Sock Summit

Dear YarnHarlot,

I walked into the Portland Convention Center totally excited to be attending Sock Summit for the second time.  When I saw YOU hanging out talking to someone right in front of the booth for buying marketplace tickets I (internally) "lost my shit" as they say.  I grabbed my boyfriend's arm and frantically (hopefully quietly) whispered to him "That is the YarnHarlot!" (Yes, I dragged my boyfriend to Sock Summit, he was awesome about it, proving he is the best man on the planet.)  You were talking to someone and I wanted so desperately to ask to take a picture with you.  While you were talking I started thinking, "you know, I bet she's really busy, I bet she has tons and tons of stuff to do, I bet it would be a total inconvenience to break up her flow and ask her to stop what she's doing for me, especially when she's running this amazing show (with some help) and I'm just here on my Saturday off to spend a grip of money on some yarn, I bet she'd be totally resentful and hold it against me and spend the rest of her days telling stories about how this totally rude girl in a black dress with a nose ring completely threw off her chi on the second day of Sock Summit and made the whole experience crap."  So, I didn't ask for the picture.  I'm a wuss.  I don't like talking to strangers at the best of times, and even though I've read your whole blog and have, in a teeny tiny way, been a part of your life, whether you know it or not, in real life you're still a stranger and I'm still a wuss.

All my knitterly-love,
Melanie

P.S. I did the same thing with Franklin Habbit.  I convinced myself that maybe it wasn't Franklin.  Maybe I would just end up making a fool of myself in front of some other 5'2" bald dude with a goatee wearing a utili-kilt who came to Sock Summit and can't understand why people keep pestering him.

Now that my lack of courage is on public display, lets see the goodies!


Cats not acquired at Sock Summit, they're just nosey.

What's that you ask?  Oh, why yes, that is an Ashford Joy spinning wheel.  Why yes, I did buy it at Sock Summit.  Why yes, I've already spun over an ounce of beautiful brown cormo on it.  Why yes, I love it like a baby.  Why yes I did spend all day at work today (my first day away from it) wondering if it was OK in the apartment with only the cats and the Babe to keep it company.  I went to Sock Summit pretty sure I was going to buy a spinning wheel but pretty sure I was going to buy a Schacht Sidekick because it's also small and folds up and is a bit less expensive.  I pointed one on display out to Ryan saying "that's the spinning wheel I'm going to get" and he said something strange.  He said, "that doesn't feel like your wheel."  In my head I sort of thought "you're crazy, that's what I came here for."  We found a booth that had several spinning wheels including a Sidekick and what is now my Joy.  The woman running the booth insisted I try them both.  From the minute I started treadling on the Joy I knew it was the wheel for me.  Spinning on it feels effortless.  It's perfect.  The cats are totally jealous.



The first booth I hit up after acquiring my new wheel was the Sanguine Gryphon booth.  Yummy.  I wanted to take one of everything home with me but alas I had to be content with just these two precious skeins.  The carmel-y colored skein is Skinny Bugga! in Honeybee.  It's screaming STEPHEN WEST at me, we'll see what pattern it ends up in.  The gorgeous teal is Gaia Lace in Lobstrosity (I think that name should go on a red yarn because it makes me thing of Lobsters... anyone know why it's teal?)

While standing in the Sanguine Gryphon booth trying to make an impossible choice I asked Ryan, "what's the most beautiful thing in the booth?" trying to get his opinion.  He said "You."  AWWWWW. Good man.

Next booth was the Signature booth.



Those are 5 size 1 double pointed needles in 5" length.  I want to cast on new socks immediately just to try them out.  Other than the spinning wheel these were my most expensive splurge.

Next was the Fiber Optic Yarns booth where they had this on display.



It's the Evenstar Shawl knit in hand-spun from one of her gradient-dyed yarns.  Of course this colorway was totally sold out, but I'll be stalking her online shop so that I can try to make a replica of this beauty.  I did buy this 50% merino 50% tencel blend from her booth...just to tide me over till I can get my hands on the gradient.



Also on the fiber front I got this 4 oz Tussah Silk top from Teresa Ruch Designs.



I'm thinking of trying to spin it down to a lace weight to get the most milage out of the luscious silk.

The last fiber I bought was this gorgeous top from HAY by Rachel. It's only 4 oz but it's so fluffy it takes up as much space as most 8 oz tops.  It's superwash merino.  I'm hoping it spins up nice and tweedy because of the carmel splashes.



Lastly, I bought these earrings made from cross-sections of old aluminium knitting needles.  I love them because I know it's knitting jewelry but it's totally inconspicuous.





Overall it was an awesome Sock Summit, minus my wuss-ness about asking the YarnHarlot for a photo. I hope you had as pleasant a weekend.