Shenandoah Valley Fiber Fest

Whew ... just got back form Berryville, Virginia at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Fest.  We had a blast.  I was with my friend Eileen from Maple Creek Farms.  We did alot of knitting and talking.  Oh yeah - and yarn shopping....  Didn't go hog crazy because ... RHINRBECK is just a few short weeks away!!!

So here's what I bought...

Alpaca from Furnace Mountain Alpacas.  This is from one of their alpacas Gabriel.  I thought it was funny my nephew os Gabriel and my friend's son is Gabriel.  He's even the main picture on their page.  I just think alpacas are adorable!!! And they coooo!!!

ok - this is a place that I love her yarn colours ... Dragonfly fibers.  I still have some left over from last year but I couldn't resist.   Some sock and alot of lace!!!

 Now this was just FUN!!  I dont know that the colours are going to show up well - but its NEON!!!  This is from Wild Hare  they were across the isle from us and when I saw this - I just ran across and bought it.  I have GOT to cast on a pair of socks out of this TODAY!!

And my last purchase was this yarn bowl.  Isn't it pretty????  Now if I could remember WHO I bought it from..... I know their card is somewhere in either my purse, knitting bag or garment bag... but I'm not really sure where.... I'll post later when I find it.



Enough for blogging today - I got the day off and plenty to do.  Lunch with my sister and Aunt.  Then a dr appointment to get release for back issues ... Then make a birthday cake for a co-worker.
Whew ... back to work will seem like a breeze!

I dont have a problem... I can stop whenever I want.....

I hope there is no 12-Step program to stop me from buying yarn.  My fiancee may disagree, but I love yarn!!  I enjoy looking at yarn.  I enjoy fondling yarn.  And I enjoy bringing yarn home.  I can stop any time.  I just dont want to. Not an addiction, just an obsession.

I spent 3 wonderful days at the Michigan Fiber Fest in Allegan Michigan.  While it is true that on Saturday we had horrific thunderstroms and on Sunday lost power for most of the day, it was still wonderful.  And I did emerge with lots of new yarn!!!

From Left to Right:
first 2 Studio June Yarn,
next Heritage Hand Paint,
 last 2 Miss Babbs

The Studio June Yarn, the blue one is a fabulously soft Baby Alpaca lace weight.  The red and black is part of a collection I'm making of red yarns for a shawl.  My mother's name was Ruby, whenever I'd be at a show, if a yarn was called Ruby, I'd buy it.  Unfortunately Mom passed away last month, before I could make her something named Ruby.  So I'm expanding the collection to include Red/Grey/Black and will make a shawl incorporating all of these colours. The Heritage Hand Paint is a silk merino - not sure what it will become, but it was calling to me.  I just really liked the colour combos in the Miss Babbs yarn, and they had the perfect pattern to go with it.

From top to bottom:
Blackberry Ridge.
.

The pink yarn is a silk/wool blend lace weight.  They also had a beautiful lace neck scarf, with beads... while I dont usually like beads, I think it'll sparkle perfectly.  The blue/green/yellow variegated is a silk... need I say more?

From top to bottom:
Bleating Heart Haven,
The Weavers Loft,
the last 2 Socks that Rock

My friend J loves RED yarn, so I picked up this red for her.  I think she'll like it.  The turquoise/brown/purple is 2 different spins of  Rayon/nylon and cotton. I think they are going to get blended into a t-shirt type summer top. Socks that Rock ... need I say anything about what they will become????

Well now that I've caught everyone up on my yarn purchases ... I need to get caught up on house work.  It rained all weekend, so B couldn't mow and now the lawn is OUT-OF-CONTROL!  The cats are well... cats and the house needs vacuumed.  So no knitting today ... I gotta CLEAN!!

Alpaca Festival

So to keep my mind off of the loss of my mother - one of my friends took me to an Alpaca Festival up above Quakertown PA area.  It was just a little show - not alot of people and not alot of activity.   Steeple View Alpacas a small farm with some of the cutest alpacas!!!  We got to go into the field and see them.  It was a really hot day but they were happy little animals. Then we watched a demo on dying with Kool Aid.  It was very interesting - now I need to get some un-dyed wool or alpaca and give it a try.  Which is good as I'm heading to Michigan for the Michigan Fiber Festival this week.  I cant wait!! New vendors and new fibers!

I cast on travel projects this week.  I was looking thru French Girl Knits and found several projects I liked.  One is cast on and enough rows started that it should be good traveling knitting.  One project I have cast on three times - and not happy with any.  So that was is not meant to be.. so it shall become something else.

More the rest of the week from the show!!!!

