http://www.socksummit.com/ en Stephen@bluemoofiberarts.com Copyright 2011 2011-07-18T15:43:41+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/book_signings/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/book_signings/#When:15:43:41Z {summary}Book Signings in the Bookstore Would you like a book signed by one of these Sock Summit teachers? Well, come on by the Bookstore in the Marketplace in booths 913, 915, 917, 919. Bring your own book or pick up some fine written works. Friday 10-10:30 - Chrissy Gardiner 12:15-12:45 - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee 12:45-1:15 - Lucy Neatby 4:00-5:00 - Kristen Spurkland, Anne Carroll Gilmore, Donna Druchunas 5:00-6:00 - Nancy Bush, Janel Laidman, Candace Eisner Strick, Judith MacKenzie, JC Briar Saturday 10:00-10:30 - Clara Parkes, Mary Scott Huff 11:00-11:30 - Anna Zilboorg 12:15-12:45 - Franklin Habit, Betsy McCarthy 2:00-2:30 - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee 3:00-3:30 - Ann Budd 5:30-6:00 - Cat Bordhi, Cal Patch, Amy Singer, Cookie A Sunday 12:15-12:45 - Terri Shea 2:00-2:30 - Barb Brown 3:00-3:30 - Fiona Ellis 2011-07-18T15:43:41+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/fastest_sock_knitter/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/fastest_sock_knitter/#When:21:20:22Z {summary}Fastest Sock Knitter Are you a fast knitter? Do you think you’re faster than most of your friends? Do you think it would be fun to find out? Come and compete in the Marketplace for the Fastest Sock Knitter Challenge. We’re holding qualifying heats in Demo Area #2 on:Friday between 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Saturday between 12:00 pm - 1:00pm Knitters with the fastest times will square off in the finals on Sunday at 12:15 pm (also in Demo Area #2). To compete: Sign up for a spot at Registration (on a first-come, first-serve basis). Bring a sock (or mock sock) in progress, with 60 stitches, in the round, on the needles of your choice, as well as a small quantity of yarn in a contrasting colour. We’ll have some loaners available, but you might want your own rig. Compete, or just watch—we’ll find the fastest sock knitter at Sock Summit. Prize donated by: Signature Needles 2011-07-16T21:20:22+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/d4g/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/d4g/#When:20:23:44Z {summary}Our Fleece-to-Foot Challenge needs a pattern! We’re looking for something a little out-of-the-ordinary—a design for a sock that can be knit by a team of five at the Fleece to Foot Challenge. This pattern needs to be a modular pattern, where the sock is knit in pieces and then assembled at the last minute. We are positive that there are quite a few talented knitters out there that can come up with such a pattern. We were blown away by the quantity and the quality of the submissions for the Design for Glory. The six finalists below were selected after our judges’ tech editing for creativity, feasibility and sockitude. After reading through them, give us your vote for the pattern that should be used in the Fleece to Foot Challenge. Five Easy Pieces by Anne Berk This challenge truly captured my imagination.  Other minds will come up with much more creative and impressive ideas, I am sure.  However, this sang to my competitive spirit. If I were competing, I’d be in it to WIN.  Every design choice I made was to eliminate the possibility of error, so no time would be lost. Two of the pieces (toe/heel, and foot/leg) are identical, so teammates can partner up and help each other out if needed.  The 3-needle BO is fast, and I use a larger needle for the BO, to increase stretch.  I put the seam on the outside, for foot comfort and also to add a design element. The pieces just cracked me up.  I wanted to find a 5 year-old and say.” hey, what can you make with this?”  It’s a great puzzle.  And although it is a quick and dirty design, I really am happy with the end result, and had a blast doing it.   Massively Modular Socks: Variation 2 by sarah-marie belcastro and Madison Stuart (MadStuart) The idea for this pattern evolved directly from the Design for Glory description “The pattern will be knit in separate parts, so that at least five pieces can be worked on at one time. What those parts are is up to you. Cuff? Sole? Heel? Instep? Toe? Sideways? Spirals?” The initial concept was simply to divide a stockinette toe-up sock into five parts (toe, foot, heel, leg, cuff) except that’s both obvious and boring. The word “spirals” inspired converting the leg portion into a set of textures that would spiral around the leg. Then, to de-borify the other parts of the sock, these textures were exported to them. But there are so many ways to place textures on sock parts… and the design was already modular… The temptation to create a mix-and-match sock became too great to resist, and therefore an entire set of patterns were born.  