librarysarie

What brings a knitter back from the dead?

Why, Rhinebeck, of course!

The last month of my life (since my last blog post) has moved along just like the month before it, busy, but with nothing bloggable going on. Still no reading to speak of, still no knitting.  But that didn't stop me from going to Rhinebeck, and I'm happy to say that I'm really glad I went.  It was a fun day to be sure, but more than that it was inspirational.  The needles have been clicking more since I got back...it was just the kick in the pants I needed.  I'm still not knitting a lot, but more than none is still an improvement!

I went on Saturday, and despite the horrid forecast, it actually turned out to be not too bad a day.  It was chilly, but I'm a New Englander -- I can deal!  I was perfectly warm in my Tangled Yoke, a turtleneck, and a windbreaker....didn't even need a hat, or to pull out the scarf I brought along.  And the rain held off.  The camera never made it out of my bag, but I ran into some friends (*waves* at Jessalu, Carole, and Zarzuela, among others), had a fun meet up with the other "aunties" from Juniper Moon Farm (formerly Martha's Vineyard FIber Farm), enjoyed some hot cider, and, yes, made some purchases. 

Here's a bad picture (I am still mourning the loss of my beloved camera.  I can't even be bothered to try to improve my dinkycam pictures):

The two spiraled-up rovings in the back are from Into the Whirled (and that was all Jessalu's fault!).  The pink-and-green sock yarn is from Sliver Moon Farm.  The off-white is Sylvan Spirit from Green Mountain Spinnery, and is destined to be a baby sweater of some type.  The dark stuff in the middle that you can't really see well is some amazingly soft alpaca/silk fiber from Gale's Art (it's so soft you can hardly even feel it when you touch it -- it was a total splurge, but I HAD to have it).  The yellow fiber and the brightly-colored fiber next to it are also from Gale's Art, and will be spun and plied together to make yarn for another baby thing.  And the gorgeous pink in front is merino/tencel I won from Zarzuela for correctly answering the question, when did she make her first Etsy shop sale?  (Thank you, Jessica!)

And then there was this, a mug from Jennie the Potter.

Tea just tastes better in a mug like this, somehow.  I love it!

Stitches East is here in Hartford this weekend.  I've got too much going on today to be able to go, but I might try to hit the market for a little while tomorrow...

Again with the sheep and the wool!

I think that after today I'll be done with festivals for a while -- I'm running out of room to store the inevitable acquisitions, and I'm running out of free weekends too!  My buddies Tamara and Cheryl and I headed northward today to the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft festival.  I love this festival -- it's a lovely drive, and it's a nice, compact, friendly, low-key event.  It's small enough where you can leisurely walk around to check everything out -- and then make a second pass to make your purchases.  That makes it much more relaxing than Rhinebeck, which always feels very harried and every-knitter-for-herself, you know?

Yes, I came home with some things.  Want to see?

I'm having a total brain hiccup and can't remember who I bought this from, but it's an 8oz merino top roving.

My favorite thing about Massachusetts Sheep and Wool is that Spunky Eclectic always has a booth there.  I love Amy's stuff, and I fell down hard in her booth.  I bought this lovely sock yarn...

...and all of this roving.  The top pic is a 4oz braid of BFL; the bottom one is four 4oz braids -- yes, one whole pound -- of Wensleydale roving.  I loved the colors so much, and Cheryl talked me into buying enough to (hopefully) make a sizable project out of.

A day with friends and fiber...what could be better?

Festivals and shopping and yarn, oh my!

It's been a fiberiffic week around here!

First up: last weekend I went to New Hampshire Sheep and Wool with my mom.  We'd gone together last year and had a blast, and decided to do it again this year.  The timing of the festival -- always Mothers' Day weekend -- is just an added bonus!

Maybe it was just me, but the festival seemed less crowded this year than in previous years.  The forecast for Saturday had been questionable (though it turned out to be a lovely day to be outdoors) so maybe that kept people away?  Who knows.  But we had a good time -- as with last year, the highlight of the day for us was the alpacas.

O HAI

The alpacas look so incredibly goofy when they've been sheared -- these big fluffy heads perched atop spindly little giraffelike necks.  Hee!

This alpaca was the starlet of the bunch.  Look at those eyes!  Those lips!  A pinup girl to be sure.  (Who knew that alpacas could be pretty?  In a related story, there was also an alpaca that somehow looked exactly like my cousin Lora.  I didn't get a picture, though, sadly.  You'll just have to trust me on this one.)

ALPACA LOAF.

And here's a bonus goat.  He was quite the cutie too!

