Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sock Summit 2009, part 2

The mementos:
Our plan for shopping at Sock Summit 2009 was to look for vendors who weren't from around here. This was as easy as finding yarn at a yarn store. We figured we probably wouldn't see them again, being the great world travelers we are ~ neither of us likes to fly (although we will if it's an emergency) and we tend to spend our fiber dollars on fiber, not on getting to the fiber and back, unless we're talking driving to Black Sheep Gathering and Oregon Flock and Fiber and Madrona Fiber Arts and the Knitters Retreat, all within six hours by car. While we shopped the 'Outlanders' (hee hee, Michale, hee) we had to stop by our favorite local yarn shops ~ Toots LeBlanc, Acorn Street, Crown Mountain, Good to be Girl, etc just to say hi and get hugs. We didn't buy locally until we bought sock yarn from Michelle and Carl of Toots when they came to Seattle shortly after SS '09 to be the program at Seattle Knitters Guild, because we didn't get enough at Sock Summit, I guess... Here it is, a three-ply Jacob/Alpaca/Mohair blend, perfection for socks!

And here are the shopping results of our trip to
Sock Summit 2009:

Above is the yarn Peggy and I bought from
Enchanted Knoll Farm in Maine.

She has 3, me 1. Mine is purple.

These two are from Tess' Designer Yarns,
mine on top and Peggy's below.

From there we traveled wildly divergent paths:
Mt Colors Barefoot in Marigold ~ and yes, I know
I can get this locally but I've been looking for a year
and my lys's just don't stock this color,
even though I've asked several of them to bring it in.
I know they can't stock every color in every yarn,
so I took my shot when I had it.
Three Irish Girls McClellen Sock, no color name.
They won 3 of the catagories in the Ravelry Dye contest
for Sock Summit so I had to see their stuff in person
and then I had to buy just one.
Rose Garden from Heritage Hand Dyed.
It was the color, of course.
I think I'm going through a pink phase again.



Peggy was drawn to this deep raisin, aubergine, wine color
from Sanguine Griffin. It's a loosely spun lace weight,
just right for a shawl, she thinks.

From Australia came Ms. Gusset and
all her wonderful Merino Optim Top,
not sock yarn yet but it will be once spun.

One more memento of the three day jaunt to
Sock Summit 2009.
The pin, people, the pin!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Sock Summit 2009, part 1

We had a great time at Sock Summit 2009.
We ran into so many friends that we are hard pressed
to think of who wasn't there...oh yeah, Ryan.

Here's the Market, which is why we went:

Peggy at Enchanted Knoll Farm. They came to
Portland Or from Portland Maine. cool.

Peggy, Linda K and I sat together while over
900 of us knit at the same time on two straight needles
and set the Guinness World Record for the number
of knitters knitting at the same time. cool.

Speaking of knitting at the same time,
here's a crazy man knitting 7 pairs of socks on one circular needle
which is over 100" long. This is at the Skacel booth.
We met Ellen, of Twinset.
She went to the Ravelry Meetup but we headed home.
Yes, we bought yarn. That's an entry all it's own.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Pink Socks

Pink socks with beads and a picot cuff ~ how much cuter does it get? Wear these with girly-girl shoes, or different girly-girl shoes, a glittery bracelett and maybe a poodle skirt..

Project notes:

Yarn:
Zitron Trekking Sport XXL
Needles: Knitpicks 48" circulars, size 2.25
051009 Started my new socks with sale sock yarn. Love sale sock yarn! It's the usual pattern: 72 stitches, picot cuff w/ #8 seed beads, clear pink ones this time. So cute! This is a new method for me, working both socks at once on one 48" circular from Knit Picks ~ it's my new favorite way to knit socks and my new favorite sock needles!

The heel flap is worked in Eye of the Partridge, which is a first for me but I thought the delicate girlie-girl pink needed a little dressing up from my regular 'sturdy' heel ~ it's not a wear-spot for me anyway. Knitting Eye of the Partridge in pattern does take paying attention to though. I always extend the *slip one, knit one* from the heel to under the heel because that IS my wear-spot.

080409 Finished during the Bluebird Reunion at La Push, WA. We will do an entry on that weekend shortly. These socks are so darn cute!