Sock Summit 2009! Day 1

Well it is officially over, people have gone home or are on their way, the remnants have been cleared, and yarn bunnies swept up. I hope The Stephanie, Tina, ST-2, and the rest of the planning team got rip roaring drunk and have taken the week off.

It was really awesome to see the signs up when I first arrived at the convention center, I was lucky it was just me because it made me a little giggly.




Heading in the right direction...



Ok so there is some fantastic art in this building but my personal favorite is Principia. It's on the North side of the building and is composed of a rather large pendulum the swings from the tower across a suspended circle of horizontal spikes with an inner ring of mostly vertical round ended spikes. On the floor below is a terrazzo & brass inlay floor that looks an awful lot like the solar system. It's really awesome to stand under it and watch.



I was glad that I waited until afternoon on Thursday to go in and pick up my registration materials, I didn't have to wait in line at all which made me very happy.



Since the marketplace wasn't going to open until 4:30 I still had a few hours to kill so I went ahead and cast on the project I had picked out for the convention.



It's a sock pattern designed by one of my oldest friends V, and it's both knit & crochet. This is my second attempt at it, because I'm not much of a sock knitter or crocheter and the first pair I made had a few issues. The first attempt did however effectively illustrate the differences between crocheter & knitter thinking, but that's a whole other story.

When it got to be about 15 minutes to open people started to line up, and Tina, Stephanie, one one of the ST-2(don't know who's who) people started a rather spirited round of "99 skeins of yarn on the wall." I didn't get a really good picture of them though as people kept running in front of them, and it didn't occur to me at the time to switch it to video, which now of course I really wish I'd done.




Of course other than people running in front of me, I really think it's time to update my camera, because while she's game my poor little Canon A610 is just not as zippy as the cute little things currently on the market today, I mean by technology standards her being four years old means she's qualified for retirement.

Anyway while we were waiting a couple of the gals from Dye Dreams came by with mini skeins of their Dream Sox(I think I got their Blarney colorway) and cute little vinyl bags that included a pattern called Flippant. It's a flip flop "sock" designed to keep the straps from rubbing between your toes, they said the mini skein would make a pair so I think it would be great for leftovers.

The marketplace was awesome, though the near mobbing of some of the booths most notably the Dye For Glory winners was kinda disturbing. I mean I know it's beautiful yarn but do you really need to crush into a booth and elbow others out of the way? I know they only have so much on hand but the great thing is that they know how to make more and if you don't get what you'd like now, you can order some later; there is no call to shove, snatch, or possibly hurt others for it. Sorry pet peeve.

It was really overwhelming, I kind of ended up wandering around in circles in complete sensory overload, though I did eventually stumble across the Frog Creek Fibers booth, they're based in Hillsboro, and their Raspberries & Chocolate colorway was one of the Dye for Glory winners, I was luck to get a skein of it in Ebullient(. I also picked up a skein of Wasabi Peas in Gnarly.

I also stopped by Hazel Knits and could not resist picking up a skein of Purple Hazel & Cami Chic in Artisan Sock. After that I was so overloaded it was time to go home.

World Wide Photo Walk Day!

Ok so a few months ago a friend talked me and some others into signing up for the Worldwide Photo Walk. I hadn't ever heard of it before and thought it could be interesting since due to the need to photograph my yarn and finished projects for use on Ravelry, I've been getting into it more. I even took a few hanks & projects to maybe photograph on things, kinda like a "yarn on the town" kind of thing.

I also brought along Diana & Holga, this was their first real trial run and I can't wait to see how the pictures come out, well if any of them really do. After the walk I took the exposed rolls to Blue Moon Camera & Machine, I got the pictures put on CD so I'm not stuck with envelopes of possibly not good pictures, plus it means I don't have to scan them and it's better for storage reasons.



To start the morning off we met up before the walk at the Stumptown in the Ace Hotel for coffee and pastries, then we walked down to the meet up spot in front of the gates into Chinatown for the group picture. I must say though it is a singularly eerie experience to walk around the downtown area in the early morning, because the streets are pretty much empty and there aren't that many cars out either. I'm so used to being down there in the evenings when everything is lit up, traffic is horrible, and there are crowds of people everywhere; to have it be pretty much still and quite was freakish.

It was a pretty big group of people that showed up, and it felt kind of weird because just about eveyone in the walk (save our mini group) had several thousand dollars worth of equipmant hanging from their necks. Here I was with 2 plastic cameras which together cost about $125 and my wonderful Canon Powershot A610 point & shoot, that is about 3 1/2 years ago.

