Giftalong Fever

Remember the last couple of weeks, when I was decrying the fact that I was feeling totally unenthusiastic about my knitting and wondering where my mojo had gone? I'm happy to report the feeling has completely left me and I am completely enthused by my current projects thanks to the Indie Design Giftalong. I've got three projects on the needles that I'm actively working on, and I'm enamored with them all.

First up is the only real gift that I'm knitting, and that's a pair of Vanilla Is the New Black socks for Rainbow. These are being knit in a lovely, bright colorway of Knit Picks Felici called Hopscotch.

I'm nearly halfway done with the first sock (if you consider the heel the halfway point), but these should move along very quickly given that the heel is the only part where I really need to pay attention. I started these over the weekend but didn't get too far, as I could only work on them when Rainbow wasn't around -- I really want these to be a surprise! These will be one of her Chanukah presents, and for now they're my designated lunchtime knitting.

The other two projects are both for me. One is the Flower Market Shawl, a pattern I bought last year and that has been patiently waiting for me to find the perfect yarn for it. I realized that the faded skein of yarn I spun a couple of months ago had just the right amount of yardage and would look really great in this pattern, so I didn't waste much time in winding the skein and casting on right after the GAL officially kicked off.

I'm in the middle of my fourth (of eight) repeats of this motif, and the rows are just starting to get long enough that I notice they take me a little while.

The other project is, coincidentally, also being worked in handspun and using a pattern I bought previously. It is a set of Plummy Mitts that I'm knitting up in the skein of Gwen Erin Targhee I finished earlier this month and couldn't bear not to keep for myself. I think it was a smart move, because I really love how the first mitt is knitting up.

I'm part of the way into the thumb gusset, and I think if I can get in a decent amount of time on the first mitt tonight, I should be close to finishing it up (if not actually finishing it). My plan is to use these mitts at the office to keep my hands and wrists warm; despite the fact that there was extensive work done in the building last year to make the HVAC system more efficient, I am still always cold because the air conditioning comes on pretty much every day and the heat never seems to. Fingerless mitts should make a bit difference while still keeping my fingers free to write and type.

If I happen to be really productive and finish up all these projects with time still left in the GAL, I'll be casting on another pair of socks for Rainbow as well as a baby sweater for a baby that is due very, very soon (I totally dropped the ball on that one, but at least a baby sweater is a quick knit). One thing at a time, though -- I'm determined to keep this GAL all about enjoying myself and not overdoing it.

If you still haven't taken advantage of the big GAL pattern sale, here's your reminder that it ends at 11:59 EST tonight! You can find my bundle of sale patterns here. You don't have to buy new patterns to participate in the fun, though -- if you already have patterns by participating designers in your library, you can use those! I'd really encourage you to come join the Ravelry GAL group and have fun chatting and playing the games. It may seem a little intimidating because it's a big group and the chat moves quickly, but you can jump in anywhere you like!

Variety

Usually Thanksgiving is a relaxing holiday for me, but with us hosting this year, it turned into an exhausting one. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun and we'll happily do it again last year, but I didn't get as much time to craft as I have in years past, and what crafting time I did have was primarily when I didn't have a lot of mental energy left. Fortunately, spinning is perfect for those times, so I've been spinning a fair bit over the past few days.

My main project has been my sweater spin. The first skein was finished and washed last weekend and is just beautiful.

It's so hard to capture all the subtle shades in this yarn (6 oz. of HipStrings Buoy in Mussels). The yarn definitely fluffed up a bit in the finishing, so my final yardage was a lot less than I was expecting or hoping for -- only 350 yards. I blame the poofing and the BFL content; my yardage always seems to be on the low side when I spin BFL.

I'm already well on my way on the second skein, which is 4 oz. of Bay, the darker blue color. One bobbin is done and I'd estimate I'm halfway done with the second.

As lovely as this fiber blend is to spin, I do have a lot of it, so to give me a bit of a break, I've started another project (and this one shouldn't mess me up, because I'm spinning my singles to the same thickness). A while back, Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works was offering an Advent calendar of sorts in either yarn minis, fiber minis, or a mix of both. While I don't celebrate Christmas (and thus don't observe Advent), I thought the fiber option would be a fun little side project. It arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I have to give Lisa high marks for presentation. The minis arrived in a box that was wrapped in wrapping paper, and this is what I found when I opened the box:

I can't even begin to imagine how much time Lisa spent wrapping up each little bit of fiber, but it's so nice to have all those little presents to unwrap! I started spinning on Friday and did two bundles that day and two yesterday (and I'll try to fit in two today). So far, this is what I've spun:

BFL in Dragonfly

Polwarth/silk in Northern Lights

Falkland in Krasi (bottom) and BFL in Color Pops - Pink/Purple (top)

I'm spinning these little bits of fiber, which so far have ranged from 7 to 10 g, in the order in which they're opened onto the same bobbin. When the bobbin is full, I'll chain ply all the singles. The resulting yarn will be a bit crazy, but I kind of like it.