Only a few are being submitted for the competition. Here is how it works: The pattern works by first knitting a toe-up toe, a combined sole and heel (again, toe-up), a foot top, a leg (again, toe-up), and a cuff (again, toe-up), and then assembling them in toe-up fashion with grafting and seaming.  To achieve the spiraling effect on the leg with a minimum of mental gymnastics, the leg is constructed from eight strips with slanted ends that are seamed together.  A schematic and photos are included in the pattern.   Frankensock by Gretchen Graner (Gretcheng) My goal was to produce a simple comfortable sock that could be knit by committee and require as little seaming as possible. The foot is composed of 2 identical pieces, and the cuff is composed of 3 identically-shaped but differently-patterned pieces. It would have been a more elegant solution in four pieces, but the rules specified a minimum of five, so that’s what I designed. Nothing earth-shattering here, but I think it’s kind of cute!   Modular Sock For Glory by Sarah Hauschka (SarahSeattle) This should be billed as the international cross-continental sock! We were driving across Canada to a big family wedding in Minnesota when I found out about Design for Glory. Fortunately, I had some yarn and needles to do some preliminary experiments. We were home for two days (during which I picked up some real sock yarn from stash which wouldn’t conceal the structure). The sock was knitted during a trip to Eugene for the Bach Festival, and I put it all on the computer when we got back on the 4th. I wanted to make a sock which (within the guidelines) was relatively quick to work, with techniques familiar to most knitters. I also wanted (or needed) to use a couple of unfamiliar techniques, which were either more elegant, or faster (for me). I would think that alternate techniques, which achieve the same look and stitch count would be acceptable. For example: Japanese short row technique vs. any other short row technique which maintains the stitch count; figure 8 cast-on vs. crochet cast-on or knitted on cast-on picked up from both sides; 3-needle bind off worked with a crochet hook as the third needle vs. actually using 3 needles. The appearance is that of a typical cuff-down sock. However, the toe and bottom of the sole are worked toe up. The instep is worked perpendicular to the sole, and the cuff and heel cup are worked top-down. I made the cuff very short, which can be easily lengthened at the discretion of the editors. I thought that speed was of the essence, and the increased rows on the cuff would not add any technical difficulty to the knitters. The three—needle bind-off does not create a hard ridge where used, and is a necessary design element.   All Your Sock by Robin Dunkin-Chadwick The idea for the pattern actually evolved as I knit it. Originally, I intended to have an openwork seam down the side. However, the first sock I knit incorporated that, and I was not happy with that part of the design. So, I revised it using a mattress stitch seam down the side, and I am much happier with the look. The sock is knit in five parts: The ribbing (knit in the round) and back of leg (knit flat) The heel and gusset The toe (knit in the round) and front section of sole (knit flat) The front of the leg The top of the foot My original intent was to make all five pieces as close to equally sized as possible. Then, it occurred to me that some part of each team would probably start knitting before all the spinning was complete, so I made the pieces different sizes so that the last 2 pieces to be knit are smaller than the others. All of the horizontal seams are grafted, and the grafting can be done in parallel rather than waiting for one graft to be done before starting the next, The mattress seams down the side are the last step.   At the Summit by TAAT Designs At the Summit was designed to represent the journey from the Oregon coast to the Cascades. During Sock Summit, friends come together from all over the world and are able to enjoy all of the beauty Oregon has to offer. Beginning with a smooth stockinette toe to represent the sandy beaches, the foot of the sock becomes a pebbled pathway to the mountains. A whirlpool heel symbolizes a fresh mountain lake while the leg’s tree motif honors the evergreen trees which are so prevalent in the Pacific Northwest and a rippled lacy cuff represents the ever-present cloud cover. The five-part design contains pieces which vary in complexity, allowing knitters of all skill levels to participate, and is assembled using simple grafting and seaming techniques for a speedy completion! The toe is a standard wedge toe, bound off after reaching the desired stitch count. The cuff is knit top-down, beginning with a stretchy cast on and ending with live stitches which