Rhinebeck recap

The drive up to Rhinebeck was pretty uneventful, except for some cows crossing the road and lots of trafic just before arriving to the fairgrounds. Even though I wasn’t really planning to get any Socks that Rocks, my friend Carol wanted some so we first headed to their booth. Carol and I made a few selections and then headed for the line. We had to wait about 30 minutes before we were able to pay and in the mean time our selections ended up changing entirely. I ended up purchasing 2 mill ends skeins, one in Silkie and one medium weight.

STR Silkie in Lover’s Leap, STR medium weight in Oregon Honey Clover and on the right, Holiday Yarns FlockSock sock yarn in Yarn Fairy

After a successful STR purchase we made our way to the Ravelry meet up where we were witness to some acrobatics on the part of some Ravelry staff to be able to take a group picture.

Later, we met Franklin at his book signing.

We also met Mason-Dixon’s Ann and Kay and we admired their beautiful Belinda scarves.

I bought more yarn, see sock yarn above on the right, and single skeins for a hat and cowl project.

On left Northern Lights Yarn (mohair, kid mohair and rambouillet blend) and on right Alpaca with a Twist Highlander a baby alpaca, merino, microfiber and viscose blend)

I didn’t end up buying either a shawl pin or buttons for my Calvert (I totally forgot about it and didn’t bring my swatch to match buttons) but I guess I did buy sock yarn!

After a full afternoon of wooly fun/fumes, we went to the Ravelry party for a bit of fun and had a chance to meet and chat with friends. Sadly, we had to leave early and we missed the prize drawings and more times to spend with friends. But I’ll make sure to be there next year!

Getting ready for Rhinebeck

Am I ready yet?

New shoes – check

Dansko Marcelle Cabrio

New shirt – almost, still got to iron on the logo

New business cards – check

Cute buttons to give out – check

Knitting – check

Good friend to go with – check

I’m really looking forward to going to Rhinebeck this year. I don’t really have plans for any purchase, maybe a shawl pin and some sock yarn of course. I’ll be giving out some of our really cute new buttons so if you see me, come and ask me for one. See you there!

Big project ahead!

It’s been over a year since my last big project, and I think it’s time for a new one. A few weeks ago I received an email from Berocco advertising their latest booklet by Norah Gaughan, Woodland Gothic. I liked quite a few of the patterns but didn’t much more of it. Last Monday, I saw it again for real at the Iron Horse Farm store where Debbie was having an anniversary sale. After browsing through the patterns I fell in love with 4 patterns in the booklet and decided that Woodland Gothic was going home with me!

My 4 favorites are Eastlake, Loppem, Assemblage and Calvert.

Calvert is the one I will be knitting first, Loppem probably next. I even picked the yarn I wanted to use for it, except I can’t decide which color…

The yarn I can use is either Sublime extra fine merino dk or Sublime cashmere merino silk dk, in one of these 4 colors. My favorites are the grey and the darker pink, but the yellow could be really pretty too I think. What’s your favorite?

Click on the photo to see notes about the name of each colorway.

Now, even though I’d love to wear this sweater to Rhinebeck, I know it’s not going to happen. But maybe I’ll have a nice new sweater to wear at Christmas!

The Haul

I promised some details about my few purchases from Rhinebeck, so here it comes!

When I arrived at Rhinebeck I made a beeline for The Fold booth. I looked and looked some more and picked one (possibly Downpour) skein and went in line. After a few minutes of waiting I decided that I really didn’t need another skein of sock yarn… So I put it back and left. I still don’t think I regret that decision… Crazy, I know.

After this first non-purchase I made my first real one. Alyson and I both bought the same fiber batt from Crosspatch Creations

The 4oz batt is their Signature blend with wool, tussah silk, viscose, cut bombyx silk and silk noil in the color Lady Slipper.

Next we met Dani from Sunshine Yarns. She was giving out samples of her yarns and I got this loveliness:

It’s her Twist yarn in the Black Lake colorway. There are 195 yds in the skein, enough for a short pair of socks!

At the blogger meet up, this guy was handing out vintage patterns. He gave me a copy of a Needle & Thread magazine from 1981. This particular magazine has nothing to do about knitting, though, only sewing. But, when I looked at it after I got home I found this cutie:

Later I made my first purchase ever from Brooks Farm. I think that they’ve been at every sheep & wool festivals I’ve been to but I never bought from them. I found in a sale bin this already wound up skein of Primero

Primero is 100% Kid Mohair and comes in 500yds skein. I didn’t think I’d ever buy something 100% mohair but I did, now I have to find something to knit with it.

Earlier during the day we’d been in the Persimmon Tree Farm booth and some spinning fibers had caught my eyes. I didn’t purchase any then but at the end of the day I went back and got some of this:

Sadly, I didn’t make a note of either the color name or the blend of these fibers.

So that’s it, that’s all I got! I think that it is much less than I got last year, but then again, I don’t really remember what I bought last year.

Rhinebeck

Rhinebeck was a lot of fun this year. I did a few fun purchases but I mostly enjoyed spending time with some very fun people.

I met up with Alyson and Adelle.

Met Dani from Sunshine Yarns (click on link for photo).

Met Anne from Knitspot (sorry no photo)

Met Carrie from Funky Carolina and Michelle from the Sweet Sheep

Photo from the Ravelry party at Riccardi’s Hideaway. You can see from left: Carrie, Michelle, Adelle, Jess, myself and Alyson

There I also met Tina from Phoenix Fiberworks. See photo here. Tina, Alyson and I share the same birthday… Isn’t that cool?!!

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Here’s the loot. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for some descriptions… If you’re really curious you can get a peek here!

Rhinebeck, here I come!

If you want to find me at Rhinebeck, this is what you should be looking for:

I’ll be there all day and at the Morehouse and Ravelry parties afterwards. See you there!

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For everyone wondering about my trip to Disney…

In one word: Awesome!

The weather was gorgeous, the rides were fun, the waits not too long (taking advantage of Single Rider lines and Fastpasses), the food was great (Food & Wine Festival at Epcot). Got to knit a bit while waiting in line. I have to say that I didn’t see anyone else knitting during my entire stay.

Met up with Alyson and Travis twice for supper and some mini-golfing. You can check out her post about it here.

If you’re interested you can check out some of my Disney photos here.