Rhinebeck: Stash Enhancement Solo

Finally, the post you've been waiting for!

Of course yarn was purchased.

But I was smart, I went in with a budget, cash, and a (vague) plan.

Solo
I knew for sure that if I didn't buy any other yarn I was going to stock up on Solo from Brooks Farm Yarn.

You might remember I was introduced to this yarn last year when Cynthia gave me a skein. I used it to make my Cropped Poncho. Well, I found it so lovely and squishy I decided I needed more.

When I was working on that uncooperative hat the other week, I was inspired with the idea of making a cabled sweater. A cardigan type that I could wear over other tops as a transition piece during the fall. Since I knew by then I was attending Rhinebeck, it made sense to get yarn for this potential sweater. (Especially since I'm making such awesome progress with that other cabled sweater I'm designing. [which would be none.])

I was thinking blue. Or maybe green.

As you can see I ended up with a glorious red. Turns out Brooks Farm is a very popular booth. I found a single skein in a nice green and asked whether there was more. The guy said what's out is it and there used to be 11 others just like it. sigh.

I considered getting one of their other yarns that they did have in green (or blue), but I had my heart set on Solo.

I ended up with six hanks in the NY18 color way. It is different than my poncho color. My poncho is dark red, with hinds of brown and dark orange. These new ones are more bright, scarlet red, with just a hint of orange. Trust me, they are different.

I had calculated that five hanks should be enough (they are 400 yards each) but there were six on the pegs and I didn't want some other poor knitter to go through what I just experienced with the pretty green one. Besides, what if I had stuck with the five and run out!?

Step Away from the Yarn
I got into the long line with my treasure. We were all chatting as we inched up.

Near the register was a rack of single skeins that were on sale. Some yellow caught my eye, so I switched the position of two skeins so I could get a better look at it.

It was a single hank of Solo. It was bright, sunny yellow and tangerine. It was like sunshine glinting off a glass of Tang.

I was mesmerized.

So I added it to my pile.

Then I reconsidered. It was only marked down $3. What would I do with a single hank?

I put it back.

Then I thought I could make another poncho and took it again. Then I put it back. But I had to give it a pet.

By now the lady behind me was laughing. I asked what she thought. She said I should get it, but pointed out she wasn't the best person to ask. I agreed that for that advice I should call my mom.

I took it again. Then I saw P from the store. She hadn't seen me yet. I held up the beautiful yellow skein and called, "Hey, P! What do you think?"

She told me to put it back. She said it as orange and she never saw me work with orange, so I obviously didn't like orange.

I put it back again. At which time the lady behind me snapped it up. Proving she was only encouraging me to get it so she couldn't! Oh, these games us yarn lovers play. At least it got a good home.

I also thought it was interesting that I looked at it and saw yellow, but P looked at it and saw orange.

Ah, drat, I really have to get to work. More yarn was bought, but will have to wait.

Rhinebeck: Faces and Fun

When Mom arrived with CJ in tow Friday night I was surprised since he and his sister had both said "No" to the original invite.

(He got his face painted like a pirate.)

We all settled down to watch the Yankees game.

I was happily knitting on Hubby's Striped Sweater when CJ asked me to teach him how to knit.

Now, most knitters might get giddy with excitement at such a request, but most knitters aren't as cold-hearted as I am.

"No," I said. "I tried that once and it didn't work out so well."

"I was four," he retorted. "I'm nine now."

Since I couldn't argue with that logic, and I didn't remember our previous attempt was so long ago, I fished out the US8 Colonial Rosewood Needles Cynthia gave me for Christmas a few years ago and a ball of light blue Red Heart that was lurking in the dining room credenza. (Proving it really was time to clean the credenza out.)

Despite firmly believing that if you don't know how to cast on you don't know how to knit, I decided to jump to the good stuff and cast on a few stitches.

He called my bluff and asked where the stitches came from and how I did it.

I demonstrated the long-tail cast on. He seemed to get it right away. I demonstrated the knit stitch. He started knitting.

Well, he had a little trouble remembering which direction to throw the yarn, but he got the hang of it awfully quickly.

