Cookie A.

Last year when Sock Summit was announced, I put my name on the waiting list for the announcements. When it came time to register for classes, I was ready. I had the class numbers, the days, everything ready to go not once thinking that I wouldn't be able to get the classes I wanted. Well, I think everyone is familiar with what happened when 30,000+ knitters tried to do the same thing as me at the same time. I could have taken the disappointment of not getting all my classes I wanted, if I had only gotten one class. But the class had to be Top Down Sock Design with Cookie A. I wasn't going to go through all the effort to get up to Portland, spend the money on travel and expenses, if i wasn't going to get the one class that I felt really would help me with my sock design. So I didn't make it to Sock Summit.

Lucky for me, and maybe unlucky for some, I proceeded to tell my knitting friends (and a whole lot of other really confused people who didn't know why I was telling them this) about how Sock Summit wasn't to be for me and how badly I had wanted to take this class. That's when Nancy looked into having Cookie A. come to Common Threads and teach her wonderful Sock Innovation class.

Last Wednesday, January 6, I had the privilege of learning from one of my favorite sock designers, the method to her madness. Cookie started the class off by having everyone introduce themselves and say how they felt about charts, and tell an embarrassing story about themselves. It was pretty funny hearing about what embarrasses people and opened up the mood. The things that stood out in my mind that have embarrassed me all had to do with my kids, so that's what I told. How they like to fart in grocery store lines, moon random people in public, those sorts of things. When it came around to a lady named Gretchen, she told us about how her son recently mooned the bus driver and how she got a phone call to come get him. And that wasn't even her embarrassing story! It was really funny!

The next part of the class she talked about stitch patterns and how she starts designing her sock. I think the thing I took away most from the class, was the ability to gauge how stitch patterns will interact with each other, especially cables. It is invaluable to me to know how to adjust the number of stitches to accommodate how the cables suck in and make it fit into a sock. I haven't knitted a lot of sweaters yet, but I know this knowledge with come in handy when I start learning more about sweater construction.

 

After her presentation, it was time for us to put our new knowledge into action and pick out a stitch pattern to work with. I had started with one and after struggling with it for awhile, decided to ditch it and try something else. That's when I found this one and got busy. I practiced all afternoon, looking at different cable crosses, and how I would adjust the number of stitches to accommodate each one.

 

I also spent a lot of time eavesdropping on other people getting help, so I could learn from what they were working on also. I really learned a lot and felt really comfortable with Cookie's teaching methods. It made something that seemed complicated more accessible and I feel like I could take some ideas I have floating around in my head and actually execute them into a sock pattern.

Here I am at the end of class with Cookie A., wearing my new jacket I got for Christmas. My friends have nicknamed the jacket my Huggy Bear jacket because it is definitely P.I.M.P. It was a little chilly in the class room, but I could only tell because other people wanted the heater on. I was nice and toasty in my Huggy Bear jacket.

Cookie A put the Huggy Bear jacket on and struck a pimp pose for a picture. Yes, some pimp socks are in my future!

Here are my girls after the class, all of us deliciously exhausted and feeling good. My Best B is already half-way through her first sock that she started in the class and it is AWESOME! She started ripping through the design and was on fire the whole time. I can't wait to see the finished sock, it's going to be cool.

 

Thank you to Cookie, for making the trek down to San Diego and thank you to Nancy, for bringing Cookie A to San Diego! I'm so lucky to have wonderful friends to enjoy my passion of knitting with. What a way to start off the New Year!