If you haven't had enough photos for today, I'll share one more. Yesterday morning, Rainbow and I drove out to the HipStrings studio for their Small Business Saturday event. Because I got such low yardage on my first Buoy skein, I decided to pick up one more braid of each of the three colors as an extra bit of insurance, and we picked up a few more things from her sale bins while we were there as well.

In the back (left to right) is some superwash Targhee that Rainbow picked out for me to spin and knit into socks for her, some cotton (yes, I may be crazy) to attempt to spin on my wheel, two skeins of sock yarn that I'm going to use for a baby gift, and some Polwarth/silk. Clearly I have a lot of fun spinning time ahead of me!

Giving Thanks

It's Thanksgiving Day here in the United States, and for the first time, my family is hosting dinner. There's been a great deal of cooking and cleaning going on in our house all week, and I am more than ready to sit back and enjoy all the yummy food and the good company.

The guests will start arriving soon, but I wanted to pop up a quick note to say how thankful I am for all of you, dear readers. When I started this little old blog a dozen years ago, it was really just a way to get thoughts out and track my crafting. It's so rewarding to know that, rather than just throwing stuff out into the ether, there are people out there reading and commenting. I am especially thankful to those of you who have bought patterns from me in the past year -- you're helping to fun Rainbow's college education a pattern at a time!

For those of you who are celebrating with family and friends today, I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing time and a delicious meal. For everyone else, I hope you have a great rest of your week and an enjoyable weekend.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's just about that time again -- Indie Design Gift-a-long time!

Just what is the Gift-a-long (or GAL, for short)? It's a giant celebration of holiday gift crafting shining a spotlight on independent designers. For roughly five weeks, knitters and crocheters will be crafting along together on Ravelry while they also chat and play fun games. The whole thing kicks off with a giant pattern sale: All participating designers have created a bundle of 10-20 patterns that will be 25% off for the first week of the GAL. All patterns by participating designers are eligible for the KAL/CALs, and all paid patterns are eligible to win prizes (which include download codes for free patterns as well as some pretty amazing physical prizes).

I am participating in the event again this year as both a designer and a moderator. I'm also planning on knitting some things myself, and I'll admit I'm being totally selfish and knitting only for me this year. I've already got my yarn wound up and ready to be cast on:

These skeins are both handspun, and I'm very excited to be knitting them.

If you'd like to find out more about the GAL, go check out the Ravelry group (and don't be intimidated by the size of the threads there -- just jump in anywhere you like!). You can find my bundle of sale patterns here. Hope to see you on the GAL board!

Taking Care of (Spinning) Business

While my knitting mojo has been waning, my spinning mojo is alive and well. I spent more than a few hours at my wheel this weekend and made good progress on my sweater spin. The first skein is officially done, though it still needs to be skeined and washed (and that's on tap for this evening).

HipStrings Buoy in Mussels

I snapped this (mediocre) photo before I was finished plying but as soon as I realized the light was very quickly fading. This skein is likely going to be one of the largest of the whole project, at 6 oz. I realized I'd made a little error in my mental planning in how I'd split up all the fiber, so most of the remaining skeins will be 4 oz. each. Given that I finished this skein in about a week, that bodes well for finishing up the remaining skeins in a timely manner.

I finished up the final bobbin of singles for this skein last night and found myself with some time left to spin, so I decided to add on to my leftovers bobbin.

This bobbin is where I add on my leftover singles when I've finished plying a skein and have some singles still remaining on a bobbin. When the bobbin is full, I'll chain ply everything that's on it. I didn't have any singles to add, but I did have some some small fiber samples I'd accumulated, so I decided to spin those onto this bobbin. The dark multicolored singles at the far end of the bobbin were spun from a sample of Hill District from HipStrings. The hot pink was a leftover puni from Gourmet Stash that I spun several years ago. The green at the bobbin is mystery fiber, and the dark blue in the middle is Falkland from Yarn Hollow. There's still some room left on this bobbin, so I'll continue to add to it. To be honest, I've been adding to this one so long that I have no recollection what's underneath, so it will be a fun surprise to finally ply!

