Yarnmule

This was my third year at Rhinebeck, and I went in with my third different strategy.

The first year I went in almost completely planless, and let the veterans who brought me guide me around. I knew I needed a white laceweight, but since I didn't know what to expect, I didn't want to limit myself going in. I was completely overwhelmed, and I actually had to check the blog to figure out what I bought that year. As it turns out, I have knit all of it, so not bad.

Last year I went in with plans. I had a shawl and a stole I knew I wanted to make. I had to get something for a scarf for BBMM. I did quite well actually; I got those three items, and only one extra skein of sock yarn. Somehow, though, it wasn't as FUN as the first year. Or rather, the festival was just as fun, but my focus seemed to distract me from the pretty.

This year I went back to planless, almost. The fact is, I have several sweaters worth of yarn that I have plans for, but haven't touched. Sock Summit ensured that I have reached critical mass in sock yarn. I still have last year's stole on the needles, so no needs on that front. I just had no idea what I could possibly find to buy.

BWAA HA HA HA HA! Oh silly girl, of COURSE I found something to buy.

Anyway, although planless, I did go in prepared. I brought the Ann Budd's Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements, and a calculator. I wanted to make sure if I found something that grabbed me, I would have enough to make whatever it told me it wanted to be. I got a hotel reservation for Saturday night. I didn't want to feel frantic (like I usually do); I wanted to shop slowly, browse copiously, and not brave insane crowds for some of the more popular booths. I will say that I will never, ever do this in one day again. Staying over is totally the way to go, and I'm booking the hotel for next year right away.

So, what was my haul? Small, but much beloved!

First, the pay-off for my strategy. We showed up right at 9 on Saturday morning, and headed straight to the A and B barns; yarn mecca as far as I'm concerned. The Fold's booth was already packed, although not as bad as usual (I have never once been in their booth, because the crush of people generally drives me away). We kept checking back during the day, and by late afternoon the booth was almost completely empty. And, there were some Socks That Rock mill ends left. Oddly, I have never, ever knit with this yarn, so I thought it was time I see what all the fuss is about.



This is the lightweight, and I'm really excited to knit with it. I've been using mostly semi-solids lately, or handpaints with very short color bursts, so this will be a departure. I think I know what I'm making, it just needs to wait for a quiet moment to get everything ready.

Next, something that just grabbed me. Another skein of sock yarn, in my usual colors. The colors reminded me of a very specific sunrise I saw a few weeks ago from my apartment window. I figure if something gives me an intense sense memory, it's really trying hard to come home with me.


This is from Ellen's Half Pint Farm. This is her wool/nylon base, and I really like it. It's a very skinny fingering weight, nice and squishy.

And finally, the big fall. Maple Creek Farms is one of the booths that grabs me every year. i think their colors are incredible, and they have such interesting yarn bases. Somewhere during the day, I started thinking about getting a sweater's worth of yarn, in something soft enough to be next to the skin. I found it here.



This is a superwash merino/nylon/donegal blend. Hmm, that content makes it sound like sock yarn, doesn't it? Yeah. I bought a sweater worth of fingering weight. That's a whole lot of yarn. I may be insane, but this stuff is irresistible. It's unbelievably soft; I keep squishing it, then checking the label to make sure it doesn't have silk or tencel or something in it. I couldn't get the real color of it in the photos; it's a little more teal than it looks. It's a semi-solid, so it's also got some grey and denim blue in it. I said that I wouldn't cast anything on until I finish another huge project I'm working on, but you can see evidence of my failure above. I actually wound the yarn Saturday night, knit the gauge swatch on my way back to the festival Sunday morning. You know, because I needed needles. Ahem.

I found the perfect pattern earlier this week, and I accidentally cast on Friday. My other huge project is not done. Whoops.

Labels: events, WIP's, yarn

Yep, I went to Sock Summit. I hopped on a plane by myself to go to an event where I didn't know anyone, and I had an incredible time. I met some awesome people. I took some amazing classes. I went to wonderful special events. I ate quite possibly the best donut I've ever eaten. And I shopped. Oh yes, I shopped.