He complained the wood needles were too pointy, but when I switched him to some metal #9 he said those were too slippery and wanted to switch back. So I said, "Just knit with the wooden one. When the metal one comes free, put it aside for the second wooden one." And he did!

Dude, I've met some adults who have trouble grasping that concept.

The Big Sock
There is a Rhinebeck connection to all this.

I had read that The Big Sock would be at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival and wanted to knit on it.

You can read more about it here but basically it's an effort to get a Guinness Record for the biggest hand knit sock.

It is distributed over several circular needles that all just feed into each other. The yarn was mostly worsted weight, as far as I could tell. It has been traveling around the country and the yarn store that has it contributes yarn, in this case Uncommon Threads.

You could just wander up and knit on it. Provided there was an open spot with a working ball attached (there were plenty of open needles, but no yarn).

Maybe you can tell, but I'm totally faking it in this picture. I didn't have yarn to work with, but wanted evidence. I did really add 20 or so stitches of my own.

CJ knit on it to. He did a good job, if I do say so myself. At one point I was next to him and said, "Remember not to pull to tightly." The woman next to me was like, "Oh I know, I'm just fixing this." Ooops! So I explained CJ had only learned to knit the night before. I guess that made someone else suspicious because she told me he had dropped a stitch. But he hadn't. He only split one. So I tinked back and fixed it.

After that, we got our commemorative buttons and moved on.

Of course, this newly acquired skill would explain why he wouldn't part with the yarn is his goody bag. If only I had known about the goody bag contents...but then hindsight is 20/20.

I know you!
Let's see. I ran into Lisa from when I used to take the train.

P from Knitting Central. (She has good Rhinebeck accounts and pictures on her blog too, as you might expect.) I had been chatting on P's Facebook page with one of her friends about how many layers of knitwear we could manage. Turns out it was P's sister, so I got to meet her too.

I saw MathCutie, who I only know from Ravelry and Facebook. She liked the Yankees Socks I made for Hubby and asked for the pattern. She found me at the big sock. I was looking down at the sock and she said she recognized my Coronet.

I also saw the Other Associate Editor from work (who doesn't knit) and G, the woman who does mysterious things with our website database (who does knit).

And I saw Bob! Ravlery's mascot. I don't think it was the real Bob, I don't think the real Bob is that tall.

This was at the Ravelry meet up. Bob was treated like a celebrity and got swarmed. I don't know these people in the picture, so I hid them in case they don't want to be online. :-)

I think that's everyone I saw. Really, I was focused on the yarn.

I had my Felted Ravelry ID Bag with me. As you can imagine, at an event like this, my bag finally got the recognition and respect it deserves. I spend most of my time with non-knitters, who admire the bag, but don't really understand.

Well, some people gawked at my bag in admiration from afar. Most told me how awesome it was. And a couple even took my picture! (link to someone else's flickr stream)

In addition to admiring all the fiber, we saw some cute animals, watched the shepherding dogs, and saw the Frisbee dogs. There were a lot of activities to take in. Did I already mention that CJ must have done the bouncy castle a half dozen times? And the big slide twice? I can see why some people attend both days of the festival.

Ravelry Party
We also stayed for the Ravelry party, which you knew from the goody bag in yesterday's post.
It was fun to see all the people and all their fabulous knitwear. The variety of hats alone was mind-boggling.

There were appetizers: spanikopita, chicken wings, mini quiches (which were burnt), pigs in a blanket, and fried veggies. Cash bar, but water, tea, and coffee were free.

There were also yummy cupcakes with fancy designs on the icing. I noticed the images were off the grab bag. How very coordinated!

My only complaint would be that it was cold. The whole damn day was cold. The party was in tents, and they had space heaters, but we ended up in the main tent which just had net sides. So unless you were right under a heater they weren't helping much. We managed to have fun anyway. Despite not winning any of the many, quality door prizes.

You might be wondering how a 9-year-old boy could stand all this. Well, when we were taking pictures of the cupcakes a 6-year-old boy appeared. He had come prepared with two plastic pirate swords. In case he happened to encounter a dueling partner, I suppose. They spent the evening running around having sword fights.

The Measure of a Foot
Also while we were admiring the cupcakes, a woman came over and asked if I knew how long my son's foot was. She said a friend was making socks for a little boy who wasn't around and couldn't believe that 8 inches was the target length.