Plenty of Sock Mojo

While my enthusiasm for other projects seems to have waned, I have had no problems lately getting socks knit up. I finished up my "sportsball" socks Tuesday night, and they're just about perfectly matching.

Pattern: my basic stockinette recipe worked over 70 stitches
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) in Elvis Has Left the Building, 0.86 skeins
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: October 29/November 14

Despite starting these socks in the exact same spot in the stripe sequence and working what I thought was the same number of rounds, they're every so slightly different -- but you can only tell by looking at the very tips of the toes. The first sock had about one more round of black than the second, even though I worked an extra half round on the toe of the second after I completed the toe decreases to try to cheat it. The good news is that I'm likely to be the only person who notices this minor discrepancy, so I'm not sweating it. I do love how these turned out otherwise, and they'll be excellent for any sports-related occasion when I want to wear my black and gold.

I almost immediately cast on a new pair of socks, this time for Rainbow, who has become quite the fan (she was a bit miffed the other day when both pairs of her hand-knit socks were waiting to be washed). I won this skein of Austermann Step from Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works as part of a yearlong KAL going on in her podcast group, and she was nice enough to hand deliver it to me at Indie Knit and Spin this past Saturday. I'm not doing anything special with these, but I think I may use a standard heel flap and gusset instead of the Fish Lips Kiss Heel I've been doing on her socks. I'm enjoying the colors, which remind me very much of fall leaves, and the yarn might even be helping with the insanely dry skin I'm now dealing with on my hands now that the weather has gotten cold.

The colors are a little more vibrant when it's not a super gloomy day.

Speaking of FDW, if you were hoping to get a kit for my Xenolith hat but weren't able to make it IKS last weekend, Lisa will have some kits up in the shop in her update tomorrow. The gray main color/gradient mini skein kits all sold out at the show, but she still has some blue main color/brights mini skein kits left, and she's told me that she's planning to dye up some more of the gradient kits soon. You can find the listing for the kits here. She's also got some other kits for my patterns in her shop as well, in addition to lots of pretty yarn, so take a look around while you're there!

Flitting

When I started the week yesterday, I looked at the calendar and marveled at the fact that we are nearly halfway done with November and Thanksgiving is already next week. Where on earth is this year going? I feel like I still haven't fully gotten a grip on 2017 (though I suspect that's because it's been a very weird year in general) and there isn't much left of it. Perhaps that's why I'm feeling so scattered about my current WIPs and not feeling a strong urge to focus on any particular one.

There's my Wonder Woman Wrap, which I did give some attention to this past weekend, and as a result I'm now on the last pink stripe. It's hard to see what's going on here with the work all bunched up on the needle (hence the lack of photo here), but I think it will look great once it's done and blocked out. I'm happy with how the two colors are playing together, but I will say that I am not at all looking forward to weaving in all those ends.

I've also been working on my giant crochet bag, and I'm nearly finished with the third color, some leftover Cascade 220 from a sweater I knit Rainbow a couple years ago.

Sarah left a very helpful comment the last time I posted about this project that the Jo-Ann Sensations Tesoro I'd been planning to use might be superwash. Though the label says to hand wash, which would imply that it is not superwash, I'll be testing a bit of it to see if it will felt before I use it in this project. I have plenty of feltable scraps that can be used in this bag, so I won't stress if this one ball doesn't make it in. If it is, in fact, superwash, it would be great to use for a charity project!

The only project I'm working on that has been seeing real, measurable progress has been my socks, which will soon be done -- I'm cruising down the foot of the second sock. Should be able to finish that one up tonight!

While I've been less than enthusiastic about my projects, I have been pretty happy about some additions to the stash. I didn't get much of an opportunity to shop at Indie Knit and Spin on Saturday because I couldn't really leave Rainbow to man the booth on her own for more than the time it took for me to run to the bathroom, but there were some other amazing vendors in the room I was in, and I did bring a couple of things home with me.

The macaron bag (with an adorable matching mini pouch) is from SteelCityStitcher, and I actually spotted it while we were setting up and bought it before the show officially opened. I didn't really need another project bag, but it was too cute to resist. The yarn is a skein of Vesper Sock from Knitterly Things in a colorway called Poetry in Motion. Julia was set up next to me at the show, and I was staring at her beautiful colors all day. I've never actually knit with Vesper Sock before, though I remember when it was a big thing in the early days of self-striping sock, so I decided to treat myself.

The best part of the show, though, was probably getting to meet Kat in person. We've been friends online for a while but, despite the fact that we live relatively close to one another, we hadn't before managed to meet in real life. She is just as lovely in person as she is on her blog, and we're hoping to schedule a day to spin together soon.

