Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival

It is that time of year again! 

I get to pet some short sheep and fondle woolie goodness to my hearts content. I just have to remember to buy the woolies before I love them, and pet them, and call them George.

I do believe I will start documenting one of my festival traditions. I like to wear a pair of socks made from yarn bought at last year's festival. It is a way for me to connect with the vendors. I can be rather shy or quiet at times so this works as a method of breaking me out of my shell. A beautiful form of woolie armor.

This year's armor is Fiber Stash's You Pick socks. Now these socks have my heart with all their vibrant beauty. It is very difficult to be sad looking at these socks.

So I bought more yarn from them.

Left to right: Tweedy Toes in "Moss", Polworth Roving in "70083" and Twinkle Toes in "Bushel".

Now I am not a Twinkle Toes kind of girl but sometimes when the yarn calls to you, you just pay the darn bill and be happy about it.

From D's Salt Rimmed Margarita Socks vendor, Mt Rutsen Studio, I found some more lovelies.

Little Abbey in "Auroa Borealis" (with neps) and Madison in "Deep Cornflower". Also I bought two more packs of my favorite stitch markers. You know the ones that made sweater knitting fun.

Last year I bought yarn for a sweater from Ensign Book Farm. I swatched the yarn but started having anxiety about running out of yarn so I let it sit and marinate in my mind. Last month I realized I can just buy more yarn in different colors and knit a colorwork yoke sweater. (I think I may have enough for sweater, cowl and mitts, na maybe I should buy more.)

In front may be my last skein of their Great Scott sock yarn.  

A nice big sweater/shawl bag from Stitched by JessaLu. Doctor Who themed of course.

That is five of the sweater skeins in there! Yowsa!

All of my new pretties taking a class picture. Could I be any more proud? 

Oh right I will be once I knit them into their destiny, right!

Like this sock of D's. It was showing off what some of them could/will be.

D came out at the end of the photo shoot to check out the new kids. 

Then he played yarn Jenga with them. 

Yarn Jenga is the best kind of Jenga!

Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival 2013

Last Saturday I took myself off to a lovely fiber festival. As I've said before I like it because it is quite a bit more laid back and relaxed than Rhinebeck. There are less people to rub against but there are also less sheep to rub against too. 

Hey lady you have a cookie?

I like cheek rubs more,  I can never quite reach that spot. Yep right there!

I had a very nice corn chowder bread bowl from the 4H booth but I ate it before it could get cold, so no pictures. Since my ice cream was already cold I took a picture of that instead. It is great ice cream that I only discovered last year. This year I did not care if it was chilly I needed a creamy sugar high.

And with that we move on to the non edible goodies. Well Jack would try to eat them but he is just a tad string crazy. I think he may be trying to floss his stomach.

I got two skeins of my now favorite sock yarn. Icy Acres Icelandic sock yarn. I am hoping they might have some brown yarn next year. They have lovely brown Lopi yarn but not in the sock yarn. I'll just have to make some more favorite socks to tide myself over.

In the same booth but different farm was my second favorite sock yarn from last year. Ensign Brook Farm's Cheviot sock yarn. Two bright colors, I really loved the one on the left but the one on the right convinced me it would be fun to knit with also.  Never mind the fact that I have a natural skein left over from last year too. So many yarns so little time.

This one I picked up for D. You know there is such a sock number discrepancy between us that I am trying to make up for. Alas if you don't come shopping with me, I don't know what colors you will like and I tend to pick the colors that I like, and then make socks for me. Unless I find a nice blue/black/forest green colorway. That color combination just screams manly to me. It may have something to do with the Black Watch Tartan being those colors and there is nothing more manly than a man in a kilt.

Back to topic, Foster Sheep Farm's sock yarn, dyed by Carole. You catching the local theme here?

Once early on D called me while I was shopping for yarn. I asked him what color yarn he wanted for his socks. He replied Chestnutty, so now when I see it I usually buy chestnut colored yarn, hence my skein from Ball and Skein.

When I was showing off my yarn to him he really liked that color. I am starting to believe that he just may be a squirrel at heart.

My first purchase of the festival was a bag by Jessalu. This one may break the sheep theme but I still have some lobsters on the inside. I like her bucket style too because I can wrap the handle around the bar at the American Legion and knit without taking up space on the bar. This knitter has her priorities.

This year's haul, 2 for him, 4 for me and a bag. I did forget to go back for some nice stitch markers at a booth. Maybe next year?

I even got my lost phone back so it is easy to say it was a good festival this year.

Whew

I think I need another weekend starting tomorrow. In my ideal world, there would be one day of the weekend that I do not leave the house. This weekend was less than ideal but more than fun.

Gus and I are both having issues and we managed to fill the weekday schedule. We were at the vet's office twice and I threw in a two - three hour dentist visit in. I don't think either one of us was really happy with the week but we got through it and seem to be improving.

