Long quiet week

Still trying to recover from Sock Summit. Getting to spend all that time with all those knitters! All those fiber fumes from the marketplace. Can anyone truly recover from that experience?

Monday night we headed over to the airport to pick up Judy, Brandon's mom from her trip visiting back east. I didn't have to drive so made sure to grab yarn, needles and a pattern. Someone forgot to check on flight status so we had 2 hours to entertain ourselves at the airport. Saw a few shops, checked with Trtlgrl to find out if she wanted a cute turtle packback we saw in one store. The little turtle actually detached from the backpack and was the softest chenille. Then wandered through Powell's for a bit. Decided that the wait deserved a Jamba Juice so crossed the concourse for those and found a table. I was fully prepared to entertain myself with knitting but suggested that Brandon go get one of the travel Cribbage games I had seen in Powell's. Off he went for it and we played for the next hour and a half. We now have it in the car for future trips.

I got a couple of inches knitted and then realized after getting home that I had gotten my right side and wrong sides mixed up so had to frog that work and start over. Sigh. I blame it on the yarn. Simple Yet Effective Shawl, even an idiot can mess it up. ;-)

The correct view!

Since someone hadn't gotten the broken part on his car fixed while he was driving his mom's car, that meant that my car for was used for the week. Sigh. So no Wednesday spinning, but did get to go to Haggen's. We are a happy noisy bunch, especially when getting to ogle others Sock Summit purchases. Some really nice yarns found their way into new stashes.

I finished up my second Hydrangea sock to find that Sock Summit knitting and lack of sleep impacted my socks. I have two different heel flaps. I could have sworn I was reading the pattern while knitting them but clearly two different flaps. Then again if anyone is that close and says anything, I'm doing what Lucy says - kick them in the face. That Lucy she is a riot! Judy assures me that if I were to knit them at the same time this wouldn't be a problem - she's right of course. LOL


With these socks done, I have hopes of casting on the Orion socks soon.

Saturday I picked up Angela and we headed downtown to go the monthly Portland Spinnerati meeting. Luckily I must have planned for bad traffic because at one point I was thinking we were going to be 20 minutes early and we ended up arriving just a few minutes late. Tammy made mention of reading about the closure of one of the lanes and redirecting of traffic but didn't remember about it until in the middle of the backed up traffic. ;-)

Michele was lured into the darkside as Sandy Kay (Knit/Purl) called it, by Leila's Turkish drop spindle, she saw it at the Ravelry Meetup and the next day went and bought one of her own. It was the magic of creating a center pull ball that got her and then after feeling and seeing yarn appear under her fingers I think we have her well and truly hooked. ;-)
Depending upon how much spinning happens we may have to get her setup with a shoebox lazy kate for the plying step before the next meeting or at OFFF.

We had a larger group than normal with several new people there. I'm terrible about names so don't have any to share. A few photos though:




After Spinnerati, Angela and I put the wheels back in the car and made the trek the few blocks over to Knit/Purl. I needed to get the pattern from Sandy Kay that I'm going to do a store sample out of the Habu Raw Silk she gave me at Sock Summit. She also let us take home a sample of Happiest Girl Dyeworks that they had been giving out in the booth. I brought home a pretty red one called Gypsy Petticoats:
I think a little wrist warmer should use it up nicely.

One lady in Knit/Purl asked about Sock Summit. She didn't come because she doesn't knit socks. After a stunned moment I mentioned the 150 booths in the marketplace but couldn't possibly depress her by the demos she also missed out. I just left her with hopefully there would be another one here in two years. She still seemed surprised by that thought. Why?

Sock Summit Wrap-up

I finished up the test knit for Kathleen. I'm going to write up suggestions for the pattern, so I'm not sure when it will be available. It's a pretty scarf or shawlette depending upon the size needle you use. The shawlette isn't going to give you a lot of depth, but does cover the shoulders nicely.

Sara after being sick with multiple ear infections was able to dye up the superwash merino I had given her for my spinning handpainted socks class. I'd given her some color suggestions and let her have fun:

I think she did a fantastic job and look forward to spinning these up and seeing them as sock yarns to be used.

