Sock Summit '09

Anne Hanson and Jan
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

I think much of the knitting world is aware of Sock Summit whether they were one of the many that wanted to go, or not. It certainly has been a sensation in the area. I was highly amused when Portland's mayor, Sam Adams, declared it sock knitting week!

I was thrilled when I got into a class for Sock Summit. I'd planned ahead and set aside time. My visiting family was kind enough to take the children off elsewhere and let me sit in front of the computer for the hour it took to get into the system to register (the system crashed several times under the load of insane knitters trying to get in). I signed up to take Sock Design with Anne Hanson.

If you don't know of Anne, you should go check out KnitSpot, her blog. It has tons of fabulous pictures of her lovely designs (and of her garden).

Anne was a fascinating teacher. I particularly enjoyed her insights into putting different stitch patterns together, and the discussion about her own design process with various finished patterns she has already published.

I also bumped into Joan Schrouder, Sivia Harding, Judy Becker, Tina (of Blue Moon Fiber Arts), walked past Stephanie Pearl McPhee herself on the way into the market, and WonderMike from the Y-Knit podcast.

As a special highlight, I snuck over to the Beginning Spinning class to meet Abby Franquemont and Denny McMillan. Abby has been a huge inspiration to me. She's extremely knowledgeable and wants to share that knowledge with others. I got to show off my hand-spun shawl, and then Abby called the remaining members of her class over to look, too. I was so proud!

It was a fantastic time. The Marketplace was amazing, full of all-too-pretty things. I'm going to save those for another post (because some of what I bought is all tied up at the moment and not ready for pictures). The sheer number of knitters congregating in one place was amazing. I'm really looking forward to next year, if there is another one, where I might be able to go for more than one day.