I know going to a fiber festival helped me. That is right stash season is being celebrated right now. Saturday was the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival at the Washington County fair grounds.

I wore these socks made from yarn I bought last year at Ensign Brook Farm. At smaller less hectic festivals I like to show off what I've made with people's yarn. I like to think of it as the yarn visiting the shepherdess.

I had a lovely time telling Karin that her yarn made great socks. She asked if I liked the spin of the yarn and I had to consider for a moment. I do but I had never really considered that question before. It was nice to meet someone who thinks about those things as part of their job. It never really hit before that I was talking to someone who has the power to change. Is that how we should define local? 

In the same booth I told the shepherdess at Icy Acres that her yarn made the best socks ever! They felted a bit but did not shrink and make an excellent pair of house socks/slippers.

I got two more skeins of sock yarn from each farm. I will be lovingly adding them and some others to the stash soon. That is of course if I can resist casting on and finish some other lovely socks first.

After five hours at the festival we went to a couple friend's house and had a nice dinner. We lost horribly at pool but that was mostly due to me. They're such a fun couple because they really work together. They're always laughing and making us laugh. It is such a blessing to have friends like that. Plus she has a quilting machine and makes beautiful quilts. I got to watch the machine in action and was mesmerized. If you want to see her beautiful quilts just check out her blog. If ever I were to take up quilting I would have her and my mom to thank for it. But not just yet.

Today we made five trays of my Taco Bake for snacking while watching football at the American Legion. I over estimated how much we needed to make so now I will see how it freezes and reheats. It seemed quite the hit with the crowd, but then again they are a highly appreciative crowd when it comes to food. I had a couple of recipe requests. Whew, making that much food makes me tired.

Ooo I think D is making tea now so I am going to kick back and enjoy the rest of my weekend.

Finnish River Socks

I have a Finnish river named Kalajoki on my feet now. 

You know how you're just going through life and something keeps catching your peripheral attention? I was searching for a pattern that was not my standard sock, but not reinventing the sock either. This nice plain sock with a nice meandering detail kept showing up on the screen. The three times I thought hey that is a nice sock, Kalajoki was on the screen. What is a knitter to do, other than cast on?

The yarn is Ensign Brook Farm, Great Scott from Cheviot sheep. Go on over and see how good looking these sheep are. Cute little buggers aren't they? This was again one of my bonus finds from the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival last September. I wanted to find some breed specific yarns that were not Merino. While I love a soft smooshy Merino yarn, there is just something ultra satisfying working with a yarn that does not coddle you. A yarn that can go on a mid winter hike with you and not whine the whole way, unlike me the person wearing it. I whine a lot while hiking. No wait I meant I wheeze a lot while hiking.

I bought a natural colored skein too. I had planned to make a pair for D out of it, but man is it hard giving up the added warmth of this type of socks. Although if I worked it right, I bet they would make excellent boot socks for D. Luckily I don't have to worry about it since he has another pair on the needles now. And fair is fair, that means the next pair I cast on should be mine, right?

What do you mean I have a whole drawer full of socks? I'm not telling him, are you? Oh right he reads the blog too. (I love you honey.)

Anyways, I am currently eyeing a skein of yarn Adriene sent me in our swap. I'm trying to see if it should be plain socks or fancy socks. It is not giving me any clues yet.

Contrast

Let's talk about contrast in yarns shall we? As you know I usually have several projects on the needles at the same times. (It is also how I read so I guess it is normal for me.) I like socks so it tends to be a lot of socks in various stages. Turning a heel on this one, cuff ribbing on that one, and somewhere on the foot of that one. I know where I am on the sock I don't get confused, trust me I've made a few!

The yarns may be different colors but they tend to be similar weight and texture. I mean wool feels like wool, right? Not always. 

I have learned to appreciate crunchy, bold wool. A lifetime spent running around outside barefoot allows you to tolerate what your pampered chin and neck will not. I am all for keeping my little ice blocks (feet) toasty. That yarn sometimes comes from the sheep that know cold, Icelandic and Scottish (Cheviot) sheep. 

This sock is from Cheviot sheep. It is crunchy, rustic and I expect great things from these socks. Toasty toes with a implied durability. Softer yarn can be more delicate. 

These have been fun because you know you're knitting with Wool, insert manly grunt here. This is wool I can trust on a hike or camping trip. This is farm girl wool! (I did buy it from a farm girl too!)

In contrast I am knitting myself some mittens. An arctic blast of cold sweeping the country will do that to you. While these will see quite a bit of use, I will not trudge through the woods directly on them. These babies will protect my hands from the ohh so cold steering wheel. Arctic blast remember? And for that task I chose a wool, cashmere nylon blend. It is not much cashmere but it is enough to make me know what heaven will feel like. 

