Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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Pattern Choice Help
Calling to all of you with opinions! (though I may not listen) I would love some help deciding on which shawl to knit with the yarn I bought myself over the weekend. (Tales of the weekend, NYC and adventure to follow soon.)
I went to the marketplace at the Vogue Knitting Online Live event at the Hilton in Manhattan and walked away with this:
That’s right folks! Qiviuk! (Which is from Musk Ox) This is Windy Valley Muskox’s Majestic Blend. The color is actually pretty accurate and the yarn is actually 15% Qiviuk, 80% Merino, and 5% Mulberry Silk.
So here’s the question, which shawl should I knit?! Originally I thought I would knit the les Abielles shawl. It’s lovely and lacy and a quick knit. Then I noticed that I also could knit the Juneberry Triangle. It calls for slightly heavier yarn, but I think it would be fine. I should have plenty of yarn for either one.
So, who’s got an opinion?! I’m leaning towards the Juneberry, but do like both a lot. Perhaps you have another suggestion entirely (that uses about 650 yards or less of heavy laceweight/light fingering weight yarn).
What d’ya say?
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Yarn Monster! Hungry for yaaaaarn! (via engadget and sent to me by my “big brother”)
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Rhinebeck Yarn!
Well, since Missy asked*, I might as well show you my modest yarn purchase. :)
I only bought 2 skeins of yarn. They are both Silver Moon Farm Superwash yarn in fingering weight. They came in 8 oz hanks (which each have 1120 yards)! Can you even believe it?! I couldn’t! They have a website they are in the process of updating and setting up a store for and you can of course check them out on Ravelry. And if you decide you can’t wait for the store you can always see if Kay will help you directly.
So, here we have Smoky Plum and Sterling:
My plan is to make the Tempest sweater from Knitty. I can’t wait! (Well I can because I have some other projects to finish, and small ones to start and finish before I even think about swatching.)
Hope you like my yarn, but hopefully not as much as me so you don’t try to steal it!
*I was going to show you anyway, but Missy got my tuchis in gear. Also, Missy is so great I like to do everything she asks.
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Rhinebeck 2010
Saturday and Sunday 16-17 October 2010 was the NY Sheep & Wool festival in lovely Rhinebeck NY. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, go check their website. Rhinebeck the town is a lovely NY town, just south of Red Hook on the Hudson River. It is nestled in the Catskill Mountains to the east of Catskill park area. If you have not been to that area I would recommend planning a trip in the summer or early fall and take advantage or hiking, camping, lake-swimming and boating. I recommend North Lake and Katerskill Falls area. To the North and East of Rhinebeck is also Lake Taconic, which I highly recommend. (Note: Childhood summer vacation bias in effect.)
In order to go to Rhinebeck I signed up for a 1 day bus trip from Webs in Northampton, MA. The bus was scheduled to leave at 7am sharp, and my wonderful sister let me stay with her AND got up early to drop me off! We got up early enough to have breakfast together first. (She just might win best younger sister ever award… which the prize for is a knit hat with a beard attached.)
When I got to Webs there was no bus yet, but there were people ready for their Rhinebeck adventure inside and outside the store. The most of us were inside in the warm near the Atkins Farm cider donuts!
We all piled on to the buses in an orderly and polite manner when they arrived and chatted with each other and knit for the time it took us to get there. Over 2 hours of excitement building with a raffle along the way.
The fair itself was huge and overwhelming. On the grounds a woman from the bus and I were trying to get our bearings and ended up wandering together. It was lovely. I think both of us missed some things we would have done, but the company for both of our first times there was worth it.
The weather alternated from cloudy to sunny, which had the temperature fluctuating a bit. It was brisk but not cold, but it was definitely windy. People were everywhere, at stalls, at tents, between stalls and tents, on the paths and in line for food and bathrooms.
Most people were polite though, even when they were dying to get to yarn or fiber they had to have. Since I was on a tight budget and not getting anything to do with spinning or dyeing I was able to appreciate many stalls but wander by. Having never been to any sort of sheep and wool festival I did linger by some of the fuzzy friends.
Icelandic Sheep… adorable and petite!
Can’t remember who these spotted ones were, but they were adorable and the colors in their horns is fantastic.
