type="image/x-icon" /> " type="image/x-icon" />

Yarnmule




"Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while,
then take up the sock again." - Dorothy Day

Sock Summit part 1: Stash

Yep, I went to Sock Summit. I hopped on a plane by myself to go to an event where I didn't know anyone, and I had an incredible time. I met some awesome people. I took some amazing classes. I went to wonderful special events. I ate quite possibly the best donut I've ever eaten. And I shopped. Oh yes, I shopped.

The marketplace opened for students only on Thursday evening after classes, for two short hours. My first stop was the Periwinkle Sheep booth. All three of the skeins I bought there are a 80% superwash merino 20% nylon blend. The owner had dyed colors for each member of the Luminary Panel, with a portion of the proceeds donated to Doctors Without Borders. I bought two; Priscilla's Blue With a Kick (for Priscilla Gibson-Roberts) and Sophisticated Nancy (for Nancy Bush).


The color of blue jeans, with shots of a golden brown that perfectly matches the stitching. Awesome.


This one's a semi-solid with shades of burgundy and rose. There was also a basket of Potluck colors for half price. I had to pick up one of those. I am sure that there is some reason that these skeins were considered a "mistake", but I can't for the life of me figure it out. This might be the most interesting colorway I've ever seen. It doesn't photograph especially well, but it's a seafoam green mixed with an orchid color that almost looks overdyed. Gorgeous.


My next purchase was from a new vendor: Van Der Rock Yarns. Their booth had a nice, clean, spare aesthetic, and it seemed like an oasis from the chaos of the marketplace. Again, I bought a superwash/nylon blend, in the Coumarin colorway.


Again my photography skills are not doing this justice; the colors are a little more variegated that it seems. It's a blend of blues and purples, with little shots of fuchsia. Frankly, it looks like a delicious bowl of berries, and I'm having a hard time not licking it.

The last purchase of the evening was from Beyond Basic Knits. Again, a superwash/nylon blend, in the most appropriate color name ever: Rapture.


It's a very light fingering weight, and it's unbelievably soft. I considered sleeping with it on my pillow.

When I got back to the hotel I laid out my new loot and realized that 3 of the 5 skeins I bought were the same colors I always buy; blue and red. I decided my goal for the rest of the weekend was to attempt purchasing other colors. Because seriously, how many more pairs of blue socks do I really need? OK, plenty, but nonetheless some new colors were in order.

I did fall back into the blue pile a couple more times. My next purchase was a mini-skein from Craft's Meow. Her store is so fun; the yarn bases are all named after ice cream. I bought the Ice Cream Sundae base, my usual SW merino/nylon blend. The colorway is Midnight Craving.


Yeah, I know, it looks pretty blue. But it's really at least half purple. Honest.

Next stop was Girl on The Rocks. Please be seated; I don't want you to hurt yourself.


Yep, that would be orange. International Orange, to be specific; named after the color of the Golden Gate Bridge. I actually wound this skein about 10 minutes after I bought it, I liked it that much. I might be swatching already. I also picked up some great stitch markers at this booth; a decrease set imprinted with SSK and K2TOG, and an increase set with M1L and M1R.

The next stop was Serendipitous Ewe. This is their Chance Sock base; superwash/nylon of course.


The color is called Pumpkin Pie, but it really reminds me of marigolds, yellow and orange and gold. Not blue, and not red.

My next booth was Yarny Goodness. She carries a wide variety of indie dyers; this skein is from Sereknity.


The colorway is Green Pastures, and it looks exactly like spring.

One of the classes I took was Chrissy Gardiner's Textured Colorwork Socks. During class, we swatched with worsted weight yarn, but I decided I needed some solid sock yarn immediately. I walked directly from class to the marketplace and skipped lunch in order to pick out colors. I am nothing if not obsessed.


This is Simply Sock Yarn, from Simply Socks Yarn Company. Colors are Silver Lining, Mocha, and Merlot. That's a tiny 24-stitch swatch attached to it.

My last purchase of the summit was something I had been stalking all weekend. I tried not to buy it (really) but in the end I couldn't help myself.


That's pretty blue. Jay Blue, from Hazel Knits, in her Artisan Sock base. It's a deep ocean color, and it's super-saturated, and there was no way I was going home without it.

So the final tally:
Blue or mostly blue: 3 skeins
Red: 1 skein
Might be considered blue but I'm saying purple: 1 mini skein.
Seriously not blue or red: 5 skeins.
Things I regret buying: 0.

Not bad for a weekend's worth.

Labels: ,


Something To Talk About

So it would seem that I've taken a rather long break from the blog. Whoops. Life, you know, getting in the way.

I've been doing a lot of "secret" knitting for the last several months. Since I can't talk about that, and I haven't been doing much else, knitting blog fodder has been hard to come up with. Finally, though, I can tell you a bit about what I've been doing.



Treetop Socks, now in the latest issue of Knitty. I'd be thrilled if you checked them out, and even more thrilled if you knit them. You can see current projects at Ravelry.

Labels: , ,