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Sock Summit Team

The Sock Summit Team is essentially a couple of lunatic women with a thing for socks and a very big plan. 

ST-1 (Sock Team 1)

Tina Newton is one half of the driving force behind the Sock Summit and a general all-round smart cookie.  She is Ernie to Stephanie’s Bert, the cheese to her wine, and the Sock Summit’s chief cook and bottle washer. She is the special liaison for all of our wonderful vendors and sponsors. She specializes in figuring out not just really great ideas, but how to make great ideas actually possible.  When the Summit’s not running, Tina uses this superpower to run Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  When you see her at the Summit, give her a hug, and for the love of all things woolly, tell her to turn on her walkie-talkie.  Last time she kept shutting it off. 

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is the other half of Sock Summit,  is Laurel to Tina’s Hardy, peanut butter to her jelly, and a hardworking knitting philosopher, blogger, humourist and New York Times Bestselling Author.  (She likes typing that a lot.)  She lives in Toronto, Canada, but thinks Portland is pretty awesome.  Stephanie’s been responsible for all of the words that surround the Summit, making sure the whole thing (mostly) makes sense, and is the special liaison for the hardworking and fearless teachers. She’s recently discovered a talent for learning new software really fast, but it takes a lot of coffee.  When you see her at the Summit, give her a hug and help her find her walkie-talkie, her coffee and Tina. She’ll have misplaced all three.

ST-2 (Sock Team 2)

If ST-1 is the car, then ST-2 is the engine.  These are the people that we can’t live without.

Debbi Stone is a native of Hillsboro, Oregon, a socketeer with Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and was born for the job of ST-2 (although she has other skills to, which is good, because this gig’s part time.)  Debbie can sort just about any problem out, and not only will she make a spreadsheet about it, she’ll look great while she does it.  If you see her at the Summit, give her a hug and ask her if she has all the walkie-talkies. 

Rachel Harvey, also of Toronto, is an experienced ST-2 with a pretty scary grip on what’s going on. Rachel knows what time it is with everything at the Summit, and If there’s a problem that Rachel can’t solve, we haven’t met it yet.  Wielding her formidable Clipboard of Power, Rachel will be easy to spot at the summit, so when she goes by, give her a hug and be sure and ask to see her walkie-talkie.  She loves it too much to ever lose it.

Debra McVae saves peoples arses by the minute, and if she can’t go to work at the dye tables at Blue Moon, then Tina almost doesn’t want to go there. Debra has never lost anything, and if you have a problem, Debra is the answer. She’s always on time, smiles at every moment, and - even when pressed, claims she loves her job.  When you see Debra at the summit, give her a big hug, and know that she’s probably found what you lost.

Stephen Houghton is the man on the (Blue) Moon, and the only regular employee of Tina and Stephanie’s company Knot Hysteria.  He currently resides in the City by the Bay, and is owned by a French Bulldog named Janie Sparkles.  He’s our online guy who can translate geek-speak and get stuff up on the interwebs, and can also knit the daylights out of anything.  Last Sock Summit, he was busy teaching five classes and this time he expects to be even busier, only with a walkie-talkie attached to his head.  If you can’t find him at the Summit, check his twitter feed.  It’s how we keep track of where he is.

Lisa Kobeck likes simultaneously juggling too many balls and herding cats, thus coordinating volunteers for Sock Summit is only a slight stretch.  You’ll see her pretending to exhibit grace under pressure and practicing looking collected (or: like she knows what she’s doing) as she answers all those walktie talkie squawks from ST-1.  She was hooked on Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Tina Newton, and Stephanie Pearl McPhee when she attended the first Sock Camp session way back when.  If you see her at the summit give her a hug, but keep in mind that she’s the Volunteer Co-ordinator.  Don’t let her give you a walkie talkie.