Sock Summit Report

Sock Summit 2009

It was dubbed "The Greatest Sock Show on Earth"! By all accounts it certainly was. Sock Summit 2009 was a smashing success according to the lucky four Camellia City Stockinette knitters who attended!

Sock Summit 2009 was a sock conference for hand knitters held August 6 - 9, 2009 in Portland Oregon. Sock knitters from around the globe filled the Portland Convention Center for classes, a marketplace, book signings, world record knitting and a sock museum.

Presenting: The Sock Summit Stockinettes!

(left to right: Stitch Marker Lady,

Stockinettes: Judee, Doris, Beth and Cindi)

The Camellia City Stockinettes take knitting very seriously. We are known to have some very talented sock knitters in our guild. Four of those serious sock knitters made the trek up to Oregon for the first ever Sock Summit.

Our Secretary, Beth Callahan had this to say about Sock Summit 2009:

We had so much fun!

It is rare to see such a well-organized first-time event. It attracted people from all over the world. I had one class with Meg Swanson and there were two Australians who travelled all the way from Melbourne just to attend Meg's 3-hour class. They said it was totally worth it and I agree with them!

Take a look at the Sock Museum!

The Sock Museum made it's debut at Sock Summit. It is a real live exhibit and a historical timeline of socks from the past to the present. All the knit socks were hand knit by actual volunteer knitters. The Stockinettes are proud to have two volunteer knitters who knit socks for the Sock Museum; Beth Callahan and Cindi Unmack.

The Sock Museum will continue on as an online exhibit for all knitters to contribute to. Congratulations Beth and Cindy for your contribution!

Beth knit Joan's Sock

Pattern by Joan Hamer 1995

Cindi knit Feather & Fan Socks
Iconic Sock Pattern


History in the Making!

Cindi, Barbara Walker and Beth!

History was in the making at Sock Summit 2009. Many fabulous knitting teachers and celebrities were there. Yes, that is Cindi and Beth with the Barbara Walker! Barbara Walker is a famous American knitting author treasured for her knitting treasury series on stitch reference first published in the 1960's and 1970's!

The Sock Summit knitters made history,too! On Friday August 7, 2009...935 knitters broke the Guinness World Record for the most people knitting simultaneously. Way to go knitters!

Rumor has it...the next Sock Summit could be Toronto 2010! See you there!

It's California State Fair Time!

It's State Fair Time!

It's California State Fair time! The fair officially opens today and runs through September 7, 2009. This year's theme is Weird Wild and Wacky!

Did you know that the California State Fair actually began in 1854? Many of us have wonderful memories of going to the California State Fair. Well, besides livestock, rides and corn dogs...there is actual knitting going on at the State Fair, too!

Be sure to check out the Camellia City Stockinettes booth on Friday 8/28 and Saturday 8/29, 2009. Our booth is located in the Creative Arts Building # 8. Please stop by and say hello.

State Fair 2009 Competition Winners!

Every knitter dreams about winning a blue ribbon at the State Fair! Well, this year the Camellia City Stockinettes are proud to say that we have several State Fair Creative Arts Competition winners in our guild.

President Lorna Miser, Nancy Campbell

& Michael Marks, The Produce Guy

Golden Bear Awards Ceremony

Nancy Campbell won First Place in the Adult Knitted Apparel competition and also received the Camellia City Stockinettes Award for her prize winning "In The Garden Shawl". Nancy was presented her CCS award last evening by President Lorna Miser at the Golden Bear Awards Ceremony. Congratulations Nancy!

Karolyn Simon won First Place in the Crochet Competition for her prize winning Felted Entrelec Purse. She also took home an Honorable Mention for her crochet Ballerina Doll. In the Knitting Competition Karolyn received two more Honorable Mentions for her Knit Gnome and Claire's Sweater, a child's lace design. Way to go Karolyn!

Karolyn has this to say about entering State Fair Competitions: "It is a lot of fun! I urge all Stockinettes to serioulsy start thinking about next year. Look at the fair handbook and then start pattern searching!" Great advice Karolyn!

Wilma Keith received two Honorable Mentions for her crochet Baby Afghan and Oriental Tea Set. Congratulations Wilma! Also special thanks go out to Wilma for her hard work in organizing our Camellia City Stockinette's booth at the State Fair!

So long for now.....and we'll see you at the Fair!

Knit One Below!

(k1b) Knit One Below

One of the best parts of being a Camellia City Stockinette is the camaraderie of fabulous knitters. Our guild is filled with many experienced and talented knitters eager to share their knitting knowledge. One such knitter is Sandra Benward.

Stockinette Teacher Sandra Benward

Sandra was the instructor for (K1B) Knit One Below at our August Tuesday Night Program. Sandra has mastered the (K1B) stitch and shared her knowledge with a classroom full of eager Stockinette knitters.

Sandi helping out Pat P.

Sandi ventured around the classroom and made sure that all Stockinettes new and experienced understood the (K1B) stitch. This unique stitch creates columns of color in your knitting.

Stockinette Pat P. said "she really had a good time at the August meeting and this was her first Stockinette program and she loved it."

The Stockinettes in Deep Concentration!

Each Stockinette who attended the workshop received a free Inside-Outside Scarf pattern from the book Knit One Below by Elise Duvekot. You can also check out the book Knit One Below from our lending library!

