Although I have been busy

It is not going to look like I’ve been busy when I show you this.  I can tell.  I know I checked in last with you Monday, and I had big plans, but fibre-wise, it seems like I don’t have a lot to show for myself.  I solved the pooling problem with my April socks by changing the pattern, but I don’t have a picture or the details handy and I’m sort of too tired to look for them, and I’m making pathetic progress anyway.  They’re nice though.   What I did get done was to drag the drum carder out of the fibre closet and set it up, and I managed to get the darkest grey of the fleece carded.


Then I sat down to spin and um – I sort of didn’t have a lot of time, so this is all I have.

I think it’s going well, if rather slowly.  What did happen, what’s taken all my time and has cost Tina and I more sleep for the last several days than we would like to talk about, is that we finished a big chunk of the Sock Summit website update.

If you go there now, you can see what Sponsors we are thrilled to have working with us, what Vendors are going to be with us in our even-more-fabulous-than-last-time-if-it’s-even-possible Marketplace, and… brace yourselves… The Teacher list and the classes that are going to be in the offing.

Yup. You saw it right. That’s 60 teachers.  Six – oh, not a typo.  Last time knitters said they wanted more, and we’ve busted ourselves and there they are. Sixty teachers with more than 130 classes, and the whole thing is big. Really big. Huge, in fact. Four days of sock study, so huge that when Tina and I were done compiling the list and looked at it, we both had the same thought, which I won’t repeat here because I try to keep the language clean. 

We’re completely honoured by that Teacher list, and humbled, and more than a little scared.  There’s more sock knitting knowledge there than I think has ever assembled in one spot – and did you see the classes?  If you can think of a way to make socks.. it’s on that list, and, as I pointed out to someone the other day (when they asked how anyone could possibly give this much of a crap about socks)  all this knowledge is useful for knitting other things too. 

We’re very proud, and we hope you’re excited. We’ve worked really, really hard on creating something that should be fabulous.  News about registration to come along (very) shortly.

I’m going to lie down.

109 thoughts on “Although I have been busy

  1. I love this line “when they asked how anyone could possibly give this much of a crap about socks”. Makes me smile.

  2. Holy Kamoley!! I’m actually relieved that I can’t consider registering (something about my daughter getting married the same weekend…)as I’d have a meltdown trying to choose. Well, well done, you two!!!

  3. Makes me weep that I will be all the way across the country, hip deep in work, so I can’t sneak in even a 1 hour class. There are so many I would like to attend.

  4. Awesome! What I’d really like is to hear you being interviewed by Jian Ghomeshi, explaining “sock culture” to everyone. “Q” is supposed to be about Canadian arts and culture, and obviously, there is such a sock culture out there, right?

  5. I can’t get 6 friends together all at the same time!…….go lie down, you will need your rest!

  6. It’s like Sock Summit has a mind of its own and all you and Tina are to do is keep up with it and not let it get too far out of control. That’s wonderful!
    Sock knitters of the world (and we are no small group) thank you.

  7. Dang it! I’m flying across the country to Portland the BEGINNING of July. I sooooo wish Sock Summit was either a way different time of year, or right after the 4th when I’ll be there anyway.

  8. I wish you’d think about a Sock Summit East. Or I wish I didn’t have a fear of flying because this sounds like a dream.

  9. May I just say my heart is doing pit-a-pats?! As I read down the teacher list, it was * “Ooo, must take a class from that one. And that one. Holy cow?! This teacher is there, too?” * Repeat from *.
    Must set aside my evening for poring over the class list.

  10. Clearly the person who doesnt give a crap about socks never had a hand knit pair of them. Maybe if they took a few of the classes, they would see why they should care.
    Cant wait for the summit this year! Also, the dark grey fleeceip is looking great. I love the pic of the carder in front of the wheel. So fibery!

  11. Holy Crap. I am so glad I bought my plane tickets in January.Once the knitters see those lists there won’t be any seat available on any flight from anywhere for any price!

  12. All I can really say is you rock (and Tina too); and I’m so excited that if it wouldn’t scare half a dozen people half to death, I’d probably be screaming and jumping up and down. Thanks for putting in all those sleepless nights. Enjoy your nap.