The marketplace opened for students only on Thursday evening after classes, for two short hours. My first stop was the Periwinkle Sheep booth. All three of the skeins I bought there are a 80% superwash merino 20% nylon blend. The owner had dyed colors for each member of the Luminary Panel, with a portion of the proceeds donated to Doctors Without Borders. I bought two; Priscilla's Blue With a Kick (for Priscilla Gibson-Roberts) and Sophisticated Nancy (for Nancy Bush).


The color of blue jeans, with shots of a golden brown that perfectly matches the stitching. Awesome.


This one's a semi-solid with shades of burgundy and rose. There was also a basket of Potluck colors for half price. I had to pick up one of those. I am sure that there is some reason that these skeins were considered a "mistake", but I can't for the life of me figure it out. This might be the most interesting colorway I've ever seen. It doesn't photograph especially well, but it's a seafoam green mixed with an orchid color that almost looks overdyed. Gorgeous.


My next purchase was from a new vendor: Van Der Rock Yarns. Their booth had a nice, clean, spare aesthetic, and it seemed like an oasis from the chaos of the marketplace. Again, I bought a superwash/nylon blend, in the Coumarin colorway.


Again my photography skills are not doing this justice; the colors are a little more variegated that it seems. It's a blend of blues and purples, with little shots of fuchsia. Frankly, it looks like a delicious bowl of berries, and I'm having a hard time not licking it.

The last purchase of the evening was from Beyond Basic Knits. Again, a superwash/nylon blend, in the most appropriate color name ever: Rapture.


It's a very light fingering weight, and it's unbelievably soft. I considered sleeping with it on my pillow.

When I got back to the hotel I laid out my new loot and realized that 3 of the 5 skeins I bought were the same colors I always buy; blue and red. I decided my goal for the rest of the weekend was to attempt purchasing other colors. Because seriously, how many more pairs of blue socks do I really need? OK, plenty, but nonetheless some new colors were in order.

I did fall back into the blue pile a couple more times. My next purchase was a mini-skein from Craft's Meow. Her store is so fun; the yarn bases are all named after ice cream. I bought the Ice Cream Sundae base, my usual SW merino/nylon blend. The colorway is Midnight Craving.


Yeah, I know, it looks pretty blue. But it's really at least half purple. Honest.

Next stop was Girl on The Rocks. Please be seated; I don't want you to hurt yourself.


Yep, that would be orange. International Orange, to be specific; named after the color of the Golden Gate Bridge. I actually wound this skein about 10 minutes after I bought it, I liked it that much. I might be swatching already. I also picked up some great stitch markers at this booth; a decrease set imprinted with SSK and K2TOG, and an increase set with M1L and M1R.

The next stop was Serendipitous Ewe. This is their Chance Sock base; superwash/nylon of course.


The color is called Pumpkin Pie, but it really reminds me of marigolds, yellow and orange and gold. Not blue, and not red.

My next booth was Yarny Goodness. She carries a wide variety of indie dyers; this skein is from Sereknity.


The colorway is Green Pastures, and it looks exactly like spring.

One of the classes I took was Chrissy Gardiner's Textured Colorwork Socks. During class, we swatched with worsted weight yarn, but I decided I needed some solid sock yarn immediately. I walked directly from class to the marketplace and skipped lunch in order to pick out colors. I am nothing if not obsessed.


This is Simply Sock Yarn, from Simply Socks Yarn Company. Colors are Silver Lining, Mocha, and Merlot. That's a tiny 24-stitch swatch attached to it.

My last purchase of the summit was something I had been stalking all weekend. I tried not to buy it (really) but in the end I couldn't help myself.


That's pretty blue. Jay Blue, from Hazel Knits, in her Artisan Sock base. It's a deep ocean color, and it's super-saturated, and there was no way I was going home without it.

