Needles and post SS pics

I had to use my new Signature Needles right away.
They are 7" long and size 7. The yarn; bought at SS, hand dyed by Teresa Ruch it's two strands...one bamboo and the other tencel.

The pattern for the scarf I am making out of this glorious yarn is Palette from Knitty.

The needles are a work of art. As short as they are they have a quite heft in the hand. Probably too slippery for this yarn, I'm happy to ignore that to use both of my new goodies. Lovin' both the yarn and the needles. As I like to say "buy quality and cry only once"




















This is Kathleen Taylor. I've been reading her blog for a long time. Her "The Big Book of Socks" just came out and I highly recommend that you get a copy. You can see that she has a sense of humor. She appears to have knitting needles through her head! This shot was taken at SS... I semi-stalked her. (semi= no restraining order)


As we were leaving Oregon I stopped in Ashland to visit my pal Karen's favorite Oregon yarn shop; Websters. It's very pretty. I didn't buy much considering all that I had already purchased.














Even though I HAD to buy more yarn than I had intended, due to the theft of my stuff...it's not without trepidation that I post a picture of what I bought at SS. Here goes....behold the stash enhancement!

We have a winner!!!!!

I used both low and high tech methods for choosing the winner of the contest. I wrote down the names of all of the commenters in the order that they were made.




Then, I used a random number generator to pick the lucky person.



#19 is iamtheinfidel. I will contact her and mail the lovely Lorna's Laces yarn.


Thank you all for leaving comments! It made my trip way more fun knowing that there were folks following my trip to Sock Summit.

I will say that next time (if I get a chance to go again) I would love to have friends actually there to share in the fun and awe.

I still am catching up on my sleep. Not to mention all the paperwork I have to do to turn in to the insurance company to replace my stuff.

I have some pictures that didn't get posted while I was in Portland. Stop by later, I'll be posting them.

Last Day of SS09

It was a lovely day.













I had a class with Crissy Gardiner. She taught us how to do a textured colorwork. It is in the Bohus style. (pronounced: Bo-hoos) It's really like Fair Isle knitting except that there are purls along with the knits to add a color and textured effect that is really cool.




















Here is my little sample


We left the class a little early and went to the Marketplace. I bought more stuff. I picked up a copy of Free Range Knitter (ya, that's right... the one I brought from home was stolen) I snuck over to Stephanie at lunch time and showed her my pen and the book. she stealthy signed it so as not to attract a gaggle of women asking for the same. She is the nicest person anyone would ever want to adore like a teenybopper.






Click this picture to make it big. This is the Luminary panel. I can't explain sufficiently how awesome this event was. We laughed and nearly cried and hung on every word. Every dime I spent on this event was worth just this one moment with these incredible women. I got a front row seat to witness the brilliance.

Today is 99 years since the birth of Elizabeth Zimmerman. At the very end we all sang Happy Birthday to her and had cake.

A perfect ending to a fabulous 4 days of knitterly fun.



oh ya......one more thing.....


I scored this!!!!!!!















We came out of the elevator in the hotel and this was just sitting there. Sweet!

Getting up early tomorrow to drive half way Home.

A quick exhausted post

It was a long but terrific day. This is Lorilee Beltman. She taught the morning class, Seismic Socks. She showed us how to do a vertical stranded design. It wasn't as hard as it might seem. she is a good teacher and I suspect she'll write a book about this technique.

I was a few minutes late to both of my classes due to breakneck shopping. Lunch was a yummy taco bar.



















Sivia Harding is a modest, sweet lady and a great teacher. We learned to do a beaded baby bootie. I got snagged a couple of times and didn't get far on mine. I will finish the pair later, I really love the pattern. There was a gal in class that is a super speedy knitter, she finished a bootie in class.












I had dinner with the Hubby and arrived after all the swag bags had been passed out at the Ravelry party. I chatted with several ladies that I had classes with. There were door prizes ... I didn't win anything.


as you can see there was a big crowd.
MUST... GET... SLEEP!

Friday Fun Day

After a quick walk around the Marketplace before my morning class, I decided that I needed a strategy for the afternoon. I figured I could wait until the very end of the Book Signing time slot to get my books signed. The thinking there was that the lines would be short at the end which would give me lots of time to browse the marketplace. That plan worked like a charm.

