Swagged and Tagged

SWAGGED:

We're almost one week into Summer of Socks 2008 — can you believe it?!

My graphic design for the Along button has been worked and re-worked into a veritable (and virtual) warehouse full of official SoS08 swag. Check out all the goodies at the Summer of Socks 2008 storefront on CafePress. We gotcher t-shirts, mugs, hats, magnets, notecards, stickers -- even a little something socky for the family pooch!

Think I'm kidding? Think again!

My family won't be dressing the dogs — J has a thing about dogs wearing clothes — but I fully support all of you who like your Fidos fashion-forward!

Jessica, of Zarzuela Knits & Crochets, has done an amazing job with the Along and with the store. She seems to be a never-ending bundle of sock-pushing energy, and it's been an absolute pleasure working with her. If you have a minute, I highly recommend checking out her blog (here) and the Summer of Socks 2008 group on Ravelry (here). It's too late to sign up for "official" participation, but you can still play along (you just aren't eligible for prizes).

Speaking of eligibility for prizes... So far my participation in the Along has been more about helping other people knit socks than knitting my own, although I do have 3 pairs in the works. (Sadly, one of these pairs was started before the official June 21 kick-off, so it doesn't count.) I spent June 21 at A New Yarn teaching a sock class! We're working on toe-up, 2-at-once, magic loop socks with a heel and gusset. My favorite. I put together a customizable pattern for making these socks with any yarn or needles and for any size foot. I've written up two versions: one a workshop format for people completely new to socks and/or magic loop; the other a condensed format that assumes you know the basics and just provides the pattern. I'm pretty proud of it, and plan to share just as soon as I get some pictures added. Y'all have my sister to thank for that. She's been vetting the pattern this week and has said that while it's solidly written, she thinks people will be much more likely to actually use it if there are helpful images. I get that. Images first, then share the pattern!

TAGGED:

Juicy Knits in Heidelberg, Germany, tagged me for a meme. I'm not normally one to do these, but stranger things have happened — so here goes:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

June 1998, J & I had been together for 9 years, married for 7. I was editor of Akron Magazine, facilitator and lead writer for The University of Akron's 10-year Master Academic Plan, advisor of The University of Akron's Tel-Buch yearbook staff (with the most amazing and talented group of student workers ever -- that's you, Jaimie and Kelly!), and faculty advisor for Eta Chapter of Delta Gamma. I was on the advisory board of Akron Metropolitan magazine, immediate past-president of Summit County's American Cancer Society Associate Board, and a board member of the Akron Press Club. J & I were still trying to figure out our artistic place in the world after leaving New World Performance Lab, an internationally touring ensemble we had helped to found, performed with, and which I'd music directed for many years. I had recently begun helping Magical Theatre Company in Barberton, Ohio, with study guides for school group visits to their shows. I was also music director, keyboardist, and lead vocalist for the NRSB (New Revised Standard Band), a popular contemporary Christian rock band for the then-thriving contemporary worship services at Church of the Savior United Methodist in Canton, Ohio. J & I were living in Akron, Ohio, had finished renovating our first house (on Pioneer Street in the Goodyear Heights neighborhood). We'd put it on the market in April and were thinking about moving to Manhattan. We'd been making regular trips to NYC for various theatre auditions (J had recently gotten his Equity card) and job interviews (I was up for a book editor position with Time-Warner. I was also interviewed to assist Sarah Ban Breathnach on her Simple Abundance follow-up series.) I drove an aqua-colored Chevy Cavalier convertible that O.J. Simpson once rode in for a Football Hall of Fame Parade (before the murders, but people still joked about gloves in the trunk). I was busy, and I was on a conscious mission to figure out what made people happy... how they knew they were happy... and what being happy really felt like in its purest sense.

2.What are five things on my to-do list?

My to-do list is so daunting it makes me shudder every time I think about it. Five things don't even tip the iceberg! Finish my dissertation. Knit socks, spin yarn, and generally be creative. Teach the final session of my sock class. Pack for the family camping trip next week. Finish the embarrassing stack of laundry I've allowed to pile up. Make travel arrangements for a fiber-fest week with my sister in Oregon in September. Take pictures so I can update my blog with stuff I've been doing since my last post. Sell one of the scooters. Clean and organize the garage... again. Catch up on correspondence with friends.

3.Where have I lived?

Kirksville, Missouri; Richmond Heights, Ohio; Madison, Ohio; Conneaut, Ohio; Akron, Ohio; Irvine, California; Kyiv, Ukraine; Seattle, Washington.

4. What would I do if I were a billionaire?

It may be more a question of what I wouldn't do: I wouldn't buy a bunch of material things or give over to commercial gluttony. There are so many worthy things I would want to contribute to:

Family things: provide for C's education, mine & J's retirement, and our family legacy through careful planning and investment; have or adopt another child; buy land and a home equipped for sustainable living on one of the San Juan Islands; take care of my mom; set up an education fund to benefit all my nieces and nephews; pay back my dad for everything he's helped with over the years; send my sister to India for a year of travel and yoga study; send my brother to graduate school for architecture.

Social things: set up a foundation for social justice; set up a foundation in my mother's name for stroke research; set up a foundation in my mother-in-law's name for breast cancer research; set up a foundation in my aunt's name for Parkinson's Disease research; set up a foundation in my uncle's name for Crohn's Disease research; set up a foundation for Meniere's Disease research; set up a foundation for the arts in J's name, focusing on capacity building and entrepreneurial skills for emerging theatre artists/orgs, fostering arts-service organizations across the country (such as Theatre Puget Sound), and supporting international artistic exchange and ensemble-based work; establish an endowed fund for dissertating theatre scholars at the UW School of Drama; establish an endowed scholarship for interdisciplinary work between the arts and sciences; endow a scholarship for 75 teachers from Seattle Public Schools and neighboring, rural public schools to attend Teachers as Scholars seminars annually; endow a scholarship in my mother's name for women in seminary; endow a scholarship in my father's name for the underprivileged youth in the dual study of medicine and law.

Artistic things: Provide Akropolis Performance Lab (sorry, the website's out-of-date since I'm working on my dissertation!) with a bricks-and-mortar performance space/community arts center in the city; found an artistic retreat/educational/training facility in the country; set up a fund for APL to tour internationally.

Do I really have to tag people?! Unless I get bombarded with comments crying foul, I'm thinking I'll do the knitting blogosphere a favor and pull this particular trail of the meme off the march to exponential proliferation.

Next time... actual knitting and spinning stuff!!!