An added bonus came from a Stockinette that we don't see much these days because she does her knitting on the high seas. Yes that would be, our very own, Terry Morris who is also known as The Sailing Knitter. Terry generously supplied the class attendees with a scarf, hat and fingerless glove pattern for the (K1B) stitch. Thank you Terry!

Sandi helping Marie as Lisa knits on!

Every Stockinette that attended was thrilled to learn this new stitch. Stockinette Lisa S. said "I'm really glad I came. It's a great technique and I can't wait to make a scarf!"

Thank you to Camellia City Stockinettes Sandra and Terry for contributing to this program's success.

We hope to see you at next month's Tuesday Night Program with another fabulous Stockinette knitter/teacher...Beth Callahan. Beth will be teaching us how to make a felted fall Cornucopia with felted corn, etc. Talk about knitting fun for fall!

August Monthly Challenge

Ice Queen by Rosemary Hill

Member Linda Greene is challenging all Camellia City Stockinettes in August to knit up Ice Queen designed by Rosemary Hill. Ice Queen is a lace pattern designed by Rosemary (also known as Romi) in one skein of Rowan's Kidsilk Haze. It is a free pattern on Knitty.

Ice Queen Cowl

Ice Queen is a very clever pattern that Romi designed. It can be worn two ways, as a cowl or as a lacy head wrap, too. The pattern is rated Tangy on Knitty which means it is suitable for most knitters.

Ice Queen is a feather and fan pattern with a picot bind off. There are two versions of the pattern to knit, one with stockinette or and the other with garter.

Are you up for the August challenge? We can't wait to see all the completed versions of Ice Queen at our September meeting!

(All photographs by Rosemary Hill/Designs by Romi)

August Guild Meeting

The Camellia City Stockinettes New Banner!

We packed the house for our August meeting with 70 members in attendance. The Camellia City Stockinettes are growing with nearly 150 members now!

Guild meetings are a wonderful way to "stay in the loop" with the Camellia City Stockinettes. At the August meeting topics of discussion were: The California State Fair Stockinette Booth, Our 1st Annul Knitting Retreat in October 2009, September Vendor Night, and our new banner was presented!

We also welcomed a new member and advertiser/supporter Lauren Wayne of The Knitting Nest, a boutique yarn store in Stateline, NV. Lauren is an enthusiastic shop owner and is thrilled to join our guild. Lauren is looking forward to attending meetings and "popping" by our upcoming South Lake Tahoe retreat!

Lauren, a former Interior Designer, opened The Knitting Nest in October 2008. She would love to have you visit her store. She is located in the Eagles Nest Resort.

Special Guest

Designers Joan McGowan-Michael & Lorna Miser

Another fabulous part of attending regular guild meetings is...you just never know who may show up at a meeting!

We had a very special surprise guest at our August meeting, knitwear designer Joan McGowan-Michael! Joan resides in our Sacramento region and her label White Lies Designs is famous for her romantic knitwear designs.

Joan loves the fabulous 1940's era. Her flirty and feminine Zelda sweater was recently on the cover of the UK's Yarn Forward magazine's Summer Issue # 15. Congratulations Joan and thank you for being a special guest at our August meeting. We hope to see you again soon!

Charity Knitting Update

Veteran's Lap Blanket Project

The Stockinettes love charity knitting! Susan H. shared a letter from a local Veteran's Hospital thanking us for our wonderful donations. The Veteran's really appreciate our lap blankets.

Susan is showing off a recently completed Veteran's Lap Blanket in a handsome masculine colorway. Each lap blanket consists of 7" x 7" knit squares. Susan welcomes everyone to join the charity knitting cause!

Refreshment Break!

Tasty Summer Refreshments

We enjoyed a beautiful array of summer's bounty for our refreshment break! A great big thank you to the Stockinette monthly volunteers who bring in such wonderful refreshments for all to enjoy at our meeting break time.

Monthly Challenge Results

Christina's Toilet Paper Holder

Doris challenged us last month with a Toilet Paper Holder monthly challenge. Check out new member Christina's adorable TP holder that actually looks like a roll of toilet paper! Great job Christina!

Christina has also graciously taken on the task of updating and redesigning our website. Check out our new website design already in progress. Christina is doing a fabulous job and the new website is very "user friendly"!

Fashion Show Time!

What an ensemble!

At the end of each meeting we have our fabulous fashion show. This such a fun part of our meetings where anyone can get up and "show & tell" their completed knit projects.

At our August meeting it was clear that this is not your grandmother's knitting! The Stockinettes are quite the fashion diva's these days! Check out Jill B's ensemble that looks like it stepped right out of a fashion magazine. She even made her dress!

Jill's Debbie Bliss Shrug

Jill obviously has a flair for fashion with this stunning outfit she created. Her adorable red shrug is a Debbie Bliss pattern that she modified. She added her own special touch with a crochet trim
embellishment. It is knit in Butterfly Cotton which she says "the yarn was really nice to work with." Great job Jill!

So you can see just how much fun we have at our meetings. Our next meeting is on September 3, 2009 and is also our vendor night. Be sure to come and shop our vendor marketplace full of fabulous finds for all knitters!

See you then!