I picked up some really nice Shetland top from Klaus at Crown Mountain Farms that is softer than the sample I had spun up from Tactile. He also has Finn available and I'll definitely order some for him to bring down to OFFF as well as some of his own Shetland (natural colors other than the white I got). He also had a few ounces of Guanaco and I couldn't resist buying one ounce to go with the one ounce Gail had given me in payment for a massage. (I can spin more to ply together this way and get more yarn to hopefully make into a lace shawl.)



From my classes I learned how to pre-darn and darn socks. Ideally of course you would knit your socks so they don't have wear. Merike likes using a wool-mohair combination for sock knitting and this was also repeated by Judith. These seemed to be heavier socks though. Merike darns from the front. You basically do a mattress stitch up the vertical and then use those as your warp and then weave across the horizontally made stitches. Pick up any loops that are still live along the way. Lots of common sense involved here.



From Janel's spinning handpainted socks class I learned about how to look at rovings and decide if they'll spin up the way you'd like them to. All can of course be used, you'll just get different effects and knowing is half the battle! (what's the reference from?) She also showed us how to spin a finer yarn and that we need to overspin for socks. I actually got it a little overspun where she had to keep telling others to spin more. ;-)

My spinning card:



Part of the color learning involved how to make it striping. Janel shared some predominantly green merino/silk and predominantly blue merino/silk rovings and I took a small handful of each and then divided them up per her instructions and spun green-green; blue-blue and green-blue (two ply yarn). and then plied them. I did just a straight ply, no chaining or navajo plying. These were my results:



I was a teacher's aide for Anne Hanson and her lace knitting class. Someone in class had found highligher tape in the marketplace and I made sure some came home with me. I also stopped into the Briar Rose booth to buy a copy of Anne's Marie Antoinette sock after seeing a student's start of the sock.

I was also an aide for Lucy Neatby. Love her accent and wish I could have been there in the morning, but was busy spinning instead. Lisa (ljcoz), I had met on Wednesday while working the Registration desk and gave her directions on how to get to Powell's and Knit/Purl, is from Australia. Australian and Welsh accents all in the same room, and then throw in spotting Sandi Wiseheart. (Bobbie said that she had fun talking with Sandi in one of Judith's spinning classes too.) Lisa showed me (Rachel, Sara and Carissa too!) the cool way that Lucy taught how to do a ssk in the morning portion, at the Ravelry Meetup. I then remembered it while I was doing the toe portion of my sock during the Luminary Panel. Thanks Lisa for sharing! Lucy also has some innovative ways of doing bind-offs and I'm grateful to both teachers in sharing their class notes with me too.

My Hydrangea sock using Classic Elite's Summer Sox:

Sock Summit Day 5

I wasn't scheduled to 'do' anything until 10:30am. There had been thoughts of sleeping in and arriving just before 10am. Then Tiggywinkleknits said that I could hang out with her in the back of the room of Judith McKenzie McCuin's class. Hmm....sleep in or glean tidbits from Judith? Sold!

So after navigating a detour of our normal morning route due to the Bridge Pedal going on (almost having an accident because everyone was looking at the walkers/bicyclists above us on the Fremont Bridge) we arrived at the Convention Center and I set up my wheel in the back of the class prepared to spin some of the Gotland I had. Watched a late arrival come into class with the aide of Rachel H and setup. She had a baby in tow.

Started spinning and then noticed baby start to kind of wake up and make happy baby noises in carrier. Offered that if baby got to be too much that I could entertain her and was turned down. Fifteen minutes later the offer was accepted. That's about how long I got to stay in the classroom. The baby started making more happy noises and I thought it would be disruptive for the other people in class since Judith doesn't have a loud projecting voice.

Out I went in the concourse to entertain baby. Found Duffy spinning so we alighted there. Everyone kept commenting on the baby I had stolen from class and I had to explain. Then the baby was recognized by Casey, Jess and Mary Heather as Lilly Pearl. Famous baby apparently? Angela took over baby-sitting duties for me so I could go work a couple of hours in the Bookstore in the marketplace. Lots of last minute shoppers and people who were coming back trying to get things they hadn't gotten before. Overheard from the next booth was a comment along the lines of 'I'm spending everything I'm making'. Not sure if that was good or bad. :-)

After working in the bookstore I headed back to the classroom to pack up my unused wheel and find some lunch. Bobbie and I headed out leaving Duffy to watch stuff in the room. The mothers had left with the baby but left behind their spinning wheels and spinning stuff. So Debra who had been working in the Vendor Information booth showed up to help schlep their stuff off to the storage room because we found out that we wouldn't be able to have our spinning wheels at the back of the room during the Luminary Panel. So off we went. Wonder how they claimed their items?