Spinning in My Happy Place

It has been a spinning-filled weekend here. Yesterday I was vending at Indie Knit and Spin, and as a way to both multitask and draw some people into the booth, I took my Lendrum with me so I could spin while I was sitting there. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to start a sweater spin, so I split up some of the HipStrings Buoy I bought at our Spinzilla spin-in and took it along. I'm spinning a traditional three-ply fingering weight for this project and the first skein (the darkest) will be spun from 6 oz. of fiber. I spun up the entirety of the first bobbin -- meaning 2 oz. of fiber -- in the time I was sitting there yesterday.

Ignore the hat underneath -- that was just to keep the bobbin from rolling

This colorway is called Mussels, and while it's a bit hard to see it in the photo, it's a beautiful blend of purple, blue, black, and brown. The singles have a wonderfully tweedy look to them, and the spinning experience itself is delightful. This particular fiber blend -- BFL, Shetland, and Manx Loaghtan -- has a really interesting feel to it. There's the silkiness of the BFL but a real toothiness from the Shetland and the Manx. Of course, like all HipStrings fiber, it is perfectly prepped and extremely easy to draft, and I'm definitely in my comfort zone with these singles, as they're really my default weight. The spinning is going quickly, too. I started on the second bobbin before the show was over and have just about an arm's length of fiber still to spin before it's finished as well.

In addition to that great start, I finished up another skein that was in progress. I finally finished up the Targhee singles I had been spinning for about two weeks on Friday night, and I plied them up last night and this morning. Here's the skein before it got a good soak:

I'll share some final pictures when it's dry, but I'm very pleased with it even fresh off the wheel.

Meanwhile, though I have been good about getting some fiber out of the stash, I've also had some new fiber come into it this past week.

This is the October shipment of the Southern Cross Fibre club, a colorway called Dot. I got the classic club, which this month was on Bond -- one of my favorites. I braided up the fiber to see how the colors will mix together and I really like them. This reminds me a lot of some of the colors the leaves are changing this time of year, so it feels appropriate for an October shipment. I'm not sure that I'll be spinning this up right away (I'm tempted to, but I think I should focus on my sweater spin for now), but I've certainly been giving it some good squeezes.

Pattern Debut: Xenolith

Today I've got something a little different for you. Normally when I release a new pattern and blog about it, it's available for you to buy or download right away. Today, however, is more of a teaser, because while you can't get the pattern just yet, you will be able to get the pattern soon.

This one is another collaboration with my very talented friend Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works. I had the idea for this hat much earlier this year, but with everything the two of us have had going on this year, it's taken until now to finally make it a reality. The idea was simple: a slouchy hat with some colorwork employing some mini skeins. The execution proved to be a bit more difficult, as we had to decide on colors for two very different looks. I'm very pleased with the result, however, and I'm excited to introduce you to Xenolith.

A xenolith is a fragment of a rock that is included in another rock. I thought it was an apt name for the colorwork motif I designed, in which each color becomes part of the pattern when the next color is introduced.

The first version Lisa and I put together uses her Silver Gray as the main color and a set of mini skeins in a gradient version of her Peacock Blue colorway for the contrast colors. At first I was using the mini skeins in the gradient order, but it soon became apparent that there was not sufficient contrast between them, so I ripped back and started over. The contrast is subtle in some spots, but this works much better.

The second version is much brighter and more colorful. While we debated back and forth about the main color, I ultimately went with Lisa's Flash Freeze (Light), a very cheerful sky blue. The contrast colors you see here are (bottom to top) Sakura Pink, Electric Blue, Blazing Orange, Neon Green, and Rhodochrosite.

The pattern is graded to four sizes -- Toddler (Child, Teen/Adult Small, Adult Large), to fit a head circumference of 18 (20, 22, 24) in./46 (51, 56, 61) cm -- and uses half a skein of Lisa's sport weight Traveler base plus a set of five mini skeins.

For the first three months of publication, this pattern will be available exclusively as part of a kit from Fibernymph Dye Works. We'll be debuting the kits at Indie Knit and Spin this coming Saturday (yet another good reason to come if you're local other than to squish my handspun!), and they'll be available in the FDW online shop after that. After the exclusivity period ends, the pattern will be available in my Ravelry shop -- but I'd definitely encourage you to get your hands on a kit if you can, because Lisa's yarn is amazing!

Hooked, Quite Literally

Last week I mentioned that I was feeling a little bit of a loss of my knitting mojo. I'm still feeling a bit like that, though I did spend some time since then working on my Wonder Woman Wrap, and it's grown a bit since you last saw it. I am nearly finished with the second middle stripe (which involves short rows) and have added quite a few ends that will need to be woven in at some point.