are later grafted to the top of the leg. The leg is begun with a provisional cast on for half the stitches on the bottom edge and a long tail cast on for the other half. It is then worked upward with a tree motif centered on the front. The top leg stitches are left live and later grafted to the bottom of the cuff. The foot is worked by casting on at the toe-edge, which will later be seamed to the toe piece. A pebble stitch is worked over the top of the foot piece, while the sole remains in stockinette. The heel is formed using a standard whirlpool construction and bound off at the desired stitch count. Once the cuff/leg and foot/toe pieces have been attached, the leg and foot pieces are grafted together over the instep before the heel piece is seamed into the remaining opening. Vote for which sock pattern you’d like to see be used for the Fleece to Foot Challenge below by midnight on July 14, 2011. (If there’s nothing below, either the voting period has ended or the computer you’re using has already submitted a vote.) Honourable Mentions We had many creative and unique submissions (many more than we were expecting actually). We’d like to thank and acknowledge the designers who took the time to develop, test-knit, photograph and submit their patterns. We look forward to seeing their socks knit out and about in the world. Without further ado, and in no specific order: FROHNCKENSHTEEK by Lisa Grossman SOCK WOOLIGAN: from Fleece to Foot to Ewe by Mary Ellen Langieri Igorina by Katie Boyd and Stephania Fregosi It’s a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Sockby G. K. Green Sockie Sock by Noriko Ho Come Together by Ikumi Kayama. Massively Modular Socks: Variation 1 by sarah-marie belcastro and Madison Stuart (MadStuart) Massively Modular Socks: Variation 47 by sarah-marie belcastro and Madison Stuart (MadStuart) Fleece to Foot Contest Sock by PinkfeatherSock Summit Mash Up by Alice Rohrssen (AltyGrae) 2011-07-09T20:23:44+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/secret_flash_mob/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/secret_flash_mob/#When:23:54:23Z {summary}(Yes, it’s a secret… but tell every knitter you know!) flash mob definition: a flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then disperse. We are going to put on a knitterly flash mob during Sock Summit 2011. Have you had the time of your life with a skein of yarn? Of course you have, you’re a knitter! Together, we are going to create a participatory spectacle for us knitters to celebrate our love of yarn, in public, during Sock Summit. We’re going to dance with our favorite skeins of yarn on Saturday, July 30th at 5:15 at the main entrance of the Oregon Convention Center on MLK in Portland. All you need to bring is yourself, a skein of yarn, and a willingness to have fun! (We ask that you do not dance with needles, for safety’s sake!) Below are two videos: one to teach you the dance moves, the other so you can practice and dance-along with the music. The choreography is written so just about EVERYONE can do it. At first it may look like a lot, but the moves are pretty simple and go well with the music. Watch the instruction video to learn the moves. We describe each step. Use the practice video to do the dance to the music. We show it from the front and the back. The view from the back is what it will be like on the day we all dance together. That’s the best way to make sure we’re synchronizing our movements and which right is right. Trust us, you can do this. Here’s the instruction video: And here’s the practice video. Remember, the best way to practice is the view from behind the dancers. (If you see an error message, you can watch it on YouTube.com):   2011-06-26T23:54:23+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/for_eloise/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/for_eloise/#When:22:16:00Z {summary}For Eloise As many of you know, there was a Ravelry meet-up last Sock Summit, and we were delighted that the Ravelry Team were able to attend. As many of you also know, Ravelry won’t be attending this year, on account of them having a wonderful new little member—the brand spanking-new and absolutely lovely Eloise. We wanted to give all you Rav-fans all a chance to meet-up, and to do something nice to celebrate the birth of Eloise. Naturally, because we are knitters, we wanted to knit her something. Maybe have a baby shower, but because we’re superstitious, we wanted to wait until she had arrived. Now that the wee Miss is here, and now that we realize that she’s one of the most knitted for babies on earth, we thought that we would use the celebration of her birth to spread a little joy and knitting to some babies and children who aren’t lucky enough to be born into her circumstances. Meet up with your fellow Ravelers from 8:00 -  10:00 pm on Saturday July 30th outside the Oregon Ballroom in the Holladay Lounge and have a special kind of baby shower. We’re inviting you to bring a little knitted something to the shower, and drop it off with us. After the meet-up, we’ll be taking it to SnowCap - a Portland charity that provides food, clothing and advocacy to those who need it. The babies and children who are served by SnowCap are unlikely to ever be on the receiving end of a gorgeous handknit, and you can be the one to give it to them. We’ll make the donation in Eloise’s name. Read more about what SnowCap needs here. ... and please don’t feel limited to baby things. We’ll accept anything they need clothing wise.  