The class was satisfactory. I didn't really learn anything new. The teacher was nice, she had a good Power Point lecture on fixing common mistakes and how to determine if you were a "fixer" or a "fudger". Turns out I am in the middle of that continuum. (that word doesn't look like it's spelled correctly, but spellcheck says, yes. )
We all left a little early for the Guinness Book of Records event.









Heather (who was in my class) and I got great seats right behind the teachers. At first Amy Singer (of Knitty.com fame) was the only one in the teacher seats. When I asked her if I could have a picture with her... she insisted that I SIT ON HER LAP!!!!!













Stephanie got up on the podium and was her typical hilarious self. There were Guinness people to make sure that it was legit. There were big time camera men types. There were lots of ladies standing in the front of our huge crowd taking pictures.







that's Amy Singer in the lower left hand corner)

We all knitted for 15 minutes and I think we can be pretty sure that we broke the record. Wow, while I was googling to find out what the old record was I found THIS . You can hear and see the Harlot for yourself and if you look closely you'll see me.


See that yarn in my hand? That is the yarn that I picked for the BLOG PRIZE. It's Lorna's Laces dyed just for Sock Summit. The lady who dyed it signed the label and is posing with me for this pic. Don't ask me her name I'm sure she told me, though.
edited to add: She is Beth Casey the owner of Lorna's Laces. Duh!


I got in some good shopping. Briar Rose laceweight and an Ann Hanson pattern. Also a little Silk and Cashmere for a cowl from Red Fish. I bought a lot of little notions to replenish the long list of stuff that got stolen.

I had lunch with some ladys that I know from Ravelry. That's Monica on the Left next to Marie. It was like meeting old friends for the first time.

















As I had guessed, half and hour before the Book Signing was over I had time to walk to my hotel room, get my books and walk right up to the tables and get autographs.

First Was Anna Zilboorg, she wrote "Knitting For Anarchists".













I had Barbara Walker's "Book One" to be signed, I didn't ask her for a picture since I had already asked last night.


Then the beautiful, gracious and funny Meg Swanson. I asked her if she felt like a Rock Star. She said she did!
















Then I just came out and asked for a picture with the Harlot.

















I hope to get a little more sleep tonight. Two classes, and the Ravelry Meet-up tomorrow.

I am not a morning person

Let's see...I went to bed at 1:30am....woke up at 5:30 and I don't know how much sleep I got after that....then got a wake-up call at 7:00am. I wanted to be certain to get a ticket to the World Record Attempt.
I am taking "Getting Out Of a Mess" class at 9:00.
Gonna do a 30 min. walk-about in the marketplace before class. Yesterday I just kinda got saturated and my brain wouldn't let me buy more stuff, I was overwhelmed and exhausted. So, I hope this coffee kicks in and gives me some Super Shopping Powers!


The book signing is in the afternoon.

Opening Day at the Summit

My day started out at Starbucks for coffee and a scone. Then, I arrived early at the convention center to do a little people watching. This is Meg Swanson she is fast on her feet and had a melodious "Good Morning!" for Stephanie.










Jess and Mary Heather look adorable and that's "small Bob" on my finger. (you can click the photos to make 'em bigger.) They gave me a new Ravelry button.






My first class was with Charlene Schurch.

OK- the name is Swiss-German and the "S" is not pronounced. She mentioned that first thing...evidently everyone asks her about her name.

I learned a lot about making socks last longer. Established that I probably should use a size 1 and go to a zero just on the areas that I tend to wear out. she showed us several styles of socks that are best depending on where you get wear on your socks.


During the lunch break I took photos of some of the lovely socks!













Next was 4 ways to do a toe up sock. we were supposed to be really comfortable doing Judy's Magic Cast-on. Some of the students needed a little review, she is showing the cast-on in this pic.


Of all the stuff I learned in this class my favorite is the idea that her cast-on can be used as a provisional cast on. BRILLIANT!!!













the Opening ceremony was a touching recount by Tina and Stephanie of how this whole extravaganza came about. Written with the Harlot's usual brilliant humor, it was quite hilarious and at the end touching. They thanked each teacher by name and when they got to Barbara Walker there was a standing ovation.


Oh ya ...Barbara Walker....she's the person I am standing next to in this photo.

















I shook her hand and then stammered like a goober. It was great!


After that I chatted with a few people and watched the shmoozing. Then walked to the hotel where there were knitters in the lobby. One lady there was massively full of herself..... I think she invented spinning... she has wheels custom made for her by God himself.

oh ya, I forgot to mention that I did a little shopping:












see anything you like?