I did have several people ask me the difference between Diana & Holga and since a true answer would have taken longer than I really wanted, I just said that one had black & white film and the other had color. Anyway after the group thing we all headed out, along this route...


View Laurie Excell's Portland Photowalk in a larger map



The first place of interest was the Classical Chinese Gardens, just wandering around the exterior provided a lot of opportunities because of all the detail work on the building. I had quite a bit of fun trying to get good pictures through the lattice work in the windows.



From there we walked down to Union Station also the site of the Night Ride last weekend. I must say that I really like style and detail work of this building. You know, I can appreiciate the cleanness, form, and functionality of modern building design but for me while it's beautiful, it just lacks a sense of warmth, class, and personality.



After wandering around the station for quite a while we started heading up towards the end walk site, I think was were all starting to get a little loopy that this point because we just started taking really random pics of each other rather than the scenery. We did eventually make it up to On Deck were I had a much needed Mojito that was really strong and I ended up pretty buzzed. The fact that I hadn't really eaten anything since morning or probably hydrated enough had nothing to do with it.

All in all it was a pretty fun day, and I'm kinda thinking about asking photographically inclined friends if they'd be interested in doing a photo walk in different parts of town once a month or so.

If you want to check out more of the pictures I posted all the digital ones on Flickr.

Bastille Day 2009

Once I'd gone through the Street Fair I walked on over to Pix Patisserie for the block party celebrating Bastille Day. It's a French holiday celebrating "the storming of the Bastille prison" that happened on July 14th 1789. At the time there were only a few prisoners there, but the Bastille was a symbol of the power of the monarchy, and also contained a large cache of weapons and ammunition; it's fall is said to have been the flash point of the Revolution.

Here are some of the pics...

Mississippi Street Fair 2009

After Plunderathon I drove over to the Mississippi Ave. Street Fair and oh man finding a place to park was a nightmare, I was ready to give up, when I finally found a spot. I must say though that it was totally worth it.



There was at least 5 different BBQ places there, many of the bars had extended their seating areas out into the street, and there was some really great music and interestingly talented buskers to watch all down the street.



I'm pretty sure that a good number of the artists there are also regulars at Last Thursday which is kind of like the hippie version of First Thursday, ok I shouldn't so it's "like" that because it really IS. At First you tour the Galleries and enjoy wine & music, Last is a street fair, with eclectic music, and that art ranges from the horrendous to the crafty to the exceptionally wonderful, and you dealing directly with the artist or crafty individual that made it.

Getting back to the event, there was a junker that people paid money to paint, and doesn't it look lovely...



Oh, and Voodoo Doughnut was also present though at the time I was there they were all sold out, it was very sad.



When I came to the end of the fair something caught my eye...



What the heck is a Dutch Taco/waffle sandwich like? So I headed over to take a look, I found out that they can be either savory or sweet, and decided to try the S'mores Taco. It is a relativity thin waffle with Nutella seared on it, filled with marshmallow creme, and served hot so it's all wonderfully melty.

Plunderathon 2009

Now that I'm mostly recovered from walking all over town (really felt like it at the time) I took the time to get my pictures uploaded...

First up was Plunterathon, and I gotta say it was interesting walking up to the Skidmore Fountain and seeing it pretty much surrounded by pirates.











There were some really great costumes though, and they were promoting the Portland Pirate Festival that's on September 19th & 20th in Cathedral Park.



















Ok I don't know if you can really see it but this lady was wearing a steel under bust corset, I don't know how she was able to breathe.












I'm calling this lady the Pirate Queen, and I give her big props for putting on the wig, not to mention the armature that's gotta be under that dress.


They even brought an inflate-a-pirate.

I had planned to follow them for a bit but the smells from the Saturday Market food vendors was calling to me. They were all still milling around at the time and I thought that it'd only take me a few minutes and I could catch up to them if needed, I mean you can't really miss about a hundred pirates going by.



Unfortunately they must have gone the other direction from what I thought they would, and so I lost them. It was pretty disappointing I'd really wanted to see them put people in the stocks and I've not seen a flogging before.

It's Just Too Much...!

I swear that just about everything is happening on Saturday the 11th. There are so many fun & funky events going on that I really am at a loss, as to what I should do.

Ok, so first I was planning on going out to Sauvie Island Farms Saturday to pick berries, the Cherries, Blueberries, Raspberries, and Marion berries are ripe. I want to get them in so I can dry & freeze them for pies, tarts, crumbles, & cobblers this fall. I'm also thinking about making some jams with them.