I'm also still making good progress on my "sportsball" socks; the first one got finished today.

Over the weekend, however, when I was not spending time at my wheel, I was doing something rather surprising, if you know me. I was crocheting. Yes, I'm serious! I've long wanted to use up a bunch of worsted weight wool scraps in my stash to make a huge felted tote bag that I can use to toss WIPs in, and this weekend I finally decided to do it. I found a bunch of full or partial skeins of feltable wool in one of my stash bins, pulled out a big hook, and got to it. I'm hooking this from the base up, and I'm totally winging the pattern, so don't ask me what I did to get it to this point.

This dark brown was a lone skein of Ella Rae Classic that my Ravelry stash page tells me I bought back in 2008. I originally had four skeins, though I have no idea what happened to the other three. My plan is to continue with the base until this skein runs out and then stop increasing at the ends when I join in the next color. The other scraps I've pulled are mostly partial skeins of the now-discontinued Patons Classic Wool Merino as well as a lone ball of Jo-Ann Sensations Tesoro leftover from a Baby Surprise Jacket I knit for my cousin when he was born (he's now 10 years old), all of which were purchased a decade ago. I know I still have plenty of wool scraps left in the stash, and I'm sure I'll be digging them out once I get through this little pile.

I am enjoying the crocheting, something I'm not very good at but that goes very quickly, though due to my lack of practice I find that I have to look at what I'm doing, which doesn't make for a good activity when I'm watching TV at the same time and want to see what's happening on the screen. I'm feeling very virtuous for how much yarn I'm using up and removing from the stash as well. I've never been able to throw away leftover yarn when I complete a project if there's a decent amount remaining, so my stash is full of partial balls and scraps, many of them very well suited to a project like this. While I doubt that knitting will ever be replaced as my first love, I can see how I could very easily get addicted to this type of project!

Savoring the Spin

I spent last week mostly working on (nearly) instant-gratification spins -- basically yarns that are thicker than my default. I finished up the second of those on Friday night, some dyed Corriedale from the Ross Farm that had been marinating in my stash for about a year.

Photo gloom brought to you by an unexpected thunderstorm

I actually finished plying this skein on Friday night and skeined and washed it yesterday morning, but it still had a bit too much plying twist in it after it was dry. This morning, I wound it into a center-pull ball and then ran it quickly back through my wheel to remove a bit of that excess twist. I skeined and soaked it again, and it's now hanging to dry in my shower.

In the meantime, I have returned to my usual ways with the project that's on my Lendrum in the form of singles for a three-ply fingering weight. The fiber is Targhee (one of my favorites) from Gwen Erin Natural Fibers that I bought at Indie Knit and Spin last year. I'm a bit more than halfway done, I think.

I had originally intended to spin this for my booth at Indie Knit and Spin next week, but I'm enjoying it so much, I might just have to keep it for myself!

Before I let you go, here's your reminder that if you're a fan of my handspun, you can come squish it in person and take some of it home with you next Saturday! Indie Knit and Spin will be held at the Wilkins School Community Building in the Regent Square neighborhood of Pittsburgh next Saturday, November 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There's no entrance fee, and there's a fantastic lineup of vendors. Hope to see you there!

Have You Seen My Mojo?

I'm not sure why, but I haven't seemed to have had any strong desire to knit this past week. I've been doing a lot of spinning, but my knitting has been limited to very simple, mindless things. Case in point: Last night I finished a dishcloth.

I decided to use up scraps and partial skeins of kitchen cotton to make some Ballband Dishcloths, and this is the latest one. I've been knitting it in fits and starts since sometime last month, mainly while listening to Rainbow read on the nights I put her to bed. Last night I decided to take some time to finish it, which really didn't take long. I even cast on a new one so that I'll continue to have an on-the-go project (and continue to use up leftovers). I'm not really feeling a huge need for a stash of dishcloths right now, but at the moment, they feel like the perfect project for my tired brain.

I'm still knitting my socks, of course, during my lunch breaks at work, and I'm about halfway done with the first sock (just finished the heel flap and I'm ready to turn the heel).

I do want to get back to my Wonder Woman Wrap, and I did nearly pull it out last night, but I felt like I just wasn't in the right head space to follow a pattern. I think I'll likely get back to it this weekend, and perhaps then I'll get excited about a project again and my mojo will return -- which likely means I'll want to cast on a bunch of new projects that will once again distract me from my WIPs!

