Sock is back in Kenai

And, it was an interesting trip . . . Hubby and I were in Anchorage to see his diabetes specialist - and had picked up the sock at Knitting Grounds before we went over. Somehow I knew his appointment would take longer than the half hour or so promised.

Sure enough the sky had turned dark before we left the doctor's office and were able to get back on the road. Just down from WalMart the heater fan quit - just quit working! I pulled into the parking lot so hubby could check fuses and call the car dealership - it was now almost 5pm so, of course, nobody was in the service department who could look at it. And, as this was the day before Thanksgiving, nobody would be in until Friday - and we needed to get home for the family dinner the next day.

sooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I went into the store and bought a couple of sweaters and some gloves - the temps were falling quickly into the low 20s - so we could drive home.

What a trip! There was a line of about 50 cars from Anchorage proper into Girdwood - then another line of at least 20 from Girdwood on home to the Peninsula. The car worked fine, but the heater fan never did come back on (best guess is that either the fan has gone kaput or the wiring has melted - sigh).

What does this have to do with the Sock? ;) Well, we DID consider pulling it from the box and wrapping up in it to stay warm . . . but I did not want to get it dirty, etc. ;)

We made it home safely and the Sock is sitting on my living room floor waiting for its next destination - that will be one of three places - Columbus, Ohio or Rochester NY or the UK. Joanna and I have emailed back and forth and I may be sending it on to NY or UK as is - and starting another round to send on to Ohio.

The shipping is beginning to become prohibitive - and that sort of takes away the fun of it. Thanks, btw, to whomever tucked an envelope into one of the binders - it contained some money to go towards the shipping. I truly appreciate that.

So . . . I plan to get the Sock out of the box today - unless I hear otherwise in a pretty quick timeline - and begin to take it off needles and put it onto scrap yarn for its trip back to Joanna. Then I will take those needles and begin the new center section - which will eventually make it back to Joanna to be grafted onto the section on which you all have so lovingly worked.

;) And, the race to make the record continues.

Big Sock and Kaladi Brothers Coffee

Mike and Rita busily knit on the Big Sock last week at Kaladi Brothers in Anchorage. They were joined by several others who took turns knitting while a knitting group met over coffee. I've been tickled to see how many male fingers have added stitches while the Sock has been in Alaska.


One more Friday Night Knitting group (tonight) and then the sock will be picked up the 13th to be taken to Fairbanks on the 14th. It'll be hosted by Inua Yarn Store and will come back to Anchorage on the 25th. My hubby and I will pick it up on the 26th to bring it back to Kenai for a couple more weeks before it heads back to the midwest.

Here's Linda busily stitching away . . . she and Pauline have been the most excited over the sock's visit to Alaska. Thanks, Ladies for all of the work you've done promoting it and taking pictures and such.

See you all soon. I'll post more pictures later.


Maybe we'll get some pics from Fairbanks, too!

The Big Sock in Anchorage

Just received pictures from the crew up in Anchorage at the Knitting Grounds. Check out the flickr group to see the rest.

Looks like several people were able to work on the Sock while at Friday Night Knitting.

I know that Pauline was SO excited at the thought of getting the Sock. Zaynab told me that she kept asking about being able to knit on it. So, I was tickled to see her in the pictures. It didn't surprise me that she got to open the box. ;) Hope you are having a good time with it, Pauline.

The pics from the Grounds are courtesy of Linda who also writes the Friday Night Knitting Club updates. Be sure to stop by and check her out.

Have fun with the Sock, everyone. I hope even more people will get to knit on it over the next two Fridays before it heads up to Fairbanks. I'm looking forward to hearing more about its adventures with you.

Looking good, Pauline!!!! Have fun.

The Measure of a Sock

Inch by inch . . . foot by foot (pun intended)

The Sock is in a Box

The box is in the car

But, before I loaded it up, I took the tape measure to it . . . . drum roll please . . .

Admittedly I was doing this by myself, with the sock on the floor, and it may be off by a titch or two . . . but . . .

61.75 inches!

2.25 inches while it has been in Kenai.

Can you give me a WHOOT! Way to go! Awesome!

I knew you could. ;)

Come on Anchorage and Fairbanks, make us proud.

