Rhinebeck!

After much ado about nothing regarding yesterday's weather, we set out on our trip to Rhinebeck. This year, we left later in the morning and arrived at 1:30. It would've been 1:30; however, DS got carsick. He has such horrible motion sickness and as soon as we got off the exit and went on 9 and 9G, the elevation changed and that did him in. Poor kid. I didn't want to miss Rhinebeck and I didn't want him to be sick but it stinks that it happened less than 3 miles from the fairgrounds. We didn't use Dramamine this time because I didn't want him to be a zombie all day. Now, we know better. Some Dramamine is better than none, I guess. I'll use a tiny dose next car trip and see what happens.

We saw pumpkins in their native habitat.

Anyway, it wasn't as crowded as last year and everyone seemed to be overdressed in coats as opposed to knitted sweaters. The weather was supposed to be rainy, raw and terrible which may've held down the crowds but instead it was about 48-50 all day. Cute sheep, nice leaves.

A Shepard in period attire. I asked him if I could take his picture because he was 'so cute'. He said, "couldn't you say handsome instead?" LOL!

Here's the kids at the end of a long day. Below, the one remaining roving hand dyed by Elizzabetty of Moose Manor Handpaints. You can't tell from the picture but it's called "Chameleon" because it changes color depending on the lighting. It reminds me of the inside of a dark red jellybean, not quite clear but highlights of red.

I saw this big basked of giant bobbins so I took an out of focus picture of it. It was the end of the day and the lighting was bad, sorry. Aren't they interesting? I also tried a Canadian Production Wheel at the The Merlin Tree and the double drive spoiled me. I'd love to have one of them.... Of course, hubby said, "When I spin and we start fighting over your wheel, you can buy that one". Sigh......maybe next year I will put it on my Christmas list and Santa can bring it. We'll see. They're expensive (although not as much as a Lendrum Saxony) and I have a wheel so....

As for the haul, I bought three STR Lightweight, one for each member of my immediate family. Meet Joe Brown, Goody Goody and Raven something. Interesting how even the names suit the person... I'm thinking of making DD Leyburn but I have so many UFOs strewn about. All I do is spin now and I haven't been knitting all that much!

I picked up some gorgeous merino/bamboo from Creatively Dyed, some solid merino (purple and a peachy pink) from a small booth that I forgot the name of. I remember she was in the Catskills though and only had solid roving...and I also got some merino/yak from her which made me very excited. The woman had her mom helping her who didn't really know all that much about this stuff but she was very adorable and helpful. She wrote "Moreno" on my receipt. As in Rita. Gotta love it. I got a bag of yarn from the yarn fairy from Holiday Yarns, too! It's gorgeous sock yarn that I haven't tried yet but has been on my list for quite sometime. (Still, nothing beats Cherry Tree Hill supersock, the ultimate favorite...)

Guess I'll be making socks this winter. When I'm going full tilt, I can knit a pair a week so we'll see how it goes. (On 1.5's or 2's, not on zeros). Half the problem is picking out the pattern and I have yet to make a toe up sock!!!

I did finish the baby blanket (no photo yet and no photo of the haul from Rhinebeck but they're coming) I was working on and I'm going to try and block it tonight or during the week. I also spun 8 oz and made a two ply yarn out of some truly beautiful fiber I got from Copper Moose.

I'm attempting my first shawl out of this stuff so we'll see what happens. I spun it very thinly. Maybe too thinly. (Oh yeah, can never be too thin or too rich applies to people and fiber, right?) It was the most beautiful stuff ever to spin...ahhhhh...Then, I switched to BFL and it felt like ...Brillo.

I'm now spinning my naturally dyed fiber from Dye Day. I finished the black walnut BFL and I'm moving onto the marigold merino. See how I'm all over the place? I think it's because I've been working on some harder patterns and spinning more. I spin when I'm tired because it can be mindless whereas working from a chart and knitting a shawl requires me to use the gray matter.

I have been working on a simple pair of black ribbed socks for DH for like .. months. I'm up to the gussett and I'm going to finish the gusset today because I'm making time for it. Then, I can spin or knit the feet tonight.