The Luminary Panel was fun and interesting, but I found it difficult to stay awake some of the time. Sitting and doing nothing for a few hours when already tired will do that for you. I did manage to finish up one sock out of the intended pair for the Summit. I took a photograph of it during the panel. I did cast on for the second pair but found that when it came time to do the chart portion of the sock that my brain couldn't handle listening and paying attention to the chart. I also couldn't handle a crush of people so didn't get my magazine signed by Judith as I had hoped. Oh well, unless some unforeseen catastrophe happens, I will have another opportunity in the future.

Its great meeting up with local friends - Michele, Melissa, Alyssa, Duffy, Angela, Rachel, Sara, Cindy, Bobbie, Judy, Deb, Kim, Leila and seeing former customers at the shop, local bloggers I hadn't met in person yet - Michelle, MonicaPDX, local shop owners and employees like - Knitting Bee, Knit/Purl, Abundant, Twisted, and local dyers - Abstract Fiber, Stitchjones, Knitted Wit, Frog Creek Fiber and seeing famous faces - Yarn Harlot, Tina, Rachel H, Casey, Jess, Mary-Heather, Lucy, Cookie, Chrissy, Anne, Judith, Nancy, and Sandi (I know there were more famous people there, but I didn't get to see them up close and personal or talk with them).

Future plans involve finishing the second sock, getting the bonsai swing top done and doing a sample knit for Knit/Purl. I also need to build a web site for my dad's business this week - oh and find a job that has more hours and pay to help out the household budget. ;-)

Photos from the event including Ravelry Meetup. My camera was not getting good shots from the back at the Luminary Panel. This is a link to the Picasa Web Album for Sock Summit 09 with the additional photos.

Sock Summit 09

Sock Summit Day 4

So very tired! So much knowledge, so many fun things, and awesome teachers. Got to loan Sandi Wiseheart my shawl while she was freezing in Lucy Neatby's class. Got both of their autographs in my book.

Spinning sock class was educational and fun. Could have used more time of course. Wish I could have gotten into one of Judith's classes, but I get to sit in the back of the room for a bit tomorrow morning and spin.

Brandon's co-worker had a house party this evening, so I spent an hour there before heading over to the Forestry Center for the Ravelry Meet-up. Got there late enough that I missed a goodie bag and didn't win any of the door prizes. Had a great time talking with Lisa (ljcoz on Ravelry) about Australia and coming up for this event. Got pic taken with Jess (Frecklegirl) with the Bob puppet. Got a 'sock' button from Amy Singer on the way out.

Tomorrow also includes some time in the bookstore as well as the Luminary Panel to finish up the day. There's also the closing ceremonies. Then it will be all over. More pics tomorrow!

Sock Summit 09

(Check out the ones of Tiggywinkleknits with a fan, and Stevanie getting licked and then licking Larissa - all in the name of Lantern Moon temp tatoos.)

Sock Summit Day 3

I woke up with a migraine this morning. I took some meds to try to kick it. It was an elusive thing. It would spike and lull throughout the day.

I did drop off the figs for PDXKnitterati. They were very ripe and I did squish one in my bag. Might just have to go with a jar of jam. ;-)

This morning I spent in Anne Hanson's Lace Knitting class. She actually explained yarn overs and purls such that I understand why the British write their patterns the way they do. It all makes much more sense if you're an knitter that throws the yarn (English) versus the Continental knitter that I am. It will help out I think in the future for any students/friends/etc.

Ran into Rachel just in time to walk her to the World Record that they were trying to set. Rachel kinneared Lucy Neatby as she followed us further back up the escalator. I had forgotten needles and yarn to attempt it with. I did help get people in for a few minutes and took pictures of the massive amount of people waiting to start. Fun pictures of Tracy with yarn and needles over head telling people to please cast on before they go in. I think I even got the Yarn Harlot standing behind her at one point.

