Hooray, Tesserae, Jr.

I finished a pair of Tesserae socks for my 5-year-old friend, Anna:

These went even faster than the ones I made for myself, as I only cast on 48 stitches.  The yarn is Dream in Color Starry (the Smooshy yarn base with silver sparkles) in colorway “Cocoa Kiss.”  Maybe you can see the sparkles a little better in my old stash photo?

Anna was abroad all last fall.  Before she left in August, she made a point of telling me that her previous pair of handknit socks was too small.  I told her I would make her another pair when she got back – what color did she like?  She surprised me with “black.”

But okay, sure, black!  I got sparkly black to be on the safe side (thanks to Twisted’s awesome inventory at Sock Summit).

When I saw her again earlier this month, I said “I have some yarn to show you.  Do you remember what color you said you wanted before you left?” and she said “PINK?”  Uh-oh. 

Luckily, the sparkles won her over.  She happily tripped out of my house wearing her new socks today.

Maybe I should start one of those big thermometer thingies to keep track of how much of my Sock Summit yarn I’ve knit. Let’s see, I think I came home with enough for 10 new pairs.  I’ve already knit the StitchJones Glam Sock, Kitchen Sink Dyeworks Luxe Merino Fine, Purl Up & Dye, and Dream in Color Starry. 4 down, 6 to go.

I haven’t started the Starry Deck the Ball yet, but I promise that I will soon.  (you know who you are!)  :)

Sock Summit Day 4 – At the Top

Today was the final day of the Sock Summit.  I went to a fabulous one-hour class with Cookie A called The Perfect Rib.  If you’ve looked at her new book, Sock Innovation, you’ll recall that she has a section at the beginning about getting the ribbing on the cuff to flow into the pattern.  This class was about how to make that happen.  Cookie was an excellent teacher – clear and technical and right-on.  I loved it!  Some of the knitters coming out of the 9 am class were shaking their heads and saying “this is hard!” but it was just right for me.  I’ll never rib the same way again.

After that, I went into a one-hour lecture called Turkish Stitches with Anna Zilboorg.  She had many Turkish socks to show and talked about the conditions under which they were made and the materials from which they were made.  She talked about how the ground and figure were equally important (in Western motifs, the figure stands out from the ground) and showed us different ways that one simple hook motif was used.  I didn’t expect to want to learn to make any Turkish socks, but I was particularly taken by this pair:

Unfortunately, the pattern isn’t published (at least not yet) – she worked it out specifically for the Summit.  If it comes out in print, I just might try some stranded knitting!

Here are a few other socks that she brought – including a surreptitious shot I took of the socks on her own feet (she went shoeless during class).  I love how at the Sock Summit, taking pictures of other people’s feet isn’t weird.

After the morning classes, Steven and I returned to the exhibit hall one last time to watch a demo of an antique sock knitting machine.  It looks kind of hard.  I doubt I’ll seek such a machine out.  If one happened to fall in my lap, that would be another story, of course!

Steven and I returned to Burgerville for lunch and had delicious spicy black bean burgers.  Burgerville looks like a standard fast food joint, but they use lots of local and seasonal ingredients.  Right now that means cherries and blackberries.  They also print the nutritional information on the receipt.  Boy, was I glad that I didn’t have the chipotle mayo on my burger.

In the afternoon, we went to the Luminary Panel and sang Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Zimmerman (her 99th birthday would have been today).  There was even cake. 

Whew!  Steven and I had a great time at the Sock Summit.

When’s the next one?

Sock Summit Day 3: Huffing and Puffing

Who knew how exhausting a sock knitting conference could be?  This is intense!

Today I started out with a one-hour class with Carson Demers called KnitteRx.  Carson is a knitter, spinner, and physical therapist.  We talked a lot about posture and the curvature of the spine.  He explained how we need to find balance between the overuse of some muscles and the underuse of others.  We talked about how to sit in a chair, the importance of standing up frequently, and moving other body parts while knitting.  We even talked about knitting bags (in general, most people carry way too much in theirs).  He said that in some longer classes, he asks for a volunteer to dump out their bag.  We didn’t have time for that today, but it sounds like a good exercise!  I wish I could have taken Carson’s 3-hour class, but I’m glad I got to meet him.  I would jump on another chance to have a class with him.

After that, I popped back into the exhibit hall with my list of final items to seek out.  I found some yarn to knit a Christmas gift that fit the recipient’s color preferences.  Then I found just one more skein of sock yarn that I “needed” to get for myself.  I also ended up buying a bag.  I initially was very interested in another bag I saw at this booth "(Queen Bee Creations here in Portland), but decided to sleep on it before buying.  I went back this morning and was still on the fence.  Then the vendor pulled out another bag with the same leaf motif on it that hadn’t been there yesterday, and that was the right one.  Isn’t it pretty?  This booth must be having a really successful show – I see their bags everywhere this weekend!  I also got a cool vintage darning egg this morning.

Steven and I found a joint called Burgerville for lunch.  It sounds like a burger dive, but they had all local and organic foods, including several vegetarian options.  I had an Oregon salad with cherries, walnuts, and blue cheese.  You can add onion rings to any order (1 ring, 3 rings, or 5 rings – they are really big) so I tried one of their Walla Walla rings, too – delicious. 

Back to the exhibit hall – Steven wanted to see the vintage knitting booth.  I heard an announcement on the loudspeaker that said the first 100 people at booth 909 could meet Jasmin and Gigi of The Knitmore Girls podcast and get a free bag of goodies.  I headed over and managed to get a bag. It had a lot of stuff in it: the Winter 2009 issue of Verena magazine (the cover says “Europe’s top knit magazine”), two sock patterns, a couple of yarn samples (from Abstract Fiber and Pagewood Farm), a Eucalan sample, a tape measure (you can never have too many, especially if your young sons keep playing with them and breaking them), buttons, bookmarks, business cards…  wow!

Next it was time for my one-hour Darn It class with Merike Saarniit.  Our homework for this class was to bring a small flat swatch in worsted weight yarn, with some contrasting yarn for darning.  And … now I know how to darn!  Here is my swatch:

I don’t want to give away any of Merike’s tips on the blog, but there are a few key things.  Ask me if we bump into one another!  Merike said right away that the popularity of superwash merino sock yarn pretty much ensures that people will need to darn their socks… just as I suspected.  After class, I asked her what she thought about BFL sock yarn.  She was all for it, so I felt good about all my BFL purchases over the previous days (BFL is my new BFF!).  She’s also a big fan of mohair in sock yarn.  Remember… nature’s nylon?  I feel like I’m on the right track.

After class, I headed back to the exhibit hall to visit the Sock Museum.  The museum contained samples of socks made over the centuries.  Well, the socks were mostly new, but they were knit according to old patterns.  The timeline began with socks made by nalbinding, not knitting, and went all the way to contemporary sock pattern hits (like Monkey).  In between were Civil War socks (Union and Confederate), World War I and II socks (there’s a new pattern for every war, it seems), the first self-striping sock yarns, and more.  It was very interesting to see them all in one place.  Each sock contained a description of why it is in the exhibit, as well as comments from the volunteer knitters.

After a full conference day, we went to India House with Jeff.  Vegetarian thalia: 

Tomorrow' I have two more one-hour classes (The Perfect Rib with Cookie A and Turkish Stitches with Anna Zilboorg) – I was able to pick up the Cookie A class just this morning.  The afternoon features a Luminary Panel with Cat Bordhi, Nancy Bush, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Judith MacKenzie-McCuin, Lucy Neatby, Deborah Robson, Meg Swansen, Barbara Walker, and Anna Zilboorg.  The moderators are Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Tina Newton.  It’s going to be great!

Sorry no links again today.  I couldn’t find any free wifi near the convention center so I can’t post until evening, when I roam around the Fairview neighborhood until I find someone who has an unsecured wireless network.  Use the Google toolbar. 

Sock Summit Day 2: Onward and Upward

On our second day at the Summit, I started with a lecture by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts called Ethnic Socks & Stockings. Her particular interest is in Eastern socks. The oldest knitted socks known to be in existence have been carbon-dated to 1200 years old. They are from Egypt and are made from cotton. This session was basically a lecture/slideshow, and we saw gorgeous photo after gorgeous photo of socks. Some of them featured a technique she called “shepherd’s knitting,” which is created with two very thin needles with crochet hooks on the end. I don’t really understand it, but they create a very dense fabric.

After the morning session, we all trooped into a ballroom to set a new world record for most people knitting at the same time. As you may know, the Guinness people only consider knitting to be created with two needles – not a set of dpns, and definitely not circular needles. As we went into the ballroom, there were volunteers outside shouting “Two needles! Flat knitting!” just as baseball vendors holler “Peanuts! Cold beer!” Some had baskets of straight needles to lend (since sock knitters don’t use straight needles). After we gathered, Stephanie reminded us about the rules. Even thought you knit with only 2 dpns at any given time, you need 4 for the project. 4 dpns are not 2. 2 + 2 = 4, but 4 is not 2. Some smart aleck (Amy Singer?) asked if it was okay to purl (it is). The Guinness people sealed the door and started the timer. We all knit for 15 celebratory minutes and almost certainly broke the record. The current record was set in June 2009 in Australia with only 256 people. I feel sure there were at least 1000 in the room. We shall see! Here is Steven getting ready to do some “two needles, flat knitting!” for the record:

Stephanie was everywhere (notice how I now refer to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee as my close personal friend Stephanie rather than the Yarn Harlot). I’m getting used to seeing her, but I still want to take her picture every time. As a result, I have a lot of totally mediocre Kinnearing pictures like this one:

This is ST-1: Tina Newton (owner of Blue Moon Fiber Arts) and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

After the world record attempt, Steven and I headed back to the marketplace to the demo area, where a vendor was showing scanning electron microscopy photos of fiber and explaining why they look different. Good geeky fun!

We did some more shopping and I found myself trying out a new spindle. This little beauty is made by Grafton Fibers in Vermont and I found it at the A Verb for Keeping Warm booth:

It came home with me. So did a few other things: some Wensleydale fiber to spin into sock yarn from Tactile (the purple gray stuff), some sparkly pink sock yarn for Meggan (remember the role she played in getting me here!), a couple of patterns, some Addi lace needles (size 2 mm/US 0), and issue 1 of Handknit Heroes. Turns out the Handknit Heroes folks had a booth. Steven and I tried on the knitted superhero masks and had our photo taken together. Look for it on the Handknit Heroes Flickr set! I’ll link to it later when I have internet.Later, Jeff met us downtown for dinner at the yummy Farm Cafe. I enjoyed a Tower of Tofu (herb and pecan-encrusted tofu cutlets leaned against a core of mashed potatoes, with a yummy mushroomy sauce over all) and peach cobbler for dessert. We headed out to the Sock Hop but didn’t stay too long – it was mostly dancing and not museum-ing.

Tomorrow: KnitteRx and Darn It!

Sock Summit: Trailhead to Base Camp 1

Steven and I made it through Day 1 of Sock Summit!  We’re not at the top yet, but we got to Base Camp 1 successfully.  Whew!

My first class was Spindle Spinning Basics with Abby Franquemont and Denny McMillan.  I bought the class kit, which included a basic bottom whorl spindle.  I was a little worried when they said that knowing how to spin on a wheel would actually be a detriment to learning to spin on a spindle (because I already have a “prototype neural pathway” for the physical activity of spinning), but it was okay!  I can now half-hitch, park, and draft just like most 2-year-old Peruvians can. 

We didn’t have time to ply any yarn in our 3-hour class, but I think I understand how to ply on a spindle.  We’ll see. 

Abby and Denny were great teachers – I recommend them wholeheartedly.  I loved hearing about Abby’s childhood in the Peruvian Andes – so interesting.  (Read it on her blog, or wait for her book, Respect the Spindle, due out this November.)  She was precise and articulate in her directions to us, but still warm and funny.  Great combination.  And I was blown away when she showed us socks that she knit with her first spindle-spun yarn – she made them only 15 months ago.  (She’d spun on a wheel for years but is a relatively new spindle spinner!)

My afternoon class was “Finding True Sock Yarn Happiness” with Clara Parkes.  We talked about the requirements of sock yarn and how “true sock yarn happiness” is found in the perfect balance among elasticity, strength, and absorption.  We talked about different kinds of fiber and listed their strengths and weaknesses; we also got little samples of various fibers and taped them to our handouts.  We did the same review with yarns and examined swatches and sample socks.  We saw a few special socks that are featured in Clara’s forthcoming book, The Knitter’s Book of Wool (due out in October) – it was neat to get a preview of them. 

I left this class with a confirmation of a sock yarn philosophy toward which I have been moving for a while now, and here it is: No More 100% Merino Sock Yarn!

It’s okay to have merino mixed with nylon (or perhaps “nature’s nylon,” aka mohair).  But no more 100% merino.

Do you know how much sock yarn is 100% merino?  A LOT.  Right after Clara’s class, the marketplace opened to registered students for a couple of hours.  The Harlot Herself was at the doors to the marketplace.  I can’t resist the urge to photograph her.  It must be so annoying to be on the other end of that!Steven and I hit the ground running.  I saw Brian from Skacel knitting his 7 pairs of socks at one time:At this booth, I also snagged a really neat Addi needles with one Turbo tip and one Lace tip.  I checked out some of the Dye for Glory entrants (mmmm, String Theory).  I fondled the Briar Rose fibers for quite some time (I’d heard about these on Brenda Dayne’s Cast-On but have never seen them in person).  There was a LOT to see, and so much of it was merino merino merino.  I asked Clara earlier why so much sock yarn was made of merino, and she said that sock knitters like it (or think they like it) because it feels so good in the hand, and that the Australian merino industry is really strong.

Clara suggested that we seek out Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn, and I found some!  BFL is my new BFF.

This is an awful photo, but here is my haul from that first evening. I’ll photograph this better later and describe it more.  That sparkly yarn on the right is for Anna.  The sunny yellow next to it is for S1.  The robot bag is for you know who.  Steven and I both got some of the Jacob/Alpaca/Mohair black yarn to the left of the sunny yellow – we plan to have a Toots LeBlanc sock yarn smackdown knitalong.  That big hank on the far left is worsted weight yarn but it was far too yummy to leave – I got an Anne Hanson knitspot pattern to go with it.  That Briar Rose booth was truly irresistible.

Later, we went to the Opening Ceremonies.  Steven asked if my munchies were dinner or a colorway.  This small plate does look like it could inspire a colorway, doesn’t it?

Whew!  We were POOPED when we got home.  And that was just the first day. We made it to Base Camp 1, but what will tomorrow hold?

Portland, Day 3

Today we rested up a bit in preparation for the summit ahead.  Ed is now on his way to London, and so we focus on The Sock.  Steven and I went down to the convention center to register and pick up our merchandise (beer glasses, bumper stickers, all the classy stuff).  Here is one of the banners outside the convention center – the sunlight was glare-y, but you get the idea:

We had quite a few celebrity sightings in our short time at the center.  In this order, we spied: Lucy Neatby, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Tina Newton, and Abby Franquemont.  Neat!

After registering, we went to another of Portland’s many LYSs: Twisted.  Gretchen said this was her current favorite, so we sought it out.What a great store!  We saw tons of yummy yarn.  We managed not to buy any – yet.  Of course, they will have a booth at the Summit.  I got a darning egg and a pattern that is a gift for a fellow sock knitter.  I also flirted seriously with some sock yarn with silver flecks in it.  I may go back and get it for Meggan’s socks. 

Twisted had such a welcoming and comfortable vibe (not to mention two huge comfortable couches)  We could have stayed there for a long time.  But we hopped back on the train and headed for “home.”  We collected Jeff (or rather, Jeff collected us, at the Max station) and went back to Edgefield for supper.  Yum!

Tomorrow morning: Spindle Spinning Basics.  Eeeeee!

I may run down to the public library so I can post this yet tonight.  It’s pretty chilly and dark outside, so I won’t bother to find all the links and embed them in this post.  I trust you know how to use your Google search boxes.

Socks on the Radio

This morning’s broadcast of Think Out Loud on Oregon Public Broadcasting was all about the Sock Summit – read and listen here.  Think Out Loud reminds me of our local show called Radio Smart Talk.  The experts on air were Cat Bordhi (rah!), Jo Hartman, a Portland LYS owner, and Bob Petkun of Knit Picks (but I wish Kelley had been on, also!).

I thought Cat did a great job of “sitting with knitters” during this broadcast.  She praised the work of LYS owners and the work of companies like Knit Picks.  Jo Hartman of Yarn Garden complained about how discounted book sales were hurting LYSs but did not offer much else.  Bob and Cat did a great job of responding.  I did love that Bob was loaded with industry statistics.  It was interesting to hear about market shares in the yarn industry. 

Give this a listen if you have an hour to kill – or listen in the car while you drive somewhere.  You can pretend you’re here in Portland this week!

Now, I have to leave this speedy internet connection at the Fairview branch of the Multnomah County Library and go down to the convention center to get registered.  See ya!

Cupcakes & Crobots, Cha Cha Cha!

On our second full day in Portland, the boys and I headed downtown to Knit/Purl.  Steven needed a couple of items for his Thursday class.  Here we are outside the shop.  They have a beautiful window display of socks in honor of the Summit – can you see it here?  We pulled my sock out for the photo, too:

Steven found the yarn he needed – here he is watching it being wound into a ball by an electric ballwinder.  Neat!Somehow I managed only to buy an issue of Handknit Heroes, the knitting comic book – no yarn.  Yet.

Next we headed to Cha Cha Cha! for burritos – yum.  I met someone in line who asked me what was good to eat.  I confessed that I was visiting town and did not know.  He asked what brought me to Portland, and I told him about the Summit.  He didn’t miss a beat and told me that the last time he was in Portland, he was here with a crochet-er friend who published a book.  I asked if it was anyone I knew.  He hesitated, and I said “the only big crochet name I know is Kim Werker.”  Well, that was his friend!  Small world.  Here is Steven about to enjoy his fish burrito:

After Cha Cha Cha!, we popped into Cupcake Jones for a delightful confection.  Steven left his yarn there but we were sitting just outside so the cupcake lady reunited us with the yarn with no problem.

Next we hit Powell’s for a couple of hours.  I only spent time in two sections: Graphic Novels and Crafts.  I was pleased to see a Sock Summit display in the bookstore:

I saw a book I had never heard of before: Crobots.  I don’t know how to crochet very much, but I’ve been meaning to learn more.  A whole book of crochet robots?  Sure, I’m game!  Here’s Jeff gamely showing my new book:

Headed for the Summit

Headed for the Summit
Originally uploaded by JLW in PA

I'm packing for the Summit today - here is some of my fiber-related stuff. (Open the Flickr photo for notes about items in the picture.)

1. The folder contains all registration receipts, schedule, list of intriguing vendors, directions to Ravelry party, etc.
2. Homework for classes is bagged and labeled by class.
3. I have yarn and needles for the world record attempt on Friday. I never knit on straight needles anymore. I grabbed some short ones that I bought recently to have ready in case another child wants to learn to knit, and a ball of leftover worsted weight yarn. We only have to knit for 15 minutes. I'll just make a swatch.
4. I have two socks in progress. First, the inverse unpadded footlets. (I may need to work on a better name for these.)
5. Next, the Charade (Rav link) pattern in Shibui Sock, colorway "Wasabi."

Normally I would take more knitting along for a 9-day trip ... but not this one! I'm sure I'll buy sock yarn at the Summit, so if I finish both of these pairs of socks, I'll just start something new. Who knows what's next in the queue?

Extreme sock knitting

I need to say up front that I am not an extreme sock knitter – but that doesn’t mean I’m not intrigued by them!  I ran across this on the new Skacel blog.  Brian was excited about a special order Addi Turbo Lace needle in the 120” length.  Naturally, he wanted to push the edge.  He decided to knit 7 pairs of socks, at the same time, using the Magic Loop technique.  Hmmmm, just crazy enough to work!

His project is titled “Because I can,” and you can follow it on the blog.  To catch up, read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

I’m going to copy one photo here to suck you in - hope that’s okay, Brian.  Man, I hope this guy will be at Sock Summit!

Do you think the sock knitters will demand wide availability of the 120” needle?

The Bird Post (aka My Kind of Tweet)

Boy 1 made this birdhouse at Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve Junior Naturalist Camp last summer. I took it down for the winter and rehung it this spring, mostly for cheerful backyard color. But … a little bird (a wren?) actually made a nest in it! Listen carefully – can you hear the baby birds chirping? They only chirp at the beginning of this clip, before their loud mama tells them to shut up because danger lurks nearby (danger = me):

Now listen to the mother bird. She is squawking at me and drawing me further away from the nest…

And look what Boy 1 (aka Junior Naturalist) brought home from camp this week: Owl Pellet Bingo! The kids dissected owl pellets (don’t worry, they were sanitized by wrapping in aluminum foil and baking in the oven) and matched the bones to the chart. His owl enjoyed a tasty shrew. Mmmmm.

Perhaps tomorrow we will return to our regularly scheduled programming. I’m off to begin my Sock Summit homework.

I knit because it relaxes me, I knit because it relaxes me...

...but registering for Sock Summit 2009 definitely caused a blood pressure spike!

Registration began at 1:00 pm local time. I was at a restaurant at 1:00 pm, but my colleague, friend, and sock knitter's hero Meggan kindly lent me her laptop with Verison cellular internet connection, so I was hooked up and ready to go in the Ping's dining room. But (as perhaps you've heard), registration didn't begin smoothly at 1:00 pm. I IMed Steven to see if he was having the same trouble. He was. Finally I left the restaurant, but Meggan said we could walk down the street - with the laptop open - IN THE RAIN - to make sure I didn't miss it if it came back up. How is that for dedicated enabling?!?

So, we walked down the street, with Meggan holding the umbrella over the open laptop, and me watching the "loading" icon. If only someone had a photo of that.

Success! At the downtown square, it connected. I darted into the overhang at the bank title company next to Codori's and knelt on the brick pavement. Laptop on the floor. Me on my knees. Clicking, worrying, flinging my hair out of my eyes. (Another prime photo opp, missed...) My top choice already full. Click on Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Do I have it? I think I do ... but every page takes soooo long to connect, and registration expires after 15 minutes.

There were loading and display problems. We kept walking up Carlisle Street. In the rain, umbrella, etc.

Success again! It reconnected between the old Zentz apartments and the Getty. There is no shop entry to dart into. I stood in the rain, holding the laptop with one hand and typing with the other, with Meggan cheerfully holding the umbrella. BUT... I timed out! So I had to start over. There were WAY fewer classes available at this time, but I took what I could and checked out.

At checkout, I could see that I was double-booked for one class and triple-booked for another, but I couldn't get the screens to load to remedy this and my 15 minutes were ticking away. So I just checked out. Bought them anyway. Figured I could fix it later.

Later I emailed the Sock Summit people and asked to be un-registered from 2 sections of Turkish Stitches and 1 section of Finding True Sock Yarn Happiness, and I didn't care which ones. I just wanted another knitter to get them (and, of course, a refund). I sent the email.

THEN I checked the Sock Summit blog again and saw a posting (hours old at this point) that said there WERE still classes available. So I went back in and picked up a couple more classes (Spindle Spinning Basics and KnitteRx). Oops ... now it matters which sections of the double-booked ones are cancelled, because of where I have added. I sent another email.

Crikey, this is a massive headache for the registrars. I really hope it gets sorted okay. If it does, this is my schedule:

Spindle Spinning Basics - Thursday, August 06, 2009, 09:00am (3hrs)

Finding True Sock Yarn Happiness - Thursday, August 06, 2009, 13:30pm
(3hrs)

Ethnic Socks and Stockings Lecture - Friday, August 07, 2009, 09:00am
(3hrs)

KnitteRx - Saturday, August 08, 2009, 09:00am (1hr)

Darn It! - Saturday, August 08, 2009, 13:30pm (1hr)

Turkish Stitches - Sunday, August 09, 2009, 11:00am (1hr)

Events Luminary Panel - Sunday, August 09, 2009, 13:30pm (3hrs)Tickets:

Sock Hop - Friday, August 07, 2009, 20:00pm (3hrs)Tickets: 1

Opening Night Reception - Thursday, August 06, 2009, 19:00pm (2hrs)Tickets: 1

Meggan gets a pair of handknit socks for her role in this story. Doesn't she deserve it?!??

Sock Summit 2009 - class list

Have you checked out the class list for Sock Summit? At 75 classes, the lineup is both awesome and overwhelming. I took a little time today to read all of the class descriptions, and here are the ones I'm considering:

1. Continental Knitting - the KNIT Stitch (Exposure to Purl)


2. Dancing with Socks


3. Darn It!


4. Don’t Knock Knee Socks


5. Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Moccasin Socks


6. Engineering New Stitches for Socks


7. Ethnic Socks and Stockings Lecture


8. Finding True Sock Yarn Happiness


9. KnitteRx


10. Knitting for Speed and Efficiency


11. Knitting Happily Ever After- Ergonomics for Knitters


12. Put Spinning on Your Feet: Using your Handspun for Socks


13. Spindle Spinning Basics


14. Talk entitled “How I became a Knitter”


15. The Gentle Art of Spinning Socks (you can tell a librarian didn't alphabetize these)


16. Traditional Estonian Socks


17. Vintage Socks—Old Tricks for New Socks

Obviously this list needs to be narrowed down a bit! Also, the class schedule isn't up yet, so I don't know how many of these classes might be held at the same time.

Maybe I should take a poll. Readers, if you could pick FIVE of these 17 classes that you think would be best for me, which would you pick?