Rhinebeck 2007

I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to Rhinebeck this year, seeing as how I had a not-quite-6-week-old baby (this was way back on Oct. 20), but we went and it was a great time! Emma came up for the weekend, and the 4 of us packed into our trusty station wagon and drove up Route 9. Rhinebeck is much closer to where we live now than when we lived in Brooklyn. We didn't get there at the crack of dawn -- it was more like 10am -- but we lucked out and got an awesome parking spot. The day was warm and sunny, full of gorgeous yarn, adorable fiber animals, and decadent food.


Emma and I are overwhelmed by all the pretty yarn...


Baby Helen loves wool; she just doesn't know it yet.


The ever patient husband


Baby Helen hides from the obsessive knitters in her pumpkin hat.

This is pumpkin hat #2. It's a tad big, which is fine because it rolls up (in theory at least) and it will probably still fit her next autumn! (Pumpkin hat #1 I sent to Helen's cousin who was born in August, but ended up fitting the 3-year-old big sister instead! Not sure if it's my own gauge issues, or if the sizing in Itty Bitty Hats is a bit off.)

In the above picture, you can also kind of see the beautiful dress that Emma knit! I have better pictures of the dress, which I will post at a later date.

And here Emma and I are enjoying some of the aforementioned decadent food:


Here are some of my Rhinebeck purchases, which were pretty under control this year:


Two skeins of Brooks Farm Solana, which I'm thinking may become an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Sweater...


One skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks Superwash Merino, which may be destined to become a baby hat...


Some cute buttons which would look lovely on a baby cardigan...(Getting a bit repetitive here, now that I think of it...)


And a beautiful wooden swift! (Ball winder too, but it's not as photogenic.)

And that's pretty much it, aside from a bottle of lavender Eucalan, which I didn't bother photographing.

Self-indulgence

I generally refrain from buying things for myself before the holidays, but immediately afterwards I tend to go on a bit of a shopping spree.


This snail-like contraption is a needle threader. Until now, I've been using the kind of needle threader that has a wire loop. Those work very well with sewing needles and thread, but they are pretty delicate and have a tendency to break when used with thick yarn. I suspected there must be a device better tailored to threading yarn, and the other day when I was in Daytona Trimmings, I happened upon this cute little item. Unfortunately it has some rough edges from when the metal was stamped out, but it works pretty well and I'm not afraid it's going to break.


One of the Christmas gifts we bought for a friend this year was from the Bust Boobtique, and in order to, um, make the shipping cost worthwhile, I ordered a copy of Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation for myself. I had taken it out of the library a while back, copied a few pages, and made the Fairly Easy Fair Isle cardigan from it. The book contains many good patterns and lots of useful information about modifying patterns, adding waist shaping, etc., so I wanted a copy of my own.


The gizmo above is an "ear light." I have to thank Christine from the Pointy Sticks podcast for sharing her three favorite knitting things: her ear light, highlighter tape, and dpn protectors! Shortly after hearing that podcast, I went to the Discovery Store at Grand Central and picked up an ear light. It enabled me to knit Courtney's tassel hat in the car the night we drove to Pittsburgh. I found it to be more comfortable than my head lamp which I have used for the same purpose.

I also ordered a pair of handmade dpn stitch protectors from Three Owls Knitting on Etsy! She has instructions on her blog on how to make them, but I really like the ones she's selling, and they're reasonably priced. This was my first Etsy purchase!

Tracking down highlighter tape was a little tricky. Staples didn't have it, and I thought Christine said it was made by 3M, but I couldn't find it on their web site. Eventually I found highlightertape.com (they also have an eBay store) and ordered the one-line (1/6") tape. This should be very helpful with knitting charts. I'm currently knitting Shedir and wishing I already had my highlighter tape!

Also for Shedir, I picked up a US 3 circular needle (my first bamboo circ) and dpns (by KA, a brand I haven't tried before).

And...I bought more yarn! I ordered a couple skeins from Lisa Souza. One is a skein of superwash sport merino in the "Violet's Pink Ribbon" colorway. The proceeds from that yarn will go towards medical bills for Violet from the Lime and Violet podcast, who recently found a lump in her breast. The yarn is pink, which isn't a favorite color of mine, but I'll probably use it to make something for a baby. It was a great excuse to try out Lisa's handpainted yarn, about which I've heard wonderful things. While I was at it, I also purchased a skein of merino sock yarn in the "Earth Birth" colorway.

Celebratory knitting purchases!

My wonderful husband got a new job, and to celebrate, he gave me a gift certificate to Brooklyn General! We walked over there on Saturday and he waited patiently, reading about Japanese textiles, while I looked at every item in the store at least 3 times. I ended up buying the Mason-Dixon Knitting book, a skein of Morehouse Farms Merino worsted with which I'm planning to knit a lining for my Gimli hat, a couple balls of Rowan Calmer which were on sale, and a crochet hook in a size I didn't have. I spent just over half the gift certificate, and I'm looking forward to going back and buying more stuff in the future. Note the awesome tattoo lettering on the envelope -- John is not only generous and thoughtful but talented as well. Okay, enough bragging!

Monday was another beautiful day and I had off from work so I walked over to Knitaway and bought The Knitter's Companion. I love that it shows how to fix a dropped stitch when it's at the end of a row. Every time I've been in that situation it's taken me way too long to figure it out and I'm never sure I've done it right.

Also I went a little nuts on Amazon and bought Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, Knit Fix, and two Elizabeth Zimmerman books (Knitting Without Tears and Knitter's Almanac). My knitting reference library is starting to take shape!

