Hauling Rhinebeck Yarn

I've reached the time of year that I sit and stare at my yarn and plan what I will be doing with it. Socks, there will most certainly be many socks. I love having pictures of my yarn to look back on. In my case it is true, becoming a knitter has made me appreciate all the colors more. 

You'll notice that I have found a new function for my tea service tower. Normally you would bake tempting treats, plate them and display them with your lovely three tiered tower. I'm gonna display my yarn goodies there for a bit. It also makes carrying everything outside easier.

Remember a few years ago I discovered Wild Apple Farm's yarn? I even made my first Rhinebeck sweater out of it. I was lost when they stopped coming to Rhinebeck a few years ago. Wait a minute was this my 9th trip to Rhinebeck? Yikes! Think of all the wool I've found.

Back to sweater yarn, I found out that Bartlett Yarns was actually making my sweater yarn. So I bought a new sweater, assembly is still required but that is half of the fun.  I'm thinking of a sweater from A Fine Fleece.

They had a lovely dark gray that I still wish I had bought, but the lighter gray will be able to show off the cables better. And let's be honest I will probably get the dark gray next year, hopefully while wearing this year's light gray.

Buttons! I guess I can no longer hide it I am a button person. Top one says "either you love SHEEP or you're wrong." Bottom is pretty clear, "A life without yarn is no life at all." I also found one for a yarnie friend of mine but I'm going to keep it secret for a little while. 

Seriously, how does a woman who professed to hate yellow and orange, buy this kind of yarn?

Or this?

Now this one I get, I could claim it is mostly blue. 

 I forgot to take a picture of them all out laying on the ground together. I took individual pictures to post the yarns into my stash on Ravelry. I bought more than three skeins. I believe I bought enough yarn to keep me busy for a while. Since I tend to buy my yarn at festivals or Portland Oregon it is important to make sure you have enough to tide you through the coming year(s).

I did take another picture once I had packed it all back up. That whole top shelf is my Rhinebeck yarn. Yeah, if yarn makes you happy...I've got an excellent year in front of me.

For the Record

Dragonfly Djinni Sock "Aurora Borealis"

Dragonfly Dragon Sock "Hudson River Valley"

Dragonfly Traveler "Starry Night" (I love this colorway so much I bought it again in a different weight. I was thinking of making the Honey Cowl again.)

Blue Moon Fiber STR lightweight "Free Range Chickens"

Blue Moon Fiber STR mediumweight "Farmhouse"

These two are remarkably similar. I've been in love with Farmhouse for a while and who can turn down a colorway with chickens in it.

Shelridge Soft Touch Heather "Bronze"

Shelridge Soft Touch Heather "Gunmetal"

D already has a pair of Gunmetal socks but it is such a good color and yarn that I may just delegate it as a repair yarn, we'll see.

Peace Love and Yarn Kestrel "Sunflower"

This is a new yarn to me and totally out of my color comfort zone, but I totally had to have it. It will be interesting what it knits up as.

Lisa Sousa Hard Twist Merino Petite "Awwe-tum"

Again out of my old color habits but so beautiful. They also had a sock yarn base but I thought the hard twist might be better for socks, now I am not so sure. I checked on Ravelry and people have made socks from this yarn, another we'll see.

Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Note "Prisim Break"

Catkin Pattern, I finally broke down and bought it. Now I just need to figure out what color combo.

I remember finding their booth one year and easily buying yarn the next few years it was not so easy. I am happy they are so popular, but am glad I can get in the booth now. I can not say the same of Miss Babs.

Bartlett Yarns 2-ply Aran weight 9 skeins

Hopefully to make a cabled sweater from A Fine Fleece.

Three funny buttons at Bitsy Knits. I should have bought more but there is always next year.

Carolina Homespun Knitter's Dreamz needles 2.25 cubic needles and fixed 32" US 9 circular. I had a lovely chat with a lady. She even asked me if I had used the cubic needles and liked them. 