We hope you’ll join us in welcoming Eloise the way that only knitters can. 2011-06-21T22:16:00+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/spotlight/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/spotlight/#When:18:49:22Z {summary}Spotlight As Sock Summit draws closer, we thought we’d take a little time to introduce you to a few of our teachers and classes—ones that deserve a little spotlight on them, and still have room for you to sign up. We’re highlighting those classes and lectures that we’ve had the most questions about, so if there’s one you’d like us to explain or tell you more about, please let us know by writing attend@socksummit.com. First under our microscope is Fiona Ellis. Fiona’s a Canadian teacher, extremely well versed in no end of things. She’s one of the only teachers on our roster with a degree in fashion knitwear, and has been designing for knitters (both hand knitters like you, and the knitwear industry) since 1993. Working not just with Vogue, the Twist Collective, Verena, Australian Knitting, Universal Yarns and countless others, but major fashion houses in London, Paris and New York. You’ve likely seen her work all over the place, and not even known it.  She’s the author of Inspired Cable Knits, Knitspiration Journal and Inspired Fair Isle Knits, and well… her classes are all full at the Summit, which is exactly what you would expect—and one of the reasons that we gave her the opportunity to do a lecture on Creativity—which does still have spots available. (We can make it almost as big as we want to.) The other reason she’s got a lecture, is that we’ve seen Fiona speak about “Jump Starting your Creativity” and darned if it didn’t do just that. Fiona’s attitude towards creativity is that just about anyone can be creative if they just know how. She believes (and we think she’s right) that if you learn some tricks and ideas for how to help yourself get into the zone, you can be as creative when it comes to your knitting (and other stuff) as you would like to be.  Ever wonder where designers get their ideas? Ever wish you could come up with the good ideas that they do? You can, and Fiona talks about why: Sunday from 1:30-2:30. Second under the spotlight? Judith MacKenzie.  Like Fiona, Judith’s classes are all sold out, and like Fiona. we’ve offered her a lecture to try and satisfy the masses longing to hear her talk about just about anything. Judith is an internationally-valued teacher, master weaver, spinner, and fiber artist. We love her for thinking outside of the box, teaching only that which she has proven through experience and combining textile knowledge and skill with patience, creativity, stories, history and allegory that hold it all together. In all our years as students of the fibre arts, we all agree that there’s almost nobody who’s taught us more than Judith, and we mean it when we say that we would take a class from her on how to boil water.  Even if you think you know how to boil water, Judith would know a faster way to boil water, she’d regal you with the history of boiling water, the spiritual significance of boiling water, or teach you how to make a tool that would make boiling water the most fulfilling activity you’d ever done. Not only would you be delighted to have taken the class on boiling water… you’d seriously consider signing up to take it again, just to hear the way that Judith tells it.  The woman is treasure, and we hope that you’ll take the opportunity to hear her speak about “Fleece on Your Feet”, a lecture that should be outstanding not just for spinners, but for anyone interested in the production of sock yarns. Judith says “Fleeces come in an endless, bountiful array.  Everything from a fleece strong enough to pull a truck out of a ditch to baby fine and delicate as a snowflake. They come in many different lengths and an astonishing range of colors. Some are shiny, some are smooth, and some are springy. How do we choose which fleece is best for making socks in general and which fleece will make the perfect sock yarn for the sock you specifically want to make. We’ll discuss how to find the right breed, how to choose a good fleece and how to wash and prepare it to make the sock yarn of your dreams.” Spots are still available for Sunday 9:00-10:00—and if you’re lucky, she might talk about boiling water. 