Rhinebeck – Part 2

We left the fairgrounds at around five on Saturday, went back to the hotel for a bit, then went to the Ravelry party. It was dark so the pictures didn’t really turn out (Winged Orange has some nice ones), but I can show you the awesome cupcakes:

I had such a great time at the Ravelry party.  The coolest part was talking face to face with some of the knitbloggers I follow, like Peaceful Knitter, Whitknits, Lindsey Rose and Space Kitty. It was sort of hard not to be a geeky fangirl and swoon in the presence of Jess and Casey and the gang. While we were at the party, Allison gave me a spinning tutorial and convinced me to get a spindle the following day.

After the party we went back and hung out at the hotel with the other knitters, and Karen gave a spinning lesson to some of the Taunton gals.

On Sunday, we had breakfast at the hotel with our Southern CT buddies Mary Jane and Daria, then went back to the fairgrounds.

The weather was noticeably colder and wetter, and the crowds were noticeably more sparse. It wasn’t horrible though, it could have been a lot worse. I was pretty comfortable in my green winter coat, with my Foliage set and my Seraphim as a scarf. The upside was that the Sunday Ravelry meetup was a lot less crowded, so we got to talk to Jess and Casey.   I like to think I kept it together.

So, you may be asking, is that a spindle and fiber in my hands? Yes, yes it is. Don’t judge me! I guess I’m easily peer pressured But as you can see from my coat and my Lexie Barnes bag, that green is totally my color.  My friends told me to get four to six ounces, but as the lady was unwinding that ball I saw that the inside was a different shade.  I had visions of beautiful barberpoled green handspun and I panicked.  I bought the whole thing.  Some time in the next year I hope to have a green handspun vest.

We left the fairgrounds pretty soon after that.  Hooray for a great trip to Rhinebeck, and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Rhinebeck – Part 1

This weekend I went up to Rhinebeck for the first time with some yarny friends from the Connecticut River SnB.

(here you see Maura, Sharon, Allison and Karen)

We had a great time!

We drove up on Friday, and stayed at the Quality Inn in Kingston.  Some of the other folks in my SnB knew two other great knitters from CT, and we also met up with awesome folks from Taunton, MA and Upstate NY.  In the lobby that night, I worked on mittens that I desperately wanted to be able to wear this weekend.  I messed them up, so I did emergency surgery, with Doctor Allison assisting.

There was some scarring, but the patient survived.

On Saturday, we got to the fairgrounds at about 10:30. The first part of the day was a blur of yarn and fiber and cute sheepies. I tend to get overwhelmed at fairs. We really lucked out in the weather department though. They were predicting rain and snow and sleet and utter misery, but it didn’t rain much at all on Saturday, and I was perfectly comfortable in my Lite Lopi Pullover and a Foliage in Malabrigo Bulky (Rhodesian colorway) that I knit for the occasion.

At noon we went to the Ravelry Meetup, which was great. The star of the show was a giant knit Bob head, which is a rather amazing showing of skill and dedication.

(apparently it was designer Ysolda Teague under there, which I didn’t know at the time.  You can also see Laura/Cosmicpluto on the right in the orange mitts.)

Aaron, one of my traveling companions, took the opportunity to re-enact his Remnants thread, “Ask Justonescarf a Question”

In that photo, he’s wearing his THIRD scarf and his first HAT. We’ll have him knitting aran pullovers one of these days.

After the meetup, we went to check on our friend Jacie’s yarn submissions. She won a blue ribbon in the novice spinners category!

Woo hoo! Go Jacie!

After we saw the blue ribbon, I decided to take out my mittens, and work on them as we walked.

People stared a bit, which I thought was odd. Isn’t Rhinebeck EXACTLY the place to work on mittens as you walk? And anyway, I finished them, so it was worth it.

Whew, I think that’s enough excitement for one post. More to come tomorrow!

FAIL

Argh, school reared its ugly head and kicked my butt over the last couple of weeks. I completely failed at NaBloPoMo.

I also completely failed at my goal of finishing my sweater before Rhinebeck.

That red string shows where I was when I brought the thing out of storage. Whoops.

But you know what? It’s ok.

Mother Nature is gearing up for a total weather FAIL this weekend. It would have been way too cold to wear that sweater anyway. No choice but to swaddle myself in copious amounts of other yarny goodness.

Before

What is that, a hat?

No, it’s the Dotty Cat Bed pre-felting.