Gary's Pickles 1 quart spicy and 1 quart sour. (Spicy is much better!) These were a D find last year. I promised to get some if they were there again. When I texted him the choices, he texted back: Yes. So I got both. 

Two bottles of wine from Crooked Creek. Cab Franc and Riesling. Yeah I am complicated that way, I like complex red wine and sweet white.

So in summary I took my time this year and went through most of the barns several times. I remembered to eat before I got angry and to drink too. I tend to let myself get dehydrated. I hit all three restrooms too. The lines were long but moved quickly. I made one stop off to empty my bag at the car. It was nice to lighten up and sit quietly.

This year I concentrated on being in the moment and not getting overwhelmed. It is so easy to let the crowds get to you. 

Festival

Can you guess what this weekend was? Well that shot does not really help but you can see it is much less crowded than Rhinebeck.

I have more yarn and yarny related goodness. 

Yep, it was Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival time again. I carefully picked out my socks so I could show them to their dyer. She took a picture and offered me 10% off the day's purchase but I was on the hunt for something and forgot to go back to the booth. I ended up buying from all new vendors.

First up we have Deathly Hallows from Forbidden Woolery. It is 100% Blue Faced Leicester (a sheep breed) and lovely. I was drawn into the booth by an amazing green skein but decided my last few purchases have been green, I will go with something different this time. (You're going to laugh at that comment later.) The shop owner pointed out to me that we tend to buy colors similar to what we're wearing and since I had on a green T-shirt it was certainly true in my case. 

Oh here is what I was looking for, my I gotta see that in real life item. A new project bag by Jessalu. She put up some pictures on Ravelry and I fell in love. I thought I was going for the TARDIS bag but this one with its glasses wearing knitting sheep, ah love at first sight. If you're looking for a new project bag I can tell you these are sturdy. We chatted for quite a while and I enjoyed it. Hey I may be coming out of my shell after all. 

Now this is a color scheme I don't see every day. Predominatly shades of green with browns and burnt red. This smooshy Merino/Nylon blend is from Bittersweet Woolery.

I ran into some of my knitting group sisters. After the festival I was hosting knitting at my house so we could show off all our goodies to each other. Well as we are know to do we started showing a bit early and I am just a tad glad because I was reminded that I had skipped the first building in search of my Jessalu bag. I went back and found these.

Red Maple, Super Sock 416 a Merino/Nylon blend and Forest, Sophia a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend from Ball and Skein. I saw this booth last year and wished I would have picked up a copy of the Ishbel pattern but I did not see any this year, but I got yarn!!

Oh look at that loveliness from Moonlight and Laughter. Why would I buy fiber and yarn packaged together? Thrum mittens of course. What is a Thrum mitten? Go look what the Yarn Harlot has to say about it, since she is the one that first introduced me to the idea. OK if you're too shy I will tell you what I know, some of which may be incorrect. They are a method of creating a lined mitten that was developed on the east coast of Canada. Instead of knitting the mitten with only yarn every so often you knit in a 3 inch piece of unspun fiber. The ends of the fiber are on the inside of the mitten and make it fuzzy. This will eventually felt and provide a wind proof and water proof mitten. Sounds toasty doesn't it? Well if I want to be warm I usually look to Canada or Norway for their innovations. They know warm.

Let me introduce you to Splendor Sock Yarn in Dark Roast by Jill Draper Makes Stuff. See what I mean about buying green yarn? Anyway this is a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend also. You sensing a theme in my buying this year? I make one set of Cashmere blend socks this year and now I am digging it! This is a manly color maybe I should introduce D to the softness that is Cashmere. You want me to say Cashmere one more time? Cashmere!

Who can turn down a T-shirt with ewes on it? Not this girl this year. And frolicking ewes also, I think I will wear this shirt on my birthday!

So that is what my festival yielded. Is it wrong to pet them all the time? Yeah, I did not think so either. Happy Knitting

Weakness

So I finished another pair of socks the other day and am desperately looking to start something new but I keep finding excuses not to. I think I need to do something besides a pair of plain socks, but I never seem to want to work on anything but plain socks. Lets not talk about how many beautiful sock patterns I have. 

