Summit Conquered!

I'm back....

Where to begin? (Start at the very beginning.... it's a very good place to start) - Pardon me while I escort Maria Von Trapp out of the kitchen....

Sock Summit was fantastic. Of course it was - anything organized by two of the knitterati's most prominent members couldn't be anything but awesome.

The photo to the left is of the signs posted all over the convention center (with the exception of near the elevators from the parking garage....). I just had to have the Orion sock pose for a quick shot. I so desperately wanted one of these signs. At one point I thought about commandeering the sign with my great friends creating a distraction so I could make my get-away. However - at the time I'd overlooked that the sign was hanging outside the police office within the convention center. Oops. So - rational thought prevailed & the sign was left in place. Besides - how could I have fit it in my luggage?

Wednesday: Registration day! My MIL and I arrived from Sacramento late afternoon & after a brief Seinfeld moment at the rental car desk, met friend Sandy at registration - under the:

dragon boat! The realization that Sock Summit was actually occurring hadn't yet sunk in. I did run into Stephanie P.M. & got over my nervousness about being in the same room with her & approached her to thank her for all of the work she had done to make the summit a reality. I hope I didn't come off as a total gibbering idiot.

Thursday: Day 1 of Classes! :0) My morning found me taking "Moccasin Socks" with Meg Swansen and her assistant, Amy Detjen. What a hoot! I was taking a class from Elizabeth Zimmerman' daughter! I loved it when she referred to EZ as "Ma" - it was classic. Honestly I don't think I needed to take this class to knit the moccasin, but I did learn something new - knitting backwards!!! Meg explained that sometimes when working back and forth, turning the work can be such a pain. So - she examined the knit stitch carefully from the 'other side' and determined she didn't have to turn her work to knit and/or purl back. She could just knit backwards. Crazy! Of course - I was hell bent on finishing my moccasin (I didn't - just a few rows short), so I didn't give the knitting backwards technique much time. But the fact that Meg figured this out is just crazy - I'll have to try it. I'm constantly astonished how clever some people are.

In the haste to secure a class during registration, I signed up for a mini toe-up sock for Thursday afternoon. I didn't pay much attention to what this class was about other than the date, time, and that I didn't have to do any homework. I was hoping to learn how to knit a better short row heel (another class....). So - imagine my surprise when I come to find out the class was being taught by Yarnissima! Her real name is Marjan Hammink. It wasn't until after she'd passed out examples of her socks with the interesting gusset architecture that it clicked who she was. I'm so slow.... Again - nothing new learned in this class as I'd already learned to cable without a cable needle, but I'd made a new knitting friend - GoatLady on Ravelry!

I have to say probably the best part of Sock Summit was meeting blog friends in real life. On Wednesday I had the pleasure of meeting up with Naomi of gnomiejo knits! Then, on Thursday - I met Michele of PDXKnitterati. Here we are in the Knitted Wit! booth:

By chance during a bathroom break, I ran into Ms. Quimby in the hallway! We were both a bit incoherent, without cameras, but as luck would have it - we were sitting in the same row during the World Record attempt on Friday:

Here she proudly displays her bit of knitting (washcloth? swatch?) accomplished during our 15 minutes of fame. I must point out that this photo was taken after the 15 minutes - I can attest that during the 15 minutes I was actively knitting (photo later) and was not operating a camera.
Yes - we are a part of history. We were 2 of the 935 knitters gathered at the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, August 7th to knit continuously on 2 (not 4!) needles for 15 minutes. Crazy! Magic loop is my method of choice, and I didn't even bring straight needles with me. Fortunately, my BKFF, Winston's Mom came to my rescue with some BIG (size 13??) purple acrylic (yes - acrylic) needles. She's such a life saver.

Earlier in the day I was taking J.C. Briar's Bind-Off Bonanza. We'd knit 9 (yes - 9!) small swatches to practice various bind-off techniques. Most I'd tried before, but a couple were new & pretty slick. The best however was the tubular bind off. It's a great technique to use for toe-up socks & incorporates double knitting - something I'd learned at Madrona, but haven't practiced since.

Wow - I think I could just ramble on & on about Sock Summit & still not be able to put together a coherent, descriptive sentence that could do the experience justice.

I'll have to continue later.... today was our first day back at work. I hear the wine bottle calling my name...

Ciao!