Friday
Aug072009
Notes from the Summit
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 8:18AM
This will be a bit short, as I have to leave in 15 minutes and am still in my pajamas with wet hair. Now you can see where my true priorities lie.
Scene: 4:10 pm, 20 minutes before the Sock Summit show opens to students. The boxes that were supposed to have arrived days before have not yet made it to our hotel. The six boxes contain lots of yarn, but also necessary supplies, like labels. At 4:13, the boxes have finally landed, we shove them into a taxi ourselves because the cab driver had just had a hernia operation, and drive the five blocks to the convention center.
Scene: 4:15 pm The boxes have been unceremoniously dumped onto the sidewalk outside the convention center. Katie runs in to try and get a hand cart while I stand on busy Martin Luther King (St? Ave? Blvd?) with a giant pile of boxes. At 4:18, Katie comes back empty handed, grabs a box and bolts for the convention center. Inside, she must go up some stairs, then down some stairs, then all the way across the convention center floor, and back out the same to do it all again. She is wearing what are, in my estimation, red vegan platform elf shoes.
Scene: 4:22 pm. I am shuffling down MLK with cars whizzing past, carrying a 50lb box while simultaneously kicking another box with my foot, trying to get them closer to the convention center door. Just then, a FedEx truck pulls up. The driver sees me struggling with the boxes and notices that they have FedEx labels on them. He says, "Here, let me help you." Realizing how heavy the boxes are, he grabs his hand cart, and we race inside the convention center, down the hall to the elevator, and down to the lower level. We discover that we cannot get into the convention center exhibit hall this way and go back up the elevator with some kind of alarm sounding (which we ignore), all the way across the hall and to another elevator, down, and out.
Scent: 4:28. The FedEx man and I zoom past what appears to be about 1,000 knitters lined up at the door. At the door is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, barring the entrance and leading the group in a rendition of "99 skeins of yarn on the wall" waiting for the clock to strike 4:30. I try the door to the convention center floor. It's locked. I yell to Stephanie above the singing. "I'm a vendor, I need to get in!" She replies brightly, "Go right ahead!" I try the door again, even though I know it's still locked. I try another door, and another, with the 1,000 knitters and the FedEx man staring at me and singing and probably thinking to themselves, "What the heck kind of dolt is she?" Finally, someone on the other side of the door takes pity on me and pushes it open. The FedEx man and I practically run through the convention center floor while I call Katie on my cell phone yelling, "I'm not outside, I'm inside with the FedEx man!"
Then I hear the convention center doors open, and the sound of knitters on the prowl fills the air.
To be continued...
Scene: 4:10 pm, 20 minutes before the Sock Summit show opens to students. The boxes that were supposed to have arrived days before have not yet made it to our hotel. The six boxes contain lots of yarn, but also necessary supplies, like labels. At 4:13, the boxes have finally landed, we shove them into a taxi ourselves because the cab driver had just had a hernia operation, and drive the five blocks to the convention center.
Scene: 4:15 pm The boxes have been unceremoniously dumped onto the sidewalk outside the convention center. Katie runs in to try and get a hand cart while I stand on busy Martin Luther King (St? Ave? Blvd?) with a giant pile of boxes. At 4:18, Katie comes back empty handed, grabs a box and bolts for the convention center. Inside, she must go up some stairs, then down some stairs, then all the way across the convention center floor, and back out the same to do it all again. She is wearing what are, in my estimation, red vegan platform elf shoes.
Scene: 4:22 pm. I am shuffling down MLK with cars whizzing past, carrying a 50lb box while simultaneously kicking another box with my foot, trying to get them closer to the convention center door. Just then, a FedEx truck pulls up. The driver sees me struggling with the boxes and notices that they have FedEx labels on them. He says, "Here, let me help you." Realizing how heavy the boxes are, he grabs his hand cart, and we race inside the convention center, down the hall to the elevator, and down to the lower level. We discover that we cannot get into the convention center exhibit hall this way and go back up the elevator with some kind of alarm sounding (which we ignore), all the way across the hall and to another elevator, down, and out.
Scent: 4:28. The FedEx man and I zoom past what appears to be about 1,000 knitters lined up at the door. At the door is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, barring the entrance and leading the group in a rendition of "99 skeins of yarn on the wall" waiting for the clock to strike 4:30. I try the door to the convention center floor. It's locked. I yell to Stephanie above the singing. "I'm a vendor, I need to get in!" She replies brightly, "Go right ahead!" I try the door again, even though I know it's still locked. I try another door, and another, with the 1,000 knitters and the FedEx man staring at me and singing and probably thinking to themselves, "What the heck kind of dolt is she?" Finally, someone on the other side of the door takes pity on me and pushes it open. The FedEx man and I practically run through the convention center floor while I call Katie on my cell phone yelling, "I'm not outside, I'm inside with the FedEx man!"
Then I hear the convention center doors open, and the sound of knitters on the prowl fills the air.
To be continued...
Reader Comments (15)
Love it! I could just picture the chaos! And the panic you felt...and I bet you barely got in the door before those boxes were utterly devoured by Sock Summiteers! :) Lucky Summiteers to see all that yummy yarn of yours!
Too exciting for words!! Good luck! Wish i were there.
An experience you'll never forget! ha ha! Was he cute?
Don't know what's funnier, a cabbie with a hernia or vegan red elf shoes but they both made me snort. Have a blast!
Wow. That's epic!
I love that you shared this and that you made it so vivid.
I can only imagine the panic you felt. I hope things have settled down a bit and that you are having an absolute blast.
Even if I were not a knitter, I would read your blog--you have a wonderful way of telling a story! Sharon, you really should consider writting.
Darn, I wish I'd have been there, I'd have helped you, really I would have! ;) What fun, I hope to make it to the next Sock Summit. . . there will be another one. . . right?!?
Sharon, by Friday I had no idea you'd had such a trial the day before. Everything looked wonderful. I was happy to see that the booth was such a madhouse and your yarn was selling like hotcakes. I really enjoyed meeting you. Wish you lived closer!!
Great yet exhausting story. I hope you can get some sleep when you are home- like a 16 hour sleep.
Congratulations on sweeping the finals. I had never heard of you or seen your yarns. NOW I have.
All the best,
Carol in Chicago
Thank goodness the FedEx guy was more helpful than SPM. But I guess it wasn't her job to help out vendors.
I love your writing! Thank goodness for the FedEx guy! I can't wait to read the rest of your story :)
Was at your booth at the Sock Summit. Absolutely loved it!! I was in that long line but to far away to hear the singing, I'm glad you wrote about it so I could know about it. Keep on keeping on!!!
Your yarns are fantastic and now the world knows it too!