Wrapping Up and Ramping Up

The Fleece to Foot challenge was today at Sock Summit 2011, and the teams started off strong this morning.







Several teams were accepting donations for their favorite charity as they worked...


And all looked to be having a great time.

Each team was allowed to switch up Knitters at lunch, and when I went back towards the end, imagine my surprise to see "The Mitten" represented!



Recognize her? Lorilee Beltman in the HOUSE!!!

I actually don't know what team won, but her team looked to be the furthest along...


I'm you'll be able to find the winners with a quick check of "The Goggle" as someone recently called it.

I'm eager to share all sorts of stories when I get home, as well as add some links, but will be on a media vacation for about a week. I didn't do so bad posting from my phone, eh?

Another quick meal with friends, a bit of time at the airport and soon I'll be home and then in a truck heading to The Land. See you there?

Only One More Day

Truly, it feels like I've been gone for a month, and while I only have one more day left here, I have another whole week filled with adventures yet to come!

I did a bit of shopping yesterday, and ordered a new pair of shoes.


Bought a pattern booklet fort friend Harriet. (signed by all of the authors)


Picked up a few goodies for friends at home, and still had plenty of time to chat people up in the booth.

At the end of the day, someone was able to guide us to carts for dinner not far from Tori and Hannah's house--only ironic because they were actually at the convention center last night...

On their way home, they picked me up, and we went to Swirl for ice cream. At Swirl, you have a choice of ten different flavors and about a million toppings--it was actually a little overwhelming. I chose a watermelon sorbet, swirled with a tart yogurt that Tori thought tasted like sour cream. I thought it was just perfect topped with strawberries and almonds.

We had customers during the flashmob, but I saw a glimpse of it online, if you care to check... Or here is a video of the rehearsal from Thursday night.

Likewise, I was busy during the Ravelry meet-up/shower for Eloise. There is just too much going on to pack into one day!

Big Fun

I don't know how many ways I can say that I'm having a great time...but it's true, it's big fun here at Sock Summit.



Everywhere you look, there is something beautiful and exciting. Had a VERY interesting class about copyright, and spent the rest of the day working the booth, shopping, and people watching.

Goth Socks practically sold out on the first night...


The Signature Needle folks have more needles than you can imagine, all in one place, calling to me EVERY time I walk past their booth.


So far, I have resisted, but there are two more days in the market, and I walk past every time I go to the bathroom... I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out.

The sock museum is amazing.








Not only are there cool and historically significant socks on display, but great time has been taken to put information about them together so everyone knows WHY they are such important or iconic socks.


Authors are having book signings what seems like all day long...


And because Jennie is so fabulous, and everyone loves her work, famous Knitters and designers keep walking into her booth and chatting her up...or she will point them out to me as they are shopping the market. It's been like a "who's who" of knitting.

We made a trip to Powell's book store last night after dinner.


And don't let the marquee fool you, this book store takes up a full city block. It's an amazing thing to see. Did you know Beverly Cleary is from the area? Love. Love her!

If the past few days weren't enough fun, there is still more fun to be had...and possibly shoes to buy...more about those tomorrow!

Sock Summit

Today was my first class of two. I had a three hour class with Amy Singer, of Knitty, called "Making the Next Monkey". It was really interesting to see things through the lens of the editor. I took lots of notes and have much to think about!

After arriving at the conference center, checking in, and taking my class, I hooked up with Jennie. We had boxes to unpack, pottery to display. I needed my "worker bee" training so that I knew how to handle things in her booth... It was a busy afternoon. Here are a few pictures of the line waiting to get into the market:





Can you find Diane D?

There was a rumor (actually a truth) that Jennie's limited edition Sock Summit mug would sell out fast.


(Those socks are exploding from Mount Hood.)

Her booth was never empty, and we were both writing sales the entire evening! Lucky for some, she has held back five mugs to be put out each morning for those who didn't make it there last night.


At the opening ceremonies, there was an impromptu flash mob rehearsal...posting my video now would spoil the surprise...lets just say it was a memorable event!

We checked in to the hotel later than expected... And are awake on Midwest time zones...in plenty of time to meet friends for our 7 am breakfast call.

Having an absolute blast. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much!

Another Perfect Day!

After sweltering hot weather at home, today's high of 69 degrees was perfect!

Started the day at Bob's Red Mill for a fabulous breakfast and some shopping for souvenirs to bring home.







Continued on to Eagle Feather Creek for some quick wading in the icy water.






























Tried my first "sour clover" (Hannah said it was a must!)






Stopped at a few farm markets on the way home to find some perfect berries.





And now I'm having a Marion berry spritzer on the porch before dinner. Yum!






