A Day at Sock Summit 2009

I didn't manage to get past the Great Server Meltdown and 30-Second Class Grab, and completely forgot to sign up for the class lottery, but since I live but an hour's drive from Sock Summit, what excuse is there not to go? Several of us from the Salem Area Ravelers group dashed up to Portland yesterday and had a fiberlicious time of it.

Here is my one and only brush with celebrity fame at Sock Summit: a drive-by snapshot of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee signing an autograph while dashing off to a class:

But there were thousands of other great, if not famous, knitters to chat with over lunch. At our table alone we had one local knitter (me), two from Alberta, one from Amsterdam, and a couple others from various parts of the U.S. (and my own Coriolis sock in the foreground):

A glimpse from the eating area toward the Marketplace -- the biggest freaking yarn store in the WORLD, with something over 400 vendors, including local yarn stores, tons of indie dyers, spindle makers, vintage tool dealers, and more:

Everyone had a chance to contribute some work toward making the world's largest sock (see the BigSock blog for more info):

There was also the sock museum, with reproductions of some ancient socks, and some beautiful vintage and antique socks, some made with incredibly fine yarn at teeny-tiny gauge:

There were free demos, like this one for felting with Artfelt paper (super easy):

Some of the gang assembles for some quiet decompression time after the overwhelming temptations of the Marketplace -- Janita, Nanci, Mia, and Katie:
I picked up a new toy! I found some gorgeously dyed silk hankies and picked up two. They were calling out to be spun, so I found an inexpensive spindle and dove right in (Knitty has a tutorial on spinning silk hankies) (oh, and that t-shirt sports Veruca, the mascot of the Selfish Knitters Group on Ravelry):

After the Marketplace closed, we piled into cars and headed over to the World Forestry Center for the great Ravelry Meetup. There were swag bags for the first 350 arrivals, each with a skein of Berroco worsted in random colors:

Look at all those Ravelers in one place!

It was our Katie's birthday (yes, we have several Katies in the group). She got her own brush with celebrity fame with this birthday shot with the Ravelry team: Casey, Jess, our Katie, Sarah, and Mary-Heather (each of them bestowed with one of my Oregon stitch markers to say thanks for the party):

This is what I came home with. Did I not show admirable restraint? Besides an official Sock Summit 2009 t-shirt and button, and the silk hankies and spindle at the bottom, I picked up yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Happy Hands Yarn (in the A River Runs Through colorway, their entry into the Dye for Glory contest), Three Fates Knitting, Teresa Ruch Designs (that's a tencel yarn, which will probably become a shawlette), and the freebie Berroco Vintage Wool:

Edison likes the t-shirt, and would have happily played with the rest of the swag if I'd let him:

I'm hearing that the next Sock Summit, if it is to be, will be in Toronto and will be perhaps two years from now. It's a bit much to expect this to happen every year. Besides, I'm not sure my budget could handle that, and I can only knit so fast. I guess I'd better start saving for Toronto now!