Preparing for Yarn Disasters

This is probably something I should have posted before the hurricane, but there were a few other things I was a little concerned about. I live in a basement apartment, and it was entirely possible during the storm that we would get a little to a lot of flooding. I also knew there would a LOT of time spent with my boyfriend's family and that knitting might prevent me from harming any of them. Here's what I did to prepare:

When I moved to this apartment, I was worried about what could happen to my yarn, and I needed an easy way to transport it as well. I put it all in clear plastic bins from The Container Store. Amusingly, these boxes were called Sweater Boxes (and they stack on top of each other!). The plastic proved to be a good move, as there were a few boxes on the floor that ended up getting wet, but the yarn inside them is totally fine.

I have a box of pretty yarn that I usually keep on the floor next to the TV. It's in a fabric box because the fabric box is pretty, and it's open. I simply moved this onto a TV table, which kept it above the water and fine.

You may have seen my blog Yarn365. I love taking photos for artistic reasons. However, one of the things I did before I moved last year was take photos of all the yarn I had and document which box it was in. I wanted to make sure that when I got to the new place, I knew that I had all my yarn. This proved to be useful in that, if anything bad did happened to my yarn, I had proof of my collection and how much it was worth in case I needed to file an insurance claim.

I was also worried about being bored, so figuring out what my next pattern would be was instrumental. The project for my brother's wedding is too warm to work on should the power go out and the AC fail. I was going to finish a shawl, but I was running out of yarn and I lost the bead needle I needed to string the beads onto a new ball. If I finished the sock I was working on, that'd be bad. So I started swatching. I settled on knitting a Cosy V Neck Pullover (Ravlink) from Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter (AMZ Link). It's top down and I finished the V-neck part and was ready to join for the round when I realized that I'd omitted the neckline shaping. So I ripped it all out Sunday night.

However, my issues with the pattern were all mental. I could read the pattern, despite the fact that the lights were out and our transformer exploded because I had a Neck Light. My SNB went in on this. I think we got something like 20 lights alltogether so we got them cheaply. It was pretty awesome to be able to continue to knit despite the dark.

Overall, we weathered through ok. We had a transformer explode on our block and we had to leave our house because of a possible gas leak whose origin they still don't quite know. But everyone here was safe, and I hope you were too.

(photo: Decadent Fibers Creme Brulee from Rhinebeck last year, the yarn of my hurricane project)

Rhinebeck 2010!

Another in a long list of Rhinebeck posts I'm sure you've already seen.

One of the things I love the most about Rhinebeck are the sheep:





The fabulous fiber works are always amazing to look at as well.





And of course, who can resist the lamb ravioli, the apple crisp, the fudge, the wool, and the friends? The ambiance is half of the reason to go, right? :)







Oh, but don't you just want to know about the yarn I bought? Is that why you're here?


Firstly, some Briar Rose Sonoma. I knit a Quincy hat (Ravelry Link) already (I finished it on the ferry this morning, wove in the ends and wore it right off the boat!). I'm also going to knit a nice bulky scarf (maybe edged with icord like Quincy?).


The only other yarn I bought was this beautiful yarn from Decadent Fibers. The yarn is called Creme Brulee and is quite fabulous. It's a merino, silk mohair blend. So soft and so beautfiul. It really wants to be a simple v-neck pullover. I'm thinking of this (Ravelry Link) one from Fitted Knits. Only trouble is that when I moved to Stan's apartment in July, I had to put a bunch of stuff, including knitting books into storage. So I have no idea where this book is. I'm not quite ready to knit it, but I think Ruth might loan it to me so I can use the pattern.

Though, I must admit, I have no idea when I'm actually going to be ready to knit for me what with all my friends having babies and my brother getting married and all that. I'm so in love with this yarn though, that I hope I can get to it soon!

Oh, I feel like I have so much more to say, but I need to pack for yet another trip to Rhode Island this weekend. Gotta check out the bridesmaid dress I'm going to wear at my little brother's wedding (and pay for it!)