Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Art of Summing Up: Remembering Sock Summit

I think I've finally gotten over the general feeling of exhaustion from Sock Summit. It was a lot of fun, but getting reacclimated to the world outside of Portland was a wee-bit difficult.

I soon realized that knitting in public is generally not an acceptable practice. Instead of being met with, "ooh! What are you working on? What yarn is that?" I generally just get strange stares.

While in the grocery store parking lot, I noticed that the last three letters of the car's license plate in front of me were "SSK." For those nonknitters out there, that means slip, slip, knit in pattern instructions for knitting. I almost said something aloud about it, but thought better of it.

While driving, I noticed that the car in front of me was a model that I was unfamiliar with. It was a Toyota, Yaris. Only when I first read it, I thought it said Yarnie.

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Portland anymore.

So, while I've been trying to readjust to life as usual, I thought I'd post some pics and links of the fun that was Sock Summit.

I was lucky enough to get through the registration process and got some classes at Sock Summit. I was even luckier to get a class with Anne Hanson of Knitspot! Anne designed the Gridiron Socks that I'm working on for Chris. Since the class, I've gotten a few more repeats in. It's a simple sock, and I enjoy working on it when I'm not able to work on something that requires more attention. Anne has a lot of other designs I'd like to try, but I really should finish those socks first. It seems that I take longer to finish items that are not meant for me, I'm afraid.

After class, she let us all pose for a class pic.




Even while not in classes, I was able to learn from others at the Summit. Sarah, of The Sanguine Gryphon took some time out from selling and taught me how to use a drop spindle. The fiber is Dragonfly Fibers BFL and I'm afraid I'm not doing it justice yet. See all the nubby-uneveness? I'm getting a bit better and will soon be taking a full day class on using a drop spindle.

It all started when I began dropping hints to Kate that I'd like to learn how to spin. She was only too happy to take me to the Carolina Homespun booth in the marketplace and show me some stuff. Later, she told me that Sarah would be great to teach me (I think she was trying to avoid being blamed for getting me involved in another yarn related addiction.) It's okay, ladies, I only blame myself. More about my spinning adventures in future blog entries.

After the first day, we attended the opening ceremonies and despite their exhaustion, Gryphon and Sarah of The Sanguine Gryphon and Kate of Dragonfly Fibers smiled and posed for a pic.


While at Sock Summit, I participated in two record breaking events! I was one of the knitters trying to break the record for "Most Knitters Knitting In One Place." and even got my photo (well sort of) in a local paper! That's me behind the ladies in the blue and purple knit "wigs." My friend Nikki (Ravelry name Kurokids) pointed it out to me. Nikki also hosted a lovely dinner for a bunch of us Ravelers. We had so much fun that night.

On the last day of the Summit, I had an opportunity to knit part of the Biggest Sock in the World!


Also saw some lovely handknit socks from different time periods in the Sock Museum. Yes nonknitters, there was a sock museum.

After buying up all kinds of yarn at the Marketplace, I decided that I needed to play with some of it right away. I set up a make-shift yarn swift out of my luggage in order to wind a ball of Rainy Days and Wooly Dogs' yarn.

Despite the fact that I was at a knitting conference, I didn't have a lot of time to knit. There was so much to do and see, that I only found a few moments here and there to sit and knit in a corner. I more than made up for that when I got home. More on that in future entries.

With all of the knitting and yarn that was surrounding me at Sock Summit, it is no wonder that I've been having trouble adjusting back to business as usual. The biggest adjustment is realizing that no one around me speaks knitting. I have to get used to speaking the native tongue again.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Knitting is a part of you... of course you are going to see "bits" of it everywhere. Well... SSK on a shopping cart is pretty out there and funny! ;)

Sarah said...

That really was a ridiculously fun few days. So glad to see you're still spinning, but don't try and blame me if you start looking at wheels. :)

By the way, would you mind sending me a full- size copy of that photo of Kate, Gryphon and I? It's a great shot of the three of us, and I don't have many. :)