Rainbow Chills

Maryland Report

Jody and I went to our 5th Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday. It's so funny to me that Jody and I had only known each other a few months when we went to that first festival. We were SO overwhelmed by everything going on around us. After 5 Marylands and 2 Rhinebecks, we have this festival thing down to an art. We know where we're going, what we want to get, when to be laid back, and we have a great time. Reports from my very first MS&W here: 1 and 2. It cracks me up that we arrived at 11:30 am.

Jody and I left from Philly at about 6:45 am on Saturday which is about when we left last year. We got to the festival by about 8:40ish. We didn't sit in much traffic at all on our way into the fairgrounds but there was a long line up of cars behind us. I think we missed the traffic by less than a minute. We hit the ladies room where we encountered the shortest lines there of the day. Then we went to The Fold where I picked up two skeins of yarn for a Chevron scarf (Fire on the Mountain and Lemongrass) and a skein of the Knitters Without Borders colorway for the Arthritis Walk prizes. There was quite a line there but unlike last year, there wasn't a line to get into the booth to browse. I think at this point, people realize that you have to find a few things that you like and then get into the check out line if you ever plan to see the rest of the festival. I never mind waiting in that line because I much prefer to buy hand-dyed yarn in person.

After that we went to Tess' Yarns where I got a skein of sock yarn to make a pair of socks for Michelle and two skeins of merino laceweight to make a shawl for me.

My only other yarn purchase of the day was a ball of Noro sock yarn to make another pair of the Annetrelac socks because I love the first pair I made so much.

We somehow managed to miss the Ravelry meetup. We saw Jess, Casey, and Mary-Heather on our way back into the fairgrounds after dropping off our morning purchases to the car. We weren't able to get our stickers and they were long out of buttons but I was wearing mine from Rhinebeck and had brought an extra blank one that I received after ordering my t-shirt so Jody took that one. There was a woman with them (who I think was Jess' mom) who seemed shocked that I had not one, but two, buttons. Apparently there were A LOT of people who wanted buttons but didn't get them.

Jody and I spent some time knitting in the shady area in the vicinity of the Brooks Farm Booth. We ran into Kelly and her friend (whose name I, sadly, can not remember) and then Liz K and a bunch of her friends stopped by. Liz was wearing her Indigo Ruffle skirt and I am determined to make one this summer. It is ADORABLE!

Sidenote: I'm trying to identify all the people that I met on Saturday by using the Ravelry Friends lists of people who I have met before or whose names I do remember. It is surprisingly tough. Ravatars (that is Ravelry avatars) are not the clearest of identifying photos. It doesn't help that people have names like turtlegirl and mintyfresh. By the way, those are the Ravelry names of people I may or may not have met on Saturday. This is annoying me.

Shortly before we left the fairgrounds, we saw Lolly. It is always so good to see Lolly. She is the nicest, most genuine person in the world. She remembers everyone's name and seemingly reads everyone's blog. She was chatting with Isel, Stacey, and Jenna, as well as other folks I either can't remember or can't identify. Earlier in the day, we ran into Ann at the Brooks Farm Booth. We also saw Jessica very soon after arriving at the fairgrounds.

In any case, the weather was much better than expected, the sheep and alpacas were cute, and the people were friendly. I had a great day.

Edited to add pictures.

More Rhinebeck

Things I will do differently next year:

• I will take the day off on Monday. I love that we drove up on Thursday night, that we had a chill hangout day on Friday. But I really needed to be at home on Monday. I needed to be knitting, reading blogs, and obsessively checking the Rhinebeck group on Ravelry for new posts and pictures. I did not need to be at work.
• I will have a more specific plan (maybe). I went to Rhinebeck expecting to buy two things: a few skeins of Socks that Rock and some lace weight yarn. I got the STR as well as some other sock yarn but I didn't get any lace weight. I didn't have any specific projects in mind so I wasn't looking for a particular color or yardage. While this may seem liberating, it resulted in my not having any idea what to buy so I bought no lace weight yarn.

Things I will do again next year:

• Arrive early both days.
• Hit Building A first.
• Enjoy the leisurely pace of Sunday morning.
• Pack a lunch for one of the days and eat fair food the other.
• Eat an apple dessert. Delicious!
• Have fun!