So the final tally:
Blue or mostly blue: 3 skeins
Red: 1 skein
Might be considered blue but I'm saying purple: 1 mini skein.
Seriously not blue or red: 5 skeins.
Things I regret buying: 0.

Not bad for a weekend's worth.

Labels: events, yarn

This year, Rhinebeck was not about cute sheep and alpacas. It wasn't about chicken pies or caramel apples (although it might have been about cheese for just a minute). No learning about fleece for me. This year, Rhinebeck was about the yarn, the whole yarn, and nothing but the yarn.

I went in with a plan, but immediately fell down and bought something I had no reason to buy.



Spirit Trail Fiberworks. They get me every time. Last year, I bought the yarn for the Pumpkin Socks there; I got there late in the day, and there wasn't much left, but I managed to find something I loved. This year, I went early. I'm still amazed I managed to walk away with only one skein.

This yarn (Alexandra) is a different base than what I bought last year; it's 100% Superwash Merino, with no nylon. The twist is a lot tighter and more defined as well. Of course, none of that matters, because it is all about the color. Just look at that:



Denim blues and olive greens, with transitions so smooth I can't tell where the blues end and the greens begin. No matter how many pictures I took I couldn't capture both the warmth in the greens and the cool of the blues.

My next purchase stayed firmly against my cheek for a solid fifteen minutes.



It was a utilitarian purchase; BBMM wants a gray scarf. He has no special requirements, but I came across what might be the softest alpaca ever at Times Remembered.



Charcoal grey, with one thin ply of a lighter grey. Eight ounces (about 600 yards) of sport weight, for a ridiculously low price. I hate knitting scarves for the miles of repetition, but this stuff will be so nice to work with I'm almost looking forward to it.

The next purchase was bought for a specific project; Jeanie, from last winter's edition of Knitty. I've always been intrigues by this pattern, but had never found yarn that seemed right for it. Now I have.


Fingering weight Merino/Tencel, from Maple Creek Farm. The drape on this stuff is incredible; it's going to be a perfect match for the pattern.



Browns and greys and cream, all with a really nice sheen; the darker colors almost shimmer.

Finally, the Holy Grail of yarn. I have wanted to make Anne Hanson's Irtfa'a Shawl since the first time I saw it. I've been looking for the perfect yarn ever since. I didn't want a truly black-based color, like the original. I wanted something more like smoke; subtle, natural greys and blues, not too much contrast. I searched all day. It was the one thing I was determined to find, but by late afternoon I thought I might be defeated. I had found a lot of maybes, but nothing that was perfect. Then I found the Briar Rose Fibers booth.

When I first glanced in the booth, I saw a lot of earth tones, a lot of deep saturation, a lot of subtle color changes, and my first thought was ohmygodwhereisthelaceweight. It was late in the day, and there were only about eight skeins left, but I found exactly what I had been looking for.




Extremely fine, light as air laceweight. 100% alpaca. 2500 yards in the skein, so I can make an entire shawl with no joins. Deep and smokey and subtle.



The picture looks really blue, but there is a lot of lavender and silver in there, and a little bit of black. This was not a difficult decision. About two minutes after I bought it, I saw Anne Hanson in the next booth. I took that as I sign. (No, I didn't say anything. Walking up and saying "I just bought yarn for your shawl" just seemed a little too stalker-y to me, and I was worried the gleam of fresh purchases in my eye might be misread as a different gleam altogether.)

You might notice that it's already wound. What you can't see is that it's already swatched, and washed and dried. Cast-on begins in approximately five minutes.

Labels: events, yarn

You know what's fun? When you do something knowing it's going to be a mistake, but you do it anyway, and then it ends up being a mistake. Then you kick yourself, and that hurts a little, but not as much as knowing that you are an idiot, albeit an idiot with foresight. Yep, that's fun.

When I first created Chevrolace, I spent a lot of time looking for the right yarn. I knew that a true stripe wouldn't work. I knew I didn't want it to be solid. I bought some multi-colors with short color bursts, thinking they would work. They didn't; too much bright color obscured the pattern, and the darker colors didn't photograph well. I finally settled on the Ivory semi-solid from Fleece Artist. Light color to photograph well, a little bit of interest, but not so much that it detracted from the pattern. I loved the color, I loved the sock, it got published, and they were my pride and joy.

