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Just so you know…

So the schedule has been out for well over 24 hours and no major disasters have hit and we are pretty pleased with it.  Actually we think it is really pretty.  I thought before we headed on to the next step, I would address some of the issues from your questions, since they all boil down to about the same thing for us.

Stephanie and I are the backbone and the ring leaders of this event. We both have some very firm “this is how we live our lives” rules and since this beast is ours, well then, it certainly stands to reason that you would find a lot of who we are here.

First and foremost, it is very important to us that this event is accessible to everyone. In order for this to happen it needs to be affordable. To keep the Sock Summit affordable, we have kept staff low until we need them at the event itself. This means to reach us, you need to use the email addresses we have supplied. There is no sock summit phone number. We do realize this is frustrating to some and for this we are sorry. Please keep in mind that there are thousands of you, so really the best way to handle the (little bit scary) sheer volume of summiteers is by email.

This also means if we are not as timely with things as you think we should be, please keep in mind that we really are keeping within industry standards on most of our deadline goals. Also know that being the type A’s that we both are, we take these goals very seriously. (Okay so we looked up type A personality types and it turns out we are not, we are just really over worked and care a whole bunch.) It causes no small amount of pain for us to get close to a time goal and know we are not going to meet it exactly as we had planned. We are learning a lot. Some of it is painful.

One of the reasons that the schedule is not offered as a downloadable pdf is affordability. A big expense is the development and upkeep of the website. Downloadable pdfs cost more than a screen view. You can still print the screen view. We ask that you try to read it from the web because one of our other goals here is to keep this event as earth friendly as possible. In this vein, we are trying to use as little paper as possible. We appreciate your help with this.

This is also one of the reasons we chose The Oregon Convention Center. If you visit their website, you can read about all their sustainable practices. The convention center is also really accessible. The Max light rail goes directly from the PDX airport to the front door of the convention center and from there to downtown Portland. Most of the hotels are right there, along with restaurant choices. And again downtown Portland is about a 10 minute light rail ride, with a station right at the convention center entrance.

Along with being a really lovely place on the planet, Portland is a pretty affordable place and easy to navigate. It is also very green in both sustainability practices and that whole growing things arena.

When we booked this event, we got as many hotel rooms in close proximity of the convention center as were available. Because of the economy this changes and we check on this every two weeks. We will do so again this week to see if any have been made available for us to add to our blocks.  Mostly though they are just filled to the very rafters with sock knitters. There are a lot of us. In three months Portland is going to be over run with knitters…sock knitters.  We are trying to prepare them for this. We do not think they are getting it.

One of the most challenging parts of organizing an event of this magnitude is making decisions and choices, always keeping in mind and heart pleasing the most amount of people while keeping it affordable and functional.  This is our goal and we both know that is not possible to make everyone happy. We are doing our best to stay true to you and to us.

We consider Sock Summit a holistic event. Where there is something for everyone sock knitting-wise. This includes the summiteers, the teachers,the vendors and sponsors and yes, even us. Our hope is that there are moments to be made and shared that we will cherish for years, as in the book signing part of this. We see this as not just a chance to get your books signed, but an opportunity to meet and have a one on one moment with extraordinary knitters,designers, teachers, and people.  We have tried to arrange this so there is as much access to as many as possible.  Oh, and so we have some crazy sock knitting fun too.

P.S.  Vendors. we are running your charges today and tomorrow.

Earth Day

WE HAVE A BEAUTIFUL MOTHER

by Alice Walker

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We have a beautiful

mother

Her hills

are buffaloes

Her buffaloes

hills.

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We have a beautiful

mother

Her oceans

are wombs

Her wombs

oceans.

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We have a beautiful

mother

Her teeth

the white stones

at the edge

of the water

the summer

grasses

her plentiful

hair.

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We have a beautiful

mother

Her green lap

immense

Her brown embrace

eternal

Her blue body

everything we know.

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Even the smallest print leaves a mark.

Sock Summit News

This week in Sock Summit-land the goals and accomplishments are: ( For the purpose of retaining my jovial outlook this morning I am listing the accomplishments first.)

The group insurance policy for vendors is now available for purchase on the site as part of the vendor form.  Those of you that had already sent in your contract we sent a bulk email out with a link to this form.

If you are a confirmed vendor that has submitted your contract and you did not receive this email please contact us. 

Also, if you are a confirmed vendor that has changed your mind about coming could you please let us know. Thanks!

On April 26th we will be making all unclaimed space available to those on the unconfirmed vendor list. Those of you on that list will receive and email with the vendor login and password so please look for it towards the end of the week.

Canadian vendors we have not forgotten you and have your spots held. We have hired a NAFTA lawyer to figure this out so we know that we have all of our bases are covered. We cannot tell you how sorry we are that we were not more on top of this.

We now have a lt more info here and will be sending you a letter at the beginning of next week. woohoo

The FAQS page is up and running. We will be adding to this weekly. If you have any questions please send them to .