My Other Obsession

 In addition to knitting, my other obsession is dolls.  I have 200+ Barbie dolls, 6 American Girl dolls and 7 Adora dolls.  And these are some of the older pictures.

Family portrait of the Adora dolls.  I still have my doll beds from when I was a kid.  All of the dolls have a place to sit.








See I dont sit and knit ALL of the time.  I do other things.

MSW - what a great show!!

Maryland Sheep and Wool was fantastic!! We got down Friday morning early and got the booth all set up  Being a vendor has its privileges - we got our t-shirts Friday afternoon and even a few from years back.  Saturday I didn't get out of our booth.  I rarely get out to shop on Saturdays.... I always shop on Sunday... can be a bummer as alot of booths sell out of the cool stuff on Saturday.

So anyways ... once i did get out - I got socks that rock - one for me - one for a friend.  Grit likes earthy colours so she got the skein on the right - I got the skein on the left.

This is 100% silk, the colour name is "Ruby" that's my mom's name and I wanted to make something lacy and pretty for her.  

I stopped by Brooks Farm to get some of their Mas Acero in the heavier weight.  Also picked up a cute pattern.

 I had to stop by Spirit Trail... I love their colours!! I got this in lace weight... I got a pattern from Wendy Knits Japanese Garden shawl.  I also picked up a few patterns for some lacy scarves and shawls.  I have to do something with this accumulation of sock yarn.

I had to stop by Kiparoo Farms to get some of their Silk Road yarn.  I love this stufF.  They also had a really nice pattern for it, so I got that also.

So as we packed up I picked up some sock yarn for pattern ideas.  Yes - I work the booth at Maple Creek Farms.... thanks to everyone that stopped by!  It was great to see some familiar faces and meet new people!





I did get the funniest pattern book EVER!! Rachel Danger's Monster Knits.  The cutest knitted monsters!! I had a pattern of hers from a trip to Webs.. but these monsters are the cutest!!

And to round out the weekend - I fell in the parking lot as we were leaving a restaurant.   Being the amazingly graceful person I am, I didn't see the curb transition from concrete to the macadam parking lot.  In my defense, the concrete sidewalk extended out into the parking lot and I couldn't see the actual step down.  So here I am the second year in a row on crutches.  This time however I did not break my foot, only a bad sprain.  And I can still drive!!

Maryland Sheep and Wool

It's still 2 weeks away, but I'm already planning my purchases.  I may treat myself to a pair of Signature needles.  I have enough yarn to open my own yarn store, so unless I see something that I HAVE to have.....  And we know I will.

I try to keep it organized by type of yarn... sock, lace, DK, etc..  Sometimes if I know what it wants to be, I keep it in a project bag.  Or sometimes I actually buy a kit project.

I've been trying to finish the UFOs in my various knitting bags.  I've got one bag with 3 projects.  2 bags with 1 project each.  A bag in my truck with 2 small portable projects.  Like I said ... like I need more yarn.

But since I have no will power .... I'm sure I'll come home from MSW with more wool.

...and more things

The traveling sweater is moving along.   I finished the left back and sleeve.  So time to put that on the side and start the right side.  The one thing I do like about the pattern is that the directions are for the left and right sides.  Not the typical stupid "repeat for the right side reversing shaping".  So I'll have more pics later this week.

The scrappy scarf project is going along well.  I'm on the second scarf and it's turning out really cool.  I'm going to start asking friends for sock yarn scraps/  Also looking forward to Maryland Sheep and Wool, there's always Koigu by weight.  That would be PERFECT for more scraps!

Over the summer, I happened to be working a stand next to Kellie form Lizard Toes.   I dont think I've ever laughed so hard at a show - all weekend!! Her stitch markers are the coolest I have ever seen!! I bought a few stitch markers, then but now she has some really cool new ones.  I just bought last night - http://lizardtoes.bigcartel.com/product/deluxe-stitch-markers-24k.  Every project needs a little sparkle!!

And since I was in a shopping mood - I also got this pattern from Wendy Knits http://wendyknits.net/2011/03/21/pattern-now-available/.  The pattern is only $5.00 and she's donating all proceeds to the Red Cross for relief efforts in Japan.  I thought it was a good deal.  Plus since I have all of her books ..... and I love reading her blog.

All of the furries were sleeping in the sunlight at the front door, I tried to take a pic - but when they heard me they all scattered....

Scrap Projects

I knit socks.  Alot of socks.  I have alot of sock yarn... and also alot of scrap sock yarn.  And there has got to be something to do with all of these little (and some not so little) scraps.  So I fiddled around and came up with this.  I just did mitred squares... alot of them.

But I did finish a sweater this last weekend.  The Manos yarn knit up a dream!! I'n not too happy with the edge ribbing, I may take out and do over.  It pulls in tooo much at the bottom.  But It did turn out cute .. OH - and I did darn in all ends!  A first for me ....