I ended up wandering the marketplace and looking inside the booths and running into people that I know after eating a hot dog. I showed great restraint in not buying much. I did buy a few items though - purple highlighter tape. This will be great for chart knitting as it lets you see through for the row you are working on as well as the last one knit. Post-its are great for showing you the row you're on, but sometimes its nice to also see the previous. This was in a booth that didn't have their name on the receipt but it was a small one with lots of wood - sock blockers, hair gadgets and stitch markers (in case you want to get one of your own).

ETA: Michele took a picture of their booth, here's their web site. No highlighter tape visible, but you could ask.

I need to figure out the yardage but was able to get a lot of some cream colored cashmere/merino fingering weight yarn (not good for socks really) for only $20. I could probably get a shawl out of it, but I walked around and petted it for five minutes so knew it was coming home with me.

The only other purchase was 4 ounces of cream colored Shetland roving that is much softer than the 1 ounce I recently spun up. I can combine it with the Finn for a project I'm sure.

Bobbie and I saw a couple of fun sights while in the marketplace and visiting Abundant Yarn. I have pics and when I can get to them, I'll share the whole thing. ;-)

We left earlier than planned and once home, I took a nap. Helped a bit with the lingering migraine, but then made it difficult to become functional again.

Finished up the wheel bag so find out that I shouldn't have had the batting where the draw string is, makes it hard to really close it. That the foam at the bottom shortened the height of the bag and so I have to take off the mother of all to get the wheel in. Brandon was a great help in getting the foam block into the bottom of the bag many times and also cutting out a section of the foam for the post. He also added a design suggestion for the bag to hold the wheel more in place while its in the bag. Ultimately, the bag will have to be redone to make it something I'm really happy with, but it will be functional enough to get me to and from the Convention Center for class.

Off to bed and another early day. Tomorrow though is spinning handpainted socks! Lucy Neatby's class that I haven't had time to do the homework for.... the Ravelry Meetup is also tomorrow night - it is going to be a long day!

I downloaded the pics and then Brandon took the server down when he got home. The motherboard is going bad and he has a replacement server but it was fighting the changeover and causing him fits tonight. So all my pics are trapped on the hard drive. Might not be until Sunday that I can play with pics - sorry!

Sock Summit Day 2

Couldn't sleep last night and was up way earlier than I'm normally up since cube days. Picked up my riders and we arrived down at the Convention Center by 7:45am. Way earlier than we needed to be there. So sleeping in and going in later on Friday. ;-)

Got to hang out and chat until just before 9am when I tried to show up for duty at Marketplace Registration to find out that the sign-up for that got lost and I had 2 hours free. If only they had been on Friday, I could have used them for the marketplace! Instead I was good and did my 'homework' for my Darn It! class - a little swatch. I did a one-hour wonder with Chrissy Gardiner learning her three favorite bind-offs. Looking forward to trying them out with my next toe up sock. She has a really nice book that I'll have to pick-up or get from the library.

I chatted with various visitors at the tables across from the registration area and had a group grow at the table during lunch. It was great to get to talk with so many people. After lunch was the Darn It class with Maarike (think I got the spelling). After cutting a hole in my swatch, doing a steek in a future sweater will be less intimidating. LOL I did learn that its not a bad idea to pre-darn a sock and do a mattress stitch along the areas that might have more wear. Of course there's less chance of wear issues if you have a properly fitting sock!

I finished out my volunteer day with a couple of hours at the Registration desk and watched the madness of all the participants eagerly awaiting their chance to do some early shopping in the marketplace. I snapped a few pictures of it as they finally got to go in. I also found out that Amy Singer carries around a ukulele - saw it being stashed and thought it might be some really wild tiny spinning wheel and so asked her about it. Also got to see her be totally startled by someone telling her that they are a huge fan.

I've been seeing the marketplace being set up, popped in early this morning and was still amazed by it this afternoon. We only stayed for an hour or so - long enough that we picked up a tote bag that we hadn't ordered before. It's a nice large tote with pockets that makes it worth picking up. Brandon personalized it for me so mine won't get lost in the sea of bags.

