on her in a later post).


We were back at 4p and were sort of moseying around, looking at things. We happened to pass the main doors of the Marketplace and saw the crush of knitters waiting to get in. We stopped moseying and hustled back to our booth. There was a countdown at the door and they let everyone in. The next two hours were a blur and we sold some stuff. Then they closed the Market. We threw some important things (cash, computers, ipod, etc.) in our car and went to the opening ceremonies. (OK, that's all a recap of my last post, sorry.)

The opening ceremonies were a good time. Tina and Stephanie (of Blue Moon Fiber Arts and the Yarn Harlot, respectively) had a longish speech all put together where they talked about how Sock Summit came about and what it took to get there. They talked about the trials and tribulations of trying to put together a convention of Sock Knitters as none of the rest of the world would really take them seriously. They were delirious and hilarious. They were completely loopy and kept cracking up or tearing up. It was funny and touching and they are lovely women.



Here's a better picture of them....


After their speech, they introduced all the teachers and said the teachers would be hanging out for pictures and such. I took full advantage of that and got our pic's with as many as we could...

Heather Ordover...

I took her Podcasting 101 class on Sunday morning and she lives in Tucson - my old stomping grounds! Very sweet woman!

Clara Parkes of Knitters Review fame....

Cat Bhordi...

What an amazing mind she has!

Angela Davis....

She and I had a nice little chat where we discovered we both used to live in Tucson and we both hated it! She was quite funny!

The ever-lovely Sivia Harding...

She is so petite and pretty!

Nancy Bush....

Love her books!

Lucy Neatby....

There were a group of women (must've been about 30 0f them - all different ages) who were walking around with these swathes of pink or blue in their hair and I didn't get it until I re-met Lucy. Yes, I said "re-met" (and not just because I like to make up words). When I was a fairly new knitter (a year, maybe two into it?), I met Lucy in Tucson. She came to give some classes to the knitting guild and she and her hostess stopped by the shop. Tracy (my knitting guru) introduced me and told me about her book (Cool Socks, Warm Feet). I had NO idea I was meeting knitting royalty! I wish someone had told me.

Abby Franquemont and Denny McMillan....

See the beer in Abby's hand? My kind of teacher! Also, I don't think I ever saw Denny w/o a spindle in her hand. Very cool!

Anna Zilboorg and Cookie A.

I have to say, I honestly didn't know who some of these people were. Of course, I know who Cookie A. is! Great sock designer! But Anna Zilboorg... didn't know who she was. I'll tell you more about her later but suffice it to say, I would love to spend a lunch or two with this woman.

Carson Demers and Melissa Morgan-Oakes...

Two more teachers that I recognized by their name but couldn't tell you much about them. Donna took Carson's KnitteRx class and raved about it! He stopped by our booth to get his present and chatted with us for awhile. He is the sweetest guy - I just want to put him in my pocket!

Now, this next shot is probably one of the best ones of Donna and I but probably the worst ones of the teachers....

Amy Detjen (probably spelled wrong - sorry Amy!) and Meg Swansen...

I want to be Meg Swansen when I grow up. She is one of the most elegant and gracious women I have ever met. Amy is her assistant. She is hysterically funny! And cusses like a sailor - I love her. She is a bit intimidating at over 6' tall, with a boisterous nature. I made customized Stitch Savers for all the teachers. Yes, I am a kiss-up but it also gave me an opportunity to meet all the teachers and get autographs and have them come by our booth (we also put a mini-skein of Donna's yarn in each little baggie)! When I told Amy to be sure to come by our booth to get her present she said, "You have presents for us?? Fuckin A!" I said, "Fuckin' Hell right!" And then my next thought was, "Wow. We really shouldn't cuss around Miss Swansen like this." But she was unfazed - used to it, I'm sure - and later dropped a couple of undainty words of her own at the Luminary Panel!

Here's a much better picture of Meg...



I'm gettin' this next one framed.

Miss Barbara Walker...

She's sweet and soft-spoken and brilliant!

OK, so you've lasted through all these pictures. Now I have the total amount of Stitch Savers that I sold at Sock Summit 2009.....

313. sigh.