So what did I get?  I was quite restrained, actually.  (Restrained in my photography, too, as I only took pictures of one of my purchases.)  I got some lovely shiny pale aqua merino/tencel roving, a kit for a new-to-me craft that I'm dying to try (I am going to save that big reveal for when I actually try it!), and this gorgeous Grafton batt.

The picture doesn't really do it justice -- this beautiful blue-green positively glows from within.  I couldn't say no to it!  (Now I just have to learn how to spin from a batt...)

And this week, there was even more fiber to be had!  My friend Trish, who I met at the Baskets of Yarn retreat, was in New England visiting for a family event.  It would be a criminal offense, I think, for a knitter to visit southern New England without a trip to WEBS - so I took the day off work on Thursday and Trish and I went shopping!  No pictures of the actual trip, but here's my haul.

Valley Yarns Goshen -- I think this is going to be Hey Teach!

Classic Elite Classic Silk - there's enough here for a vest.  (I've been on a vest-pattern-queueing kick lately.)

Berroco Ultra Alpaca in an absolutely impossible-to-photograph and impossible-to-describe colorway -- it's like an olive green with rust worked into it.  It's a prettier color than you might think, and I really liked it!  Very unusual.  I'm not entirely certain yet what this will be, but maybe Francis Revisited.

Two pictures here because it's so beautiful -- Malabrigo Sock, in the "indecita" colorway.

This is, I think, too pretty to be a pair of socks!  Any suggestions for a good scarf/shawlette pattern that would show it off to its best advantage?

And this is why WEBS rocks so much -- all that above, plus a skein of some plain charcoal gray sock yarn for Man Socks for Jim?  $100.  All those hours of knitting entertainment, plus finished garments at the end?  You can't beat it!

Trish and I had a lot of fun on our day together.  Yarn, a nice lunch, and time spent with a friend -- does it get any better than that?  She even brought me a totally unnecessary, but greatly appreciated, gift: Claudia Handpainted sock yarn.  Thank you so much, Trish!

And now, we knit!

The best icebreaker ever

I have a lot of tote bags, but this is the one I decided to take as my main Rhinebeck bag this year.

I came across that bag a couple of weeks ago while looking for something else online, and I HAD to have it.  At the time I wasn't yet sure whether I was going to to go Rhinebeck, but I knew that if I did go, it would have to come along with me.  And let me tell you, that bag was absolutely the best icebreaker ever.  Conservatively, I would guess at least 75 people stopped to comment on it and/or to ask me where I got it.  I could have bought multiples and sold them at a profit.  ;-)  And if you're one of those who saw me and was wondering where it came from, I found it on Cafepress, here.  I wish I'd thought of handing out one of my Moo cards (with my blog address) to the people who asked me about it! 

Anyway.  Rhinebeck!  In a word, it was great.  For starters, it was an absolutely glorious day.  I didn't do a full-fledged photography excursion on my way as I'd intended -- I decided to sleep in a little after staying up too late on Friday night -- but I did stop at a beautiful overlook on US44, near Amenia, NY.  I always mean to stop there if I go that way, but never have actually done it before.  It's a lovely scene, with rolling hills and farmland. 

The drive was just gorgeous -- between the foliage, the scenery, the bright sun, and the cloudless sky, it was one of those days that just made me feel glad to be alive.

I finally got to the fairgrounds around noon, just in time for the Ravelry meetup.  I snapped this picture of the group picture they were taking, grabbed a button, mingled for a few minutes, but then went on my way.  Shopping beckoned.  ;-)

It was REALLY crowded, there's no denying that.  So navigating some of the buildings was difficult, and there were some booths I didn't even bother with because it was just impossible to get into them, but by and large I wasn't too bothered.  It helped, actually, that I was by myself -- I didn't have to worry about losing my companions in the crowd.  And there wasn't anything I really WANTED to see that the crowds prevented me from doing.  I ate a small lunch in the car along the way, and had a couple of snacks and a bottle of water in my bag, so I didn't even have to stand in any food lines.  (Though late in the afternoon -- around 5pm -- I did decide to try the famous Rhinebeck artichokes.  They didn't disappoint, plus the line wasn't all that long -- and besides, I happened to be in line behind some online friends who I'd never met before, so it was fun to meet them briefly!)

I'm not going to even list the people I ran into because I don't want to leave someone out and hurt feelings, but it was great to meet up with some old friends, meet people who I've "known" online but had never seen in person before, and meet people who were totally new to me too!

Speaking of meeting new friends, Susan organized a meetup for Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm shareholders.  We all enjoyed cookies in the sun while we heard all about MVFF's  new venture -- the Hudson Valley Fiber Farm!!! -- and got to know each other a little. 