2011-06-21T18:49:22+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/design_for_glory/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/design_for_glory/#When:02:14:45Z {summary}We have a winner! We were looking for something a little out-of-the-ordinary—a design for a sock that could be knit by a team of five at the Fleece to Foot Challenge. This pattern needed to be a modular pattern, where the sock is knit in pieces and then assembled at the last minute. There were quite a few talented knitters out there that came up with such a pattern. We were blown away by the quantity and the creativity of the submissions for the Design for Glory. Congratulations to everyone who submitted. The finalists were selected after our judges’ tech editing for creativity, feasibility and sockitude. With over 1600 votes for all of the finalists, one pattern rose to the top. Congratulations to:   At the Summit by TAAT Designs At the Summit was designed to represent the journey from the Oregon coast to the Cascades. During Sock Summit, friends come together from all over the world and are able to enjoy all of the beauty Oregon has to offer. Beginning with a smooth stockinette toe to represent the sandy beaches, the foot of the sock becomes a pebbled pathway to the mountains. A whirlpool heel symbolizes a fresh mountain lake while the leg’s tree motif honors the evergreen trees which are so prevalent in the Pacific Northwest and a rippled lacy cuff represents the ever-present cloud cover. The five-part design contains pieces which vary in complexity, allowing knitters of all skill levels to participate, and is assembled using simple grafting and seaming techniques for a speedy completion! The toe is a standard wedge toe, bound off after reaching the desired stitch count. The cuff is knit top-down, beginning with a stretchy cast on and ending with live stitches which are later grafted to the top of the leg. The leg is begun with a provisional cast on for half the stitches on the bottom edge and a long tail cast on for the other half. It is then worked upward with a tree motif centered on the front. The top leg stitches are left live and later grafted to the bottom of the cuff. The foot is worked by casting on at the toe-edge, which will later be seamed to the toe piece. A pebble stitch is worked over the top of the foot piece, while the sole remains in stockinette. The heel is formed using a standard whirlpool construction and bound off at the desired stitch count. Once the cuff/leg and foot/toe pieces have been attached, the leg and foot pieces are grafted together over the instep before the heel piece is seamed into the remaining opening.   Finalists Five Easy Pieces by Anne Berk This challenge truly captured my imagination.  Other minds will come up with much more creative and impressive ideas, I am sure.  However, this sang to my competitive spirit. If I were competing, I’d be in it to WIN.  Every design choice I made was to eliminate the possibility of error, so no time would be lost. Two of the pieces (toe/heel, and foot/leg) are identical, so teammates can partner up and help each other out if needed.  The 3-needle BO is fast, and I use a larger needle for the BO, to increase stretch.  I put the seam on the outside, for foot comfort and also to add a design element. The pieces just cracked me up.  I wanted to find a 5 year-old and say.” hey, what can you make with this?”  It’s a great puzzle.  And although it is a quick and dirty design, I really am happy with the end result, and had a blast doing it.   Massively Modular Socks: Variation 2 by sarah-marie belcastro and Madison Stuart (MadStuart) The idea for this pattern evolved directly from the Design for Glory description “The pattern will be knit in separate parts, so that at least five pieces can be worked on at one time. What those parts are is up to you. Cuff? Sole? Heel? Instep? Toe? Sideways? Spirals?” The initial concept was simply to divide a stockinette toe-up sock into five parts (toe, foot, heel, leg, cuff) except that’s both obvious and boring. The word “spirals” inspired converting the leg portion into a set of textures that would spiral around the leg. Then, to de-borify the other parts of the sock, these textures were exported to them. But there are so many ways to place textures on sock parts… and the design was already modular… The temptation to create a mix-and-match sock became too great to resist, and therefore an entire set of patterns were born.  Only a few are being submitted for the competition. Here is how it works: The pattern works by first knitting a toe-up toe, a combined sole and heel (again, toe-up), a foot top, a leg (again, toe-up), and a cuff (again, toe-up), and then assembling them in toe-up fashion with grafting and seaming.  