I said he was my nephew so she would understand why I didn't know his shoe size. CJ and his new friend very obligingly took off a shoe each and let the lady measure their feet. They also reported on their shoe size. I also heard CJ tell her he was short for his age. How clever is that? I think they already knew the other boy was tall for his age.

Only at a gathering of knitters would this encounter not seem odd.

We didn't end up leaving until 10 pm! With a two hour drive ahead of us. We kept debating leaving earlier, but we wanted to be there for the raffle.

When we got in line for the shuttle bus we realized we'd be three, if not four, runs back. Did I mention is was cold? We ended up walking the mile to the school parking lot. In the dark. A bunch of other people walked too, so we felt safe. We also got to the parking lot at the same time as the second bus run, so we would have still been standing at the party if we hadn't walked.

Hubby was flabbergasted when he called at 10 to check on us (at least we were in the car by then!). The drive home was fine. I was flabbergasted at first that Hubby was still awake when we got home at midnight, but the Yankees game was still on. The two of us ended up staying up until 1 am, since the game went into extra-innings.

It was a very full day.

Rhinebeck: Goody Bags

Since Hubby's sweater is not making for good blog fodder these days, I'm going to milk my trip to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday for all it's worth.

Considering how amazingly long winded I can be when I'm not even trying getting multiple blog posts out of one day shouldn't be difficult at all.

I know that what you want to see are pictures of the yarn I bought, but I haven't had a chance to photograph it yet. So just hold your horses.

Instead, I shall start with the fun, free stuff I acquired by being in the right places at the right times.

ChooChooKnits Goodies
I've been following Somebunnyslove (blog link) on Twitter and saw her tweet about a contest being run by ChooChooKnits (blog link)

She was going to tweet her location during Rhinebeck and if you found her you got a goody bag.

My little group was me, Mom, and my 9-year-old nephew CJ. We arrived just around noon and CJ was pretty insistent that we check out the kid's section first. Mom and I agreed in order to shut him up and get on to the shopping. Somehow he knew where the kiddie rides were located.

Turns out the rides were right next to the field were the Ravelry meet up was happening. That was very convenient.

I went over and started skulking around the perimeter to see if I recognized anyone.

I passed a lady whose pin said "Choo Choo Knits." I stopped and said to myself, "Wait a minute." Then doubled back and said, "Are you the Choo Choo Knits doing the Twitter contest?"

And she said, "Yes! you found me. Let me get you a bag." It was her last one!

It is a nice canvas tote bag (with the sponsors' logos on it) filled with all kinds of goodies! A copy of Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel, which is a cool book I've flipped through at KC but haven't bought. And three loose Glampyre Knits patterns—a cardigan, a cropped shrug, and that little one-skein shoulder warmer she designed.

A $15 gift certificate to Kaleidoscope Yarns, a Kaleidoscope Yarns mug (which got broken when mom dropped the bag as we were trying to settle down for lunch. sniffle), as well a KYarn pen and post it pad.

A skein of Tilli Thomas Milan yarn, which is a silk/cashmere/merino blend, along with a scarf pattern. The pattern looks sort of feather and fanish. I will follow it and this will be my Rhinebeck scarf!

A t-shirt that says "Knit Glam."

But I think my favorite item, well, they are all my favorites, but this one made me squeel, are the wee sheep stitch markers! They were wrapped up in tissue paper and then tucked in a jewelry box so I didn't see them until I was rooting through the bag again at lunch time.

Aren't they just so cute you could die?

They are from WeeOnes Creations (esty shop link)

When I found them I said, "Now I have to knit something with a pattern so I can use them." Hmm, I guess the Napoleon Scarf for the Milan yarn would do the trick. I suppose I could also randomly stick them on Hubby's sweater, just because they are so adorable.

Ravelry Party
We also went to the Ravelry Party when the NYSWF closed.

They handed out goody bags as soon as you walked in the door.

There is a drawstring canvas project bag that has sheep, lama, alpacas, and Bob cavorting on the front under a banner that says "Ravelry at Rhinebeck 2009" on the front. The back has all the sponsors' logos.