Well. I'm the type of girl that will only buy sock yarn if it's machine washable, because I know that I will never, ever have the time and/or patience to hand wash socks. Now the label on the Fleece Artist CLEARLY states that you can machine wash, but lay flat to dry. Of course, the very first time I washed them I accidentally threw them in the dryer. Lo and behold, no problem. They were fine. The second time I accidetnally threw them in the dryer, still fine. In fact, the only evidence of wear was a little fuzzing on the heel, where my shoe rubbed against it. Again, no problem. I soon forgot all about the washing instrcutions, and started treating them like all of my other socks. Sadly, all my other socks contain at least 15% nylon, and these didn't.

Fast forward. I honestly don't know what happened; too much heat in the washer or dryer, or maybe just the cumulative effects of months of abuse. Here is how they look now:

FELTED. Not completely felted, but mostly. They go on this far, but no farther. The ribbing still stretches, but the rest of the sock doesn't. They are finished, merely a bad memory of my lack of interest in taking special care of hand-knits. F*&%$*)((*&!!!

Clearly, another pair of Chevrolace is in order. I can't go through life without a pair of my very own. So I've started over, with a new yarn, which I haven't checked care instructions on yet (some people never learn). Here's sock 1 in progress:

Pretty, no? And so soft. The yarn is Acero from Brooks Farms, and is a blend of superwash merino, silk, and viscose. Please note that there is NO NYLON. Why did I buy it? Because Brooks Farms colors are like CRACK, that's why, and I was at Rhinebeck, and it was all so tempting... Just look at those colors, and how they blend seamlessly.

I can't wait to wear them. I may, however, pay someone to wash them for me.

Labels: socks, yarn

I wasn't going to do any Christmas knitting this year. I've knit under pressure a few times (I remember in particular staying up until 3 am Christmas morning to finish a scarf) and it's just not so fun. This is supposed to be a hobby, after all, and once you throw in a deadline it tends to turn into work.

Labels: WIP's, yarn

Well, I got two votes on the poll, and both said rip and re-do. That's where I was leaning anyway, so the unpicking of the seams and unraveling will begin soon. Or maybe not so soon. We'll see how long it takes to get my strength up.


In the meantime, I picked up a little something to make myself feel better about the whole debacle. My MIL got me a lovely gift for my birthday; a gift certificate to my favorite LYS. Could there be any better gift? Could there be any better MIL? Of course, I spent the whole thing on sock yarn.



This might look familiar; it's the same color Regia Silk I used for the baby cardigan. I had one 50 gm skein left, so why not buy another and make some socks out of it? It's almost like spending money to save money. Or not, but that's what I'm telling myself. This yarn is so soft once it's washed; I can't wait to feel it on my feet!



Next up, some Louet Gems, in color Neptune, a beautiful denim-friendly light blue. This is a new yarn for me, and one I'm pretty excited about. I generally prefer sock yarn with nylon in it, but then I touched this. Delightfully squishy. It's got a nice tight twist, so I think it will be perfect for something cabled, or with a lot of stitch definition. I know Cookie A uses it for her solid socks, and there's no better recommendation than that. (If you don't know who Cookie is, click the link immediately. You will never see a better collection of sock patterns than that.)



This is my favorite of the bunch. Fleece Artist, a yarn I've heard raves about. They don't put color names or numbers on their ballbands (no two skeins are exactly alike) but I think this is their semi-solid Ivory. It's got lovely subtle beiges and greys along with the ivory and is a bit lighter and less yellow than the picture shows. I've got plans for this one; a sock pattern I've been working on for a long time that's been waiting for the right yarn to come along. I fully expected to buy some Lorna's Laces, but this colorway grabbed me at the store and wouldn't let me go.