Socktober: Better Late than Never

For many years in the online knitting world, there have been official and unofficial celebrations of "Socktober," or a month dedicated to knitting socks. I've never needed an excuse to knit socks and pretty much always have a pair on the go, but as the month finishes up, I've realized that my sock mojo has ramped up a bit. First, in all the excitement surrounding my trip to Rhinebeck (and all the craziness involved in preparing for it), I completely neglected to mention that I have a new sock pattern out! My Intrecciate Socks are in Knit Now issue 80, which I believe is now on UK newsstands. For those of you who aren't in the UK, fear not -- the pattern will be published in my Ravelry shop just as soon as I get the rights back (which should be sometime in the February/March 2018 time frame).

These socks are constructed in a fairly traditional way (cuff down, with heel flap and gusset), with a stitch pattern that consists of simple cables and some twisted stitches. I designed them to be gender neutral and suggested a semisolid or tonal yarn, but this colorful gradient is what I was sent. That's one of the things about publishing with a third party -- you have to knit up the sample in the yarn they send you! I rather like the bright colors, though I'm definitely going to be knitting up another sample in a more sedate yarn, because I think it entirely changes the look.

Of course, these sample socks were knit up months ago -- but there has been sock knitting happening more recently. Over the weekend, I finished up Rainbow's latest pair, and she was so thrilled with them that she wore them all last night (a big deal for someone who runs warm and almost never covers her feet at night) and declared that had today been a weekend, she would have continued wearing them all day!

They actually fit quite well, despite what they may look like in this photo. I worked these in basic ribbed cuff/stockinette leg and foot over 64 stitches on a size 0/2.0 mm needle and used a Fish Lips Kiss Heel. The yarn is ONline Supersocke 4-fach Season Color (just your typical superwash wool/nylon that will wear like iron), and while I was careful to start the second sock at the same point in the pattern and the sock match up nearly perfectly, if you look closely, you'll see that the very end of the toes don't quite match. I'm choosing to blame the yarn for that. Rainbow doesn't care, so I'm not sweating it.

I'm sure she would love me to knit her another pair, but up next is a pair for me. I've had this skein of Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce patiently waiting and now is the time. I'm obviously not going to finish these by the end of the month, but I've at least made a start.

This colorway is called Elvis Has Left the Building, and if you're not a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, then you won't know the reference (it's an expression one of the Pens' longtime broadcasters says when it's clear that they've one the game). All the Pittsburgh sports teams very conveniently share the same colors, so these can be my default socks for any "sportsball" event.

Finally, today is not only Halloween, it's also a special day for the blog -- on this day, 12 years ago, I published my very first blog post. Happy "blogoversary" to me!

Singles Frenzy

After focusing on my Rhinebeck sweater prior to the trip and being away last weekend, I was anxious to get back to my wheel this week. You might say that my fiber stash spilleth over, not to mention the fact that I'm vending at Indie Knit and Spin in less than two weeks, so I was anxious to both reduce the stash and add to my shop inventory. Since Wednesday evening, I've spun up 8 oz. of singles:

The pink on the left is dyed Corriedale from the Ross Farm (a limited edition, as they don't normally have dyed fiber and they've since sold the Corriedale sheep) and the blue/purple on the right is Polwarth from Gale's Art that I won as a KAL prize last month. They'll both be two-ply yarns, likely heavy fingering to sport weight unless they bloom significantly, but the Polwarth was spun as a fractal and obviously should be more interesting as it has more colors in it. As you can see, I've also made good use of my new-to-me WooLee Winder bobbins, with two more still waiting to be filled. It's always fun to see how quickly I can spin a skein of yarn when I'm not spinning frog hair singles!

I'm planning to ply both of these skeins this week, and I also have a braid of Targhee ready to spun up as well. I'm not planning to spend the next two weeks spinning with quite the same intensity as Spinzilla or Tour de Fleece, but it would be good to get a few more skeins into inventory while working solely from stash.

Otherwise in the spinning world, I got some sad news this week. Ginny of FatCatKnits announced that she has decided to close her business and move to be closer to her family. I can't help but feel that I was part of the problem, as I wasn't buying as regularly as I once was, but I can understand her reasons and will surely miss her artistry. I am glad to know that I still have a few braids of her fiber left in the stash. I know there is plenty of fiber out there, but it's hard at the same time. Ginny has become a friend over the years, and as sad as I am that I will no longer be able to buy her beautiful fiber, I want her to be happy and successful. I certainly wish her well!

Prime Knitting Time

Although the drive to Rhinebeck was long and (at times) uncomfortable, the one good thing about it is that I did not have to do any of the driving or navigating, which meant that I had many hours to fill with knitting. I managed to get quite a good bit of it done, too.

