Sock Summit 2009 - Part 2.5 - Marketplace Acquisitions

(Confessional Note - created 9/5/2009 - finished and posted...04/23/2011)

This is part of the August 6th & 7th adventures - having to do with my Market Place Adventures.

Hyper-detail oriented that I am (but way too short on time to do a proper job of it), I'd taken a map of the marketplace created by some clever person on Ravelry and jotted down...

• all the vendors from the Dye for Glory that had Yarn I'd fallen in love with, 
• Vendors that I'd heard tell of, 
• fun events to pursue...
• as well as places I needed to drop off/pick up yarn.

Thusly, I turned left when I went into the Marketplace and started in the left-most corner, exploring the marketplace and searching out the especially marked places on my map.

As previously noted in bottom of the last SS09 Blog, I visited the Lollipop Cabin booth and got one of my very few Marketplace pictures:

Now there's a story that goes with this yarn order...

I'd become smitten with the shades of brown with some white in the "Toasting Marshmallows on Wonderland Trail" when I'd reviewed the Dye for Glory Entries on Ravelry.
The Lollipop Cabin folks had created the one skein for the Dye for Glory entry but I could order one to be made and sent to me later - which I did.
From their booth, I selected a skein of "Hiking Along Icicle Ridge" - a yummy dark teal and grey. It's a different texture - organic yarn and not a superwash.

Here's the rest of the Lollipop Cabin story that happened a few weeks later when I received a package delivering a surprise yarn lollipop and the skein of "Toasting Marshmallows on Wonderland Trail" that I'd ordered at the Sock Summit! 

Aptly named, yes? Makes you think of toasted marshmallows, right?

And the Tag said this: 

E'yup...I'd received the actual Dye for Glory original skein I'd seen on Raverly. 

I believe there was minor hyperventilating involved and some yarn hugging when I opened the package. And then my conscience kicked in and I e-mailed to thank Ialiuxh for the yarn lollipop and to confess that I had inadvertently received the original Dye for Glory skein:

"As tempted as I am to hug it and run off to knit something - I must ask, did you mean to send this skein to me?
I mean - wouldn't this be the special skein you'd...um, frame or knit up yourself or something?

I had to ask...just in case.
Please let me know. It's lovely stuff - you do good work."

Her response was fun and rather charming. She was tickled with my query and the appropriateness of my receiving the original skein, since I had been their first SS09 customer and had been a bit of a knit-geek (fan-girl) when I turned up at their booth. 

She indicated she truly had intended to send out that skein. Because she lives in a very small cabin (<300 sq. feet), she could not keep all 8 Dye for Glory entries (for framing or other purposes). She'd kept them long enough to compare the new skeins she'd dyed, then marked the original skeins and tossed them into the shipping pile. It had been sheer, random luck that I had received the original skein that had inspired me to go visit the Lollipop Cabin booth first at the Sock Summit marketplace. (kewl!)

Back to the SS09 Marketplace: 

So...much of the marketplace was a blur. The yarn fumes were PROFOUND and plentiful. 

{happy sigh}

I also found out something odd about myself. 

I was knitting whilst walking about the marketplace. Apparently this is, uh, peculiar. 

(I truly thought everyone walked and knit at the same time!). 

But vendor-folks would come out of their booths to comment upon my knitting round-n-round on Joyce's socks whilst I explored the marketplace (a couple of people tried to talk me into gifting them with the socks {wry grin}). Fellow shoppers commented as well, and I began to realize that I was a bit odd. Ok, more odd than I already knew. 

But I was surprised and inordinately pleased.

HOWEVER - this gent SO has me beat. His knitting stopped me in my tracks and he graciously agreed to let me photograph his sock knitting prowess! 

All hail Stephen, nice guy and expert sock multi-tasker!!

This is Stephen in the Skacel booth - knitting on 7 Pairs of socks at one time!

(Please forgive me if my  sock count is off, but it is still a wondrous thing regardless!)

And the rest of my marketplace treasure?

I kept poor notes of what I bought where but I'll try to add comments to the pictures as I go along. 

Here goes: 

Same yarn as the socks for Joyce I was knitting upon - Colinette Jitterbug (on sale)

MamaLlamaSuperDK - Yep, I am quite fond of Blue and White. 

I believe I picked up this lovely bit of sparkle in the Simply Socks Yarn Booth. 

Malabrigo (Yum!) and another Dye for Glory entrant I had to track down: "Neon Bible" in the Abundant Yarn booth.

I was a little busy in the Paradise Fibers booth. I found the above Claudia Hand Painted Yarn and succumbed to two of the (then scarce) Zauberballs.

I also dropped off yarn to support a charity and to earn a discount in purchasing the Buffalo Gold #3 (featured in Vogue Knitting Fall 09) that I had pre-ordered on Ravelry as part of the Buffalo Gold Bailout. The yarn I (and 250 other people) dropped off was going to a cooperative of Bhutanese refugees from Nepal who will "use the yarn to handknit goods for sale to support their families.". 

Buffalo is very tactile and yummy!

I couldn't resist getting one of these from Paradise Fibers too!

 The last of my Dye for Glory gotta-haves: Sockfetti (and Bluefetti for the toe/heel) from SpindleCat Studio.

There were many other stops on my map. However, some of the Dye for Glory options were sold out, had not arrived via post (tragic, that), or I had brief moments of will power and decided to skip that particular DfG entry. (I'm as surprised as you are that I had any yarn will-power. It is a rarity for me - and there was sooooo much lovely stuff at the marketplace!)

I did visit Jennie the Potter's booth as well:

(Spiffy, huh!?!)

And lastly, I picked up some Sock Summit Swag in the Marketplace:

This is a seriously nifty bag, let me tell you!

Considering it was my first major Knitterly Event and Marketplace, I did behave reasonably well. Everything fit into my suitcase and I didn't even have to ship my dirty clothes home! {wry grin}