  13. And I thought I was excited when I faxed my classes in 3 times for classes at the Estes Wool Market this June. You all do amazing work and I grovel at your perfectly socked feet, and can’t wait to get there – I will be hyperventilating the whole car ride from Casper, WY.

  14. One of these days I am going to go to sock Summit!
    Can’t wait to see the “new april sock” now, go lie down. You deserve it!

  15. Oh, I wish I didn’t live halfway round the world from Oregan! I love knitting socks and always have a pair on the go. It sounds fantastic and I wish you all well.

  16. I just looked at the list. I have died, and heaven will come this summer in Portland. Thank you!

  17. Wow. You & Tina performed superhuman moves to get all that done. Enjoy your rest, the fibre will love you just as much when you become conscious again.

  18. It looks like Sock Summit will be the center of universe again with all of those shining stars. Pour yourself a strong drink to celebrate all of that hard work.

  19. I wonder whether it’s possible to create a black hole out of so much sock knowledge?

  20. WOW!! I’m getting SSOOOOOooooo excited… this will be my first Scok Summit. YIPPEEEE!

  21. I live in Portland, and was very disappointed in myself to found about this year’s Sock Summit so late in the game. I’m very excited about next year!

  22. OMG!! Please don’t put up the registration yet because I have to figure out what I want to take and fit it all in! I am going to be the one wandering around with her eyes spinning!
    Nancy Paris

  23. Holy.Freakin’.Crap.
    I’m a bit glazed over myself, and that’s just from reading the teachers and classes list. Awesome, simply awesome.

  24. 60 teachers. 130 classes. In a weekend? Stephanie you have just scheduled enough for a 2 week conference. There are major conventions that don’t have 1/3 of that! And I wanna be there *insert whiny pleading child voice*…… soooooooo bad.

  25. Wow — what an amazing event this has become! I’m sad that there’s no way for me to attend this time, but determined to make it sometime in the future.
    And I’m quite absurdly pleased to see that I’m not the only one who uses that wee tiny carder. It’s a lovely little machine, isn’t it?

  26. Honey-Baby you deserve the rest!
    Looking SO forward to the Sock Summit….& if someone doesn’t get it, PHHHHHHBT! Enough of us do.

  27. We just had a birthday party of 3 instead of our usual 6 because we couldn’t organize the other 3 who used to attend. Too many personality issues! It is amazing to me how so many world-known knitters can put their egos aside, say yes, and be herded. Of course, if anyone had asked me to teach at the Sock Summit, I’d fall all over myself to say yes and do whatever I was told (for a change).

  28. I aspire to one day being able to spin that well! I’m actually going to drag my wheel out for the first time in over 3 years this weekend. My 16-month-old is FINALLY willing to sleep in her crib (instead of my bed) and this gives me lots of new-found me-time. Can’t wait to spin!
    When the kids are a bit older, I DREAM of going to Sock Summit! I can’t wait to go someday, it sounds fantastic!

  29. Kudos on the launch of Sock Summit 2011. Mind if I ask about 2012? As in, will it be in Portland and around the same time? (please, oh, please, oh, please) Because that totally coincides with the week prior to my professional conference, also in Portland:
    http://esa.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.php
    (also, you should stick around for the Ecologists. We knit, we drink beer, we sing and dance – sometimes even during our working sessions.)

  30. Just so you know–if I don’t get any Sock Summit classes AGAIN I’m going to jump off a bridge. Oh, and I will not rub it in anyone’s face if I do get any classes. I’ll remember what it’s like to get NOTHING and I’ll be grateful.

  31. Holy Spitting Petunias! Stephanie, you and Tina have outdone yourselves. Now I just hope that my vacation is approved so I can go to SS11.

  32. I can’t wait! To see your April socks, watch you make that shawl, and register for sock summit! Make sure you have an extra long lie down, ok?