To achieve the spiraling effect on the leg with a minimum of mental gymnastics, the leg is constructed from eight strips with slanted ends that are seamed together.  A schematic and photos are included in the pattern.   Frankensock by Gretchen Graner (Gretcheng) My goal was to produce a simple comfortable sock that could be knit by committee and require as little seaming as possible. The foot is composed of 2 identical pieces, and the cuff is composed of 3 identically-shaped but differently-patterned pieces. It would have been a more elegant solution in four pieces, but the rules specified a minimum of five, so that’s what I designed. Nothing earth-shattering here, but I think it’s kind of cute!   Modular Sock For Glory by Sarah Hauschka (SarahSeattle) This should be billed as the international cross-continental sock! We were driving across Canada to a big family wedding in Minnesota when I found out about Design for Glory. Fortunately, I had some yarn and needles to do some preliminary experiments. We were home for two days (during which I picked up some real sock yarn from stash which wouldn’t conceal the structure). The sock was knitted during a trip to Eugene for the Bach Festival, and I put it all on the computer when we got back on the 4th. I wanted to make a sock which (within the guidelines) was relatively quick to work, with techniques familiar to most knitters. I also wanted (or needed) to use a couple of unfamiliar techniques, which were either more elegant, or faster (for me). I would think that alternate techniques, which achieve the same look and stitch count would be acceptable. For example: Japanese short row technique vs. any other short row technique which maintains the stitch count; figure 8 cast-on vs. crochet cast-on or knitted on cast-on picked up from both sides; 3-needle bind off worked with a crochet hook as the third needle vs. actually using 3 needles. The appearance is that of a typical cuff-down sock. However, the toe and bottom of the sole are worked toe up. The instep is worked perpendicular to the sole, and the cuff and heel cup are worked top-down. I made the cuff very short, which can be easily lengthened at the discretion of the editors. I thought that speed was of the essence, and the increased rows on the cuff would not add any technical difficulty to the knitters. The three—needle bind-off does not create a hard ridge where used, and is a necessary design element.   All Your Sock by Robin Dunkin-Chadwick The idea for the pattern actually evolved as I knit it. Originally, I intended to have an openwork seam down the side. However, the first sock I knit incorporated that, and I was not happy with that part of the design. So, I revised it using a mattress stitch seam down the side, and I am much happier with the look. The sock is knit in five parts: The ribbing (knit in the round) and back of leg (knit flat) The heel and gusset The toe (knit in the round) and front section of sole (knit flat) The front of the leg The top of the foot My original intent was to make all five pieces as close to equally sized as possible. Then, it occurred to me that some part of each team would probably start knitting before all the spinning was complete, so I made the pieces different sizes so that the last 2 pieces to be knit are smaller than the others. All of the horizontal seams are grafted, and the grafting can be done in parallel rather than waiting for one graft to be done before starting the next, The mattress seams down the side are the last step. Honourable Mentions We had many creative and unique submissions (many more than we were expecting actually). We’d like to thank and acknowledge the designers who took the time to develop, test-knit, photograph and submit their patterns. We look forward to seeing their socks knit out and about in the world. Without further ado, and in no specific order: FROHNCKENSHTEEK by Lisa Grossman SOCK WOOLIGAN: from Fleece to Foot to Ewe by Mary Ellen Langieri Igorina by Katie Boyd and Stephania Fregosi It’s a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Sockby G. K. Green Sockie Sock by Noriko Ho Come Together by Ikumi Kayama. Massively Modular Socks: Variation 1 by sarah-marie belcastro and Madison Stuart (MadStuart) Massively Modular Socks: Variation 47 by sarah-marie belcastro and Madison Stuart (MadStuart) Fleece to Foot Contest Sock by PinkfeatherSock Summit Mash Up by Alice Rohrssen (AltyGrae) Field of Daisies by Claire Nemeth (PoodleAccountant) Design for Glory Rules: The pattern needs to be submitted before July 8th. The pattern must call for fingering/sock weight yarn. The pattern must be based on stitch counts and rows/rounds, rather than measurements. (For example, “Knit 9 rounds then…” rather than “Knit one inch then…” This makes it so all teams are completing the exact same