A couple of hours of work on my spinning wheel bag finished out my day. I have the pieces quilted, oh my that part was work! The top seam that has the drawstring, with string installed (again helped by Brandon - he's awesome!) so that tomorrow I can sew on the band that will help keep the bag on the luggage cart. Then I'll sew up the side and bottom. I'd like to do a pocket but found that I don't have enough of the fabric to do ones that match. So I may just go with smaller drawstring bags for the lazy kate and bobbins. Just have to be done so that I can use it for class on Saturday.

Off to bed earlier than last night and will definitely not have any problems sleeping tonight!

Will try to have pictures up tomorrow.

Sock Summit Day 1

Okay, it may not be day one officially, but for those of us volunteering, setting up, or picking up registration, its day one.;-)

I spent my first couple of hours there out on the loading dock helping to keep track of the vendors coming in. I watched all the goodies coming out of the endless vastness of the Paradise Fibers truck. I swear it wasn't until the last 1/3 that I saw actual fiber come out. ;-)

I also helped Morgaine's group with the unloading of their trailer. I met Christine of Curious Creek and helped a 'teacher' load up the cart and tease her about the fact that she always tried bringing it back with the handle close to the truck when it needed to be away from the truck. It wasn't until later that I found out this teacher was Judith McKenzie McCuin.

I then spent a couple of hours sitting next to JoAnn (her hair isn't that color anymore though) under the Information window handing out registrations to students. Lots of new faces and some familiar faces showed up to get their packets from me. Okay, I pulled them over shamelessly. ;-) Must try to remember to pick a couple of figs to bring to PDXKnitterati in the morning, or the next.

I chatted with Monica and other PDX-Knit-Bloggers at one of the tables that looked towards the Registration area before making the trek towards home. There was a library stop, drop off to Alyssa of her swag and registration and breakfast supplies at Fred Meyers before rounding off the trip by filling up the tank and heading home. I found out I have a headlight out so on the way home tomorrow that will get fixed.

I'm carpooling with Alyssa and Tiggywinkleknits Thursday and Saturday (Alyssa just in the AM both days). Talking about picking up Camille Saturday morning too. Otherwise Bobbie's riding with me both ways.

I'm supposed to be up before 6am and I'm still up - ack!

Finished Things & Other Stuff

As mentioned previously I finished up the cormo I had been spinning. This was an OFFF purchase last fall. I got it because it was ridiculously inexpensive for the amount of fiber given. Well the reason why is that it had lots of 'stuff' in it. Strands of some kind of dark vegetation and little bits of black seed like stuff. I tried picking them all out as best as I could while spinning but some did make it into the yarn. There were also lots of little nubs that I tried to pick out but a large number of them also made it in. This makes this a very organic yarn! Still very soft and sproingy though.



I also finished up the Wisteria Shur'tugal socks! Yea! Shibuiknits sock is a very soft cushy yarn and knits up lovely. Unfortunately the Wisteria line is being discontinued. This really is an electric purple but pretty nonetheless. One sock oddly, appears to be slightly smaller than the other but when lined up with the different areas are the same. Fit the same way so I'm not stressing.



Sock Summit news is that I did get the classes that I had hoped to get. It was an interesting process full of challenges to a knitter's patience but I persevered and was successful on my first attempts. I'm going to do a couple of 1 hour classes on Thursday - Chrissy's Toe Up Bind Offs and Merike's Darn It! I work on Friday so nothing that day. Then I'm there Saturday morning for Janel's Spinning a Painted Sock. I'm going to have some superwash merino hand dyed for the class too. Then I'll enjoy the Luminary Panel on Sunday. There's also a Ravelry meet-up in the works for Saturday after the classes. I'll be saving up money for some goodies in the marketplace too.

I had contemplated going down to Black Sheep but have decided to stay home and spin. There's also Tour de Fleece coming up in July that I can tie in with the Summer of Spinning going on. All this spinning should deplete the fiber supply just in time for OFFF. ;-) I've got some of the Knit Blogger ladies thinking we'll pay the vendor fees so that we can sell various items while we're there. I have various fiber related items I'm contemplating making for sale.