  33. I’ve never even tried to knit a sock, and even I can see the amount of talent in the list of teachers is freaking insane! How do you do it???
    To make matters worse, I can just imagine the surprises that may still come. . .”We have just opened courses taught by George Clooney and Angelina Jolie; Dolores the sheep and the Jack Daniels distillery will have a demo on mixing cocktails from 5 pm ’til whenever; Her Majesty The Queen will speak on ‘Royal Knitting, Knitting Royalty’ at 2 pm in the Blue Ballroom, followed by a demo on “Can-can Dancing at the Palace” at 3:30 in the Green Ballroom; . . .”

  34. I don’t even know how you found the carding machine – that is a humongo amount of organizing. Not only getting teachers, classes, rooms, schedules etc., but then you got it all in order and up on a website. Awesome…please rest eyeballs and the rest of yourselves.

  35. Nicely done! I have my various 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices picked out, all loaded into a spreadsheet. I’m ready to use the registration page as soon as I am allowed. Wish you good luck with Sock Summit 2011!

  36. Woah… you better be careful, all that sock knitting knowledge could do some serious damage… who knows? It might even be enough to break the space/time paradigm! 😀

  37. Woah… you’d better be careful! All that sock knitting knowledge in one place could do some serious damage… Who knows? It might even be enough to break the space/time paradigm! 😀

  38. if only, but I’m really tempted!
    start saving up for sock – summit
    [US Airways]
    Vertrek Aankomst Vluchtnr. Vertrek Aankomst
    Heenvlucht Amsterdam Philadelphia,
    pa US 799 27/07 10:50 13:25
    Heenvlucht Philadelphia,
    pa Portland,
    or US 320 27/07 17:50 20:49
    Terugvlucht Portland,
    or Charlotte,
    nc US 505 01/08 22:15 06:00 (02/08)
    Terugvlucht Charlotte,
    nc Amsterdam US 798 02/08 14:35 08:40 (03/08)
    1 Volwassene: € 1.010,00 + € 72,97 tax = € 1.082,97

  39. I am not nearly as sad about not being able to go as I might be, because of SOAR. I plan to enjoy experiencing Sock Summit vicariously.

  40. “when they asked how anyone could possibly give this much of a crap about socks”
    Remember when one of the sock clubs got it’s credit card processing shut down because their bank couldn’t believe that many people were signing up for socks?

  41. “..when they asked how anyone could possibly give this much of a crap about socks…”
    Eureka! A soulmate at last! >:-) In a strictly legal sense, were there visible signs of injury afterwards?

  42. Socks! If there’s a sexy pair to be made, I’ll do it. I guess, the question is really: what makes a pair of socks sexy? For me, it’s something that can worn with a pair of wedgies and won’t fall down by the time I hit the next block. Doable?

  43. Wow, it doesn’t seem like 2 whole years since the last one! I’ve still not knitted up all of the yarn I bought from the vendors that go around. This has been a trying week. One where I received bad medical news that’s beyond my control. Knowing that Sock Summit is around the corner and that I can slip away for an afternoon to wander among the crowds and fibers gives me something to look forward to. Thank you for all of the work and time that you and Tina are putting into this.

  44. No, I didn’t look at the teacher list! NO, I’m not going to even peek at the class list…
    because it would make me cry out of frustrationa and jealousy! Why can’t there be a Sock Summit on the east coast, too?

  45. Wow – this is stunning! I hope I can knit even with my mouth hanging open and my eyes jumping out of my head. And the yarn – so much yarn to touch – CAN’T WAIT!

  46. Can’t wait to get a glass of wine and go through those classes. Wow! East coast has SOAR. West coast has Sock Summit. What about the poor old midwest (or southwest) – Colorado. Denver would be a great venue. We have a Big Blue Bear who was recently involved in a Knit Bomb project. Please come to Denver…ta da da da.

  47. How about a SOCK SUMMIT U.K. – anyone? Please? It sounds really mind-blowing, and such fun!

  48. I just read the twitter comment to my husband about facts, and he looked at me and said ‘Don’t bring perfectly good facts into this argument’

  49. Holy cow, what a great list of teachers! I only wish I weren’t on the other side of the country with no chance of attending. Think of the shopping opportunities missed!
    Oh, well, guess I’ll just have to console myself just down the road at Sheep and Wool next weekend…

  50. Lovely job with the shetland. I’m working on baby llama fleece right now carding when it’s all carded I’ll spin. I have too much on my bobbins right now.