In side was a skein of Knit Picks Gloss DK. I got two because I stole Mom's since she doesn't knit. CJ wouldn't cough his up. I will probably use it to make a little scarf. Or maybe a hat. Or fingerless mitts. I just don't know yet. There is so much potential in a new ball of yarn.

A pink Namaste project tote out of a funky material. (Some of the bags had green totes.)

Little nibbly sample skeins of Classic Elete Provence Marl, Classic Elite Verde Collection Allegoro, Miss Babs Yummy sock yarn. Again, I managed to steal one of Mom's skeins. She kept her Miss Babs one and said she was going to make a key chain. CJ wouldn't fork his over.

A sample size of Unicorn Fibre Wash, which I've never used.

An a post it pad from (whoops, I covered the name).

There were also coupons and fliers, but I'm not sure if they were only valid during Rhinebeck.

As you can see, fun stuff was to be had at every turn.

Now, I must do more actual work.

Clever Puppy

About a month ago, Baru and I were playing fetch with his snowman shaped Kong. You can see it in this picture.

It took a wild bounce, as Kongs do, and went into the ravine on the high side near the sticker bushes.

He ran in to get it. Emerging with his octagon shaped Kong instead, which I hadn't even realized was missing.

It was like a puppy magic trick.

The overgrown brush is so thick in that area that I couldn't see the missing Kong. And there was no point in trying to send Baru back in to "get the toy" because he already had a toy.

Baru doesn't discriminate between one toy or the other. There is no point in telling him to "get the dolphin." Everything is just a "toy."

Samson will discriminate a bit. He will "get the ball" and he will "get the bootie" and he will "get the toy." However, he is a fetch snob and will only fetch balls.

Baru will fetch anything. This is helpful for times when they smuggle plush toys out to the yard. If Baru is aware of it he will get it for me, even if he wasn't the one who carried it out.

Anyway.

As I had hoped when the Kong first when missing, the invasive species that border the yard are dying back with the advent of autumn. Last night I was dumping the kitchen compost bucket into the compost bin. As I looked along the fence line I was able to spot the bright red shape!

(here is Baru from 2007 with the octagon Kong)

It was resting on a ledge that was not easily accessible to bi-pedal creatures such as myself.

I found a long, thin fallen branch and began beating down the vegetation in an attempt to get a better look at the toy and perhaps drag it up to the yard, or know it down into the ravine.

Suddenly, Baru appeared (I'd left the screen door unlatched so he was able to push his way out) and made his way into the undergrowth, aiming for the end of my branch.

There was a whole world of possibilities in this situation.

I said, "Good boy, Baru! Get the toy!" and tried to position the end of the branch near where I thought the Kong was.

Well, first he tried to get the branch. Which sort of made sense, but was silly because this thing was longer than I am tall.

So I said, "Over to your left, Baru. Get the Kong!" Which was silly because he doesn't speak that much English.

I guess he realized the branch wasn't happening, and started to just hang out and look around. Then I could tell by his body language that he had spotted the Kong. So I said, "Good boy! Get the toy!" Because that is English he does understand.

And he crept forward, pushing through the plants, and grabbed it! It was so exciting.

I went to the hole in the fence to meet him. We did a little celebration dance while I heaped him with praise, and told him he was a smart puppy. He doesn't hear that much because he's usually dumb as a box of rocks.

Samson saw us having a party without him and started barking at us from inside the house. He can open the door just as well as Baru can, he just doesn't like to.

We had to go inside then, because Samson was causing a ruckus. It was dinner time anyway. But at least both Kongs are safe inside now.

Hubby's Sweater?
I've just told you a heartwarming story about my little doggy and you're worried about a sweater?

Listen, it's a plain stockinette stitch sweater. What do you expect me to tell you about it?

Actually, it's moving along faster than I anticipated. Probably because it is plain stockinette stitch. I think it also helps that the Zara yarn is soft and springy, as opposed to say the cotton for my Stella blouse. I can knit with the Zara longer without it upsetting my hands. Well, aside from the two-tone stuff.

The piece is currently 9 inches long (the goal is 26) and I'm into the fifth color. I have to post the color sequence here or in my Ravelry notes. I'm worried I'm going to loose the piece of paper I wrote it on, then I'll be up a creek.

