It was a good party.

A spinning bud of mine had a micro booth at the Sock Summit, and I was a helper there and, for a shift, at SS registration. Both gave me an excuse to hang out at the biggest sock party in recent memory. It was a good party.


The biggest event for me was helping set the record for most knitters knitting simultaneously. I heard there were 935 or so of us knitting away; I worked on a dishcloth as circular and sock needles were banned. It was great fun, and I met some people from all over.

After all the shopping (see below), volunteering, and most of the booth responsibilities, the Luminary Panel was calming (a couple of hours knitting!) and enjoyable. Hearing peoples memories of Elizabeth Zimmermann (my knitting hero for many years), the backgrounds and anecdotes of nine Super Knitters, and Stephanie and Tina in their several roles (thanks givers, emcees, panel moderators) was worth the ticket.


While managing not to spend my whole August budget on yarn, I did buy some yarn and two knitting tools: a Susan Bates Handi Tool, (combines a crochet hook, US 3 knitting needle, cable needle in one) and a 9-inch US1/2.25mm HiyaHiya bamboo circular needle (you can shop around and find it for less; I paid $6).

The yarn I got, well let's just say that several vendors had bargain bins! I got three balls of Meilenweit for an average of $6.65: Mega Boot Stretch color 710, Fun & Stripes 633, and Multiringel 5050.

Then there was the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. I found a Socks that Rock Heavyweight Mill End skein of Treehugger.

But my favorite skeins were two from Lollipop Cabin. They're a Merino-free blend of four sturdy wools spun as singles by a local mill and hand-dyed by the proprietress who is Ialiuxh on Ravelry. The first skein (already on the needles!) is shades of black and blue with a few flashes of almost-white), and the second is similar to the STR Treehugger; funny that I didn't notice it until now! This yarn reminds me of the Kumo'Socki I bought in Klamath Falls in 2006; both pair are going strong.

Later, gators!

Mystery Stole 3

Melanie over at Pink Lemon Twist is hosting her third Mystery Stole knit along. Each year she's created a new stole pattern and offered it in mysterious little clues over several weeks to knitters who join her group by July 5. As of a few minutes ago, 1133 people across the world had joined. The email volume is pretty high, so I've created a special folder in my mail reader and filters to highlight Melanie's and her helpers' messages.

I have minimal lace knitting experience, but I have some appropriate yarn and needles, so I'll give it a try. Who knows? Maybe I'll get a holiday gift done really, really early!

Regarding my other knitting efforts, I've knit a few more squares for Greensburg and got to the foot on my first Horcrux sock. I didn't like the transition to ribbing from the lightning bolts, so I ripped back to the end of the bolts and I'll knit it all in bolts. Pictures forthcoming...here they are:

A Harlot Booster Shot

Last year I heard the Yarn Harlot a.k.a. Stephanie Pearl McPhee, speak for the first time. She was entertaining, funny, and kept me in stitches (both knit and purl) for a solid hour. My face hurt from smiling so hard for so long!

Last night's talk, sort of a booster shot of Stephanie, was just as entertaining. We had more chairs, though still not enough for the 300-ish knitters there. Almost everyone was knitting! Even while Stephanie was talking!


People like me who arrived early were visiting, knitting, and fondling each others' yarn. I started a Horcrux sock with my koolaid yarn. I saw this Argosy shawl and decided that while lace isn't really "me," I could wear this, though maybe not in sparkly mohair. LOL Unfortunately, I didn't get this woman's name or blog URL, but she was really nice and told me the name of the yarn and let me play with the shawl. Thank you! ADDED LATER: And thank you commenters for sharing her link and identifying her as Bobbie. Go girls with "boys'" names!


People kept arriving and chairs started getting hard to find. People started propping up bookcases, pillars, and walls and then started sitting in the aisles. It was pretty noisy and getting warm. Even so, we knit.

The Harlot came in and we cheered so loud the whole 3-story complex of buildings that fills the block and is known as Powell's rocked. The staff were being conservative calling us "a bit rowdy."


I forgot I had a zoom, I was so excited.

Afterward, we lined up to get our books signed and have very brief "conversations" with Stephanie. Here she is, waiting breathlessly to meet me. See the travelling sock?


And here I am, grinning like an idiot and holding an Oregon dishcloth I designed and knit just for The Yarn Harlot's States and Provinces Hand Knit Dishcloth Collection. Upside down and backwards. I forgot to ask to hold the sock. The most brilliant thing I said was to point out that the catnip mouse I made for Millie was crocheted, not knit. Stephanie replied, "That's OK, Millie won't be able to tell the difference." Here's the dishcloth right-side up and front-side forward.


Did you notice my t-shirt? I scanned a circa 1945 ball band from Red Heart WOOL yarn. I learned to knit with Red Heart and have fond memories of it. It does bother me that its current acrylic incarnation has a bad reputation in some quarters; among the acrylics, it has IMNSHO its place as a durable, washable, colorful, well made, inexpensive yarn impervious to moths. Now really, is that so bad? End rant! LOL

It took me a few hours for the excitement of the event to dissipate enough to sleep. Poor Louise got a call from me as I was driving home. Could I stop by and show her my shirt and signed book? I rattled on for a very little bit and got Mattie a treat. Thanks for listening, Louise! BTW, Mattie is a Peke & Lhasa mix and one of my biggest fans. I usually get to give her a treat, and I make her roll over or talk to me before she gets it. She's fascinated by my cats, who often follow me across the street, lurking just outside of or on the fence and under the car until I come back out.

OK. Enough globbing. Er, blogging. Ta Ta for now!

Black Sheep All Over

You've probably had similar experiences. You're surfing the internet and see something. Sometime later you see something else and your brain does its synaptic magic and connects the two things. But can you find the first thing again??? Maybe. It happened to me yesterday, and it took until a little while ago to find the first thing...

Thing the first: Etherknitter's blog entry showing some cute and a snarling sheep sculpture. Not being particularly good at creating captions, I didn't enter the contest.

Thing the second: Habetrot's entry about a new horror film called Black Sheep. Now the snarling sheep makes sense. I wonder if the artist knows about the movie?

Thing the third: Eugene, Oregon is the home of the Black Sheep Gathering, Oregon's biggest sheep show. Wouldn't it be great if the movie could be shown in conjunction with the gathering?

New Fiber and Yarn and Socks, Oh My!

Yesterday Louise and I went to the Spring Fiber Sale at Abernethy Grange in Oregon City, OR. Although there were no animals, their spirits and aromas attended! I bought this:


8 oz undyed superwash fingering wool from From Barn to Yarn in Boring, OR and 6.7 oz bump of Cotswold roving from Pheasant Hill Farm in Hillsboro, OR. I'm planning to practice some more with my drop spindle. Does anyone know which end of the bump I'm supposed to work from? Here are a couple of snapshots. There was a lot of angora and pygora fleece for sale.



My 4th pair of socks are done as of last night:


Wendy's Toe-Up Socks pattern with my own experimental ribbing (K3, P1, K1, P1) and EZ's sewn bind-off. Knit Picks Essential Tweed in Flint on size zero needles. The yarn was a bit splitty on the sharp bamboo needles I used. This is my first pair of toe-up socks and I haven't decided whether or not I like this method; the jury's out until I wear them for a while. Since I have small feet, I've had plenty of yarn left over from all the socks I've knit so far.