Fiona doesn’t seem impressed so far. I hope she likes it after a trip through the washing machine!

Coming out of hiding

Last night I mentioned that my first trip to Rhinebeck is coming up.  As I was writing that I realized that, indeed, Rhinebeck is only two weeks away!  What should I wear?  It seems that everyone who’s anyone is making a Rhinebeck sweater (as those in the know have for years, of course).

I haven’t started (or finished) any new sweaters recently, so I was thinking hard about what I could whip up in two weeks. Then I remembered this:

It’s my Pinstripe Pullover that I put in storage back in March.

I have about two inches left of the body to do before I start the sleeves. Think I can finish it in time?

NaBloPoMo

Should I do NaBloPoMo?  On the one hand, pressure kills the fun of knitting and blogging.  On the other hand, my first trip to Rhinebeck is coming up.  And Stitches East is coming to my home town of Hartford, Connecticut (wooot!).  I’ll have plenty to write about, right?

If not, you guys appreciate cute kitty pictures, don’t you?

I thought so.

Knucks!

As a law student, I try to live frugally.   We keep our house really cold.   I’m also up late typing or studying a lot, and last winter I kept wishing for fingerless gloves to wear while typing.

Pattern:  Knucks, Knitty, Summer 2006
Yarn:  Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed, about half a skein of blue and less than a quarter of a skein of green.

I should have made these earlier!  They are exactly what I wanted and I can still type quite easily with them on.

For the embroidery, I did very simple tendril designs, so they match the Flora I’m almost done with.  I think the simple rustic design works well with the rustic yarn.

I’m sure I’ll get a TON of use out of these this winter!

Bat Shawl Errata

It’s that time of year again!  Halloween is coming up, and when better to make a Bat Shawl?

Sadly, there are errors in the published pattern.  The triangular “body” of the shawl is correct, but there is a problem with the border.  Here are the corrections, in bold:

Row 7 should have 341 sts not 355.

Row 9: K1, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1, work row 9 of Chart C 10 times, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, pass marker, k1, pass marker, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1, work row 9 of Chart D 10 times, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k1.

Rows 11 and 13 stay the same

Row 15: K1, yo, k1, yo, k4, k2tog, yo, work row 15 of Chart C 10 times, k1, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k1, yo, pass marker, k1, pass marker, yo, k1, yo, k4, k2tog, yo, work row 15 of Chart D 10 times, k1, yo, ssk, k4, yo, k1, yo, k1.

Row 17: See revised chart.

Rows 19-25 stay the same

Row 27: K1, yo, k8, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k4, work row 27 of Chart C 10 times, k2, k2tog, k10, yo, pass marker, yo, k10, ssk, k1, work row 27 of Chart D 10 times, k5, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k8, yo, k1.

Row 29: K1, yo, k9, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k5, work row 29 of Chart C 10 times, k1, k2tog, k11, yo, pass marker, yo, k11, ssk, k2, work row 29 of Chart D 10 times, k4, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k9, yo, k1.

Here are the revised charts:

Chart C:

Chart D:

I’m sorry for the problems, and I hope it works out now!

Seraphim

Happy dance!

Seraphim is done!

Pattern:  Seraphim by Miriam Felton
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock, Tiziano Red, approx 1.5 skeins

I love how it turned out!

Not that I’m any good at wearing shawls.

It’s the largest shawl I’ve ever made at just a touch over 80 inches across the top.

My love of Malabrigo Sock as a lace yarn continues unabated. I love how crisp the stitches look, and how the shawls turn out warm yet light.

I chose this color because the YOs before the feathers start remind me of sparks drifting up from a campfire, so I had intended this to be my Fire entry for project spectrum. I missed the deadline, but oh well.

I don’t usually wear this color, I’m more drawn to cool colors. Also, this is my mom’s favorite color, so stuff this color feels like it should be hers rather than mine. It looks good on me too though, I think. And as a bonus, I have a skein and a half of this color left over so I can make something for her!

Thank you to Miriam Felton for a beautiful and well-written pattern!

Eeek, steek!

I have a bunch of finished objects to show you in the next week or so, but first I’ll show you yet another new thing I’ve started.

I’ve been meaning to make Eunny Jang’s Deep V Argyle Vest for awhile, and it seemed like a good opportunity to use my newfound comfort with stranded knitting.

So I did a swatch in the round…

crocheted the steek…

and cut it.

Despite my fears, it did not turn to dust as soon as I cut it. I think I proved to myself that it can work. I can do this!