My main knitting objective was to finish up a couple of pattern samples for a new collaboration with Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works. We're planning to debut this new pattern at Indie Knit and Spin and a couple weeks, and I really needed to knit the samples to both finish up the pattern and have them ready for Lisa to display in her booth. The first sample was already in progress when we left (though I changed my mind about color order and ripped back about half of what I'd knit in the car), and I finished it up after tearing down the booth on Sunday evening. I cast on the second sample in the car on Monday morning and finished it last night. I can't show you much, but here's a peek (you'll have to come to IKS to see the full reveal!):

I also cast on a new pair of socks for Rainbow, at her request, on the way to Rhinebeck. I figured a simple sock would be good to work on while we were out to dinner or standing around the booth. I finished the first one on Monday morning and am already nearly halfway done with the second. Because she picked out the self-patterning yarn, I went with plain stockinette with a Fish Lips Kiss heel.

These socks are a bit faster than socks for me, but not by much -- they're only an inch smaller in circumference and about two inches shorter in length. I'd say it's only a matter of time before Rainbow's feet are more or less the same size as mine, so she's going to have to learn to knit her own socks before too long.

The only other project I still have on the needles is my Wonder Woman Wrap, which sadly has not seen any attention since before I started my Rhinebeck sweater. I did take it on the trip with me, hoping I'd give it some love, but I never even pulled it out of the bag. I don't think it will get worked on much in the next two weeks, either, as I'm planning to spend more of my crafting time spinning to increase my inventory for my Indie Knit and Spin booth. I'm not feeling any particular pressure to finish it, but I would like to see it done soon -- though I suppose I could always take it on our annual Florida trip, which really isn't that far away!

Rhinebeck Reentry

I'm not sure I can even begin to capture everything from this past weekend and the excitement that was my first Rhinebeck, but I'm going to try -- and please forgive the long post! It was a long, busy weekend, and while it was technically a working weekend for me (meaning that I spent most of the time at the festival in the booth), it was absolutely wonderful.

We left early on Thursday morning and pulled into the fairgrounds at about 4:30 in the afternoon to unload all the stuff. Then we headed to the campsite to set up the camper and then to dinner at Terrapin, which was absolutely delicious. On Friday morning, we went back to the fairgrounds to set up the booth. We were done by about noon, which gave us time to wander a bit around "downtown" Rhinebeck and have some lunch before heading to the Needles Up event. I made just two purchases there, a new sock-sized bag (I'm calling that a necessity, as I'd forgotten a bag for the socks I cast on for Rainbow on the trip up) and an Elizabeth Zimmermann pin from the Fat Squirrel and a braid of Cheviot in Starry Night from Classy Squid Fiber Co.

We decided to try to get into Indie Untangled before dinner on Friday and after spending a very long time in a very long line had about 25 minutes to fight the crowds. I purchased just one skein of yarn, the Rhinebeck 2017 colorway from Skeinny Dipping on her fingering singles base, and also got to meet Christine, the dyer, who I've "known" online for a number of years.

I also met Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade in the crowd and met fellow designer Mary Annarella. I didn't get a chance to get a picture with Helen, but I chatted with Mary for a bit when I escaped the claustrophobic room, and she's every bit as nice in person as she is online.

Once we escaped that madness, we went to dinner in Saugerties with Danielle, the owner of Fibre Space, and her husband and adorable daughter (a.ka. Fibre Space Tiny Human). That was a very fun dinner, and as both Danielle and her husband are originally from the Southwestern Pennsylvania area, we discovered a lot of connections.

On Saturday we were up early to get to the fairgrounds and finish setting up the booth. I thought it looked pretty great when we were done:

If you look closely, you can see one of my patterns on display!

Though the temperatures did get rather warm later in the day, it was chilly enough in the morning to wear and show off my Rhinebeck sweater!

I'm so glad I wore it, because, a bit later in the morning -- completely by chance -- the designer of the sweater, Elizabeth Doherty, was in the booth and I got to show her my sweater in person! She was so nice, and meeting her was probably the highlight of my day.

The booth was busy for most of the day, but it calmed down enough by late afternoon that I was able to wander for a bit. My first stop was the fiber arts competition display, where I was stunned and delighted to find that all three of the handspun skeins I had entered had won ribbons (one fourth place and two fifths)!

I ran into Melanie of the Savvy Girls Podcast (who I had met at Maryland Sheep and Wool last year), and the two of us wandered around together a bit.