I also hung out with Susan, Patrick, and some of my fellow shareholders at the Ravelry party on Saturday night, before venturing out into the cold to try to find other friends who I knew were there somewhere.  The Rav party was a TON of fun, though I have no pictures to prove it -- I didn't bother with the camera because it was so dark.  I was there early enough to snag one of the coveted goodie bags, and had a great time, as before, catching up with people and meeting new friends.  The only thing that could have made it better is if I'd won one of the door prizes.  We can't have everything, though.  ;-)

So what did I fill my Obaaaaama bag with?

All in all, I was pretty restrained, no?  No real impulse buys, even....I didn't have a shopping list, per se, but I did have an idea of the sorts of things I wanted to get.  The two rovings on the left are from Creatively Dyed (all of her stuff was SO incredibly gorgeous), and one is wool/bamboo and the other is wool/seacell.  The big bag in the middle is a kit from Decadent Fibers for a needle felted pumpkin -- every year I look at those kits and decide against them for some reason, but I decided that this was the year, finally.  In front are two skeins of green wool from Green Mountain Spinnery, to go with the collection of worsted wool that I've been amassing for a colorwork sweater.  The gray skein is a yak/bamboo blend which was luxurious and unusual enough that I had to have it.  The giant blue ball is actually a deep eggplant purple, and it's a pound of merino roving.  And tucked in there are a niddy-noddy to match my wheel, and a WPI measuring tool.

And now begins the yarn diet.  ;-)  I have a ton of yarn to knit and roving to spin, and a lot of projects I'm really excited about.  I can't guarantee I won't fall off the wagon, but I am trying very VERY hard to not buy any more yarn until the knitting retreat next March!!

So who's going to Rhinebeck?

Rhinebeck is next weekend!  I'll be there on Saturday, and hope to stay for at least part of the Ravelry party that night.  I'll be going solo, I think -- my usual companions are either not going or will be going on Sunday, and Jim has things he'd rather do at home.  So drop a comment if you'll be there and would like to meet up, even if just for a few minutes.  I'd love to meet some of my virtual friends!

I have to admit, while I was, at first, sort of sad about going alone, I'm rather looking forward to it now.  I'm going to bring along the camera (of course) and take the scenic route, and hopefully do some photography along the way without feeling like I'm keeping companions waiting.  And if I'm by myself, I can look at whatever I want, for as long as I want.  Nothing wrong with any of that!

The long-range forecast is looking perfect -- as of today, they're predicting sun and temperatures in the upper 50s.  Could there be any better weather for everyone to show off their Rhinebeck sweaters?  (Much better than last year, at least, when it was FAR too hot, in my opinion, for sweater wearing!)  Fingers crossed that the forecast holds! 

And as for Rhinebeck sweaters...it didn't initially start out as such, but my Tilted Duster is now my official Rhinebeck garment.  I finally got around to giving it a good soak and a spin-dry this afternoon, and it's now basking outside. 

It's a lovely, warm fall afternoon and I'm going to take the spinning wheel out on the deck and enjoy the last bit of the day!

Gentle Reader, I attended the fiber festival.

A couple of posts ago, I was pondering going to the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival.  My mom read my post and suggested we go together as a mother-daughter outing, since we so rarely get to do anything alone together.  Mom isn't a knitter so it hadn't occurred to me that we could go together, but duh -- she does love a fair (who doesn't?) so it made perfect sense.  So while Jim played his weekly volleyball game and worked on the deck, I drove up to New Hampshire early on Saturday morning, picked Mom up, and we made our way to Contoocook.

What a great day!  We both enjoyed the herding dog demonstration.

The border collies were just so amazingly well-trained -- it was fascinating to watch them do their thing.  (And interestingly, watching them interact with the sheep was a lot like watching my cats interact, in a way -- Gandalf being the herding dog, and Maggie being the sheep who get cornered by the herding dog. :-))

We enjoyed the sheep and the wool, but I think we'd both agree, though, that the alpacas were a real highlight of the day. 

There was this little dude, who looked (in my opinion!) rather like an Ewok.

And this one, who reminded us of nothing so much as a giraffe, between the coloring and the long skinny neck!

The shaved alpacas really did look so delightfully goofy, with their spindly little necks and their poofball heads.  SO CUTE.

Mom was so obviously taken with the alpacas that she got to go into a pen and pet one.  I think she wants a pet alpaca now.  :-)

Needless to say, I had to buy a skein of alpaca yarn.  I'm going to make handwarmers for Mom.

