Sock Summit: Luminary Panel

On the last day of Sock Summit 2009, on August 9th, it would have been Elizabeth Zimmermann's 99th birthday. Stephanie and Tina took that as an excellent excuse to have a panel of knitting luminaries who discuss -- knitting, knitting history, and what role knitting plays in their lives.

Left to right: Lucy Neatby, Cat Bordhi, Deborah Robson, Anna Zilboorg, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Tina Newton, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Meg Swansen, Barbara Walker, Judith MacKenzie-McCuin, and Nancy Bush.
I had to pinch myself a couple of times to make sure I wasn't dreaming that I was able to see all these women in one room together.

I stayed for a little while in the beginning, then had to leave because I still had to pack up my booth. Sarah K., one of my booth helpers extraordinaire, was busily packing up the yarn. (More on my dear new sock summit family later.)

Here you can see Steve Elkins of WEBS pack up his booth.

Towards the end of the panel discussion, I scooted back in there to catch the last 45 minutes or so. There was a serious looking video camera and a sound technician, and it is my sincere hope that there will be a DVD released of the opening and closing ceremonies....

Barbara Walker listening intently.

Don't you just want to call her Queen Barbara? I say she is a Tremendously Good Sport, obliging an attendee who asked Barbara to wear her hat for a photo shoot.

During the last minutes of the proceedings, we all sang Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Zimmermann. Meg Swansen then graciously cut and gave out birthday cake.

I think you know these people already...

Judith MacKenzie-McCuin. Stephanie had said earlier that she would even attend a class with Judy if it were on how to boil water.

Cat Bordhi, wearing her Sivia Harding shawl.

And a last glance at Nancy Bush.

Jennifer of Holiday Yarns, the only other vendor from new York State, and purveyor of Tsock Tsarina kits. I think the awesomeness of the whole event is still sinking in....

There was a reception afterwards, and I spotted Amy Singer.

How many more sock summit posts can you stand?

As far as I can tell, there'll be one more. Thanks for bearing with me! There's just so much to tell!

Sock Summit - day 5

Lucy Neatby is not only always a good sport, but also a very very generous person. If you've ever taken a class from her, you know how ready she is to always share her tremendous knitting knowledge.

She came by just about every day of the show; this was Saturday.


Lo and behold, this exceedingly kind and generous person came by again on Sunday! She could have picked any booth at all. But there she was, visiting again (I like to think that the yarn I dyed in her honor had something to do with it), and this time, the Knitmore Girls were there too. Before we knew it, there was a photoshoot going on.

And then.....whether any of us wanted to admit it or not, it was starting to be time to leave. The Sock Summit was ending, we had to start packing up.

The marketplace was closing. The only event left to attend was the Luminary Panel. I had a ticket for it. Thanks to my fabulous helpers, who will be featured in their own blog post, I was able to attend for some of the time.

Sock Summit: day 4, marketplace (a sampling)

During windows of time where I got away from my own booth, I wandered a bit and took some pictures. There were over 150 vendors, and I am a little sad I didn't get to stop by each and every one of them. There was the most wonderful mix of small handdyers, spinners, big, and even bigger companies (can you say Blue Moon Fiberarts and WEBS?)

Here is a very small sampling:

Redfish Dyeworks

Sliver Moon Farm* yarn in the Carolina Homespun booth.

*I'll be in the Sliver Moon Farm booth at the New York State Sheep and Woolfest in Rhinebeck again this year. If you're attending, we would love to see you there!!

This is Cheryl at New Hue Handspuns. You betcha I bought some roving from her. Wait for the loot post...

Natually dyed yarn, sample socks, and roving I just wanted to lie down in at Tactile Fiber Arts:

Yep, some of this went home with me too. It's going to some awesome spinning friends that helped me a lot to get ready for Sock Summit.

The gallery of handknits that walked by my booth all the day long was stunning. Shawls, socks, stockings, berets, fingerless gloves, dresses and coats: this one was still a WIP; she said it will have sleeves.

What. Fun.

Creatively Dyed Yarns

Yep, bought a skein here, too. :)

Sock Summit - day 3: some visitors

I kind of had a feeling that the posts about Sock Summit '09 would be trickling out slowly. Or else there would have been the mother of all posts....considering there were many superlatives, like this mock up of a giant swift one aisle over.


Or this lovely bunch of ladies who had a mini meet-up near my booth.



Or: Judy Sumner sitting right across from me, knitting away, at Lisa Souza's booth. Judy came out with her first sock book after having published many many sock patterns. Once I realized who she was - Judy and I have been emailing for a few years, but we had no clue what each other looked like - I ran right over, bought her book, Knitted Socks East and West, and had it autographed. Later that day she was giving a talk and a booksigning at Powell's book in downtown Portland. She was a smashing success!

