Friday Knitting Blog (07/29/2011) Sock Summit Edition

Today was about sock yarn and lots of it. It was an extravaganza. I'm not going to comment on most of the individual pictures of sock yarn, I'm just going to bask in them. I did, however, where I could, try to take the picture so that the label information can be read, so click on them to make them bigger and legible. 

This top picture is yarn for a sweater, that's why there are 3 skeins of this one. The rest are singles, meant to make a pair of socks each (or maybe a little more, at lot of these high-priced "luxury" yarns have serious bang for the buck yardage). 

 This picture, sadly with the top cut off, is all the yarn that's just for socks. 

These are the needles that I bought. One of the ChiaGoo's is already in a sock. The cable has zero memory (which is great), and the join is super smooth.  They're great needles for a good price. 

These are great needles at a much higher price point. I don't plan on needing/getting any more Signature Arts needles since this is my go-to size for socks. 

Those are some seriously sharp points. I'm going to have to be careful not to stab myself. 

 A new to the market book that I've been wanting to purchase. 

A pattern for a sweater that I'll make at some point in the future. An unknown point in the dim, distant future. 

I bought this book because The Yarn Harlot (AKA Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was having a signing today).

I was second in line for her, and didn't burst into tears, like I almost did the last time I saw her at Madrona back in Tacoma. 

Today was essentially perfect. I got up early, had a cup of coffee, got dressed, got myself gathered up, and then Lindsay came to pick me up, and we were off. Headed about 110 miles south of my place into another state, and a completely different state of mind. I didn't take the camera with me to the event (although I had my phone and put a couple of those pictures on Facebook), partly because I'm not a fan of my camera, and partly because i just wanted to enjoy it. 

And enjoy it we did. I purchased yarn for 11 pairs of socks (at least, some of these babies have serious yardage), and 1 cardigan, plus 3 circular needles, a set of Signature DPNs, 2 books, a pattern, and a bottle of Soak (which is lovely to use to watch hand-washable woolens and lingerie, too). We saw some knitting stars (Besides The Yarn Harlot, we saw Janel Laidman at Burgerville, and also saw Cookie A at Burgerville sorting her lunch tray for items for recyling). We talked to other knitters, did some knitting in public, and touched and oohed and aahed over yarn that we normally wouldn't see in person. A fair number of the vendors are generally online only, which means that it can be hard to tell how true their colors photograph and translate to the internet and you can't tell what a yarn feels like by looking at it. In a lot of ways, events like this open up buying oppportunities for those who might be skittish about buying online. I can tell you that They Sanguine Gryphon's colors are amazing, as are Fiber Optic Yarns. You'll like them, trust me. 

I don't know if they'll do another Sock Summit again, but if they do, I'm there. And I hope that if they do, it'll be at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. I gotta tell you, that's an excellent venue. 

As far as what's on tap for the week, I did put a pair of socks on the needles last night, before I got all this gorgeous stuff because I wanted a project to take with me. I'll be working on those, but I might break my project monogamy for a while and cast on a couple of other things, too.