I got some spinning fiber too.  This one is some Louet merino/silk in "princess blue."  It's very rare that blues call to me, but boy, this one did.  It's gorgeous -- it reminds me of the sky at twilight.  I got a whole pound of it -- so once I spin it, I'll have a lot of options!

And this one is firestar (which I assume is acrylic?) fiber -- it was sort of an impulse buy, but I was taken by how sparkly it was.  The sample yarn that was spun up from it looked pretty neat.  This might look cool plied with some black merino....

It was a fun day, and a great way to spend Mother's Day weekend!  Thanks, Mom!

The Knitters Take Northampton

It's like The Muppets Take Manhattan, only different.  :-)

The Mad Knitters and I, along with about a thousand other knitting friends we haven't met yet, descended upon Northampton this weekend to hear the Yarn Harlot.  This was my third time hearing her talk (fourth, if you count the fact that I stumbled on her booksigning at Book Expo America last year) and each time gets better and better.

It was, as you would expect, a fabulous day.  Lots of laughing, lots of yarn, lots of food afterwards (boy, were we hungry...) -- it's pretty much what Mad Knitters are all about.  :-)

The line for the signing at Webs was SO long that I think we'd all pretty much decided that we wouldn't bother with it -- it was enough just to be there.  But the timing gods were smiling down upon us -- by the time we finished up our shopping (and our standing in the checkout line...) the signing line had dwindled down to nothing -- so we scooted over there and the four of us were the Very Last Knitters.  How about that?

Despite lugging around the camera all day, I wasn't very good at the picture-taking.  Go figure.  (Tamara has more, as well as better commentary.)  But here are a few. 

Kathy and Steve warm up the crowd -- with awesome door prizes! -- before the talk.  (We sat down in the orchestra but paid a visit to the mezzanine to get a glimpse at the crowd, and I snapped this while we were up there.)

Nicole and Cheryl were Webs virgins! 

Courtesy of Tamara, here we are.  The Last Knitters Of The Day.  I'm amazed Stephanie was still conscious, still chatty and funny, and could still spell her name.  I can't even begin to fathom signing hundreds of books at a clip.

And here's the hatch of the Prius, all loaded up with our purchases for the ride home.  (Actually, individually we were all pretty tame, as far as how much we bought.  None of us even came close to $100!  But when it's all together it looks impressive, no?  We should have dumped all the yarn out.  THAT would have been a fun picture.)

What did I get?

Cheryl convinced me that I need some Ecological Wool to make a Hemlock Ring blanket...

...and it wouldn't be a trip to a yarn store without a sock yarn acquisition, would it?

In short, it was an excellent day.  It certainly made getting up early on Monday (for the long drive down to the CLA conference) that much harder.  :-)

Yarn hangovers are long-lasting

By this point, every other knitblogger on the planet has written about Rhinebeck, and I am, as usual, several days behind.  But as my dad used to say, better Nate than lever.  (Actually, that sounds more like something my mom would say.  Hmm.  At any rate, some parent or another used to say that.)

Anyway.  Rhinebeck was a lovely day.  I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to go, but things fell together just a couple of days in advance and I did in fact get to attend with Tamara, Dara, Nicole, and Tamara's daughter Agent K. 

When we first entered the fairgrounds, we were greeted by this guy.  We saw him a couple of times over the course of the day, and this -- standing astride two horses while wearing spandex -- seemed to be all he did.  It was most intriguing.  Has he made a career out of this?  What exactly is he?

The activities started with necessary fortification -- chocolate and caffeine. 

Then it was on to bigger and better things.  This being the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, there were indeed sheep.  Many many sheep. 

And there was a leaping llama competition.  (Incidentally, doesn't that sound like an exclamation from Little Orphan Annie?  "Leapin' llamas, Sandy!")

And there was yarn.  Lots and lots of pretty, pretty yarn.  Here's just one example.

Would you believe me if I told you that I spent less than $100?  The others all ribbed me, because I have a stash of epic proportions already and still bought more, but I thought I exercised remarkable self-restraint, thankyouverymuch. 

The pink roving is 100% Tussah silk from Sliver Moon Farm, and the purple/green/brown roving is Merino/tencel, also from Sliver Moon Farm.  The teal roving is merino from Cloverleaf Farms.  The smaller spindle is the one I bought at Rhinebeck -- it's a Bosworth -- and the larger one is the one I previously broke (but which is now repaired, thanks to Jim) -- it's from Cascade Spindles and I bought it from Spunky Eclectic. 

And that, in a nutshell, was Rhinebeck.  Friends, sheep, laughter, coffee, and yarn.  What more does one need?

Next post: Project updates, perhaps, and One Awesome Package!