The thing is that my perusal of the Portland Mercury and Willamette Week have revealed a plethora of events that have piqued my interest.

First off The Mississippi Ave. Street Fair from 10am to 9pm in North Portland, they're going to have a local market with arts & crafts vendors & food, there are four different with various types of entertainment, & they will have a kid's parade.

A few blocks over is the 3rd Annual Bastille Day Celebration Block Party, this year they are supporting the Oregon Food Bank and will be giving raffle tickets for each nonperishable food item donated. With the tickets you can win gift certificates & wonderful edible creations. The event is hosted by Pix Patisserie, and it looks like there will be some fantastic food available.

I should probably preface this next event with the comment that it's not for kids and if you're easily offended or conservative I would not recommend clicking the links. Anyway next up is Plunderathon 2009 and it starts at the Skidmore Fountain on SW 1st. I guess it's been going on for the last 166 years, due to a pirate getting swindled by a lawyer. They don't publish a route or schedule for the event.

What I've gathered by looking at pics on Flickr is that it's a whole bunch of people in pirate-like attire who meet-up play games like pin the neck-tie on the lawyer, Flogging the Lawyer, and canon practice, and then "rampage" through town by bar hopping. The event is hosted by Drunken Rampage, whose website I find pretty entertaining but I tend to have a bit of an off kilter sense of humor. Per the site there are prizes, for what I'm not sure, and it's completely run by volunteers, so donations are sought to help cover costs & keep it running.

I then came across the Trek in the Park, oh yes the Trekkies have invaded! It's at the Woodlawn Park Amphitheatree in NE, the event is being put on by Atomic Arts, it's live, and to top it off they're doing the episode where Spock goes into heat. Total geek out fest, I wonder how many people will be in costume. Show starts at 5pm and it's a free event.

ETA: Oh, and I can't forget that it's also the Night Ride at Union Station it's sounds like all kinds of different fun, the setup sounds kind of like a nighttime street fair. There are supposed to be interesting things to do along the route, one of the rest stops is a disco party, and at the finish line an all you can eat doughnut feast. The other event I forgot was Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks is having and All Nighter! Yep, they're going to knit, drink coffee, watch movies, & have a potluck dinner, with breakfast provided in the morning.

I mapped it all out in google and this is what my day would look like if I did everything...

View Larger Map

Strawberries!

Ok, so I live in the northwestern part of Oregon, and for those of you who don't already know, it's the home of the best ever strawberries, if you don't believe check this out.

Yes, California is were most strawberries found in grocery stores come from, they are bred to be large, high yield, and have a long shelf live. Unfortunately, California is hot, and while this gets the fruit to ripen quickly, it doesn't allow the berries to fully develop their sweetness and flavor. Strawberries tend to like wet, sunny springs, with cool nights. They do not like to be too hot, in fact the fruit can cook right on the vine if you're not careful with some cultivation methods.

The down side to having such sweet and great tasting berries is that they really don't last very long. Most of them, if they are freshly picked will last about 2 days in the fridge with a damp cloth over them, after that they are pretty much mush.

The next factor to take into account is what variety do you have? My family are devout Hood fans, but this year I started trying others out, I tried Firecrackers, Puget Reliance, Shokusan, and our old standby The Hood.

First I picked up some of the Firecracker berries from a lady on Sauvie Island. The ones I got were VERY tart, and fairly firm. I don't know if this is typical of the variety, or if because we had an early season, they didn't get as sweet as they normally would. So while I wouldn't use these for just eating, I think they'd work really well for jam/jelly/preserves, I froze the rest and plan on using them in cobblers and crumbles later in the season.


Next I picked up 1/2 a flat of the Puget Reliance from guy on Hwy. 30, these were smaller and sweeter than the Firecrackers and a little citrusy, I used them in a crumble, and they cooked down pretty completely so I'm thinking the ones I froze should work really well in a fruit bar or for jam.

After that I picked up some of the Shokusan from a lady on Walker Rd., they are a medium sized berry, nice sweet flavor, and since I only got a pint they didn't even make it home. I'm thinking that I might need to try and get some more, as well as some chocolate to dip them in.

These are theHoods, these as always had a wonderful sweet, citrusy flavor, and I used them in a second crumble. I didn't get a picture of it though, because it'd been broken into right after dinner (before it was even cooled down), and it was completely gone by lunch the next day. It tasted awesome though and a little whip cream on top made it absolutely perfect. The berries held up nicely as well.