Saturday night we headed to Kingston for a delicious Mexican dinner and made it to Jill Draper's open studio event for about the last fifteen minutes. That proved to be a good thing, as the studio was fairly empty by then and we were actually able to talk to Jill and Rachel of Daughter of a Shepherd, whose yarns were being featured at the event. I may have bought a little yarn there, too.

Sunday at the festival was much more relaxed. I got a chance to try the famous apple cider donuts and do just a little bit of shopping. At the end of the day, we packed everything up, loaded it onto the truck, and headed back to downtown Rhinebeck for one last delicious dinner. We had a long day coming home yesterday -- I didn't get back to my house until about 8:45 last night -- but it was worth it.

I'd say the best part of the whole experience was all the people I got to see and meet. I ran into a number of friends from SSK and elsewhere, and thanks to Amy and Scooter Pie, met a bunch of designers, podcasters, and other fiber industry people, including Laura Nelkin, Thea Colman, Amy Christoffers, Anne Vally, Boston Jen, and EmilyStraw. I also ran into Miriam Felton just outside the booth and introduced myself, as I'd "met" her online probably a decade ago when she helped me get through my very first lace shawl from one of her patterns (and I later loaned her the finished shawl when she got the rights back to the pattern and needed new photos). I got to meet a number of friends from Ravelry who I'd not yet met in person and ran into some friends who I've known for years.

I'm sure you're wondering what else followed me home, aren't you? Here's the full haul:

In addition to the things you've already seen, I bought a woven basket from Ghana (perfect for carrying all my purchases), a festival T-shirt, a sock blank from Gale's Art, and some Ross Farm Romney and CVM fiber and a skein of Shetland sport weight that I kept fondling throughout the show and Amy wouldn't let me leave without. I also came come with three new-to-me Lendrum WooLee Winder bobbins (not shown) that I bought from another Raveler who was nice enough to meet me at the booth for the exchange.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading it all. I'm going to wait until my next post to share the knitting I did on the trip (because it's a long drive to and from Rhinebeck, and that's the perfect time to knit). I'm thoroughly exhausted from the weekend, but I wouldn't change a thing -- and I really hope I can go back next year!

I Did It, and It Was Spectacular

When you read this, I'll be on my way to Rhinebeck, N.Y., with Amy and Scooter Pie of the Ross Farm with my new (and very much finished) sweater, which I finished in the nick of time on Tuesday evening.

This is the best photo I can take at 5 a.m.

Pattern: Copperplate by Elizabeth Doherty
Yarn: Yarn Hollow Tango (85% Polwarth, 15% silk) in Garnet, approximately 3.5 skeins
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 2.5 (3.0 mm)
Started/Completed: September 4/October 17

I started this sweater right after I found out I was making the pilgrimage to the New York Sheep and Wool festival, and I think I knit it rather quickly considering I took an entire week off in the middle to focus on Spinzilla. I'd been meaning to make the pattern for quite some time and had actually swatched for it way back when I bought the yarn, which my Ravelry stash page tells me was last May. My past self was very smart and made a note of my pre- and post-blocked gauge (as well as the needle size I used) on the pattern, so all I had to do to cast on was wind up a few more skeins.

The pattern itself was great. There are a lot of things to pay attention to, such as separate charts for the faux-cabled front bands and shaping, but I was able to knit on this while watching all sorts of TV and movies without making any serious errors, so I'd rate it somewhere in the middle of the difficulty scale. The construction is really genius, though, and it looks like it will fit really well.

Because I was using a hand-dyed yarn, I did alternate skeins for most of the sweater (the exceptions are the beginnings of the faux-cabled bands and the sleeve caps). That meant quite a few ends to weave it, but I decided at the outset to weave them in as I went along knowing that I'd probably be rushed to finish this in time for the trip and I didn't want to have a couple dozen ends to deal with at the last minute. I did use significant less yarn than the pattern estimates, and while I did make the sleeves a bit shorter than called for, I don't think that alone accounts for it. I have an entire skein untouched as well as remains of the last two skeins I was using, but that's not a bad thing, as I loved working with the yarn and will be happy to have some leftovers to play with.

The weather forecast for Rhinebeck is not entirely suitable for sweater wearing (it's supposed to get to the mid-70s on Saturday and Sunday), but knowing how I tend to run cold and that mornings and evenings are likely to get chilly, I'm sure I'll get some time to wear my new cardi.

I won't be doing a spinning post this weekend, as I haven't been at the wheel since the end of Spinzilla, but I do promise a full recap post (or maybe two!) of my Rhinebeck experience when I'm back. If you'll be at the festival this weekend, do come and say hi if you see me! Be forewarned, however, that if I'm wearing my new sweater, I may make you pet it.