One of the biggest highlights that day was that Priscilla Gibson-Roberts stopped by my booth for a good long while. I gave her a skein of the colorway I dyed especially in her honor, and she gave me a hug because she liked it so much. In fact I believe her exact words were: "It's PERFECT for me!" Wow. She lives in her denim jeans and the yarn matches all her denim. I called it ''Priscilla's Navy with a Kick and she sure got one out of it!

I can't tell you how much it meant to me that she stopped and talked with me for a while. I got to tell her that her book, Knitting in the Old Way, was the first knitting book I ever bought when I was a college student. I had always been knitting without patterns at all, and her book put things in perspective for me - how neck lines relate to the rest of the sweater, how to do proper sleeve increases, etc. I have gotten so much use out of her book that it is falling apart. I never ever thought I would even get near her, so I didn't bring my copy.

But that hug is something that will stay with me forever.

Sock Summit - day 2: Opening Reception

On Thursday evening, August 6th, several hundred knitters congregated in the great Oregon Ballroom at the convention center for the Opening Reception. Of course we got to sit at round tables and knit all the while.


Stephanie and Tina welcomed everyone, told the story of how the Sock Summit came to be, was more than two years in the making. They formed a company, rented a whole convention center, and proceeded to invite teachers. None of them said no. They were all ready to carve out time and teach at the biggest such endeavor ever. They had to make it clear to CC management, hotels, IT people, graphic designers, printers, bankers, everyone involved, over and over again, that Yes Knitters will come to a Sock Summit, and in great numbers. Everyone thought they were crazy. Which they were, but sort of in a good way....

I delighted in witnessing a great friendship between two women who respect each other's work and decided they can do this despite the odds.


They introduced their Sock Teams, women who helped them tirelessly to accomplish this feat. It really sank in for me then that there was no other organizer, that this was them, they were it, these six women did it all.
All throughout the summit, they were there right on the floor, making sure everything went smoothly.
Left to right: Tina Newton, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Debbi Stone, Joann, RachelH, and Debra.


After a lot of laughter and some tears, too, they introduced all the teachers. Then it was time to meet them. There were many, and I caught a glimpse of:

Barbara Walker

Meg Swansen and Amy Detjen

Anna Zilboorg and cookie a.

Nancy Bush

I later heard a story where a young woman had a wedding shawl on the needles, and she asked a bunch of the teachers to knit on it for her. I think this is it! Meg is working on it.

There was also a raffle of donated items, where I had donated a skein each of all the Luminary Panel colorways. This was the lucky bidder who won - she donated $250! She was very happy and I was so glad the yarn and roving went to a good home. She told me she was going around to all the panelists to get their autographs on my write-up. (Lucy Neatby is behind her, with the pink hair.)

By the end of the weekend, she had gotten all but two. Good for her for being so generous!

Sock Summit - day 2: booth set-up

Most all of the unpacking and booth set-up happened on Wednesday, but on Thursday we put the finishing touches on.

You can see JessaLu's box bags here, the shawl that Alison Hyde made me specially for the show, and periwinkle sheep quilt made by my friend Amy.


The table with the Luminary Panel colors.


Two of my awesome booth helpers, Sarah K. and Melissa, who grew up in Saratoga Springs but now lives in Portland. I met them both through ravelry.

The socks my knitting group and my booth helpers made for the show. It was like I had my very own sock museum!!

The finished booth. Came out quite lovely, if I may say so myself!

Thursday the market was only open from 4:30 to 6:30, for class participants and their teachers. Here's the crowd outside the doors...at one point we heard them singing "99 skeins of yarn on the wall". These knitters knew how to have a good time from the get-go.

Doors opening.

Shoppers rushing in.

After that, we were a tiny bit busy. :)

There has been a lot of discussion on ravelry and elsewhere about how the vendor market did or didn't do. As first time vendor at a big indoor show I wasn't quite sure what to expect - there had been a lot of excitement, if not hype, about the sock summit.

I ended up talking with several other vendors, from small indie dyers to very established and experienced ones, and the general consensus among the ones I talked to was that we all expected there to be more visitors to the marketplace, and had stocked up accordingly.

It was a lot slower on Friday and Saturday than I personally expected (and hoped for, to be honest). The folks that did come to shop took their mission very very seriously and filled up their knitting bags, sometimes several times over, making sure they spread the wealth among many vendors. We will yet have to see what the aftereffect will be - I for one am grateful to have been given a large forum to showcase my yarns, I am thankful to all the shoppers that bought my yarn -- I hope you are as happy knitting with it as I was dyeing it for you!

If anyone is interested in Periwinkle Sheep happenings from now on, you can go to my website for general information, and directly to Dyenamics Yarn for online shopping.

Both the Anna Zilborg (black/turquoise) and the Cat Bordhi colorways (sun yellow) are sold out right at this time, and I have to order more yarn to dye them in.