Oh - and the travel timing is working out amazingly well . . . just falling into place. Someone is willing to take the sock to Fairbanks and another person is willing to bring it back to Anchorage. AND . . . hubby "just happens" to have an appointment in Anchorage the day after the sock comes back from Fairbanks, so we can pick it up and bring it back to Kenai!

So cool.

I have folks calling me because of the newspaper articles - they want to work on the sock. So, we will keep it a couple of weeks in Kenai again to reach as many people as we can. The Senior Center will likely be our first place to set it up. And, then back to one of the coffee shops.

I love it when a plan comes together.

that's Xavier in the picture, by the way . . . he really took to the task. I told him he's a natural. I may just have to find some yarn and needles for him for Christmas. ;)

Hit the road . . .

I'll be boxing up the Sock Thursday and heading for Anchorage Friday with my friend to deliver it to the Knitting Grounds. It will be there for at least two Friday Night Knitting Group knits and I'm told that people are getting excited about it.

My mailbox has been getting hits with questions about what is this all about, why, where, what can you tell me about it, and similar questions. How much fun is that?

There are also some thoughts that the Sock may travel to Fairbanks. One fellow raveler has offered to make a trip up the highway just to take the sock up. Another has offered to bring it back just before Thanksgiving to Anchorage.

Now all we need is a willing LYS to host it during its visit to the suburbs of North Pole.
And, for your reading pleasure, here are TWO articles writting about the Sock after its visit to the Funky Monkey Coffee Shop - btw - thanks and a SHOUT out to Don and Sheraf for letting us sit by the fire and chat and knit and teach others to knit for over three hours last Saturday.

The Redoubt Reporter article was one I had requested. It's a small, new publication and only comes out once a week. The editor and chief reporter used to work for the other newspaper and recently quit her job to take on this new venture.

That's Jenny in the picture there with me. She had never knitted and we encouraged her to try at least one stitch. She did a great job and said her Mom would never believe she had done it.

Well, we have proof, so yes she will. ;)

I had not approached the other newspaper for an article, because it seems hard sometimes to get them to cover such "small town" news - even though we ARE a small town. So, I just didn't ask.

But, while we were knitting someone who works out with me at the high school pool each morning came in with her family. She and her son even knit a few stitches with us. Suddenly she leaned over and said to her husband, "hey! This would make a good story!" Then I realized her last name and recognized that he is a reporter for the paper. Well, he said something like "Naaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh" and she quit pestering him.

Then another couple joined them . . . friends of theirs . . . and we continued to ignore them and mind our own knitting business. Of course, I invited the new couple to come over and do a few stitches, which they declined to do, but other than that we gave them their space.

Suddenly the man was in my face, taking pictures and asking questions of me and the others there. I asked him who he was and he said Joe from the Peninsula Clarion. "This is too good a story to pass up," he continued. Well, goodness gracious sakes alive! I awoke Monday to a front page article! In fact, both papers printed the articles with pictures on the front page. Pretty cool, I must say.

We're hoping for newspaper AND tv coverage in Anchorage - and if it goes to Fairbanks, there too.

Next entry will come from Anchorage. Whoot!

Funky Monkey and the Big Sock

Hey there folks - I know, I know . . . I promised to live blog today's event, but that just didn't happen. I took the laptop and even booted it up at one point, but then folks started coming in, wanted to knit on the sock, but needed help because they either couldn't knit or didn't knit very well . . . so the computer got put up and I hunkered down to do what I was there to do - introduce some Alaskans to the Big Sock.

And, a grand time was had by all. 22 or 23 people came by to add to the sock - they all signed the book and had their pictures taken, too. Pics will be posted to the flickr account sometime tomorrow. I have them downloaded and resized, but not uploaded to the account.

However, here is a favorite of mine. My two daughters and five of the seven grandchildren came to see the sock, touch the sock, work on the sock, be IN the sock . . .

Isn't that a good looking group? There was room enough in there for several more people, too, but I just love this shot. Because the kids are so small, the sock could not be held up to its tallest, but I think it must reach the top of daughter on the right's head. She's a tad over 5 foot 4, I think. Daughter on the left is about 5' 6" or so.