amount of knitting. The pattern will be knit in separate parts, so that at least five pieces can be worked on at one time. What those parts are is up to you. Cuff? Sole? Heel? Instep?Toe? Sideways? Spirals? The parts can be fashioned and joined using any style or stitch you like, but only knitting and traditional making up skills can be used. Grafting, mattress stitch… that sort of thing. No macramé, glue or staples. The pattern must be test knit before submission, so that you know it’s accurate and it works. Please don’t share the pattern on Ravelry or your blog (or anywhere else) until after the Fleece to Foot Challenge on July 31st. We don’t want the teams to have a heads-up or advanced knowledge. We’ll post photos of the finalists here for voting. You maintain ownership of the pattern. After the Sock Summit Fleece to Foot Challenge is over, you can use and distribute it as you see fit. Submissions: Please send photos and a written copy of your work of genius to attend@socksummit.com with “Design for Glory Pattern Submission” in the subject line by 5pm PST on July 8th. In your email, please include: a short paragraph about your idea for the pattern how it works a brief bio, including a URL where we can link to you We’ll do a second round of tech editing for all submissions to make sure that they will work for our purposes. The finalists that pass the test will go up here, on the Sock Summit website, so sock knitters everywhere can vote on the one we use for the Fleece to Foot Challenge. Prizes: The winning designer gets all the glory we can shine on them, along with a $100 donation made in their name, to the 501(c)(3) charity of their choice. 2011-06-11T02:14:45+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/fleece_to_foot_challenge/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/fleece_to_foot_challenge/#When:01:26:58Z {summary}Fleece to Foot Challenge Ever heard of a Sheep-to-Shawl Challenge? It’s a race, where a team of spinners and weavers start with a sheep, and end up with shawl, and the first team to do it wins. How about the International Back to Back Wool Challenge? Same idea, only the team consists of a shearer, spinners and knitters, and they shear a sheep, spin and ply the yarn, and knit it into a sweater in less than 8 hours. (The current winners are the Toronto Spiders, who did it in 5 hours and 52 minutes.)  Allow us to introduce the Fleece-to-Foot Challenge (F2F), an event that celebrates the same ideas, but is, of course, all about socks—and Sock Summit provides the sheep and shearer. Spinners and knitters will form teams of five, and each team will be given a chunk of the same fleece. Working together, they will card, spin and ply the yarn… and then knit a complete pair of socks. First team to finish and pass the judge wins. To be fair, all teams will complete the same pair of socks, and for that to be possible, we’ll be using a a modular pattern, where the sock is knit in pieces by row and stitch count, and then put together. It will happen in Marketplace Hall A, on Sunday, July 31st starting at 9:00 am. If you’re a designer (or just a smart cookie) there’s a contest for you too. Wondering about the rules? Your Goal: A pair of hand-spun, hand-knit socks right off the sheep.  Rules: Have fun and try to be the first team with a pair of hand-spun, hand-knit socks finished. Due to space considerations, only five teams will be accepted to compete. Each Sock Team is to consist of five people. The ratio of spinners, carders and knitters is up to you. (Strategy will be important.) You may want to plan an alternate team member in case one of your members falls ill. Your team must have a Captain who is the designated contact person. You may not wash the fleece. (You won’t have time anyway) Your team will spin in the grease - straight off the sheep. The fleece will be freshly shorn, and come from well-kept covered lambs. Your team will spin a sock weight (fingering) two-ply yarn.  We’ll give you a sample of what you’re aiming for on the morning of the challenge. In keeping with tradition, there will be no electric wheels, electric carders, drum carders or knitting machines allowed. Your team may use hand cards, treadle wheels and whatever knitting needles you like. Shearing will commence at 9:30 am. Once there is enough wool to get everyone going we will start the challenge. In the event that no team finishes before 3:30 pm (which we don’t think will happen), the team farthest along will go to the judges table. Prizes:  This Fleece to Foot has noble goal. Each team will have a donation in their name made to the 501(c)(3) charity of their choice: $300 for the winning team and $50 each to the other teams. Teams are encouraged to raise money on their own as well. Feel free to encourage other knitters to donate to your team during the F2F. Please consider themes or costumes