Category Archives: Blogging

Saturday at Sock Summit. I knew this would be a long day for me. Six hours of Dancing with Socks with Cat Bordhi, plus the Ravelry party tonight.

Cat Bordhi’s class was a huge winner. She’s a great teacher. She walked us through her short row heel turn method, Judy’s Magic Cast On, a Bosnian garter stitch toe, a formula for a perfect fitting sock from the toe up, and how to turn all of that upside down for a cuff down sock. Along the way, she also taught us a cure for the wobbly SSK line of decreases, and a better way to finish off the yarn tail at the end of a project.

Here are the sample socks I worked on during class. The one on the right is a Coriolis. It was easier than I expected it to be! Note the garter stitch toe. The sock on the left is following her Upstream architecture.

Isn’t this yarn cool? It’s Bullfrogs and Butterflies from Lorna’s Laces, and the colorway is called Cat Bordhi Ah-ha. The short color runs make it easy to see what’s going on with the stitches from row to row. I didn’t have this yarn, but before class Elizabeth announced that she had bought some, had it wound into two balls, and someone was welcome to try the second ball. I did, and I loved it. Thank you, Elizabeth!

Oh, we also learned a stretchy new bind-off. It’s called Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off (JSSBO) by Jennifer Staimann, and it’s great. I can’t tell you more, because we’re sworn to secrecy. It will be in the next issue of Knitty. Keep your eyes peeled for this winner!

I sat next to Melinda (gldelx on Ravelry) during class. I didn’t realize it was gldelx until we swapped some stitch markers, and she gave me a card with her Ravelry name on it. She’s local here, too.

During lunch I met Kathy Elkins (on the left) from Webs. It was nice to meet her in person; we follow each other on Twitter.

The Ravelry party this evening was great. We all got swag bags with cool stuff in them. I’ll post an inventory and picture after I get a daylight shot. I hung out with old and new friends, including Sam and Kathy (I thought I had a picture with Kathy, but it’s not in the camera).

And GlennaC and Chrissy Gardiner (of the wonderful Toe-Up sock book).

Check out Glenna’s cool knee socks.

Deb interviewed Jess for the At the Kitchen Table podcast.

And I met Jess (frecklegirl on Ravelry); and got to pose with her and the Bob finger puppet! Note our Ishbels.

Bobbie, Leila, and Tami are trying to get me to spin. I’ve been successfully resistant. Then Leila pulled out the Turkish spindle, and showed me how it makes a center pull ball of yarn when you’re done. Uh-oh…

And I love this Dianna shawl that Kristin was wearing.

Lantern Moon was one of the cashmere sponsors. Thanks for a great party! Here’s Sharon, Joel, Sally, Sarah, and Jess.

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The first day at Sock Summit isn’t the first day. You can pick up your registration packet, and set up your booth if you’re a vendor. Classes start tomorrow (Thursday), and the market opens for a student preview in the afternoon.

Even so, it was a very Sock Summit day today. I started at Deb Accuardi’s pre-summit yarn-tasting luncheon at her restaurant, Gino’s. Lunch was wonderful, four courses paired with wine and yarn. The room was filled with happy knitters.

And the swag was amazing. Chrissy Gardiner donated a copy of her new book, Toe-Up!, for each of the knitters there.

Deb put together swag bags with Portland info, a gift card to Knit/Purl, coffee or tea, and this button.

The yarn was incredible! The yarn with the first course was from Stevanie Pico at Abundant Yarns. It was inspired by a caprese salad, and the colorway is Insalata Accuardi. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of it, because it didn’t make it home with me! I’m hoping it was found under the table, or in Lorajean’s box o’ fun. I’ll find out tomorrow.

Here’s the rest:

The blue/green yarn is “Jules Verne”, dyed by Larissa Brown for Abundant Yarns. The pink/brown/cream is “Ladies Who Lunch” by Knitted Wit (Lorajean). It was inspired by the tiramisu dessert, but to me it looks like chocolate and raspberries with cream. The multi-color brown/green/red/everything is “Pheasant” by Abstract Fibers. It was inspired by Deb’s pheasant, and meant to go with the quail and warm potato salad. And the pink and lavender yarn is “Cherry Mallow” from Crafts Meow. I can’t tell you the story on that, because Lorajean and I had to leave before dessert was served. It was time to set up the booth.

It was pretty quick work! We have Lorajean’s yarn and fiber, felted hats from Attitude Hats, stitch markers from Marilyn (but I don’t know her business name, will find out), books and felting fiber from Leigh Radford, and my patterns. I’m in very good company. We’re ready to roll tomorrow. After set-up, we went to Lantern Moon’s vendor party at McMenamin’s Kennedy School. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones. I even met Jess (Frecklegirl) from Ravelry.

And here are the Sox Stix girls! They’ll be roaming the market, creating buzz for Lantern Moon’s sock needles. The needles come in silk taffeta bags, and the Sox Stix girls are wearing taffeta pants inspired by those bags. Same same, but different!

Tomorrow’s agenda: Sock Design Workshop with Star Athena, Hooked on Beads with Sivia Harding, and a tour of the marketplace. But for now, sleep…