I really need to take a picture of it for you, now that most of the colors are involved.

Hubby's Sweater: Samson vs. the Pirate Squirrels

I was peacefully knitting away on Hubby's sweater last night when I heard a ruckus in the backyard.

I went to check it out and found a swarm of pirates...NO...squirrels...NO...pirate squirrels boiling out of the ravine!

They were brandishing plastic cocktail swords like so many furious, furry, Lilliputians.

They demanded the sweater, which they intended to use as a flag, or to line their nests. I'm not really sure. I don't speak squirrel.

It was so frightening I started to swoon and dropped the sweater.

The pirate squirrels snatched it up and began retreating back across the yard.

Just at that moment Samson and Baru appeared, drawn by the commotion.

Samson cried, "Fear not, fair lady! I shall retrieve the Alpha's sweater for you!" and charged into the yard barking like a crazy puppy.

Baru said, "I will make sure there aren't more under the bed!" and ran upstairs, barking over his shoulder for good measure.

The pirate squirrels were so scared at the sight of Samson barreling down on them that they dropped the sweater and fled.

Samson returned it to me unharmed (aside from a little slobber). But then I had to spend an hour untangling the balls of yarn that were attached to it.

It is so comforting to know my knitting and I are well protected.

What? You don't believe me? Well, it could happen.

On the other hand, it is more likely that what has happened is a plain stockinette, 51 inch chest, drop shoulder, men's sweater isn't such good blog fodder.

At least, not once you're past the complicated ribbing.

Hubby's Sweater: Making Peace

As I struggled with the two-tone ribbing over the weekend I asked Hubby why he has suddenly lost interest in his sweater. Why hasn't he looked at the new colors?

He explained he hasn't lost interest, he just doesn't understand it at this point. He said he can't look at a ball of yarn and visualize a completed sweater to know whether all the colors would work.

This made sense.

Then he ooohed and ahhhed over the ribbing and gave it pets. Which totally made up for his perceived lack of attention.

I finished the ribbing yesterday and am two colors into the stripes of the body.

Ahhh, relaxing plain old stockinette stitch. What a relief!

Two-tone two-step
How did I finally conquer the ribbing? you ask.

Well, it wasn't easy and a number of techniques were employed.

The traditionally, logical method of holding one color in each had was causing my hands to cramp. Not a good start. (I never got the hang of holding both colors in one hand, which might not have worked out anyway since I was switching from knits to purls. Anyone know?)

I resorted to the tedious method of focusing on one color, working those stitches and slipping the others. For instance, I would K2 tan, then slip the next three as they would be worked P2 charcoal. When I reached the end of the row, I would go back to the beginning (the beauty of working on circular needles) and work across with the charcoal yarn: slip 2, P3.

This was not a perfect fix.

First, it meant I was touching every stitch twice, which just seemed wrong. However, it was better than sidelining myself with sore writs.

Second, it was slow. But I comforted myself with the fact that I wasn't moving very fast using the two-handed method.

Third, and the nail in the coffin, it was hard to see mistakes. There was no visual clue from the different colors. So when I got to the end of the row and it wasn't falling out correctly I had to resort to trying to find my floats and counting stitches. Talk about slowing your progress down.

My third method was to just drop the color not in use. So I would K2 tan, drop it, pick up the charcoal, P3, drop it, pick up the tan.

Tedious once again, but at least I was only touching each once and could spot mistakes easily.

I had a bad habit of P2 charcoal instead of P3. Stupid, irregular, ribbing pattern.

But eventually, in attempting to get the yarn out of the way during my drop method, I fell back into knitting with both hands.

I don't know if my hands finally remembered how to do it, or having several rows worked gave me something to hold on to, or what, but it didn't make my hands hurt in the end.

And it was much faster. Ribbing errors aside.

Phew!

Jumping Ahead?
As I was struggling with the ribbing, I debated the idea of skipping ahead and knitting all the ribbing at once.

I figured I could put it all on holders, then I could go straight to the easy part.

I haven't executed this plan yet. When I finished the back ribbing, I was so happy to start the easy part of the main body that I didn't look back.

I'm still debating it. But I know the further along I get, the less likely it will be to happen.