for your team. Are you Team Stargate? Team Little Women? Team Fruit Bowl? (We’re partial to the Stargate thing—but please don’t dress up as a Wraith. They give us the willies.) Feel free to enlist a cheering squad. (We think it would be great if there were actual cheerleaders, wouldn’t it?) The money you raise (before, during and after the Fleece to Foot) should be for your 501(c)(3) charity. The glory of participating in the first-ever Sock Summit Fleece to Foot? That’s yours to keep. Judging: The first team to finish and have their socks approved by the judges will be declared the winner. The judges will confirm that all the rules have been followed, and that the pattern was knit properly. The judges’ decision is final. Signing up: If this sounds fun and you think you can rally enough team members, please email us at attend@socksummit.com with “Fleece to Foot entry” in the subject line by 5pm PST on July 8th. In your email, please include: The name, email and phone number of your team’s Captain/contact person Names and email addresses of all team members Your team’s theme and name Where your team hails from Any assistance you’ll need to make this work (such as a loaner wheel) Wondering about the sheep and shepherd? We’ve got two pretty little California Variegated Mutants from Jan McMahon. Jan McMahon is owner/operator of the Spinning Ewe Farm (www.spinningewe.com) in Beavercreek, Oregon. Her award-winning sheep are crossbred and carefully selected for color, a soft hand, uniformity, and conformation. Her main breeds are Merino, Romeldale/CVM, and Columbia. Her specialty color is brown (called a moorit) but she has black, gray and white sheep as well. 2011-06-11T01:26:58+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/sock_summit_blog/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/sock_summit_blog/#When:00:00:27Z {summary}Stay tuned to the blogs of ST-1 for announcements about Sock Summit 2011! Yarnharlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Tina Newton We’ve had a few requests, so here’s a Sock Summit poster (.pdf) for you to print out and hang around town, at your LYS (with permission, of course) or maybe in your car window as you make your way to Portland! See you soon… Are you planning to attend? Put the Sock Summit button on your site or profile and let others know so you can meet some of your favorite knitters in person! Below you’ll find a graphic you can download and put on your own server, and the HTML code if you’d rather paste that in. For attendees:<a href="http://www.socksummit.com/"><img src="http://www.socksummit.com/images/SS2011button_.gif" style="border: 0;" width="160" height="169" alt="Sock Summit 2011" /></a> For teachers:<a href="http://www.socksummit.com/"><img src="http://www.socksummit.com/images/SS2011_button_teacher4.gif" style="border: 0;" width="160" height="169" alt="Sock Summit 2011" /></a> For vendors:<a href="http://www.socksummit.com/"><img src="http://www.socksummit.com/images/SS2011_button_vendor4.gif" style="border: 0;" width="160" height="169" alt="Sock Summit 2011" /></a> For sponsors:<a href="http://www.socksummit.com/"><img src="http://www.socksummit.com/images/SS2011_button_sponsor4.gif" style="border: 0;" width="160" height="169" alt="Sock Summit 2011" /></a> 2010-05-19T00:00:27+00:00 http://www.socksummit.com/site/set_a_world_record/ http://www.socksummit.com/site/set_a_world_record/#When:22:15:32Z {summary}The Sock Summit (because we’re all about making it big) made an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for The Most Number of People Knitting Simultaneously. This attempt was made Friday, the 7th of August 2009 at 12:15, in the Oregon Ballroom of the Convention Center. Here is how we did it: As the capacity of the ballroom is limited to 1600 knitters, we gave tickets away on Friday morning between 7:00 and 9:00 (until they were gone) in the registration area of the conference center. Every knitter was welcome.Knitters did not need to be registered for the Summit to take part, but nobody without a ticket was be able to be admitted to take part. The tickets were free, first-come, first-served. We asked that you only take a ticket if you could show up, since we didn’t want any empty seats. We began admitting people at 11:30am. (If you were taking a morning class that day, there was time for you to move from your classroom to the ballroom as long as you put a little hustle in it.) It turns out we all did. Put a hustle in it that is. The Guinness World Record people advised us that the attempt must be made by knitters knitting for 15 minutes, using traditional needles which they define as two needles. This meant that every person participating had to be using two needles, and NOT CIRCULARS. We received the official letter below in December 2009. We did it. We did it.  We! Did! It! 2009-07-21T22:15:32+00:00