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Sock Summit Registration Announcement

After a whole mega ton of coffee (sorry kidneys) not enough sleep, learning a whole lot of new things about importing/exporting large amounts of data and just how many ways you can do this, not enough sleep, more coffee, proofing, a wee bit of hysterical laughter, editing and proofing again all while on the phone with Steph or sometimes Stephen (I lovingly think of them as my Ste’s) we are here at registration announcement day.  I kid you not.

The letter below is about to go out to all of you lovely knitters on our mailing list.

Ok. Nap time right?

Dear Knitters,

The Sock Summit Team would like to announce that registration for Sock Summit 2011 will take place Wednesday, the 4th of May at 12:00 pm PDT. 

A very great many changes have been made to the registration process this go round, and all of them have been designed to make registration faster, easier, smoother and not melt down any servers anywhere no matter how many knitters try to do so at the same time. As a response to the number of knitters who didn’t get spots last time, this year, we’ve added more classes and more teachers. We find all of this terrifically reassuring, and hope that you do too. 

While you get ready for registration, please spend some time perusing our amazing selection of Teachers, Classes and Events, and have a good look at the schedule.  Monday, instructions and a walk through for registration will be posted on the registration page of our site, and we hope you’ll have a good look at that too, so that you’re ready when we go live.

As always, it’s an honour and a privilege to work for all of you. Running a sock conference is an unlikely and wonderful job, and we’re grateful that we get the chance.

With many thanks,

Tina Newton, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and our exhausted head-geek and ST-2 Stephen Houghton

Happy Earth Day

It’s supposed to be a beautiful sun filled not too cold day. It’s true, I swear, I see sun breaking through the morning fog here now. As soon as I finish up some SS11 bizness that can’t wait, I am packing up my daughter Sophie and headed to the coast where my heart lives to visit my best friend the ocean.

It seems like it’s been forever so I am pretty excited.

I am going to take my shoes off and curl my toes in the probably pretty cool sand. I’m going to wade into the tide line and let the waves lap at my feet and bathe my toes.  I am going to walk as far as the tide will let me while the breeze blows my trouble away, clears my head and salts my skin. I’m going to chase the scummy sea weedy foam bubbles that the breaking waves leave behind I still find delightful.  I’m going to take tons of pictures of the cool but kind of gross sea creatures that I seem to obsessed with.  I’m going to be cleansed and inspired. I’m going to help with some of the earth day clean-up and…

I am going to feel humbled all the way down to my sand covered toes, privileged and so very blessed for every single moment that I get to call this planet in all her glory my mother. My home.

It seems to me that this planet takes awfully good care us and maybe just maybe we should be returning the favour in a much more zealous manner than we are.

One of my favourite quotes ever is the following from Chief Seattle of the Suquamish.

“Teach your children what we have taught ours, that the earth is our mother.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.

The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth.

Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

Happy Earth Day! Love your planet today!

Hanky update

We are expecting our shipment of mawatas sometime in May. We have been informed that there will be a price increase due (get this) to the popularity of silk comforters. I am trying hard but pretty unsuccessfully not have some bitter feelings about this.

Anyway while we are waiting, I have scored at the price you have been paying Silk bell caps which are the same thing they have just been stretch over a bell frame instead of a square one.

We put them up on the site and there they will stay until we run out.

OK, on a Sock Summit deadline so that is all for now.

ps; The camp colourway Mad Hatter is up. 

Have a lovely day.

Sock Summit 2011

Wow, and you know, that might just sum it up for me.  Wow!  It’s been about 3 hours since we launched the update to all of the happenings (well, not all, we still have a few surprises tucked in our cuffs) of our second little sock knitting party and I still feel a bit dizzy with it all.

Everything is looking as it should which for a non-techie always seems a bit magical. I still think there is some little person in there making all that code jive. He does all this dressed in a tux grooving to Al Green. 

Any way this is all the not so short version of saying:

WE ARE LIVE!!!

We have our teachers and all the classes this talented knitterly group teach.  There are some crazy cool classes, twinkle toes, tubular bind off and pretty much anything Judith teaches.  We feel like if it has anything to do with sock knitting we have got it here.  You know, the whole time Steph and I were deciding on classes and working on the schedule (let’s hear it for Post-It’s of Power and Filemaker database), we kept lamenting (ok, whining) over the fact that we would not get to take any of these.  It cracked me up so much that really what we both were saying was, “Hey, I really want to go to Sock Summit”.  I think that’s a good sign.

The exact same thing happened as we were mapping out the Marketplace floor and looking at the array of artisans coming and what their craft or specialty is and then where they should go.  It’s a bit like putting together a puzzle. I think the marketplace is our version of Joseph’s Techniclolour Dreamcoat.

As we are puzzling this all out and assembling both, Steph and I often stop and appreciate where we are.  We are two very lucky women to be working with so many talented quality people.  This well spun,firmly knit community is what makes this all so wonderful, what feeds us down to our warm woolly clad soles.  All of you, from our generous supportive sponsors, honestly your faith in us is quite humbling, to our loyal capable hard working staff (again, humbling), every single volunteer who gives of themselves and lastly but in no way least every single knitter takes part in our ever expanding sole searching journey without whom none of this would be possible.

As always, if you have any questions please email us from the contact us page of the Sock Summit site.

Here we go again, knitters!

P.S. It’s nap time, right?

Jabberwonked!

I’ve been reading everyone else’s posts about camp and feeling pretty happy that everyone had a good time.  (I worry) It’s intriguing to see what each person took away from their camp experience.

As we were saying our goodbyes on the last night I felt what I do every year at that point, blessed by the opportunity to serve, to be a witness and to be a small part of a big knit circle.  Also, pretty sad to say goodbye. I hate that part.

So in following suit with everyone else’s posts, here is what I LOVE about camp.  I get to work (laugh, cry, be exhausted, enjoy) with wonderful people whom I love and respect.

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I get to spend four days completely surrounded by my own kind, knitters.  Those who share a like mind and who speak my native tongue.  Everywhere I turn or glance I’m met with knitters and knitting of some sort, usually socks.

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The smiling blissed out kind.  Can’t you just hear the I’m a happy knitter song playing in the background?

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The fiercely focused kind.  Fierce!

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The slightly silly kind.  (This would be the group I fit best into.)

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Knit together.

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Helping each other.

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I wish I had a picture of my face the moment I realized as I stood there teaching about dyeing,colour and the like, that my colour heroine was standing beside me looking over my should. I almost passed out. Had a big ol’ spasm.  Seriously!

Thank you each and everyone of you for being the lovely soles souls that you are.

A special shout out to Marcy and JC Briar for bringing just a little bit extra game to the talent show.  You two made this dyers heart sing!

Also dear Team Blue Moon thank you for all the camp prep especially the teeny tiny ball rolling!  You are the wind beneath camp’s wings.