The general schedule has been updated. There is now more specific times for everything that is happening.

Teachers have been contacted (again) for material lists and other such teaching necessities.

The sponsors are getting the Sock Summit graphic for advertising this morning. ( Thank you Tim)

Today we are picking colors for the t-shirts and ordering them.  We will be making these available to you soon through our sponsors. More info on this soon, like real soon.

The class schedule is being coded into the site right now and our goal is to have it up by the end of the week. So send successful coding energy our way.

There was a bit of a snag here and we need proofing time so this will go up on Monday the 27th.

We are working on some of the more fun and creative parts of this and will be making announcements as to what this involves very, very soon. (Debbi thinks we should have a contest to find better ways to say “soon”)

We just have to make doubly sure that all of our t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted.The dotting of the i’s is what I find the most challenging.

A good start to a Wednesday. Have a good one!

LOVE the “soon” suggestions.

MISSing

One depraved dyer.

Really, she is usually here running Blue Moon, dreaming up new colorways, helping out in the barn where she is needed,making up contests for the sock club, posting pictures of camp, keeping us in the barn entertained and loved.

We cannot find her. We have looked everywhere we know to look, and still no tina. We miss her and are little concerned. So, we decided to enlist your help.

If you see our beloved dyer please leave us a comment here as to her whereabouts. We do not recommend that you approach her as she has been a bit skittish as of late.

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And yes we already checked the beach.

Thanks For Your Help!!!!!

Debra, Becky, Anneli, Rosie, Paula and Joann

Twinkle twinkle little stars

I was wondering where you are.

I looked and looked for you last night,

and was a bit worried that you weren’t in sight.

I tossed and turned for hours so distressed was I

that your flashy selves were not illuminating my night sky.

Imagine my relief when today I spied

a bit of your twinkle all wooly plied

in yarn that is night sky blue

and knit with vipers in formation true.

Twinkle twinkle little stars

I will no longer wonder where you are

For now I see you sparkling there on the demure little feet

of my friend whose tinselly needs you obviously meet.

Her knit heart is happy and proud

to wear these glittery socks around.

They remind her of the brave and strong

all that is right, none that is wrong.

So little sockies who twinkle so

with tinsel, silver or glitter you go

right to the heart of this BSG fangirl.

Seriously making hers a brighter disc, oh world.

Seriously.

Important Vendor Insurance info

We have taken the amount of coverage that you need down to what we feel is more reasonable.

We are doing this even though we have been advised otherwise.

I again think this is lack of knitterly understanding we are up against.

If you have already sent us your contract no worries I will change it to reflect this new amount.

We are also looking into other insurance over-writers to see if we can find a more reasonable one.

It is my goal to have this settled this coming week and have this information out to you.

I apologize for the confusion and any undue upset or stress this might have caused any of you.

Also we are having some bounce backs when we send emails so if you email addy has changed since you contacted us please send us the new one.

thanks for your patience

Exalted and Cherished Vendors

As of mere moments ago the Vendor Info category on the Sock Summit website has a Vendor contract payment form.

We are sending and email out to all of the confirmed vendors with a username and password and link.

You will need to enter the username and password into the pop up window and then it will take you to the form.

Please, oh please, I am begging you to read all of the information supplied on this contract.

I know it is long and might seem tedious, but there is a lot of information there that you will need and that wee need you to know.

To submit this contract click on the (Signature Button) at the bottom is how it gets to us and let’s us know that you at least saw all those words.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us. or here also works.

After we receive all of the confirm vendor contracts and process them, we will then take a booth tally and contact non-confirmed vendors with those booth opportunities.

I anticipate that this will take a week or two.

I swear every single time we launch or announce a new part of this my insides get all weird and funky. It is a little terrifying.

The cool thing about this one is that Steph and I are actually together in real live person.

The long distance thing make these big milestones a little more stressful than they need to be.

So to be sitting across from each other problem solving all the little quirks that rear their pesky little heads during a launch like this is well pretty flippin great.

Now if ST2 was also here…well… .

Ok off to work the schedule.

A little Campy or

Sock Camp is not for sissies.

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You really need to have your wits about you because this is just one of the wicked crazy things they grow here.

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We visitied Joe’s Crab Shack where we made crab (project) bags with Cockeye the sockateer one of the funnest girls I know. We got to pound grommets and twist yarn on a spindle. Mad skillz needed for this one.

and… even though I said the homework was not optional some still have not done theirs.

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Nope. Don’t think so McPhee.

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Really Cat, I swear. See…?

Nope, just not going to work. I think you might be smoking your own dope here.

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OH….

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Of course this is the perfect way to do this. It is luminescent in it’s brilliance.

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and we have lift off.

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Ready. Set. Knit me some Nupes.

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the clock is running…will these super fast slightly competitive knitters be done in time??

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Will they meet their deadline?  Will we need to call for assistance.

Stay tuned to this station for more in the adventures of Circy McCircison and Lever Lady.