I started these socks last September and have one done but can not make myself work on the other. And it is not even for a good reason like the yarn is too splity, or the pattern too complicated, or I don't like the way it is turning out. Nope, I just want to knit round and round without paying attention. I did work on it last night and got two more repeats done. It is amazing how much closer I get to completing an object when I actually knit on it.

I bought this yarn last year at a fiber festival and have only turned two of them into objects the rest is sill in my stash. I feel like hanging my head in shame.

Which I really should do because I don't think I took pictures of what I bought at Rhinebeck last year. How did that happen that is one of the first things that I do when I get home, yarn fondling and pictures. Alas.

Now this sock is in time out because I still don't think it will fit on my foot once I knit it. And I really like the pattern and do not want to admit defeat. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

This poor guy was ripped viciously off the needles when I wanted to knit a plain sock and all the needles were occupied. I really must finish the green sock. I have one repeat and a foot to go. Get the job done!

These two, I don't even know where they are in the house! Maybe they thought I needed a break from the guilt patrol and went to hide till the needles are free?

I don't want to tell you that I am oogling some yarn that has not even been in the stash for a year while leaving the well marinated yarn in there, I don't want to tell you but it is true. I even wound it into a readily knitable form. I am a weak willed yarn loving woman! Good thing I only have eyes for my Hubby, or there would be all kinds of flooziness going on around here.

Bonus

After reading my friend Crafty Corner's  blog post about "Merry Christmas to me", I decided I needed to learn from her. I don't have a problem buying yarn (mostly for myself) but I do have a problem "treating" myself. I have run across posts on Ravelry that talk about getting a bonus and what should I spend it on? I always think wow wouldn't that be nice?

Turns out it is nice. I received a Christmas bonus this year and decided to buy my wish list on Knitpicks. Shhh I even added a few items to it before I emptied it. Most of my items were even on sale (3 out of 4 sock yarns). The light blue "Dolphin" yarn will work out to be an amazing $5 pair of socks. Who could resist the purple "Royalty", my "Tea Party" brown and pink yarn, or Jade gloss yarn? I replaced a set of 2.25 mm needles I lost somehow, with lovely Harmony DPNs. I got a needle sizer for all the Knitpicks sizes. A set of connectors to make my Harmony interchangeable set even more versatile. I had had my eye on the magnetic pattern keeper for when I start doing more colorwork or charted lace patterns. I had worked with a similar idea in my former life as a cross stitcher. This one is just a tad up the ladder because it folds closed and buttons open to be a stand. I'll show you pictures later how it works.

I got the CD versions of 2006 Interweave Knits magazines. I think winter 2006 was the first time I noticed the magazine after I started knitting but it sold out by the time I got around to buying it. That red sweater on the front called my name even when I thought I would never knit a sweater. Now I have the set.

And what kind of a sock knitter would I be if I did not get Cookie A's new book? I am so in love. This one has the patterns in multiple sizes so I don't have to do the math to make socks that will fit me. Usually I am figuring how to add quite a few stitches without losing the fun pattern. I am really looking forward to making the German Stockings, I fell in love with those a couple of years ago on the Yarn Harlot's blog. I wonder if she ever finished them? It was actually Cookie's book that led me to the thought of using part of my bonus.

That book and a swift on sale started me thinking about how nice a order it would be. Yep I got myself a swift too. I had been wanting one in theory for quite some time. It seemed like such a high ticket item that while useful, I could make do without. Now I don't need to.

My swift is not in the picture because I mounted it and wound some yarn for D's sweater. Which is moving right along. It now has most of the body, most of a sleeve and part of another sleeve. I decided to not rib and bind off any part till it is mostly done. That way if I need to rip back a bit I will not be so devastated, I will however be bored of ribbing. So I think by this time next week D should have a new Friday sweater. He says he saves them for Friday so he can enjoy them more.

Happy knitting!