TT 820: Sock Summit Day 3 part 2

The second half of Day 3 began with the flash mob dance, which was a TON of fun. Here are some of the ST-1s and ST-2s (ST = Sock Team) getting ready up at the front. Technically, we’re still mingling at this point.
Kris and I ran into the rest of the central PA contingent and we stuck together for the dance. That’s Kris on the left (note how bright her green shirt is – that’s what helps you find us in the videos!), then Missy, then Carol of The Mannings, and me on the right.

Here are Stephen Houghton and Debbie (sorry, don’t know her last name), the ones who made the instruction video:

Here is some mingling that happened before the music began. Kris and Katharine are showing each other their yarn (you can see Steph and Tina in the background if you look between Kris and Katharine):

And then there was dancing. I didn’t record any because I was participating… so you’ll have to search YouTube on “sock summit flash mob” and you’ll find a ton. I’ll add a couple of links where you might spy us later (my internet access is brief). Added later: this is the best video right here!

After the dance, Kris, Katharine, and I jumped on the train and went downtown for dinner. Then we rushed back to the convention center for Stephanie’s lecture, titled “This is Your Brain on Knitting.” She summarized some of the scientific research that pertains to our craft. Not that there is neuroscience research on knitting… it’s not quite that direct. The literature on repetitive motion and the relaxation response is helpful, though – and some of those studies actually mention knitting (though one, hilariously, concluded that it is not practical for everyone to carry around knitting with them, though they think it would be helpful). I think I took good enough notes that I can track down some citations (Stephanie usually mentioned the author’s name and institutional affiliation), so I’ll do the librarian thing when I get home and see if I can recreate a list of references. She also used some of the research that the video game industry has commissioned to learn why people get addicted to video games and how to get them to pay good money to do something imaginary. She told a compelling story.

The room was packed. I was right in the front row (a fluke – I walked up there with Katharine, who was having a seat saved for her by an early arriver, and it turned out there were a couple of empty seats right up front). It was neat to turn around and see an entire room filled with people knitting socks and listening to someone talk about knitting. There were over 500 chairs in the room and the event was sold out.

After the lecture, we dropped off our baby shower donations. There were at least 6 tables full of things like this. That big bag on our table was full of items that someone brought from their local knitting group – it contained at least a couple dozen hats, pairs of booties, and more.

After that, we decided to swing by Voodoo Doughnuts, which was a pretty hopping place on Saturday night.

I kind of clutched at all the choices and ended up with a plain cake donut with chocolate frosting. I prefer cake doughnuts to raised ones, and the cake ones were way tamer than the raised ones. They had vegan doughnuts – I was sad that Boy 1 wasn’t here to try one (he’s never had a doughnut because he’s allergic to eggs). Katharine bought a “voodoo dozen,” which is a dozen doughnuts that they select – you don’t hand pick them. Here is a peek: