Note: Edited to add lost pictures and a few more words.With a tiny bit of swimming beforehand. The boy did his All-star swim on a cold, raining day. At points, I was sitting under a huge golf umbrella, with mer-boy on my lap. At times, unable to knit. It was a huge, dis-jointed, overwhelming meet. But, luckily, we had plenty of friends and coaches to show us the way.
The boy, like many that day, had a good swim but not the time he was hoping to get in order to beat his coach's record. He was disappointed but, I think, glad to have closure to the season. And, as he was reminded, he had got there!
So, Portland. A cool city, and a great time. My host, Nikki Kurosaki (Kurokids on Ravelry) was amazing, and took such good care of me that it was almost like having a vacation (except for the 10 hour market floor days). Her husband Kuro was also a great host and an excellent eater of sushi! I am a dork for not getting their picture, but you are used to that, yes? Too focused on the pretty yarny fibery goodies.
I also had the pleasure of flying from Chicago with Laura Garcia (Blueswirly) and spending time with her at the Sock Summit and in Portland. She is standing by to help me with graphics and branding, when i get ready for more exposure. I did do her the questionnable favor of introducing her to the joys of fiber and spinning. I asked Sarah to teach her; I just reeled her in! Sarah got a great picture of her in the act; see the Sanguine Gryphon blog.
Also on the plane, I began doing voodoo on the Shell Tank to make it a sweater i can actually wear! Still too short, despite added length in the shoulders. Here it is unblocked. Will it ever get blocked? Who knows?
Lots of help with set up from Nikki and Lize (Menagerie on Rav and Gryphon's host for the week.) I have no "after pictures", but luckily Sarah took lots of excellent ones. Also, do check out the SG blog for some cool shots in the booth.
We had many amazing visitors, starting with Tina of Bloon Moon fiber Arts herself! I had a little speech planned fr when i met the Yarn Harlot, but she came through so fast during our "Bugga Rush" the first night, that I just stared with my mouth hanging open.
This was taken at the Opening Ceremony, which was a lovely and very funny speech by Stephanie and Tina. I'm glad I finally got to see the Harlot in action!
We had many other famous and not-so-well-known visitors, including this lady, who matched the roving she bought so nicely (recognize it, Elizabeth?) Often, we wouldn't recognize the knitting rockstar in our booth until we saw a credit card (Clara Parkes and Ann Budd) or someone else's post (Xena, the Knit Picks dog, and her mommy Kelly Petkun, Knit Picks owner). Lovely Gigi and Jasmin, the Knitmore Girls, and their friend and sherpa, ChloeSparkle came by and hung out for a bit. We gave them some Dragon Sock and Skinny Bugga to review. Great podcast, Grrls!
Cat Bordhi, Cookie A, Janel Laidman (author of Eclectic Sole and Enchanted Sole), and the amazing Sheri of The Loopy Ewe were all great fun. The list is a great deal longer, as Gryphon and Sarah are both terrific at making friends. Our Rav buddies and customers were so great to meet and see again: MePls Jen, Up the Mud Creek Kari, Wenat Gladys, qiviutqueen Cecelia, Rivki Rebecca, LaPelirroja Jordana, Ellen, Deb and her mom Judy, Mary ellen, people who's names I've forgotten (lots of those). Too fun! Thanks so much for your support and encouragement!
Gryphon did some bugga face painting; first in the Color Me Crazy booth. Later, people came to the booth to join in the fun. If you go to the Sanguine Gryphon blog, you can see further evidence that Gryph really was a circus performer in a former life!
This is a picture of my heroes Barbara Walker from the back (she was spinning) with Anna Zilbourg across the table. See Barbara's red arm up there, with another grey-haired lady across the way? I did meet Walker; I had bought her Feminist Fairytales for mygirl and asked her to sign it. I passed on a message from her admirer and my friend Lauren as well. And I did get to pass on my speech to the Yarn Harlot while asking her if she knew where Zilbourg was (she didn't).
For Sock Summit knitting, I finished my Malabrigo socks. Mostly because I was cold and had bought some shiny new red Dansko MaryJanes and needed some socks to make the new shoes comfortable. Mostly, I knit on my February Lady with my own hand-dyed Traveller (colorway Riptide). Yes, I know it was SOCK Summit, but look at it! I had to keep knitting on it; I just really liked the way it was turning out. Traveller is technically a sock yarn, too.
Isn't it pretty?
I also, rather appropprately, bought my first Socks that Rock. This is Rooster Rock, a color I've been eyeing for several years. Sarah pronounced it one of my colors; don't you think? And besides, I really like chickens!
This bit of STR medium weight is Lucky, a beautiful blend of greens. So pretty I actually ordered the pattern that had ben written for it by J.C. Briar, another fab designer and teacher at SS. This sock is waiting patiently for its pattern to come in the mail from the very tired BMFA staff.
I also may have had a bit of a spindle binge. It all started with this gorgeous camel, silk, yak roving called Cream Puff from Knitifacts. Had to spin it. Right away.
So dashed off to my favorite spinning vendor, Carolina Homespun, and bought n Emily Spindle. Isn't she sweet?
Spins a lovely laceweight, some thing i've been thinking about lately. The vendor across the hall had these spindles from Spindlicity. You know her work, right? Nice, light weight spindles, made of wood, with funky painted whorls. Mine's fish bones.
This last is a gift i don't deserve, simple for being involved with the Sanguine Gryphon. It's a Turkish Delight from Ed Jenkins himself. Gryph and Sarah hav been selling his beautiful handmade needles and spindles, so he came by with a spindle for each of us. Serious happy dance when he left the booth! Lovely, lovely man. An Oregonian, too.
Nice, eh?
Finally, a beautiful skein of Bugga! came back from a customer. Before anyone could claim it, I asked, "You were saving this for me, right?" Gracious as always, Gryphon and Sarah replied, "Of course." It's Hologram Moth. My first, believe it or not. A booth breakdown and a truck loading later, here we all are enjoying the last bit of Portland. At Starbucks, of course.
