Sock Summit inner workings
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 5:50PM I'm about to give you a sneak peek into what it takes to put up a splendiferous booth display. This one happened to be at Sock Summit in Portland last weekend.
When we arrived, this is what the booth looked like. Tables. Boxes that arrived before me.
I had some amazing help, who immediately set about configuring our shelving, ironing tablecloths, and constructing spinning racks that had no instructions and too many parts.
Hello, back of Trisha's head.
Then came the fun part. Unpacking the yarn. Sorting it by color. Laughing at colorways called, "DUDE. This is gorgeous!" and, "No boys allowed!"
Color order is something that makes sense to me. Most people shop by color, anyway. If you love the color, you'll find something to make with it.
Hello, Yarnista with two hours of sleep.
Hello, Amy and Allison.
You can see that the rainbow begins on the rack with vibrant reds and pinks, and transitions to pinks, yellows, greens, blues, and purples.
It can be a challenge to display things on open-backed shelving. It gives you more arrangement options, but things often commit suicide by jumping off the back and into someone else's booth.
We discovered that several of our lights had broken in transit, which necessitated a last minute sprint to get more.
Lights are incredibly important in this kind of setting. The sodium lights shining thirty feet from the top of a convention center just don't do yarn justice.
Hello Amy, light procurer, shopping bag stickerer. Amy's husband roasts his own coffee, and made us thermoses of French Press, which Amy carted every morning from her Portland-area home. She also brought a cooler with cream in a glass jar. And a case of peanut butter granola bars.
The marketplace opened to registered class participants on Thursday night. I decided to brush my hair for the occasion.
When the doors opened, the booth started filling up. I didn't take these pictures, and at the time, it was such a whirlwind, that I didn't get to see everyone who came in. But looking at these pictures now, I recognize many familiar faces.
Look, there I am in the back corner, demonstrating my petite tendencies.
An event like this does not just bring Portland locals. People come from all over the US and Canada. I can see several people in this photo alone who flew in from the East Coast just to be here.
And now, the answer to a most haunting question. Something not even my mother knew before now.
What would Sharon look like if she were a miner and wore a headlamp to work?
Here's your answer.
Glad I was able to clear that up for you.
Trisha came all the way from Northern Alberta, where it is cold, and where yarn takes forever to arrive. I'm convinced that yarn travels to Northern Alberta via sloth. It just arrives whenever it feels like. And it usually feels like being slow.
Amy didn't know it before now, but orange is her color. She has blonde hair and brown eyes, and it looks gorgeous on her.
Allison, on the other hand, thinks everything is her color.
If you've ever wondered what it would look like if you wore two hats, a sweater, a scarf, and a shawl all at the same time over your regular clothes, here's your answer.
And here's Abigail, taker of most of these pictures. See how the look on her face says, "Hi. What are you doing, exactly?" As if she doesn't know exactly what I'm doing with the camera.
And Audrey, who had just finished knitting this skirt the night before. You can spin it so that any of the colors are in front, and it will go with everything she owns.
I could not have survived without the help of Trisha, Allison. Amy, Abigail, and Audrey. They swooped in from far away regions, said, "We're here to unpack and fluff and lift heavy stuff and bring you coffee and leave notes under your door and write receipts and answer questions and help customers and run errands. And this is going to be SO MUCH FUN."
And it was.
Thanks, dudes.
Reader Comments (17)
Aww, you make it look so fun! So glad I was able to be there for at least some of it. :)
It was lots of fun - thanks so much for sharing your booth with us ;)
It was amazingly fun! Thank you for including us. If only my everyday coworkers were as much fun as Sharon, Abi, Trisha, Allison, and Audrey!!!!!!!!
It was AWESOME beyond belief!!!!
And now there is actual proof that I spent way too much time in your booth, lol.
I should have volunteered to help, then I'd have at least had a legitimate reason for being there ;) LOL
Hey a picture of me made the blog. ..or at least two pictures of my back. . .if you put that together it makes a whole picture, right? :) Too much fun. . .it was a blast. :)
I love all the pictures!!!! I am so glad that somebody was sane enough to do so!!!! It was such a blast, and I agree with Rhonnie, I should volunteer next time so I have a legit reason to spend all my time in the most awesomest booth at Sock Summit! :)
PS. Sorry about the headlamp. It was a bit tricky to avoid. (My picture-taking style is generally along the lines of "If I take enough photos, ONE of them is bound to turn out"....)
Sharon, you and your crew were just amazing! You guys worked your tails off to make your booth a success! Next time I shall probably attend SS without my little friend so hopefully I can be a volunteer too! I love to give back to y'all as much as y'all gave to us this past weekend. I like you all!
Stall looked fabulous, all those colours are just wonderful. If I could I would have travelled from Sydney Australia....... I have friends in Bend Oregon, could have doubled up on visits. What a great bunch they/you all look, how much fun was had! Hope you've had more sleep this week (by the way, you don't look sleep deprived, must have been the kickstart coffee)
This is like porn for me. Seriously. Yarn-porn, which if you ask me, is the best kind. Thank you for sharing the pictures with us. Next time, I'm making it a point to be there!
Thanks so much for letting me help out...and model! I had a great time...and I'm so glad so many people found beautiful new yarn babies to take home with them!
It was just beautiful to see all your yarn in one place. I wish I could have bought it all to decorate my house with (no need to actually knit it). And sorry about the escapee yarn. Obviously you guys were pros at booth diving before I got there though :)
Hooray! For helpers. Yippee! For a creative Yarnists. Sob! For me, who missed all the fun and excitement.
Is there a picture anywhere of the adult longies? My husband didn't believe me when I told him about them. I wished I had snapped a pic =) I was the one with the little boy who had the longies that matched them =D
Amber
I would like to say i loved visiting your booth and talking with all those ladies helping run it because they were super friendly and helpful and kind.
Amber, here is a link picture of the adult longies at Madrona in 2011.
Everyone should believe there are adult longies! I totally remember you and your little boy!!!!
I am finally back on the Internet after all that vacation time, and I love this post. I had SO MUCH FUN!! Thanks for letting me help, Sharon!
My hooligans love the picture of Allison. They want a very large printed copy of that.