Quick stash roundup

On Sunday John and I took a nice walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and somehow found ourselves at P & S Yarns. I purchased 6 balls of light gray Bernat Satin with which I plan to knit holiday gifts for John's mom, who is allergic to wool. (I'm allowing myself to buy yarn as long as it's for gifts and I don't already have something on hand that will work. I bound off the baby blanket last night, and with two big projects finally off the needles, some space has freed up in my yarn closet.) We also made it over to Brooklyn General for the first time. It was full of amazing things I had only read about, like Morehouse Farm Merino, Lobster Pot Cashmere, and Ozark Handspun, but I managed to restrain myself and not buy anything.

Below are some pictures from my stash that I've been meaning to post. All were purchased many months ago. This should help remind me that I've got lovely yarn on hand, just waiting to be knitted up.


Malabrigo merino wool in burgundy, ordered online from WEBS in February. Described by many as "buttery soft" and I have to agree. There are 215 yards in each skein. I plan to make it into a cozy scarf for myself. In the meantime I just pet it from time to time.


Rowan CashSoft Aran in color "haze" purchased on eBay in March. It was a really good deal that I couldn't pass up. This yarn is soft, warm, and machine washable -- perfect for gifts. I think I still have almost a full ball of the "oat" color left over from previous projects, so that could be good for accents.


Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, bought on sale last winter at Yarn Connection with Branching Out in mind. Any lacy pattern would probably work with this yarn. I only have one skein but it's 190 yards.


Cascade Fixation purchased at The Point in April, intended to become a bikini, which I started swatching for but never got around to knitting this summer. In a pinch it could be turned into stripey socks.

Recent acquisitions, what I'm working on

While in Turkey I did a little online yarn shopping as well as the aforementioned bazaar yarn shopping. Jannette's Rare Yarns had an amazing sale going on at the time, and I couldn't resist purchasing a 10-skein bag of Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed in off-white flecked with bright blue, lemon, and black. Methinks it will make lovely cabled scarves and hats or something like that. (Maybe a cabled sweater for my little niece? It is machine washable...) By the way, Jannette's Rare Yarns provides the best, friendliest customer service I've ever come across on the internet!


When I returned from the honeymoon, I ordered 14 16 balls of KnitPicks Shine Worsted: 8 in Cream, 4 6 in Sea Spray, and 2 in Bachelor Button. I also ordered shade cards for Shine and Shine Worsted for future reference. This was my first KnitPicks purchase, and I have been pleased so far. The yarn has a nice luster, and it is very soft, especially after it is knitted up. There have been a few nubby spots as I've been knitting, but nothing too serious. The bulk of that yarn is on its way to becoming a baby blanket for John's friends in Istanbul who were so generous and hospitable while we were there. They have a 3-month-old -- well actually, by now he must be at least 4 months old. I'm using Cris's Sampler Baby Blanket pattern (it's really more of a template), and it's currently about 24" square. My goal is 36" square, so, if my math is correct, I'm only about 45% done. The remaining yarn I will knit into chemo caps and donate to Support Connection, an organization where my mom volunteers. They provide all sorts of great services to women with breast and ovarian cancer. In the future I hope to make chemo caps whenever I am between projects.

Now I am on a self-declared yarn purchasing hiatus. I have even been to a wonderful new yarn store (Knitty City) and not purchased anything! I have decided I need to knit up enough of the yarn in my stash to free up some space in my closet before I can make any more purchases.

Yarn shopping in Turkey

While honeymooning in Turkey, I couldn't resist checking out the local yarn shops. Thanks to Polly, I knew just where to go to find yarn near the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

I purchased three hanks of sparkly fakey-fake yarn in turquoise, lime green, and burgundy. I'm not sure yet what I'll use it for -- it might make a cool bag. Or I could carry it along with something softer and fuzzier and make some funky scarves. We also spent a few days in Izmir, on the Aegean Sea, and there we located the covered bazaar, Kizlaragasi Han, which also has several yarn shops in the vicinity. (Again, thanks, Polly!)

At one of those shops I found some really soft, really pretty gold-flecked bright orange yarn for Emily's birthday. I can't wait to see what she turns it into!

Knitting inheritance

In the process of going through Grandma's apartment, we found needles and crochet hooks of every size, all sorts of notions, patterns, books and magazines, and a carton full of yarn! As the sole active knitter in my family, I have inherited all these treasures. The patterns are especially exciting because they're covered in Grandma's notes. Judging by the sheer volume of knitting stuff, it would seem that Grandma was much more of a knitter than she made herself out to be. Mom recognized a short wooden needle with a red ball on the end (sadly, without a mate) as what she learned to knit on when she was a child. (Apparently my family is full of closet former knitters!) Most of the yarn is acrylic, but there are a couple of skeins that say 100% Pure Virgin Wool, as well as some unlabelled mystery yarn. Everything is at least 20 years old, some of it dating back to the '50s and '60s. There are also bags full of small crocheted squares. I'd like to learn how to crochet so I can finish the afghan project that was probably started 25 years ago. I hope to post pictures of some of these items in the near future.

For now, no new pictures, but I have been knitting! Branching Out is probably close to halfway done, and the lace pattern is showing up better now that it's weighing itself down a bit. I'm also about a foot into the Men's Zip Raglan Cardigan. I was originally going to use Happy Wool but due to a fire in a Jerusalem post office storage room, that fell through. Instead I went with Cascade Ecological Wool, color #9010, and I love it! It comes in such enormous skeins (478 yds.) and it's so soft!

The Fairly Easy Fair Isle stares at me from its hanger, taunting me with its dangling ends and its unseemly proportions. I still think blocking could turn it into something I'd actually wear, but the sweater is too big to fit in the bathroom sink and I'm reluctant to use the bathtub and waste all that extra water. Excuses, excuses!