Random Tuesday

• The Bruce Springsteen concert on Saturday was awesome. Set list here. It's the first time I hung out with my mom, just the two of us, in a few years. Do the Courtney Cox dance from Dancing In the Dark and try not to have fun. It's impossible.
• The Phils got swept and baseball is over for me. Less than 4 months until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training, a date my mom always knows. It will be interesting to see how contract talks go over the coming week. I have my fingers crossed that we'll keep Aaron Rowand but I think it's unlikely.
• My friend D said to me in an email today, "You must be on the really good drugs" when I suggested we go out dancing this weekend. She makes me laugh.
• I bought Rosie's new book today and will be reading it tonight (probably the whole thing) while Michelle tutors my sister Angie in Chemistry. I'm glad I don't ever have to know Chemistry again.
• Michelle has finally succumbed to my multiple requests that she watch every episode of Friday Night Lights and watch the new season with me. We've been watching it for the past few nights. I LOVE THAT SHOW!
• 8 days until the Rhinebeck celebrating begins. Yep, I'm going up on Thursday.

Finished Loksins!

I finished my Loksins! in the fourth inning of the game last night.

I gave the rest of the game my undivided attention (except when knitters walked in and out of the row 9000 times). The Phillies were hitting amazingly well last night and we saw a number of home runs, including one by my favorite player Chase Utley. We also saw Carlos Ruiz steal home which was AWESOME!

Craig did a great job throwing out the first pitch and the Phanatic wrapped him in a very long scarf. Knitters, as a group, are not the most attentive group of baseball fans. I told my sister around the 6th inning that I was never again sitting in a section full of knitters. I have never had to stand up so many times to let people in and out of a row. SIT DOWN PEOPLE!

Anyway...back to the knitting. Cassie did a fabulous time with this pattern. It's interesting but repetitive. I followed the pattern except for two things:

• I forgot the knit row on the cuff. After the purl row, I jumped right into the pattern.
• I used the toe I always use- decrease down to 8 stitches on each (4) needle and kitchener.

I have LOADS of sock yarn in the stash. I'm still waiting for baby blanket yarn (long story-- have I mentioned that I'm knitting a Curlicue again?) so I'm planning to cast on for another sock today. Knee sock by Cookie A perhaps? I haven't decided. Stay tuned.

Play ball

Tonight is Stitch and Pitch night at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies are playing the Reds. My sister Cathy is driving down, crochet project included. We'll be sitting in section 209 on the 1st base line. I'll be knitting the foot of my second Loksins! sock in BRIGHT pink yarn (Socks that Rock in the Hot Flash colorway). I'm really excited, despite the forcasted 94 degree temperature.

Craig from Loop is throwing out the first ball. I'll be getting there early to see him pitch at 6:30.

I'm hoping to finish the Lokins! in the next few days. With all of the time I've been spending on Ravelry (and trust me, we're talking about a SERIOUS amount of time), there are so many patterns I'm itching to make. I have yarn in the stash and patterns in the queue. I just need to start matching them up and knitting away.

Pictures of the Phillies and knitters to come later this week.

Stitch & Pitch

The Phillies are having their first Stitch & Pitch day on June 26, 2007.

I'll be there.

Rhinebeck review: Day 2

I started the day Sunday by opening the shades and sitting on the floor of the hotel room, in my pajamas and taking pictures of yarn. The people walking by in the parking lot might have thought I had lost my mind-- that is, unless they were knitters.

These are two skeins of Ellen's 1/2 Pint sock yarn. When I was looking at even more rainbow dyed yarn on Sunday, I said to Jody, "I know I don't need more rainbow yarn. I just love it." She replied with a line I'm sure she's been holding in for years as I've bought more and more rainbow yarn, "Well, you're out and proud." Things are funnier when you have a benadryl hangover and have been fondling yarn for two days.

I was on the phone with Michelle on Sunday morning when these guys walked by:

Taking a decent picture of animals is tough when you're holding the phone with your shoulder, a cup of coffee in one hand and a camera in the other. This is the best animal shot I got all weekend. I steered clear of the animal barns because I have a terrible allergy to hay. I took Claritin before and during the fest but it didn't quite cut it. I've been loading Bendadryl since. You can imagine how productive and focused I've been!