Real easy pattern start and end colours when you run out of yarn.  I tried to only change colours on the edges.  If I have enough yarn, I'd do a square in that yarn.  Some yarns I had enough to do several squares.  Sometimes I'd knit every row, some squares were stockinette at the bottom, and when I changed yarns, changed to knit every row.

Mitred Square Scrappy Scarf
I used sock yarn and a 3mm circular 12 inch needle.
Cast on 43 stitches, Knit one row, purl one row.
1 - Knit 20 stitches, slip1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over, knit to end
2 - Purl back
3 - Knit 19 stitches, slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over, knit to end
4 - purl back
5 - continue as for row 1 and 3, knit one less stitch before decrease.
When complete, leave last stitch on needle, pick up 21 stitches along edge of completed square.  Using cable cast on, cast on another 21 stitches, 43 total stitches.
Continue as above until scarf is the desired length.  Now .... I have tons of ends to darn in, and I will... I also decided that it needs some kind of edging.  The sides are curling more than I had planned.  I'm going to probably do a crochet edging.  A little picot edging I think would look pretty.

As expected, I have more scraps left... so I started another lacy kind of scarf.  But I haven;t gotten enough of it done to post a pic, plus I'll need to steam it before the lacy looks like lace, right now it doesn't.

Rainy Sunday......

Yuck ... rain rain and more rain.  I'd rather snow. Ah well... spring is on its way and soon it'll be warm and we'll be out on the bike trail.

So I did finish the Manos de Urugua sweater this weekend.  It did turn out cute, although I'm not sure that I like cropped sweaters.  I'll see what it looks like on.  This is definitely a finish-the-UFO year.  I pulled out a sweater  I started last summer out of Lorna's Laces from Jimmy Bean Wool. It the colourway Amber's First Kitchen... pink, brown and green.  Also a vest I started out of yarn from Brooks Farm.  Cant remember the name of the contents, and naturally the label is loooooonnnng gone.  Glanced at a sweater out of alpaca, but I really didn't feel like working on the cables.  Plus I dont like the sleeves of the sweater, so I have to re-design them.

On the plus side, the baby blanket below was used in a photos hoot!!  The parents of the baby it was made for, had taken the blanket to the hospital to bring the baby home.  When they went to have the professional pictures taken, the photographer liked the blanket so much, it was used in all of the pictures!!

I'll have to post pictures of everything later.   I need to charge the camera batteries.  Pictures to be coming soon!

Traveling Sweater

Ok.  Whew.  The largest part of the sweater is done.  Whew.  Here's a pic.... I  put  the ball of yarn in there as perspective, but suffice to say the outside edge is 144 inches.

Now I need to cast on the back / sleeves,  but taking a little time to knit up the Manos design.  





The Vogue pattern is working out nicely.  It's going to be a cropped sweater, possibly with 3/4 length sleeves.  I really like the colours - and the sweater is working up nicely.  And with the crappy winter weather the colours are bright!!

oooooo... Pretty!!!

So I was in Doylestown on the weekend and decided to stop at a yarn store that I haven't been in for a long time.  Forever Yarn is a little shop with some of the nicest yarns!! I had to park in municipal parking, luckily I have a Jeep and was able to park on a mound of snow.

I found some perfect Manos del Urugua Maxima in a purple, pink brown colourway.  This morning while looking thru patterns, I found a cute little jacket in the current Vogue.  I have to tweak it a bit for it to be what I want.  But I think it'll turn out cute.

Also got some sock yarn.  Nothing really amazing there.  BUT she had a bit of the Madelinetosh sock and dk yarn.  So I HAD to get one skein, a bright yellow-green.  It'll be perfect of winter blah socks!!

The baby blanket was well received at the baby shower yesterday.  So glad I re-did it.

Heater is not working, and they have no one available to come out tonite.  So I guess it'll be all of the furries on the bed with us tonite!!

The On-Going Traveling Sweater Saga

Ok - so I found the pattern back over the fall and decided I needed the pattern. The Traveling Sweater just looked soo cool.  But being the type to never use the yarn called for, I decided to substitute.  Plus I couldn't get a good idea of the colours of the Woobu yarn called for.  I decided to make it for my sister for Christmas, I had her pick the colour she wanted.  Went on a trip to Webs and got some Ella Rae in a eggplant purple.  (Doesn't hurt that my name is Rae ..... HAHAHAHA!)

It is now January and I am still working on this sweater.  The Ella Rae works up a tad bit larger than the Woobu, so rather than making the large size, I'm knitting to the smaller size, but getting the proportions of the larger size.  The biggest problem I have is that there is no real schematic for the sweater, so I'm mostly hoping that it'll work out correctly.  I'm reasonably confident that it'll work out correctly.

