I survived Sock Summit 2011

 

Last April, Leann and I decided that we were headed to Sock Summit, a magical gathering of sock knitters that included an even more magical marketplace full of sock yarn. Our transportation of choice was the Coast Starlight, a train that a quick glance at the route map shows is only coastal before and after our time on it. But, taking the train to Portland seemed so old timey and stress-free, something we both longed to be, so we endured the 17.5 hour ride from the Bay Area to Portland. And we discovered that a Nalgene can fit a bottle of wine discreetly and that Dixie cups still exist. And we knit legwarmers!

Check out my legwarmers and my clashing Jaywalkers!

Upon pulling up into the Portland train station, we decided that a walk to our hotel was in order since sitting for 17.5 hours made us feel blobby.  After checking in, we chowed down on Thai food, then made our way via public transportation to the Awesome 80's Sock Hop!

Leann and I have been friends since our angsty high school years, and we wondered what our teenaged selves would have thought of our current selves looking so ridiculous that cars stopped and laughed at us. Leann still remembered how to do wings and poofy bangs! My bangs went flat as soon as I stepped out of the hotel room despite asphyxiating myself with hairspray.

Any awkwardness we felt upon arriving at the Sock Hop was dissolved by 1 Manhattan, 1 greyhound, and the Village People's "YMCA".  Now, how many of you can say that you danced the YMCA with the Yarn Harlot? She's in this shot, I swear! It felt too intrusive to kinnear her any closer. Paparazzi, I am not. The last song played was a practice run for the flash mob. So cool to see it all in person!

The next day, we hit the Sock Summit and shopped! I increased my sock yarn stash from 1 skein to 6 skeins, and I swear I'll post the sock yarn pr0n later. It's good stuff: Miss Babs, Sanguine Gryphon (best booth ever), and Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I also scored a set of Signature Needle Arts DPNs. Although 2 circular needles is my preferred sock knitting method, there are some patterns that are best knit with DPNs. Plus, I love knitting with my other pair of Signature straights, and I was dying for another pair. They do cell circular needles now, but not in the smaller sizes yet.

 

A highlight of these yarny gatherings is meeting other knit bloggers. I finally got to meet Michelle while she was working the Knitted Wit booth! She's just as lovely in person as she is online.

Portland is a good place for grub, both high end and cheap. On our last day, Leann and I heard about some food trucks that were near Powell's Books. These Bosnian pita's were delicious! I ordered a combo: 1/2 spinach pita, and 1/2 spicy beef. The spicy beef was by far my favorite one. Although they are called pitas, they reminded me more of Chinese scallion pancakes because they consisted of a filled, laminated dough that is then spiraled before being baked. I made my first attempt last night for dinner, but it was so-so. I need to find a better dough recipe (if anyone has made these, please do share a link to the recipe). Perhaps a yeasted dough would be better.

Above is a picture of the my new favorite schnitzel: duck.  These are from Gruner, a German restaurant with a twist. There are other foods and drinks we ate and loved, like the avocado daiquiri from Mint, and the vanilla latte and country bread from Ken's Artisan Bakery. 

Before we knew it, we were headed back on another 17.5 hour train ride. I started and finished the last 2 Hunger Game books, learned way too much about strangers (does that still make them strangers?), and knit on a sock. I think I am finally recovered.

Another Condiment Demistified

It doesn't look like much now, but wait until a week from now! You'll all be jealous of my red wine mustard. The boy and I were talking about what things we like to have in the fridge and pantry and how we can make them without so many additives, high-fructose corn syrup being the main additive we want to cut out. Our list includes ketchup, mustard, jam, and pickles. We also love having sauerkraut on hand - it makes the perfect fast food when paired with bread and bockwurst. Learning how to can was worth it just so we can have sauerkraut handy when our crock is empty.

Amazingly, mustard is easy! You just let your mustard seeds soak in the acid of your choice, then you grind it all up. You can add spices, or not. Because the mustard gods were smiling down on me, I happened to have all the ingredients in the pantry. Yeah!

I've been warned my several websites that it will taste positively nasty the first time it is all ground up and that resting period of at least a week is needed to mellow out the flavors. We'll see if I can resist.