Around lunch time, we ran into Cassie and a ton of bloggers-- too many to name and link. They were watching the pumpkin chucking contest. I managed to snap this picture of enthralled spectators:

Stephanie's Knitting Olympics sweater is stunning in person!

Meeting Cassie really made me think about my knitting and how I blog about it. That's a big statement for a five minute chat but this is Cassie. Remember my Ode to Cassie post? TX Jody had been wanting to meet Cassie and was looking for her all weekend. When we spotted her, Jody went right over, introduced herself, got a hug and started chatting. Eventually, Cassie was fumbling for something and I offered to hold her cup of coffee. At that point, I introduced myself and in the friendliest scolding I've ever gotten, Cassie said, "And you just stood there like that and didn't tell me who you were?" Cassie said she never would have recognized us and I mentioned that I rarely put my face on the blog. You know what I realized after that? (1) I should just get over myself about how I think my face is fat and I have a double chin. (2) I never finish sweaters. That's really why you don't see my face. People show their faces when they post finished sweaters. Showing finished socks doesn't require a face shot. So, there it is. That's how meeting Cassie made me reflect on my knitting and blogging. (Clearly, I think too much, especially about dumb stuff.)

Day 2 was much more leisurely. The morning was not at all crowded. Jody and I typically go to Maryland only on Saturday so I have not experienced the pleasure of going back to a booth on Sunday and buying the one or two things you can't stop thinking about it. At Shelridge Farm, it was a pattern for a Lucy Neatby Faroese Shawl. I had bought the kit for this sweater from them on Saturday. (If the Shelridge Farm links aren't working, select the currency on their page and then click the links.)  At Briar Rose Fibers, it was enough of their Sea Pearl yarn to make the Casino Shawl. I couldn't stop thinking about that shawl and that yarn!

And at some random booth in building A right across from The Fold, it was this that I knew I had to have:

I can't decide if the camel is my favorite piece or the shepherd. Today, the shepherd is winning:

The trip was amazing. I had a wonderful time. My knitting goal is to knit up all the yarn that I bought before Maryland which is in 6.5 months. That's a sweater, nine pairs of socks, and a shawl. I'm up for the challenge.

And Rhinebeck...I'll see you in 2007!

Rhinebeck review: Day 1

This is what the inside of my backpack looked like when I got back to my hotel room on Saturday night after spending all day at the fairgrounds and a few hours in the the Jodys room (you can find their blogs here and here). Peeking out of the upper right edge of the bag is the corkscrew that I bought at the Super Stop and Shop on Friday night. How could I have forgotten to pack one? Also near the top of the photo is (on the left) the top of a finished Jaywalker and (on the right) the second sock in progress. Don't ask me how I managed to not knit with new yarn the ENTIRE WEEKEND.

Wait, should I start at the beginning??

Heather came to my apartment on Friday afternoon just as I was having a minor personal crisis. Thankfully, it was resolved and we got on the road with Jody and Jody. The car rental place had upgraded us to a small SUV type vehicle so we had enough room for four girls, a ball winder and swift, snacks and wine. The ride up was LONG. There was traffic. There was a tractor-trailer accident. Whatever. We had good music, I had knitting with me, and the leaves were increasingly lovely the further north we drove. We stayed at the HoJo in Saugerties so after checking in, we set out for a trip to Rhinebeck for dinner. We waited quite a while for a table and then for our food but ultimately had a very fun dinner at the Double O Grill which, mysteriously, we didn't realize was RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the fairgrounds entrance. In our defense, it was quite dark out.

Saturday started bright and early with our arrival at the fairgrounds around 9:30. We scored a great parking spot close to the 4H entrance and beelined to The Fold's booth. There was a crowd there but nothing like what we saw about 45 minutes later.

I bought this:

Another look:

We saw a ton of bloggers in that area. We chatted for a few minutes with some Philly bloggers. We saw bunches of bloggers in The Fold's line as we wandered around Building A. Jody spotted Margene who was buying some beautiful fiber. Margene is just as you would expect- kind, friendly, sincere, and serious about picking out her purchases. This is the fourth fiber fest Jody (that's NJ Jody) and I have attended together and we rarely introduce ourselves to bloggers we recognize but we walked right over to Margene to give hugs. How could you not want to meet Margene!