Hope your day was just as good!

SO Fun!

My stimulus for this trip was getting to help Jennie the Potter at Sock Summit. However, good friends live in Portland, so it was an opportunity to visit them too.

Portland has had a number of cart pavilions develop in the past year or so. They are sort of like mobile food courts. . .lots of small trailers selling a variety of foods, with some picnic tables and umbrellas in the center of the lot.






We had a great lunch at one place yesterday where there was a vegan cart! I was even able to get freshly pressed juice!



Everybody got exactly the food they wanted without a long discussion about where to go for lunch, and we all walked away with full bellies!

And went off to do some shopping!



Nothing done at all on the knitting front yesterday, but all in all, it was a GREAT day on vacation!

Feeling Virtuous

I anticipated watching trashy TV on the flight, and even downloaded a few episodes to have handy... Instead, I found myself watching Moodle tutorials to prepare myself for the fall.



I also spent some time reading an ebook that has been on my list for awhile now...



Hopefully I will be full of good questions for Amy Singer when I take her class later this week! Thank god for technology! I have all sorts if things to entertain me at my fingertips!

I even got a little bit of knitting done...

Vacation Has Begun!!

Getting ready to board, and the truck is packed! Time to sit back and enjoy!

Stalled

Knitting and spinning progress seems to have stalled, but I've been enjoying plenty of time in my kayak this summer! How can you blame me with views like these?







Today I finish packing, and tomorrow I head to Oregon! Packing for two back to back vacations has not been a picnic, but now that the time to leave is near, the excitement is starting to overtake my neurotic list making.

Any ideas about travel knitting? What's your favorite project to bring along?

Lapsing. . .

Even though I wrote this post LAST TUESDAY while sitting in the chiropractor's office waiting for my treatment, it has taken me this long to get it up and posted.  I could whine about how much I've been doing, but really?  I honestly don't think I'm busier than most.  I just think that when I spend four and a half hours monitoring students during summer school on the computer every morning, I'm ready for some time away from technology.

I'm getting wildly excited about time in Portland at Sock Summit.  I'll be visiting friends and helping out Jennie the Potter in the vending area while I'm there.  This weekend I've done some shopping for that trip, as well as packing for my week in the woods at Michfest that will begin IMMEDIATELY upon my return from the summit.

Somehow, in the midst of that, I thought I'd be able to spin every day, as well as get a cloud chaser vest done prior to leaving.  I think I may have taken leave of my senses.  No spinning to speak of happened last week, but I was AMAZING during the first week of Tour de Fleece!  I may have the vest done up to the collar if I'm lucky, and plan to bring it for knitting while in Portland if that is the case.

As time seems to accelerate, I'm sucking the life out of summer.  What with crazy amounts of time for annual checkups (I'm in perfect heath, thank you!), multiple days on the water in my kayak, learning about and becoming a vegan, an online class about knitwear design, and plenty of time with friends, it is turning out to be the best of summers!  A friend reminded me recently, that the best is yet to come. . .since my trips are still on the horizon.

I hope that you and your family are enjoying the season as much as I am!

The post I wrote last week?  here it is:

Tour de Fleece, and Cleaning up Mistakes
I'm spinning as fast as I can! My first week of spinning looked like this:







And I'm currently working through an alpaca/angora/camel batt. I know I've improved my spinning skills with all of this dedicated spinning time, because I was even able to spin by the firelight of a small campfire on Friday night. To say I'm getting the feel of things may be an understatement.

I'm also working on a Cloud Chaser vest, hoping to have it complete by Sock Summit. I knit just before falling asleep last night, woke up this morning and knit some more, and then I noticed my mistake.




Can you see it? I have a cable crossing in the wrong direction!

So I carefully removed the offending five stitches.



And ripped them back.



Then, using another needle, picked up those five stitches,



And began to knit them up (making sure I crossed the cables properly this time!)



The trick to doing this well, is to use a double ended needle, and to focus in on just the portion of the knitting that you need to repair on the chart or directions you are using. Typically, I use a double point needle, but this morning I happened to have a circular needle handy, so that's what I used.

When you try this on your own knitting, you'll want to work the ladders of ripped knitting in order from the bottom to top. It's easy to get them crossed, so take your time. You will also want to work at distributing the yarn from each ladder over all of the stitches you are re-knitting. You'll see in the finished picture of my repair, that the stitches on the left of the cable area bit looser.  I'm not going to stress about that too much, as I know everything will come out in the wash. . .the tension will even up when I give it a good soak during blocking, and over time will become invisible.

Here's hoping you never have to fix a mis-crossed cable, but if you do. . .I hope this helps!