in which yelley recounts a weekend of fiber frivolity.

How lucky am I that I can escape from my job and obligations to go to something as completely unnecessary and hedonistic as Sock Summit? I truly lead a privileged, earned and unearned of course, life. I suppose one may argue that it isn’t necessarily frivolous to indulge oneself in their hobbies every now and then, but I still feel a bit guilty that I just spent so much time (and money) pursuing yarny endeavors.

Regardless of the guilt I may feel, it was an amazing weekend. Portland was nice, someday I hope to go back and actually see more of the city than the convention center. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many knitters, so many people with whom I didn’t need to justify anything. I made lots of new yarn friends and learned a lot of great things to incorporate into my knitting repertoire. I met so many knitting celebrities, even got to take a couple classes with Star Athena and Cookie A. Barbara Walker signed one of my books, Anne Hanson helped me save a dropped stitch in my sock, Cat Bordhi told me my sock was beautiful… yes, it was an amazing weekend.

Banner outside the Oregon Convention Center

Me at Yarnia with the world’s biggest sock

Knitting on the big sock at the marketplace

Filling in the ballroom to set a world record for the most number of people knitting simultaneously

Swapping stitch markers in the lobby

Meeting Ravelry

Receiving the prize I won at the Ravelry Meetup from Chrissy Gardiner

After class with Cookie A and my sock

The long line for the Luminary Panel

The Luminaries

Meg Swansen cutting Elizabeth Zimmermann’s 99th birthday cake

After the Luminary Panel with Cat Bordhi and my sock

My spoils

Now to start saving for next year…