We saw other lovely knitters throughout the day. The other person I introduced myself to on Saturday was Alison. I am so grateful for the effort she puts into the sock swaps and was very happy to tell her so in person. Alison was shopping with Johanna who is a blog friend of Jody's (I thought it was a riot that when Jody spotted Johanna, she greeted her by saying "I recognize that belly!") so we chatted for a few minutes with them before resuming our shopping.

The day flew by. We shopped, we ate, we laughed. I bought mostly sock yarn, of course. We ran into Katy and her mom all over the festival. It was a riot. Every time I turned around, there they were again. Katy is one of the most sincere, real people I have ever met. I'm so glad we have gotten to hang out in real life and an glad to consider her as a friend. I was introduced to Katy's mom at Maryland once but this was the first time we had time to chat and I totally see where Katy gets her spirit and honesty. Her mom is no nonsense, fun, real, and best of all, a fabulous knitter- probably the best knitter (most prolific and skilled) I've ever met.

After hitting every building at the fest once, we noted which places we wanted to visit again on Sunday and set off to find a place to knit. We settled on a bar/cantina place where we had drinks and appetizers for a few hours. This is what the table looked like:

That's 3 skeins of sock yarn from Ellen's 1/2 Pint farm, three skeins of STR, and three of Trekking. This is the lion's share of my day 1 haul.

NJ Jody decided that she couldn't wait to get back to the hotel to wind up some STR so TX Jody helped out.

This is during the fight about whether or not to wind it into a center pull ball:

And this is when TX Jody gave up and allowed NJ Jody to wind it into a non-center pull ball. On the left, a resigned Jody, on the right, a smug one:

Once we got back to the hotel, the swift and winder were put to good use:

I finished a Jaywalker sock in the bar on Saturday evening and felt somewhat incomplete when I couldn't try on the sock, as I ritually do immediately after finishing one. I managed to wait until we were back to the hotel. This sock is in STR, medium weight, color Garnet Dreams, that I purchased at MDS&W back in May.

Isn't the sock/pajama pants/shiny hotel bedspread combo fabulous?

Since I had only one newly completed sock on, I kept on one of the recently finished Tilting Blocks sock that I had worn all day. In my hands, a lovely Chardonnay in a HoJo plastic cup. Classy, right? I wanted to go to the dollar store to get some wine glasses before the trip (great because you can throw them away instead of bringing them back home-- more room for yarn purchases) but I just didn't have time to go.

Overall, it was a fantastic day. One of the best in recent memory. Tomorrow, tune in for a full report on day 2 and more detailed purchase pics.

Sock pals and sock yarn

First things first, Tuesday is Alison's designated SockapalOOOza update day. I made socks for Illana and she emailed me yesterday to tell me she received them (she has finals right now and hasn't posted pics but that's okay- you can see them here!). The great thing about making socks for Illana is that in the last round, Sockapal2za, Illana made socks for me! I can't tell you how surprised I was when I got the email telling me that Illana was the pal for me to knit for in this round. There are over 600 sock knitters in this exchange- what are the chances that I'd have the opportunity to thank Illana for making me socks by making socks in return! Funny, funny!

The Maryland Haul!

Top: Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn

Middle from left: Mountain Colors Bearfoot, Tess Sock Yarn (2), Socks that Rock in a color whose name I can't remember and Garnet Dreams

Bottom: Brooks Farm Primero

I tried to take some close-ups this morning so you can see the colors and most of them came out lousy- I do not have a steady hand. But this one came out perfect:

This is my favorite purchase from the fest. These colors are not really me. The green is practically neon and the yellow is bright, bright, bright. But I LOVE THIS YARN. In the past, the CTH yarn that I've used has had colorway names but this label had a list of six or eight color categories and this one was checked BRIGHTS. I'll say!

I realize now that I did buy one more ball of sock yarn that is not in the picture- it's a Trekking XXL in blues. Loop doesn't carry Trekking anymore and I love this color so I grabbed it. I thought for a moment that I might already have it in the stash but I checked when I got home and I can't seem to find it so I guess I didn't already have it. I do now have 3 single socks plus yarn for 11 pairs plus the current sock on the needles. I think I'm stocked up for awhile.