Life has just been crazy!

Hope you like my pictures and I will try and post again soon!

Maryland Sheep and Wool - Part Deux - The Haul

OK, now onto the fun part of the festival - What I bought!

10 oz of 100% Merino in this Eggplant mix. Soft and lovely. I was running out of money and didn't want to go over my budget so I only got 10 oz. I was tempted to buy the rest of what was in that beachball they had.....This came from Shadyside Farms.
Here we have 8 oz of Blueberry, 70% Merino/30% Tencel GORGEOUS and must be felt to be appreciated. It nearly feels like mink! Sorry, no website. You can e-mail opal@pa.net for inquiries. To die for! Next to it is Shelridge Farms soft touch ultra in a nice...you got it, green!


That's a Kromski niddy noddy that I could use to make smaller skeins.

Here's a 1.5 lb bag of not fully made roving, more like messy batts. 70 sw merino/30 tencel in powder blue, gray flannel and cream. This was from Autumn House Farms and I used my coupon to buy it. An excellent purchase and good price. It just needs tidying up.


I also bought a nicely made cherrywood diz which is also a gauge so I can measure WPIs when spinning. Plus, I bought two Christmas tree ornaments of little sheep handcrafted from real wool and some felt. Very cute. The kids confiscated that out of my loot.

Not shown is a gift for Elizzabetty who couldn't be at the festival this year. I can't give it away just yet because she hasn't seen it yet. I know she'll like it though!

I also recently picked up some more roving, ALSO merino/tencel and some merino/tussah top. It's VERY PRETTY and requires that I practice more with the fast flyer that I got last week.
(not pictured.)

Yes, I finally sprung for the Lendrum fast flyer for my wheel and I'm very excited. So now I have 6 ratios to play with 6,8,10,12,15,17 to 1. If I ever add the 'very fast flyer' that will give me 26, 30, 36, 44 to 1. I could spin any kind of yarn I wanted if I add that one. For now, I'll stick with what I have. It's harder to spin with the fast flyer and I'm not that good at it....yet. It's a pain if it breaks because it's harder to neatly join when the single is so skinny to begin with. HOWEVER, spinning finer with more twist is easier than spinning finer with less twist. Sometimes, my yarn would fall apart because I didn't twist enough. Now, I'm getting the hang of how fast to go and how much twist to add. When I first tried the fast flyer, I got little pigtails, too much twist, now it's better. That was after only one session so we'll see how it goes later today. Luckily, I have some practice fiber that was gifted to me so I can play. I may even make a 3 ply yarn soon! There are 10 ratios on the Lendrum, it's portable, spins smoothly, relatively inexpensive compared to other wheels with these options. In fact, if I ever wanted to add the quill head, that would give me two more ( 6, 25 and 37 to 1!) What more can one ask for?




Speaking of wheels, I did see some really lovely wheels and did get a chance to try the Ladybug! I must say, I thought that I would hate the fact that it's plastic. It's not at all bendable plastic, it's like a cast piece. Hard like a rock yet lighter than wood. It spun smooth like glass. If I had to chose today, I think I would still choose the Lendrum for a few reasons. I'm really a wood person. I saw beautiful handcrafted carved and decorated saxony wheels and pined for a 7,000 square foot Victorian to put them in. However, let's face reality. The Lendrum costs a tiny bit less than the Ladybug and it can fold up to be put away or for travel. The Lendrum is wood. The Lendrum felt more comfy to me (familiarity?) and the Ladybug made me feel like I was wearing scuba gear. PADDLES, huge. Made my feet feel so big! It was so peculiar! I did like the red and I did like the fact that there is a ladybug on all of them. Nothing cuter than that. No buyer's remorse for me.

I wanted to try the Kromski but the lady that was on it wasn't budging and I didn't have alot of time to spend there. Maybe, someday, I'll add a saxony wheel to my collection but it will probably be something used off e-bay and for my daughter to play with when she gets bigger provided she doesn't buy a loom first! :)

Well, time to make banana bread with the bananas that all ripened on the counter while I was away.