So with the magic of the random number caller (also know as T) - Heide wins! I have a collection of small goodies I got at the Sock Summit and a skein of yarn to send your way - and of course a Stitch Saver (seems I have a few left over from the show). Just email me your addy!

More Sock Summit Shenanigans later, Ruth!

Sock Summit, The First

So. What an exhausting and exciting time we had!

One of the funnier things that we experienced, happened before we even got on the plane! We (Donna and I) decided to pay the small fee for the carry-on bag and we packed the top (zippered) half of the suitcase with her yarn.

Of course, the bag was overweight so we unzipped the top and, Man, I wish I could've snapped a shot of the airline worker's face! He looked completely dumbfounded and stammered, "Uh. Most women pack shoes."

We arrived Wed. afternoon and had these grand plans of stopping at a store to get a few things we needed for our booth, setting up our booth and going about a leisurely evening hanging out with my friends. (John and his fiance Melissa were graciously letting us stay at their house for free.)

What a laugh! We got off the plane, got our bag, got our car, raced out to J and M's, got our boxes, loaded up the car, found a store to buy our purchases, raced to the Convention Center, checked in, flung our stuff at our booth, then drive out to the Kennedy School for the Lantern Moon "vendors only" meet-up. It was lovely! We got free drinks, had a little bowl of amazingly delicious soup. Met some very nice people (namely the Abstract Yarns people and Jennifer of Holiday Yarns). Then we drove back to J and M's for a light, late dinner at a pub and dropped dead asleep in the inflatable beds they provided.

Our plan for Thursday was to go to the Convention Center, put our booth together in an hour, find Downtown and experience the "cart" food we heard so much about, then come back to Marketplace and leisurely peruse the other booths. HAH! It took us FOREVER to put that booth together! We arrived at about 10a and finished up at 3p. Just in time to race down the street to Burgerville (which was quite yummy!), throw some food down our throats and race back to our booth before it opened up at 4:30p for the students only day!

2 hours of sheer madness but we did manage to get a picture with our friend Marisa and....

Amy Singer! (editor of knitty.com)


Here's pictures of our booth...

Next post, I'll talk about the Opening Night Ceremony. So many pictures!

Can't Summit it all up in one post, Ruth!

SS09 Here We Come!

I have some pictures for y'all!

This is a Bucket O' Naked Stitch Savers...

There's 1,260 in there.

Here it is next to a Box O' Stitch Savers...

There's roughly 2,500 in there with another 1,500 (ish) in the bag next to it. The Box has the ones that are completely put together and bagged. Donna and I mailed 3 boxes of Stitch Savers, stuff and yarn. The first box we mailed weighed 72 pounds!! We are staying with some friends of mine (John and Melissa) and when they got the first box, John emailed me and said, "72 pounds?! You better not have sent me a box of meth." I said, "mmmmmMethmmmmm" then went on to explain that it was all keychains and yarn!

I made about 5,000 Stitch Savers. Burnt out a bench grinder. Spent the weekend before last of nothing but garage time to make up for waiting for the new bench grinder (and by weekend, I mean Friday - Monday). Came to HATE my garage but I got them all done!

About 1500 away from finishing "dressing" the naked ones - I ran out of keyrings!! Not sure how but apparently I've been getting a lot more LYS orders then I'd previously suspected. I have a rush order that's been sent to Oregon, hopefully they'll get there.

Since I've been lax in the blogging due to ruining my back and hands making these lovely little buggers for the Sock Summit Marketplace it's time for another contest.

Guess how many I will sell. As I said, I made 5,000 - I may've made a bit more, we kind of lost count somewher in there but I know it's at least 5,000. The person who comes closest to guessing how many I'll sell (w/0 going over) will win something special! It will very likely be Stitch Savers + a yarn bought from SS09. I'll tally my sales and announce the winner when I get back (so sometime btw Wed. and Friday next week). (Oh, and anyone guessing 0 or 1 will be summarily slapped.)

It's 4:30am right now and Donna and I fly out at about noon. Our schedule while we're there is going to be fun but brutal. I'll try to blog about it as much as I can...

Too excited to sleep, Ruth!