Summer of socks, anyone?

Margaritas and Maryland

Quatro was a hit!

Eating guacamole and drinking margaritas in 80 degree weather is heavenly:

Deirdre and Meg:

Deirdre got 12 inches of her hair cut off last week for Locks of Love. Doesn't it look fab?

Next stop on the Summer Cocktail Series: Washington Square on May 18th. This looks like a martini night. I mentioned to a co-worker that this was our next stop and her reaction (not her words) clearly told me that this place is much too cool and trendy for me and I'd better go shopping before next week. Great, now I'm succumbing to social pressure to be cool...what am I, 12?

Maryland Sheep & Wool:

There was a 5 or 6 hour period on Friday when I thought I wasn't going to be able to go. We had a bit of a family emergency on Friday and although everything is okay, I really thought I wasn't going to make it to Maryland. I was so glad to be there on Saturday.

The weather was beyond perfect. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, better day. I heard so many people throughout the day (mostly in the bathroom line) who could not believe how crowded it was and who were exclaiming about how many people were there but I didn't notice a big difference from the past two years. Jody and I got to the fest around 9:15 am, scored a fairly good parking spot and headed straight to Tess' Yarns. The people around us chuckled when Jody answered her cell phone and told Paul that if it wasn't an emergency, this really was not a good time to talk (she said it much more nicely than that). There can be no chatting while browsing Tess' Sock Yarn. We scored a few great colors although we talked later in the day and we're realizing that after three years of buying from Tess' Yarns, we're not seeing anything new and that if it continues at this pace, we're going to run out of things we like and have not seen before. We'll see. I think we have another year or so in us of buying Tess' yarn with this much gusto.

After Tess' we headed straight to The Fold (I had made a list of the six or so must-see vendors and their locations and brought it with me). We were disappointed at the selection and annoyed at the girls who just stood there talking about how great they thought everything was even though they weren't picking anything up! IF YOU LOVE IT SO MUCH, BUY IT AND MOVE. I saw the Jasper color which I bought last year and now is knitted into one of my top 5 favorite pairs of socks. I bought two skeins, one variegated, one near solid- pictures tomorrow. We suspected that they'd be cleaned out by noon and when we walked by around 10:30, there looked to be only a dozen or so hanks left. The fact that the selection was so limited when we got there around 9:30 am was sort of a bummer.

We then hit the bathroom line and ran into Claudia, where we congratulated her on the incredible fundraising. Then we went to Brooks where we each bought some GORGEOUS yarn- I could have walked around that booth all day long just picking things up and looking at them in the sunlight. That yarn is so incredible! After that, we finally stopped going to specific booths and started making the rounds, barn by barn, booth by booth. We are sock yarn buyers at heart and we scored. There were some examples of hand-dyed yarn that seemed disappointing after some of the really beautiful things we bought (especially from the booths we hit early in the day). As Jody said to me on Saturday, this really isn't a show where you can sell poorly dyed yarn. You have to compete with AMAZING yarn.

We saw so many bloggers as we walked through the fest. It was great to meet Lolly who has become quite the blogging celebrity. Between Socktoberfest and Project Spectrum, Lolly starts a movement when she starts a project! I was so happy to finally meet Kate. We missed each other at the fest last year but not this year! We exchanged cell numbers last week to ensure that we'd meet this year. Both Kate and Lolly are even cuter in person than they are on their blogs (this seems impossible, no?). I have to tell you that I have seen some people in person after seeing them on their blogs and thought, wow, she must have a magic camera because she does not look like that in her pictures! But not these girls...they are cute, cute, cute in pictures and in person.

I took only one picture at the fest. It was the biggest hank of yarn I've ever seen. Over 1000 yards of yarn. Here's Jody posing with the yarn- for scale:

Jody brought that awesome bag with her and filled it with all the yarn she bought. She then spent the day walking it into my back because she had no idea how far it was sticking out. She must have apologized 20 times. Good grief, that was so much yarn!

Tomorrow: pictures of the haul!