I also managed to buy something that wasn't yarn; tickets to Stitch 'n Pitch! August 8th, Shea Stadium, Mets vs. Braves (which is always a good game). The seats are way up in the air, but hey, I'll be knitting! What an incredibly fun way to spend an evening.

Labels: yarn

Over the last few years, I've gotten a lot of oddballs of yarn from various family members. Some of it is probably well over 20 years old, but it's almost always in perfect shape. Somewhere along the way I got these.




It appears to be 2 skeins of variegated yarn, with matching solids. It's also a very thin fingering weight, unplied, in the scratchiest wool imaginable. I couldn't figure out what to do with it. I would never want it against my skin, so socks & mittens were out. Maybe something felted, but what?

One day while staring at it, I decided to wind them into balls. I unfurled a variegated skein, and found this.




See those little tags? It wasn't a variegated skein at all. Many, many short runs of color. In fact, each of the loops is two different colors, tied together at the ends. They're around 12 to 15 yards long each.




I have to assume it's some sort of sampler, but if any of you have any idea, let me know. I am flummoxed.

All these short lengths of yarn got me thinking about tiny things. And since I'm always thinking about knitting socks anyway, it ended up with tiny Christmas stocking ornaments.




I used a full length of both the red and white for this one. I want to do some in stripes, which I think will take 2 of the main color and one of the contrast. I've taken out the Christmassy colors.




(There is a lot. I've started putting colors together. If I only use each color once for a main color, and once for contrast, I can do about twelve. If I use all that I have, and just don't make the exact same sock twice, it will be in the dozens. If I do twelve, I'll give them as stocking stuffers (heh) this Christmas. If I do dozens, I can hang a bunch of them on my tree too. Hmmm...

Labels: socks, WIP's, yarn

About a year ago, I got a set of light-up knitting needles. I used them to make a baby blanket, and when I finished, I lost one of them. I noticed it was missing sometime during the winter. Yesterday, I found it.



I think I dropped it in the snow, and the plow got it.



Not that it matters, but I never found the tip...

I found something else though. It caught my eye and I had to pick it up.



Mountain Colors Bearfoot, Yellowstone colorway. That's pretty close to the real color.; it's maybe a little darker in person. BBMM and I spent an extra hour in the car today so I could get sock yarn (he is a patient man) and I'm glad we did. It's really, really soft. It's tightly spun, so stitches are going to show up beautifully. You know how when you first get off a diet, food tastes really, really good? Works for yarn too.

Labels: yarn

I have so very, very little to report. The BBMM sock 2 is moving along, but how many pictures do you really want to see of the foot of a boring sock? That's what I thought. The not-socks are progressing, but I don't want to reveal that until I have something recognizable to show, and I'm just not there yet. I've also been working on another top-secret project, but it's really just chunks of yarn and scribbles at the moment, and duh, it's top secret!

So I thought I'd show you my stash. To me, this is shocking; when I took it all out to take the picture I nearly died. I know to some of you this is laughably small, but I would like you to keep in mind that I have been knitting for less than 4 years, and I didn't get crazy about it for a year or so. Also, this stash does not include any sock yarn. It also doesn't include about a dozen balls of Bernat Satin that I bought for an ill-conceived and barely started baby gift. I keep that in a separate place, so I didn't think to include them in the photo.



That's a whole lotta wool, yes? Here's the thing; until last year I didn't have a stash. That's not exactly true, but what I had I was able to keep in a shopping bag. One shopping bag. Then there were these two sales...

Labels: yarn

I officially ran out of yarn for BBMM's first sock on Friday, so I decided to cast on for the not-socks. I spent about 10 minutes knitting with The Ugly, and decided it just wouldn't do. A quick trip to my favorite LYS, and I came home with the perfect thing.

Labels: WIP's, yarn

I've been working exclusively on the BBMM socks this week, and I have made some progress.