Right now my biggest problem is pain.  I have to knit a heavy DK weight on size 3 needles.  And knit tightly.  After 2 or 3 rows, I have to stop and let my hands rest.  So progress is slow.

Stay tuned.  I'll post picks later.

Baby Blanket DONE!!!

Yippies!!!  This is the baby blanket I made for my sister's daughter-in-law.  The baby shower is next weekend, I hope she likes it!!  Its very simple, just white, with a grey and pink ribbon woven thru the eyelet border.  The directions below would work for any yarn, any crochet hook size.   Adjust for size as desired.

Directions--

Chain 62 stitches.
Row 1 - 1 sc and 2 dc in second chain from hook.  * Skip next 2 chain stitches, sc, 2dc in next chain*.   After last combination, skip 2 chains, sc in last chain.
Row 2 - 2 dc in sc from last row.  In the sc from below row, * sc, 2dc * across.  At the end, sc in last chain.

Repeat row 2 until desired length.

Begin eyelet row, you will work all the way around the blanket now.

Round 1 - Chain 1, sc in each sc across to end of row.  3 sc in corner.  Join with slip stitch to first sc.
Round 2 - Chain 4 (counts and dc and chain 1) Skip 1 sc, in next sc, dc, chain 1.  Continue in this manner around blanket.  At corner, dc chain 1 in middle stitch. Join slip stitch to third chain of chain 4.
Round 3 - Skip 1 sc, 5 dc in next sc. Continue around entire blanket.
Round 4 - chain 6, skip first sc, 5 dc in sc space from below.

I wove 2 0.25 inch ribbons thru the eyelet row.  I threaded the ribbon thru every 2 dc legs

All totaled, I started this blanket on Thursday night and wove in the ends Saturday evening.  Probably took no more than 10 hours to complete.  I may make one or two more to keep on hand.

Baby Blanket Re-Do

Ever make  a project.  Design it.  Knit it.  Look at it and go ... ugh?  I made a blanket for my sister's set-daughter.  I washed it to get the cat and dog hair out of it.  Some of the joins came unspliced, so I set about fixing them.  Blocked it and looked at it.  YUCK.

I knit in white yarn.  A basic knit not frills.  An eyelet border to run a ribbon thru.  I just did not like to looks of it.  I looked at it for several days ... Wednesday I took it apart and re-did it.  This time I crocheted.  I am soooooo much happier with it.  I just made it up as I went.  I'll tke a pic and post it tomorrow.

OH _ and if you get a cold and need to buy cold medicine - DONT DO IT!!  I practically had to consent to a body cavity search at WalMart just to get some cold tablets.  They added me to a database, checked my driver's license, and I had to sign a consent form.  When I asked what I was signing - the clerk told me it was a consent form.  I said I would nit sign unless I could read what I was signing for.  Her own fault really, when the verbiage came up, she clicked on "ACCEPT" and told me to sign.  So she had to void the sale and ring it up again. Sorry but I dont sing anything before I understand WHAT I am signing.

I'm going to take my cold medicine now and go to bed.

My Yarn Stash

Ao I snapped a pic of my yarn room. Also known as The Barbie room. I admit to having 2 obsessions. Mostly everything is organized in these wire cubes, I got them at Costco years ago...

Yarn that is purchased for a sweater of specific project, is in a bag all together. I may be waiting for the right pattern, or it may already have a pattern tucked in the bag. I'm also a sucker for kits. When I was at Webs late last year, I bought 2 kits.

Then there;s the socks and lace projects. Then TON of leftovers. So I sorted thru and searched Ravelry. I have a few ideas now and some concrete plans, And since this is going to be easy no-brainer projects, they'll be prefect for emergency knitting bag. Packed and in hte truck, right next to the emergency change of clothes.

2011 SABLE

Those of you that know me, have seen my yarn room. Talk about SABLE... Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy.... I actually have yarn stores asking bout MY stock. You also know that my mother is very sick and I'm stressing out due to her illness. One of the "reduce your stress" ideas for 2011 was to do something for others. I'd really like to, but I really just dont have the time.

But I decided yesterday that I do .... sort of. I always keep an emergency knitting bag in my truck. SO I've decided that I'm going to work thru some of that stash making scarves and socks for friends. I've had 3 friends loose a loved one in the last month. I thought it would be a little something I could do. I'll admit, it isn't much, but sometimes just knowing someone cares is more than enough.

I'll have to take a few pics of the stash and post later.

BTW ..another stress reducer is to go the the gym.... I already do that 6 times a week.