As the day progressed there were more and more people. By this point we both started to feel a bit exhausted. (It was either 11.30 when we got lunch or 2.30 when we wanted a nap.)
It was worth rejuvinating, taking a deep breath and continuing on. It let us see beautiful handmade items in addition to drool-worthy yarns and amazingly soft fiber to touch.
It also let me discover what was actually the background noise to the whole fair. A loud, irregular POP POP POP.
There were a series of coal powered engines that had been used in the area historically. They were being run and their uses being demonstrated. A rock crusher, several items for making cedar shingles, and a water pump. POP POP POP! Coal Power!
I finished up the day by watching the frisbee dogs (missed shepherding dogs). They were fantastic. I think the trainers had the hardest time throwing in the wind, which of course made catching harder for the dogs.
I wish I had spend more time there, had seen the shepherding dogs, caught some of the ewe auction and taken more pictures. Especially pictures of knitters decked out in sheep and wool regalia and the beautiful fall trees.
Next year I’ll do more, when I actually go out for the weekend and go hiking as well. (I also better knit up a lot of what I have so I can make room in the cedar chest for some yarn from small places you only get at an event like this!)
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Nosta-fail
I have a lovely nostepinne made of walnut wood that matches a beautiful handmade swift I got from my parents for my birthday last year. I love both. I love slowly hand winding a center pull ball of yarn and getting to feel the fiber as I create something to knit from. It’s a slower process than using a ball winder, and it has taken practice and reading instructions on the internet, but I now wind a lovely ball of of yarn. Specifically a ball of about worsted weight yarn of a manageable length.
I have discovered that when it comes to winding thinner weight yarn, either I need a lot more practice or I really need to use a ball winder or just make a plain old ball of yarn. This is what happened to my Malabrigo sock yarn, and it actually got worse before I have now started to rewind it.
This isn’t slippery with silk in it even, just happy soft merino wool. No knitting tonight for me, just slowly fixing the mess I created. Perhaps it is time to give in and put a ball winder on the list of knitting things I would like to have.
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Muted Garter Love
I’ve got this lovely bit of yarn on my needles… all garter stitch with tones blending and changing. The yarn is Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe (Rav. Link), which is always fantastic to work with. (Note: I have not met a Koigu yarn I did not love madly.)
I’m hoping the finished object turns out just right.
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Spit Happens
I successfully spit felted to skeins of yarn together last Sunday! The colors of the 2 skeins even matched up (which it variegated yarn is asking a bit). I unwound the ends a bit, mushed them together, used some liiquid (moisture from the outside of my cup of iced chai) and after some rubbing and twisting: voila! 1 uberlong bit of yarn with no knots!
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Hope Chest Tale
My grandmother (also a Genevieve) was married in 1939 and received a beautiful Lane cedar chest. It was always at the foot of the bed and as children we sat, stubbed our toes, and jumped off it onto the bed. When it was time to move Grandma from her own house to assisted living, some of her things were moved to other family members’ houses and much of it was tossed.
For years I forgot about the cedar chest, untill during a visit to my aunt’s house there was a great moth fiasco that involved much moving of furniture and the throwing away of a large Persian rug. We had to move the cedar chest, which upon seeing again I immediately loved, and discovered my uncle liked to store his old paperwork in it.
For probably a year I thought about that chest. Wishing it was with me and full of my lovely yarn, protecting it from any possible mothy infestations. When I eventually mentioned this to my Mom she commented that I should probably just ask my aunt (my mother is full of sound and reasonable advice!) because if my uncle has it filled with papers then probably they won’t miss it much if I wanted it.
So I emailed and asked. I waited with bated breath… well as much as one does when they email someone. My aunt said she would be thrilled if I would take it, Grandma would want me to have it, and it clears up some space in the basement. Hooray! So, on my last visit to see my family, we cleaned it up and loaded it into her station wagon and drove from L.I. to Cambridge with Grandma’s cedar chest in the back.
Now I have a cedar chest in my living room full of yarn and Jason’s sweaters (mostly yarn). The hinge creaks just a bit as I open it and am accosted by a myriad of colors and textures. I even recieved a swift and nostepinne for my birthday from my Mom in a walnut wood that matched the center panel of the simple deco design. There are so many reasons I am so happy about having Grandma’s hope chest… not the least of which is that she is the one who first taught me to knit, which I will never forget.
