While I was at Sock Summit I splurged on a handbag from Queen Bee. This is the Large Rita size in Hemp Denim with the Peony design. The closest I can find on their site is the samller size.

I was drawn to the flower design on front (after a spring full of looking at be-flowered dresses I cannot seem to shake the attraction) but it was the details that I fell for. It's got everything I love:

• large enough to hold a magazine
• sturdy enough to stand on it's own when plopped on the floor
• zipper top (after my wallet was snatched I cannot do open top bags)
• large loop zipper pull to reduce fumbling
• two exterior pockets on the back for iPhone and keys
• single short strap, long enough that it's able to be hiked up over a shoulder using one arm
• strap is removable so I can easily replace it with longer adjustable strap for those moments when I need it to hang across my body (Nordstrom Rack is usually the case)
• not one but two interior pockets for makeupy things and my littlest camera, both are deep enough to reach the bottom of the bag, and the zippered one has the same large loop zipper pull
• and most essential, a light colored interior so I can actually see what is down there

One could not go to Sock Summit and come away not having gained at least enough knowledge to start a basic sock. In this case I took Amy Singer's class called Knitting Without Wool where she gave us Amy's Favorite Sock Recipe, taught us Japanese Short Rows (there at nonaKnits) and showed us a super secret stretchy bind-off that will be published in Knitty in the Autumn. (I'm, apparently, a bind-off geek and am gleeful to have learned three new stretchy bind-offs at the summit.)

So, this is a toe-up sock knit in Fixation, started with Judy's Magic Cast On. The picture above shows the cast-on end with the ball of Fixation holding the sock open. Isn't the cast-on breathtaking?

This pattern uses an ankle gusset (is that the right thing to call it?) and, at least from what I can tell so far, a fairly shallow turned heel using the aforementioned Japanese Short Rows. I have a high instep so I think this combination will work out well for me. I got to the short rows last night:

The technique uses placing pins at turns, and using those later to lift the bit of yarn up and over the needle. In class we talked about using coiless safety pins. You can use locking or split ring stitch markers as well but I think those are awfully big for a sock (and I don't already own any).

I set out to find coiless pins and ended up with these Button Pins from Joanns. The only other coilless pins I could find were in the beading section and were 1 1/8th inch and seemed a bit big at that size. The button pins have a little bump in the wire but are only 3/4ths an inch and work really nicely. Here is the package:

In my research I also came across these coiless plastic safety pins that Riot of Daisies uses as stitch markers. They are 1" long and still a bit big for socks, I think, but if you want to break free of the peach and mint green locking stitch marker monopoly these would work well. See also Colonial stitch markers (which I didn't see in the mega-store) and 3/4 inch coiless safety pins at Angelika's Yarn Store, as well as larger sizes.

Next I decrease the ankle gusset stitches and then it'll just be a question knitting a tube up to to the top. I did buy four balls of Fixation just be to sure I would have enough and at this rate it looks like I'll have a pair of knee socks before I'm done.

I'm at the Sock Summit in Portland, OR. You might not think a thousand knitters could converge in one place and knit and talk and shop nothing but socks for four days, and you would be wrong.

The marketplace here is enormous (and open to the public, in case you are nearby and happen to be a knitter). Here are some booths that caught my eye:

Splityarn Handmade zipper boxes, flat pouches and camera straps, she has such beautiful fabrics (and is a super sweet person!).

Queen Bee Creations felt bags with these darling flowers, they don't have zippers and would really nicely for your knitting. They also have all the fabulous vinyl bags and pouches they are famous for.

Hazel Knits yummy yarns. She also has a very popular sock club.

5elementknitr makes these super handy stitch markers, they have a detachable short crochet hook for the moment when you drop a stitch but don't have a crochet hook handy. She also makes some in lovely sterling silver.

Other booths I took note of with the help of the wool-loving Maggi:

• sets of six 5-inch, very bendy and smooth palmwood DPNs at the Laurel Hill Needles booth ($16!). I have some Laurel Hill #5 needles and love them dearly.
• Miss Babs, lovely yarns (the sport weight is on sale)
• Signature Needles, you can compare the mid and stiletto tips
• try out some square needles at Kollage
• Wool Candy, bright and happy colors
• Simply Socks Yarn Company, very nice price for soft sock yarns
• Namaste small bags (very Hobo-y) perfect for a small projects on DPNs at the Tanglewood Fiber Creations booth
• Van Der Rock, yarn from Canada
• you can put your name in a drawing to win a set of DPNs at the Sock Stix booth