So what I am saying is, what a difference between these two wools, yet I find utter contentment in both of them. I can appreciate them both for different reasons. It has been especially interesting switching between the two also. My own texture game.

Now I'm thinking a new sweater would be nice too. I have some nice rustic crunchy wool in need of some knitting.

S ADK Fiber Festival Oh Yeah!

Well this festival was a great time. Perfect weather and lovely vendors with beautiful wares.

True to my word I stopped at Stitched by Jessalu first. (She may be working on her site.) Well I did visit the ladies room first, but she was my first purchase of the day. As you can tell I love sheepy project bags, she has other prints but me I need to see happy sheep and a touch of London too. 

I then made a preliminary run through of all the barns just to do a mental inventory. I kept saying "I'll be back" and I was too.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of farms shared a booth and had I've been looking for but always seem to miss, Icelandic sock yarn. (It is from Icy Acres.) I've heard people rave about Icelandic sock yarn and soon I will be joining them. It is the lovely natural cream skein on the left.

In the same booth was Ensign Brook Farm whose name always makes me smile. D was an Ensign in the Navy when we married and I've always liked the word. Anyways they had lovely sock yarn too, called Great Scott cheviot. They had done some research and decided the sheep that are good enough to be used for kilt hose in Scotland is good enough for them. I am anxious to put this yarn to the test too. I bought both a dyed skein and a natural one. She used heavy metal free dyes too.

I did not buy any of their Romney sheep yarn but one of the funniest things of the festival was the lady telling me that people kept asking her if the yarn was from Mitt Romney's farm? I was then forced to ask her where her Obama yarn was. I'm guessing they were new festival people. Welcome to the club we take red and blue states. But we don't discuss politics on my blog.

Back to the yarn you say, well if I must. I then stopped into the Liberty Fibers to show off my socks and pick up something new. I'll be showing you the socks again in another post since I now have better pictures so you can see how truly lovely they are. (I may be a tad biased.) And while I was showing off she even remembered reading about them here. You may not recognize my face but my socks can be fairly distinctive.

I wandered back to the front of the show to pick out a skein for D socks. That is a pretty handsome, manly blue right? While he likes the crazy colors socks he also enjoys a subdued pair. Subdued manliness courtesy of Ball and Skein. This one is called After Midnight.

Periwinkle Sheep is sometimes stocked in my LYS, but some colors can not be resisted, plus if we want vendors at the festivals we need to buy from the vendors. I was there when a few of her knitting group cohorts were there. I heard "Well if it is not enough you know where to get more." quite a few times. It made me giggle. Now when I knit this one I will be constantly thinking of a Frenchman saying "Your mother smells of Elderberries." because its name is Elderberry. It remains one of the most creative insults I've ever heard.

Ah Bittersweet Woolery you tempting seductress you! I picked up Beloved on the left first, in the Glamourous Gams yarn base that includes cashmere. Oh cashmere I am loving you so. Then I noticed Debutante on the right in the Guilty Pleasures yarn base. Finally I tucked the middle one Oxblood in to my arms too. I thought for a bit and reasoned I should put Oxblood back and get another color of the less expensive Guilty Pleasures colorway when I realized it was in that base. Oh happy day, since I absolutely adore my Terrible Lizard socks from last year.

As I thinking this would be a nice combo for the Color Affection shawl, the owner asked me if that would be what I was making. I said no and we both agreed that the two darker ones are too close to be a good contrast but hmm, I need to buy that pattern and get the yarn requirements before I go to Rhinebeck because I am so jumping on that knitting train.

And I bought my first knitting tea cup. I packed it safely in with all my yarn. It was either Yarn Diva or Yarn Snob but this cup fit my hand best to that is what counts the most. I have the potter's card around here somewhere but I'll have to find it before I can post about them.

Now I was headed for the car with my overpacked bag when I decided to peak in on St Mary's on the Hill. Boy was I glad I did, where else can you get an ounce each of silver Romney roving and Tunis roving for less than $5? What more can a beginner spinner ask for? Plus I got to relive my high school cashier days when I offered help in using the old school credit card imprinter. My cashier skills are still intact!

Lastly I found some lovely roving at Foster Sheep Farm. Dyed Romney roving on the left and natural Wensleydale X Romney roving on the right. So I picked up some fiber with my yarn. Thanks Honey for suggesting that I take up spinning.

I did see several beautiful spindles but I just don't have the experience to buy another one. I may just need to try a few out at Rhinebeck, who knows?

Well here is my haul, in all its glory.

A great mix of things to enjoy. I better get knitting as Rhinebeck is closing in on me. Oh and D correctly estimated the value of my pile. Dude may be getting too smart for his own good. Nah he knows how many hours of entertainment it is for me too.