Monday, August 10, 2009

Sock Summit: The people

If you were there, you know how amazing, huge, and overwhelming it was. I know everyone will blog their experiences there, so if you couldn't go, you can at least see what it was like a little bit. I have so much I wanted to say, and I know I will forget most of it, but I thought I would start with a post about the people. Here I am with Beth (littledog on Ravelry) at the Ravelry party. The party was fantastic, if you got there early you got a cool goody bag, and I was there right at 7:00. (I was just a little bit excited to meet Jess and Casey and Mary Heather. And now there is a fourth Ravelry employee, whose name I have unforgivably forgotten.) Anyway, Beth was kind enough to put me up for the night in her guest room..which is awesome because it is also her yarn and fiber storage area, so I got to sleep next to the wool all night. Mmmm.. We only took one small detour trying to get to the convention center the next morning! This is a person whose name I again forgot, but who had the coolest knitted hood, in one of my current favorite colors no less. She lives in Portland I think, so if you know her name, please tell me!
And I got to meet Christi! Christi was one of my first Ravelry "friends." I found her through that friend finder thing that recommends friends for you based on how many patterns you have in common. I have been reading her blog ever since, and she made me a cool pattern row counter, which some of you may have seen, and which got me though the ginormous aran sweater project safely. I was so thrilled to finally meet her, since she came all the way from Charlotte NC for Sock Summit!
And of course I was thrilled to see Stephenie Pearl-McPhee in person for the first time. Who doesn't read her blog! Unfortunately I was exhausted, and celebrity sticken, and all I said was, "I'm Brandy" and "do you mind a photo?" and she didn't hear my shy little voice, and inscribed my book "To Randy", but hey, maybe I'll have another chance sometime, and can get up the guts to say something like "Thanks for your blog, which I read every entry of, and for your books, which I love, and which make me feel understood and normal, despite being a person obsessed with yarn and fiber." But probably I will just say "Hi, my name is Brandy, but you can call me Randy if you want."
And these are the folks I sat with during the World Record attempt! The lady right next to me came all the way from St. Paul Minnesota, and was very kind and friendly, so we had a good time knitting together. BTW, I knit a swatch with the handspun that April gave me, so her yarn participated in the big event!
Here is a picture of the room full of people knitting on straight needles. The lady who is walking, and therefore blurry, was wearing a beautiful shawl, which I am pretty sure is knit from Kauni. Gorgeous.

I also got to meet Carrie, just briefly in the hallway. I love to read her blog, and knew she would be there, and she was wearing her beautiful February Lady Sweater. Seeing some of the knits that I have seen in photographs was almost as fun as meeting the people!

2 comments:

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Thanks so much for stopping and saying hi Brandy!! Sock summit was amazing!! Looks like you had a great time too!

turtlegirl76 said...

It was so great to meet you in person! I hope I get to come back to Portland soon. It was awesome.

The girl in the first pic is Leethal - Lee - here is her Ravelry profile:

http://www.ravelry.com/people/leethal