  51. SS11, I can’t wait, yes I can
    You and Tina! I’m incoherent with joy. In my heart I just know this is a birthday present for me. I don’t even care that I’ll be paying for it myself.

  52. I think you both are too terrific for words. Proving once again nice people that work hard do wonderful things! Thanks from one knitter who is amazed at your gifts!

  53. Even though I can’t attend SS11, I did check out the vendors and actually do some shopping. In their comment line I indicated that I found them through your blog. If we all do this, just think of how much the vendors will appreciate you and Tina. They will be begging to be included again next year. You have unleashed a force to be reckoned with. Long live the Harlot.

  54. Umm, the lists of teachers & classes are both staggeringly lovely & makes me wish more than ever that I could attend (which I can’t). Makes me feel terrible to say I think I found an error on the site …..On the page about setting the world record, it appears that the date listed for that event is not having much to do with the dates at the top of the page for the event. I’m sure it’s an easy fix when you are next in there.
    It’s going to be a fabulous event.

  55. Sock Summit classes look awesome and I love how great the marketplace sounds. I cannot wait to go this year!

  56. Excellent bit of carding and spinning to show for yourself, considering.
    Wishing you fortitude for the Sock Summit registration – you & Tina give each other hugs for us, ok?

  57. Metaphorically sacrificing an imaginary alpaca to the digital gods, so that my employer’s computer-system changeover that blacked out vacation during SS gets changed. I mean, c’mon, pee-puhh, priorities!
    Have a really GOOD nap anyway.

  58. The class list is stupendous. You and Tina outdid yourselves this time! I am really tempted – even to checking costs of flights (not bad this early). Tempted tempted even though I’m on the other side of the continent.
    I have a couple (well five) jacobs and just love their fleece and their personalities. My other sheep are romneys so the jacob fleece is nice as a change. My wether Sam has lilac spots but is mostly white.

  59. Rest! You deserve it!
    I deeply regret sock summit takes place on a different continent (you’re not thinking about a Western-European branch of Sock Summit by any chance, are you?) because I would love to attend. But taking an intercontinental flight to go knit socks would definitely be pushing it way beyond my family’s comprehension and willingness to put up with mandatory yarn purchasing wherever we travel.
    I finished a nice pair of tabi socks (my ‘plain vanilla’ style) tuesday night. So I cast on a pair of summer socks (wool/cotton, brown, ever so slightly variegated) for hubby (who doesn’t like ‘wild’ socks) wednesday after work. I do think that should tell you enough about the extent of my sockafinity. I don’t even do a sock-a-month challenge, no point in it….

  60. Looks like great fun, but I can’t come. I was wondering if you have the date wrong for the World Record attempt – It says August 7th. Just wondering.

  61. WoW! Now I’m looking forward to my son coming home from Afghanistan and moving to near Portland Oregon with his wife!!! I can time my visits to attend a class a day!!

  62. OMG!! I just read the classes list! Sock-inside-a-sock- War & Peace-Style!! I asked for that, did you include that just for me?? Sock Summit looks crazy-awesome! Stupid-Awesome!! I so give a crap!! I have ALWAYS wanted to learn that and it is impossible to find a class and I just can’t seem to GET it any other way. Oooohh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

  63. I am SO excited to be a vendor, I cannot even tell you! Caro and I get all giggly when we talk about it, it’s going to be a blast. I think we’re going to try to take some classes, too. You guys have done an amazing job putting everything together. I can’t wait to see how you spell my name! 😉

  64. Not being a twitterer I’m posting my thoughts here. Have you melted the keyboard yet? I’ve never seen that many twitter posts come out of you. I guess that”s what a Royal wedding will do for you and yes I’ll be up watching too and I am an unabashed monarchist (think we could have a beer commercial on this?)

  65. I have to wonder if it is actually safe to have all that sock knowledge in one place at one time. Clearly I watch too many movies while knitting.

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