I'm about an inch beyond the heel turn on Sock 1, and a few inches past the toe on Sock 2. Sock 2 is now subway knitting, while Sock 1 watches TV with me in the evenings. Sock 2 is happy with this arrangement; he is new to the world, and eager to get out and explore. Sock 1, however, is perhaps tired of his captivity, and is protesting. Despite my care (and my many, many lifelines) he simply does not want to be finished. Witness this temper tantrum:

Labels: socks, WIP's, yarn

Presents in the mail!

1275 meters of fingering weight goodness. Anybody want to guess what it's for? Uh, no, not socks. That would be a bit too easy, don't you think? Two hints: it will be a gift, and the color is a clue (I am not allowed to knit myself anything with turquoise in it for a while. I will admit that I have a limited color palette in my wardrobe, but enough on the turquoise).

Whatever it is, I won't be getting started for a while. It doesn't need to be ready until late July, and shouldn't take too long to do. I want to finish the Slink before I start on this one.

I have hit a snag on the Slink, by the way. I tried to take a picture, but it's dark and rainy out, so you know. If you recall, the waistline is done in a purl ribbing, like this:

Notice that each rib has two purl rows. Mmm hmmm. The center front of the sweater has a section that is straight stockinette, then the purl ribs resume again. I got the center front done, did a few rows on the ribbing, and realized that my first rib has only one purl row. What's up with that? I'm fairly certain that it is the pattern and not me, but how on earth could nobody have noticed this?

It's going to be a fairly easy fix; tink the ribbing (I only did about 4 rows before I noticed), plus one extra row, then add the first purl row in at the beginning of the repeat. Still, I'm irked. The back of this thing seemed like pure genius, but this is the second thing on the front that I don't like. I'm going to e-mail the author in case I am just an idiot, or am reading the pattern wrong. I won't be waiting for a response to fix it, but I am interested in what she has to say. Hopefully she won't be telling me that I am functionally illiterate.

Labels: WIP's, yarn

After the needle snap over the weekend, I started knitting the sock on 4 DPN's instead of 5. It wasn't so pleasant, and I thought I might snap another, so I wanted a back-up set. I went to my favorite LYS for some replacement needles. They didn't have the bamboo, but the owner pointed me toward these, and WOW. They are my new favorite. I have always hated metal needles because of the slipperiness and the irritating clicking noise (BBMM actually hates that even more than I do, I think). These appear to be metal with a plasticy coating of some sort (I doubt it's really plastic, but the package is all in German, so who's to say). They're almost as sticky as bamboo, they're almost as fast as metal, and they are my new best sock friend.

You may notice there's something else in the picture... I sort of accidentally bought more sock yarn. I've been eyeballing this Tofutsies yarn since it first came out, but I'd never seen it in person before. I'd also never seen it in any sort of neutral color. I do not wear a lot of color, and the thought of wearing hot pink and lime striped socks is the opposite of appealing to me. But this... beige and cream and black, and stripey and soft. It's very much a summer sock yarn, as opposed to all the wool I have. Good yardage too; one skein for a pair of socks. See how many excuses I can come up with?

Labels: socks, yarn

The package saga may never end.

This morning I checked UPS, and my yarn was on the move; it had made it from Jersey to NY, and onto a truck for delivery. This was good; I wasn't going to be home for delivery, and there is no doorman on Mondays to sign for it, but at least I would be able to reschedule delivery, and I would know exactly when it would arrive.

But this afternoon I checked again, and it said "Delivered". To whom? The porter. I was not aware that my building even had a porter, but apparently it does, and he had my yarn, and it was a beautiful thing. I raced home after work and realized that I had no earthly idea where to find my mystery porter. I scoured the basement, but nobody home. I actually called both UPS and my super to make sure the package was actually delivered to someone who works here, as opposed to a random street urchin who knows how to sign a name. Indeed, my package is in the basement, a mere 6 floors below me.

But there is a catch, since the yarn gods clearly have no intention of ever letting me knit a sock again. Apparently the porter works regular business hours. He is not here, nor is anybody else who has the keys to the little room where my lonely yarn sits.

I can't get my yarn until tomorrow.

Perhaps now would be the time to learn how to pick locks.

Labels: yarn