Today, we took a bike ride down to the local farmers' market to pick up some more ketchup ingredients. Biking in our neighborhood isn't trivial, however, since it means committing to a hill climb or two. To fortify myself for the climb back up to our house, I stopped by Stash and loaded up on sock yarn. It's light yarn, so it wasn't a bother at all. ;)

The yarn in the back is Trekking Pro Natural (it has bamboo!) and the one in the front is Schaefer Anne. Both are going to be magically transformed by elves, or me, into Christmas gifts.

Ack! I better start knitting!

Stitches Loot

Stitches West 2008 was a smashing good time. I got to meet the good folks of Ravelry and scored some schwag. (Note to self: the next time I pick a user ID, pick something a little less embarrassing than "wildtomato"...)


Socks, socks, socks! My gotta-have-it list included sock yarn from Lisa Sousa (front), Pigeonroof Studios, and Blue Moon Fiber Arts (back). There are the items that I got within the first hour of the show because I knew that they would be sold out of my choice colors. Also, these are the online stores I have been stalking for the past year, always too weary to place an order without seeing it and squishing it in person. Surprisingly, I showed an amazing amount of restraint and only bought one representative skein from each place.

I was so sure that I would buy sock yarn in the Mars Quake colorway from Lisa Sousa, but when I saw it in person, it was less purplely and more beigy. Mars Quake was still pretty, but not my bag, so I opted for the gorgeous colorway Olive Tones instead. It is to be determined if this skein will be socks for me or the boy. However, since I'm the only knitter out of the two of us, I have Ultimate Decision Power.

I also bought some naturally dyed roving from Tactile, a fiber arts studio that is happily near my hood! The top roving is carbonized bamboo, and the bottom one is a mix of wool and soy silk. I haven't spun either of these materials yet, so my treadle foot is pump, pump, pumping away in anticipation! They also sell parts for Schact spinning wheels, and they had the elusive extra high speed bobbins and whorls I was on the hunt for. Expect some sock yarn from me soon!


Mingus is just so thrilled to model my skein of Brooks Farm Yarn Duet.You gotta fondle this stuff to see just how squishy soft it is! I'm thinking of turning this into a Clapotis or a some other sort of airy, small shawl. I think it can be elegant enough to wear over a little black dress for an evening out if I pick the right pattern. Ideas? This yarn has a bit of a halo to it because of the mohair, so anything with a complicated stitch pattern will be wasted. (Another note to self: black yarn + white dog do not mix. Duh, I've learned permutations of this lesson over and over, but I still did this photo shoot and had to, subsequently, pick white strand o' Mingus out for what seemed like an eternity.)

All of the above purchases were on my list. I guess I was feeling a little impulsive and rebellious at the end of the day (hey, 6 hours of shopping for yarn can do that to a person!), and I bought a pair of Signature Needle Arts needles. The selling point? Their stiletto needles tips are the pointiest I've tried for a pair of straight needles. I'll be checking their website often because they are supposed to come out with smaller sizes of DPNs! I am a sucker for metal needles. I love the "click, click, click" and the fact that they can double as a weapon. No one messes with me on BART when I'm knitting!

In the picture below, my Signature needle is in the middle, the top is a regular Addi Turbo, and the bottom is a Clover bamboo needle. See the difference? The Signature needles are somewhat customizable: you pick the "hood ornament" at the top and the point, but the color is fixed for the size. Hence, my new gold needles. Gold 'cause, ya know, that's how I roll.


It's getting awfully close to my one year blog-o-versarry and I'm trying to cook up a great contest with some worthy loot! Rest assured that the contest will have something to do with furmiliated animals and fiber.

Making progress!

The tangle sock has grown up! It is no longer the bane of my existence now that I finished working the heel. That leaves, um, only 7 more inches of 2x2 ribbing to go (or until I run out of yarn)!

See how big his foot is? His foot really is a foot.

While I was working the heel, the boy finished balling up the secret project yarn. Now, it's time to do some serious knitting! There will be no more pictures of this stuff until it is in the recipient's hands.