I was interviewed by TWO newspapers, instead of the one I had requested. A reporter from the second paper happened to be in the coffee shop having breakfast, saw what was going on and told me it was "too good a story to pass up." How cool! I'll post links to the stories when they come out and tuck copies into the binder, too.

We had a great time and I'm looking forward to taking the sock up to Anchorage Friday. Stay tuned for more fun on that trip.

Funky

The Sock is going to the Funky Monkey on Saturday - that's tomorrow! We hope to have a reporter from the Redoubt Reporter join us for coffee and pictures.

We also hope to have a lot of people come by to help us add on the inches. I've been making personal invites as much as I can . . . have to hope for the best because I have been pretty sick this week with some sort of cold, respiratory thingy that is going around Kenai. As a result, some of the pre-knit publicity didn't get done.

But . . . with the help of all of my family and friends . . . yup, I have high hopes.

Stay tuned here - I plan to take the laptop with me tomorrow and do a bit of "live" blogging. (hopefully their wifi will work better than the coffee shop from last week.) If you have questions, don't hesitate to post them in the comments and we will do our best to answer.

Alaska has the Sock!

Hey, everyone - just getting a feel for this blog. Wanted to post and let you know that the Big Sock arrived safely Thursday and my hubby was like . . . did you order something? . . . what's in the box?, etc.

Silly man! He forgot I had told him it was coming.

It was sooooooooo hard to let it sit there without opening, but I wanted some of the Soldotna Knitters (a group from Ravelry) to be with me to do that. And, THAT happened today. We had a great time of ooohing and ahhhing over the many colors and reading the various places the Sock had visited and looking at pictures . . . oh, and KNITTING on the sock.

Only three of the group could be there this morning - several of the group work on The Slope (oilpatch in northern Alaska) and one was at her son's football game in Anchorage (State playoffs!) so our numbers were shy.

But we are not (shy, that is). We invited other folks in the coffee shop to come and add some stitches. Customers and barristas alike tried their hands at knitting - some for the very first time. Even one of our knitters' little girl joined in - she's only 3!

We have another coffee shop to visit next Saturday and then the following Friday a friend and I (my bosom buddy) are going to Anchorage for our mammograms (get it, bosom buddy - heh) and will take the Sock with us to leave at the Knitting Grounds for a week or two.

I'm hoping for newspaper coverage here and in Anchorage and tv coverage in Anchorage.

Stay tuned . . . . .

Mew Mew's Yarn Shop!

From 1st September till October 6th, Bigsock was at Mew Mew's Yarn shop in Louisville, Colorado.






In the month it was there Mew Mew's added 7 inches to Bigsock, although in this final photo, Mew Mew can be seen napping on the job!

The Fun Begins in Colorado

The Big Sock is now at A Knitted Peace in Littleton, Colorado, where knitters were welcomed with a sign as soon as they walked in the door. The sign is being held up with a pair of huge U.S. #50/25mm needles.

Here are shop owners Marsha (left) and Jane.

One of the many knitters who added their stitches on the first day.

Knitters of all ages, male and female, and all skill levels were on hand to knit throughout the day.
So, that was our first day with the sock. It will be in the shop until Labor Day. More pictures will be added throughout the month. It will be making a visit to another area shop after that and then it will be on it's way to Alaska next. If you're anywhere near Littleton, drop in and knit, and don't forget to sign the log book!

Check out the excellent slideshow that Sherrie and her hubby put together by clicking here.

The Big Sock is in Colorado

The Big Sock has arrived in Colorado. It was sitting on my doorstep in Highlands Ranch (Denver south) when I got home from work. On Wednesday or Thursday I'll be taking it to A Knitted Peace in Littleton (Denver west) where it will be residing for the next few weeks. I'll take more pictures once we unpack it!

Thanks for letting us be a part of this adventure.

Joanne
http://rhythmoftheneedles.blogspot.com/

Update: We're not going to open the box at the store until Saturday, July 26th.
Come and join us if you're in the area!!

World's Biggest Sock

This was filmed at Village Yarn in East Rochester,NY, November 07

Shall We Knit?

December 2007- Bigsock travels to Canada!

The following photographs were taken in December 07, and January 08 at Shall We Knit in New Hamburg.