I leave you with a picture and a thought:

Picture: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2009 - Crowd Shot

Thought: How many weeks until Rhinebeck?

Eye Candy Friday, Rhinebeck, Zigzag Sock

Picture time!

First up, let's look at some more Rhinebeck pictures.
Just pictures of the crowd, walking around. I see Harry Potter stripes there in the foreground, nearly matches the beautiful trees.

STR, LSS in "Bleck" whatever a bleck is....its lavender and I will photograph it again. I couldn't stop pettng it so I had to take it home with me.

My son coming down the slide in his Weasley sweater.

This was taken on the peaceful wagon ride, pulled by those two lovely horses from last times post. Time to remove the polarizing filter, I'm afraid. I got them to stop and pose for me so I will show you another picture of the lovely horses.

Ah fall, time for celosia. Love the colors.

There was a big turtle or tortise. I don't know which one is which.

This nice lady was playing with that beautiful wheel. Notice the carving work, a work of art! This can be viewed at Golding's website. I got to try it, too and made a small mess. It was only my second time spinning on a wheel. She gave me a quicky lesson so I could proceed to ruin the fiber.

My babies having hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. They even got their picture taken with a sheep! My daughter loves sheep, my son was a bit leary...
Check out this picture, yarn spun from dog fur! No sheep for you!
A rare photo of me, my daughter and my son wearing sweaters all made by me. Mine is the hooded Danbury from Lion Brand's website made out of Cascade. It's a little big, so I have the sleeves rolled up. I steamed blocked it. The other person is my friend with her son. She gets to live up there and can be at Rhinebeck in half an hour. She's lucky. PLUS, she will soon be a knitter.

Now, regular pictures. I finished my Zigzag sock last night and will update Ravelry tomorrow morning.

Here's the sneak peak.

And finally, a boring picture but you can see ...

The First Frost has arrived! It was in the upper 30's last night!

Stay tuned for the next sock project in which I use this mill end....Dora colors...to be loved my little girl.

Rhinebeck - Part One

Ah, Draft Horses, fall colors and.....some of my haul from Rhinebeck.

Yes, I'm back! Yesterday, I roused the kids and the husband at 4:45AM, "comon, let's go!" and we got in the car and left the house at 6:10 AM. One stop on the road around 8AM (when it happened to be 34 degrees and I was freezing, woolies and all!) and we arrived at precisely 9AM. The parking lot was somewhat full already and the gates were only open for a few moments. I grabbed my Stop N Shop tote and bag, woke the kids and hustled off to The Fold to raid the STR.

Needless to say, it was a mob scene. I ran into Christine A., who was behaving and not buying all that much. Shortly afterwards, Elizzabetty, arrived and she was trying to be good like Christine. Behind her are the mill ends, tons of them. They were gone when we went back later in the day. I was lucky to get three of them. I also got two skeins of Soft Touch Ultra in "Straw" which I think I'm going to adore. One other skein of some autumn colored sock yarn and then a moment of weakness. I bought a Bosworth Spindle and some lovely purple roving. I was able to spin some yarn on it this morning. I plan on getting a wheel, maybe in early 2009, we'll see how things go. It was really fun to do and I would show you but I just exceeded my Picassa photo limit. Pictures coming next time!

I was able to see my friend, Marina, who is lucky enough to live in upstate New York only a half hour from Rhinebeck but she doesn't knit, .... yet. We'll get her going soon enough. She brought her adorable little boy who my kids loved playing with. (Pictures next time.)

Everyone was sporting their Ravelry buttons and wandering around with bags of roving, fleece and yarn. There was a petting zoo and I even saw a kangaroo with a little joey in her pouch. He briefly popped his head out to see things.

Off to Rhinebeck!!

No picture today, packing up the entire family and our woolies and we're off to see the Sheepies in Rhinebeck.

Look for me, I'll be with Elizzabetty sporting out Ravelry buttons. Mine says PunkinPie!

YAY!!

Roadtrip!