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!

Blank Stare Productions

I've had this idea in my head for awhile and the Dye For Glory contest has inspired me to go ahead and give it a shot. (For those of you not on Ravelry, the Dye For Glory contest is a contest exclusively for dyers who will be selling their wares at the Sock Summit.)

I present to you, Dear Readers, my Blank Stare Productions yarn....

I'm getting sock blanks and staring at them until I see what I want to paint. I bought one blank a few months ago and have been trying to decide which of the ideas I want to try first. Then one morning I was in that half awake state and the picture formed in my head. I shot upright in bed and said, "BACON!"

The contest has been the catalyst for me to make bacon. This is the my entry for the Out of the Box category...

Colorway: Better 'n Bacon

I love this colorway. It makes me laugh every time I see it! Better 'n Bacon as in, "The Sock summit 2009 is gonna be better then bacon."

This yarn, like all my blanks, is 462 yards of double knit 75% Superwash Merino/25% Nylon. You unravel the two strands and, using your favorite two at a time sock knitting technique, end up with super matchy-matchy socks!

My next entry is for the Predictable Striping category and goes a little something like this....

Colorway: Crater Lake

If you ever in your life get the chance to see it, Crater Lake in Oregon is one of the most beautiful bodies of water available. I've tried to capture some of that beauty here. I've made the deep swirling waves of water surrounded by the pine trees. The cool thing about this one is that the tips and toes will be the dark green, complimenting the deep water blue in the middle of your socks!

If you're on Ravelry, don't forget to go vote for you favorites, whatever they may be! You have until August 1st and you can place your votes here.

mm

mmmBaconmmmmm, Ruth!

P. S. Both colorways are available in my Etsy store.

With Bullets

• The winners of my last contest are: Nake-id Knits for her button (the only entry) and Needlegrrl is the other winner.

• I have found that four year olds and 80 year olds take the same amount of time to tell a story. They also use the same half sentences where you have to fill in the blanks and guess what they are talking about.

• I hate my garage and am about 1000 away from being done making the hooks. I'm about 2000 away from having them all put together.

• I want to ship them all next Tuesday.

• My bench grinder died on Saturday. (Best $5 I ever spent, though! Got it off Craigs list and it made it through sanding about 2500 hooks.)

• The new one I ordered won't be here until tomorrow (Thursday).

• Next Tuesday is not looking good.

• SciFi channel changed it's name to SyFy. I'm pronouncing it Sih-Fee. I'm also pronouncing it stupid.

• My friend, neighbor and boothmate for Sock Summit (booth #200) is making some really gorgeous yarn! Her store is Skeindalous.etsy.com - go say hi!

Drive by blogging, Ruth

Secret Pal 14 Questionnaire

This seems to be the same Questionnaire as SP13 but it's an excuse to have a new post so I'll try to update...

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I like natural fibers. I don't like acrylics and I loathe novelty stuff. I don't like itchy or mohairy or spiderweb lacey stuff. I guess natural fibers still leaves it pretty wide open, right?

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have a cardboard wine tube for my straights (which I almost never use anymore), a CD case thing for my circulars and the day-planner-looking-book-thingy for my KnitPicks Options. All set here!

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? My friend (and midwife) taught me to knit in Summer 2003 - I've been obsessed ever since! I guess I'm advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Amazon wish list
Etsy wish list

5. What's your favorite scent? I don't use candles or home fragrance things. I love good bath stuff! I'm a big fan of light fragrance - pink grapefruit is a favorite. I like citrusy, or light floral, sandalwood is nice. Anything not too overpowering.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? I'm still a sugar fiend! I don't like white chocolate or super-dark chocolate. Other then that, if it's sweet, I will eat.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I only knit. I don't spin (no desire to!). I have a dusty bin of cross-stitch stuff that I should really just get rid of as I haven't touched it since I learned to knit.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I'm all over the place here - blues, classic rock, country, alternative, bluegrass. I think the only thing I can't bear is techno or new age stuff - both genres grate on me as too boring and repetitive. I have an ipod. I discovered audiobooks last year and am a big fan!

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? Another wide open venue. I'm not a fan of purple, orange or yellow but I'm not completely opposed to them either. I don't like pastels or white/cream yarn. I tend toward rich, deep tones (hues?).

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Husband I adore, 2 boys (8 and 6) who crack me up and a cat.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? All but ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I don't really have a favorite thing to knit. I try it all. I found out I don't want to knit laceweight shawl things. I mostly knit things I'll wear (sweaters, socks, scarves, hats, mittens, etc.)

13. What are you knitting right now? How much time do you have? I generally have at least 15 things on needles but usually btw 3-5 active. Right now, I'm working on some socks for the Sock Summit.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Absolutely!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I'd be lost without my metal KnitPicks Options. I wish they made a set of small, sock sized Options! I'm all set with needles.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, I have both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO? 4 years?

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe? My favorite holiday is Halloween. We celebrate a commercial xmas. We are not christians and I really don't want any religious stuff.

19. Is there anything that you collect? Yarn.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I just had a little fall down at the KnitPicks 40% off summer book sale! I keep meaning to get a subscription to Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting but haven't as of yet. I love the Ysolda Teague Vivian pattern. Also, I know my Rav queue is crazy long but I'm in the process of adding the WANT tag to the patterns I really crave!

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I'm going to try to better my Fair Isle skills this year.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I am!
Toe to heel - 10"; Ball of foot - 8"; Ankle (just above ankle bone)- 8.5"

23. When is your birthday? 4/13

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? yes - 5elementknitr

Still buried in hooks, Ruth!

Days I Want vs. Days I Have

My Perfect Day:
Sleep in until 8:30a.
Read my book until about 9a.
Eat breakfast (I love cereal, particularly Cocoa Puffs or Raisin Bran)
Watch a movie and knit.
Spend about an hour online catching up on emails and blogs.
Eat lunch.
Go swim for an hour (in my indoor pool, money being no object).
Get a massage (again, money's no object).
Knit some more.
Play a board game with Dave and the boys (who, up until this point, have been discreetly absent).
Eat dinner.
Watch TV/hangout with the family.
Put the boys to bed.
Sit out back with Dave while reading our books.
Long bath.
Bed at 10p.

My Actual Day:
Wake at 6a.
Go to basement and label bags for an hour (while playing some movie in the background on my laptop).
Put together hooks.
Come up at 8a and eat breakfast/make breakfast for the kids (at least I get my cereal!).
Go back to basement and work my "real" job while putting hooks together and doing laundry (and sneaking in some blog reads here and there).
Come up around noon and make lunch for me and the boys.
Go back to basement for more of the same.
Around 2p I run errands (coupla times a week) or work out for 20 minutes (loving the Gold's Gym Cardio Workout with the Wii!).
Go to garage and make hooks (drilling, cutting, sanding) until dinnertime. (So roughly 3p-6p).
Shower.
Make/eat dinner.
Watch some TV with the family while putting together more hooks.
Put the boys to bed.
Put more hooks together.
Bed somewhere btw 10p-11p.

I did take the boys to the public pool for an hour and a half yesterday!

I know I've been blogless for awhile but it's pretty boring around here with all the hook making. I have 2 FO's to share and hope to be able to share soon.

What's your perfect day?

Le sigh, Ruth!

P.S. Only 3 more days to enter my contests!