Sock Summit 2009

August 14, 2009

This past weekend Portland, Oregon played host to the now famous--at least among knitters--Sock Summit 2009. We couldn't make it out there but happily Chandra Rogers, who Joanna knows from her World of Warcrafters group on Ravelry was in attendance. Here's Chandra's wrap-up of the weekend's happenings.

It's not unusual to see someone riding public transit that's knitting or crocheting. I keep my knitting in my purse and have managed to knit half a round on a sock while waiting in line at the grocery store. I might get a few stares but I'm used to it as stitching in public is unique enough that those of us who tote around a project to work on during all possible spare moments are quite used to people asking questions about what we are doing. This might make one think that fiber arts are a tad uncommon. Last weekend, the notion of fiber related hobbies being uncommon was blown out of the water for the residents of the Portland, OR metro area. I had a lot of fun watching it happen.

Thousands of people and thousands of pounds of yarn swarmed the city as the first and hopefully not the last Sock Summit was held. The organizers were smart enough to recognize that there was going to be a lot of interest so they booked the Oregon Convention Center. They were not disappointed. As I walked through the marketplace gazing at all the offerings, some of the things I saw included yarn, all the materials needed to create yarn and dye it, and everything you might possible want to knit or crochet with such as needles, hooks and stitch markers plus untold sock and yarn related goodies such as jewelry, clothing and bags. There were lots of other things that again, were all somehow connected to creating socks. It was a crafter's paradise. Anyone who has an appreciation for color was at risk for eye candy shock.

Take a look at the roving for spinning offered by Yarn Hollow based in Michigan.

While the period dresses worn by the proprietors of The Sanguine Gryphon might have been what first drew people in to their booth, the plethora of goods is what kept them there.

Great amusement was had due to non-knitter reactions to the summit. Overheard at one hotel restaurant with a huge crowd of customers and not enough staff on hand to cook and serve was, “We didn't think there would be that many sock knitters.” The ATM at the Convention Center ran out of cash on the second day of the Summit leaving many people rushing back to the registration desks where I was volunteering and begging for directions to the nearest ATM. Burgerville, a local hamburger chain, had such a steady stream of customers for the duration of the Summit that someone working the till commented that, “No, I don't even have to ask, you're a sock knitter.” She was right.

Perhaps local businesspeople should have taken a clue from the Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who declared the duration of the Summit to be “Sock Knitting Week.” When online registration opened up, the server hosting the Summit registration was slammed with such a huge number of people trying to register it crashed. As soon as the server was back up again, it was met with another rush of people. It was rather hard to get numbers on how many people attended but just a few of the figures were over 153 vendors in the marketplace, over 900 people participating in the successful attempt to beat the Guinness Book of World Record's previous number of 256, and approximately 79 classes. I may have miscounted as my eyes started to blur when looking at the enormous list.

There were people from all different parts of the globe at the Summit and vendors from places ranging as far as Nova Scotia, Warwickshire, England and North Melbourne, Australia.

If you're wondering how die hard some of us sock knitters can be, there were attendees that flew to Portland to take in the atmosphere, shop and enjoy the company of their fellow sock knitters even though they hadn't been able to get in to any of the classes.

While I was manning a post at the Registration desk, I greeted people who'd never knit or crocheted a stitch in their life as they showed up at the Summit. They explained that they were there because a local NPR newscast mentioned the Summit. They thought it sounded “interesting.” One of the volunteers directed the local drop-ins to participate in the “World's Biggest Sock” knitting project and upon stating that they couldn't because they didn't know how to knit, they heard a chorus of “We'll be happy to teach you!” from almost every volunteer and attendee within earshot.

As of yet I've heard no official word from the organizers of the Sock Summit, Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fibers, author Stephanie Pearl-McPhee otherwise known as The Yarn Harlot, and knitting designer, teacher, and author Cat Bordhi as to whether or not there will be another Summit. I ran into Tina and Stephanie a few times and they looked exhausted. However I am positive there is enough interest for another one and perhaps the ultimate knitterly bribe might influence them. Sock yarn.

Organizer Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fibers and author Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Now that you're done checking out Chandra's wrap-up, visit her blog, Formerly Just A Crazed Quilter, Now a Fabric Fanatic.

Comments

[Sarah]

Thanks so much for the kind words!

[Joanna]

@Kyrie Take heart...maybe there will be another Sock Summit next year and you'll get to meet her!

[Kyrie]

I so wish I could have been there, I have been lusting after Anna Zilboorg's book Magnificent Mittens for ages, and since it's out of print I probably would have had a better chance of meeting her at sock summit then I do of being able to afford a copy of that book. *sigh*