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!

Salt Rimmed Margarita

See I really have been knitting through all the kitchen turmoil and post turmoil baking time.

D has new Gus approved socks.

These are from Mt Rutsen Studio Madison yarn in the Margarita colorway. I love how eye searing green it is. It is a bit lost in the shadows but in person the color makes your mouth pucker because to reminds you of sucking on limes. That is how saturated the color is. While I was working on them I kept holding them next to Gus's eyes. They did not really match but hints of similar colors are there. 

Ah yes the toes. They were a bit of a problem, turned experiment. You see I've learned my lesson. Experience kept yelling at me as I got close to the toe on the first sock. When I do a pattern on the leg of D's socks I tend to use just a bit too much yarn. You'd think I would make the sock just a trifle shorter but you'd be wrong. 

I weighed the yarn and found I would indeed need to find two toes worth of complimentary yarn. It was D's idea to use a creamy yarn to give the idea of salt rimmed socks. I went digging in my left overs bags and found some of my favorite Icelandic yarn. 

The toe on the left is the first toe. I knit it fine then when I got to the second toe I suspected I would have the same problem on my hands only with different yarn this time. After a bit of juggling I decided to alternate rows of yarn. Now I want to do this on all my socks. I love the way it looks. 

Now D has a new set of blindingly beautiful socks. And I know which booth I'll be going back to this fall. They also had my favorite stitch markers, you remember the ones that made sweater knitting fun again? Maybe I need a nice basket too?

Socks on a Cat

Well since I can never seem to pin down D for his sock pictures, I called upon his stunt double Gustav.

First up we have Bittersweet Woolery's Frog Prince socks. With all the winter we were having I decided I needed something bright. Oh boy did these fit the bill. Good thing they were in my purse when I had to wait at the service station for a new battery. Winter killed off my old one.

Now the astute among you will note that the socks are in fact two shades the one on the left being more yellow while the one on the right is more green. I swear to you they were knit from the same skein of yarn. Now D has some totally unique super bright socks. Since he really is my Frog Prince.

Next up we have Gus modeling the first Pining for You sock from Socks that Rock Mediumweight. 

I did a nice little cable down one side since it adds a bit of excitement to a lovely plain-ish yarn color. 

This was not a warm day so Gus was not opposed to having wooly things draped over him. 

Finally my sock was still on the needles for the photo shoot and that does not make for a happy kitty knitting model so Jack nosed in to prove my knitting is kitty approved.

Now up on the needles for D is Mt. Rutsen Studio Margarita socks. I was saving this yarn for the dark winter days but somehow it missed the rotation twice now. I could not think of it sitting till next year, and since the grass may be uncovered it still is not growing yet. This color shall amuse me in the mean time. Totally not in my normal color selections but I am adoring it so far. Now if I could just find a cable to highlight the color.

I'm going to go feed the cats then look through a few knitting books

Rhinebeck Stash Enhancement

I found a lot of great yarn at Rhinebeck this year so you best get yourself a nice cup of tea and settle in for a show. I of course took my mandatory yarn on the grass poses. 

My first purchase this year is was what must be my favorite commercial sock yarn, Socks That Rock. I picked up two skeins of lightweight, because with all the exercise I am getting I should be a lightweight too soon. (I know it really does not work that way but a girl can dream, right?) This yarn makes some of my most reliable socks. I just wish Hubby felt the same, ah well that just means that I keep trying all the new yarns I find for him.

Shelridge Farm had some Opal colored yarn that I could not resist. I've made D a few pairs of socks from this yarn and they seem to be holding up fine. The yarn is called soft touch but to me it has a nice rustic feel, I find it quite enjoyable to knit with.

I finally decided to get a new circular needle case, my plastic one from Knitpicks never really won me over. And the best part of this one? I found one that holds dpns too. Crippenworks makes a fine needle case. Want to see the inside?

It is quite stylish. The maker will replace the elastic closure if I simply send it to her.  I told her I was still happy with my original dpn case I bought about five years ago. She inquired how the elastic was holding up. It has just a bit more play so it is good to know that I can get it fixed if required.

I found some lovely green cashmere sock yarn at Ellen's Half Pint Farm, smooshy smooshy yarn. I always think of how Pa called Laura Half Pint in the Little House on the Prairie books. If you have not read them maybe you should. Ya know since one of them was set in South Dakota. Of course that was also the book that had a terrible blizzard.

I bought a button! Mostly because I've been wanting this one for a while now. 

I even made it into the souvenir tent for some shirts. I almost saw a fight breakout too. There is a very fine line between line jumping and asking way too many questions. Especially when the person answering your questions tells you the best way to get service is to get in the line.

After the ruckus I grabbed a falafel for lunch and took a trip out to the car. You know for unloading purposes. It is pretty hard to manage the crowds and your over filled bag. Plus I had to pick up my book for Ann Budd to sign. She told us in class the day before that sitting alone at a book signing is very lonely and boring, and you all know how badly I wanted another knitting book signed.

D could not figure out what the inscription meant. "Enjoy your trip to the Masters." He was trying so hard to figure out how golf was related to the book. Sock knitting Master Class, get it?

A new shawl pin from KokoNoelle. This year I decided to go with a neutral color so I can confidently wear if with my more colorful shawls like say my Color Affection AKA the-shawl-that-will-not-be-photographed.

Bittersweet Woolery finally got me to buy Frog Prince. Every time I see the colors they call to me, this year I answered. Plus that name is almost as good as the name on my first skein of her yarn, Terrible Lizard.

Into the Whirled called to me with a skein of Martini & Rossi and a braid of Romney fiber in the Aurora Borealis colorway. It is so hard to chose fiber, first I zeroed in on the colors I wanted then you have to decide what fiber content you want. I've heard good things about Romney being a good beginner fiber.

My surprise find of the day was Tucker Woods. I must have walked by their booth three times before something lured me in. When I first started knitting I listened to podcasts and found out what was popular and in demand. As my stash has grown I've been able to purchase some of these well known brands. But now I find myself looking more toward the lesser known and local farms. I find it very gratifying to be able to purchase yarn from the shepherd, or at least someone that knows how real sheep smell. Plus look at that awesome bookmark! This Iverness colorway just keeps making me smile.

My surprise purchase of the festival was this particular colorway from Mt. Rutsen Studio, limey green is so not me. But it is called Margarita and something inside me hummed at the thought of limey socks. I don't even care that much for Margaritas, but seriously happy to make some limey socks. It is like knitting has broken all my color hatred rules. Things ten years ago that I would have wrinkled up my nose at, now make me happy. And those stitch markers there? They were the ones I missed buying at the Southern Adirondack Festival. I came for the stitch markers and stayed for the yarn.

Not a bad haul if I do say so myself. Eight new pairs of socks just waiting to get on my feet and worn out. I am a happy knitter. Are we taking any bets as to what gets cast on first?