RHINEBECK Recap

I have quite a bit of work to do, don't I? God, what happened to October!? I think I'm so swept up in my BOSOX playing in the world series and RHINEBECK.

So I fixed the Berkshire pullover, but I don't have any new photos of it. I assure you it's done though. I started it three times in three different sizes. I did each sleeve twice - one because I cast on too few stitches the first time, and the other because my row gauge was a bit off. And I undid the neck and re-did it so it was in the middle of the sweater instead of off to the side.

The monkey socks are pretty much the same as they were when I showed them to you in the beginning of the month. I haven't done anything with them because I've been working on placemats for friends who got married in May. I realize I have a year after the wedding to get them done, but I'd really rather get them done sooner rather than later. My conscience was getting to me, so I started them.


I'm knitting four of them out of King Tut Cotton on size five Denises. One's done, one's almost done, and then I'll only have two more to knit. They're taking me about a week each to complete, which means I knit faster than I thought I did. :)

But what you really want is a RHINEBECK recap right?
Our NYC SNB gals holed up at Blogless Jill's parents' summer home for the weekend where we battled fruit flies, watched Hitchcock movies and knit our hearts out. THANKS TO JILL'S MOM FOR LETTING US STAY THERE!!!!

I did most of my buying the first day. I fought my way in and found some appropriate STR, then I stood in a line about three booths long to pay. This is what I came out with:


STR Medium weight yarn in Carbon Dating color-way.

After wandering around a bit, I also found some nice roving. I looked at it. I felt it. I coveted it. I bought it.


I'm not sure what it is, but I suspect it's some sort of silk/merino blend. It was way cheaper than buying yarn! I was surprised. After that, Michelle was kind enough to wander around with me a bit to find a nice drop spindle.

I met up with a lot of awesome bloggers and folks on Ravelry. Met a bunch of people I probably wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't done the Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo.

Later on that day, I found some fabulous wool to knit the Spiral Pullover in.


Doesn't look like much does it? It's only about 1500 yards of Falkland Wool I got from Ellen's 1/2 Pint farm!

That evening, Blogless Johanna taught some of us how to crochet!


I think I actually got it!

So we went to bed, and woke up the next day ready to head back to the Sheep and Wool Festival. This time, I decided I wanted to focus on the animals. After buying a few buttons from Briar Rose Fibers



I managed to find a bit more roving that struck my fancy


This stuff isn't as slippery as the other roving I bought, so I'm hoping it will be easier to learn with.

We went to the Alpaca and Llama jumping contest, then pet some of the sheep



And I saw a really elaborate Mohair Throw:


psst! That's a real mohair goat!

We wandered on over to the author tent to see if I could get the Yarn Harlot to sign Claudine's copy of her newest book. I had a moment of weakness. I don't have much more room for books on my Knitting shelf. In fact, I would say I have NO MORE room for books anywhere in my apartment. I still collect them though, and so, obviously, I had to buy Clara Parkes' new book The Knitter's Book of Yarn. I also had to have her sign this book.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful trip. there was apple crisp and apple ceider consumed. Famous bloggers like Kate Gilbert and January One were noticed. People seemed to have a fun time, and I walked away with some awesome yarn. For a weekend in which i probably had about the the maturity of a six year old, I'd like to thank my fellow SNBers for letting me be the goofy comic relief of the weekend! <3 you gals!!!

Berkshire Trading Socks and Shania Twain's Sweater

It's kinda odd...I feel like now that all my stuff is on ravelry, I don't have as much of a reason to keep on top of the progress of my projects on my blog. Maybe it's just because I haven't felt much like writing either. Regardless, there's a lot more knitting stuff out there than I thought there was! Only thing is that when I take so long to post, I end up with these huge posts. Please forgive the verbosity!

The tattoo is almost completely healed and it looks GREAT!

I'm almost done with the second sleeve of the Berkshire Pullover as can be evidenced by the photo below...


I just have to do three more repeats of the decreasing pattern to get the sleeve
done, then sew down the cuff of the sleeve and the sweater.

Speaking of cuffs of the sweater, what do you think of this?


I'm not too fond of how the cuff is rolling up like that, but I'm not sure if that's something that will flatten out if I block it. The photo of the sweater has flat cuffs (both sleeve cuffs and the bottom cuff of the sweater), which is interesting because the sweater is knit in stockinette. I would like to maintain that look, so what I decided to do was to knit a couple extra rows, and purl a turning row. Then afterwards, to sew the cuff down. I tried to do this on the first sleeve, but I'm not sure it turned out ok. I'm afraid that the yarn is too bulky to do this method with. What do you folks think?

In other project related news, I finished the Jack Sparrows Favorite Socks


They were made out of Koigu on size 2 addis and will now reside with my roommate.

So to make up for the fact that I needed another sock going (have to have something to do while waiting for things!) I started a Monkey Sock.


I'm also knitting it on a pair of size two addis, but this time it's being knit out of Great Adirondack's Silky Sock in colorway Antique. I really love the feel of the yarn, and I have a feeling that it's going to end up being a strong pair. I'm feeling they could probably be smaller, but I think it'll be ok.

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In completely other news, my friend, after seeing the video for Forever and For Always by Shania Twain, decided his wife needed the sweater in the video. He actually asked me to knit it, for her, and I might actually do it, if I can figure it out. Probably even just for the challenge of it. Here's the video:



Hope that works for you. So I've googled to see if anyone on craftster or anywhere else has already figured this out with no success. Basically, what I think is that the cuffs are knitted. Then, there's a front piece that's knitted from picked up stitches from the cuffs. After that, I'd say there's a piece that's knitted for the back and sewed to the front piece around the bust to make it shirt like. It'd be much thinner than the front piece, and it'd have to be twisted as well.

Does that seem right from what you can see? seems like a rather bulky yarn with a 1x1 slip stitch rib or something.

Why my SNB is the best out there

I love my SNB guys and gals. Seriously, they're amazing.

Tuesday night Adina Klein (I have no idea how to spell that, my issue of VK is in the other room, and the VK website is down) came to our SNB and did a bit of a run through of what's in this issue of the magazine. A few of us got to try on some stuff. Here's a quick look:


Jessaymn models one of the 25th anniversary scarves (I think this is actually the cover project)


Isn't she fabulous!!?? We even managed to get one of our other fancy gals to try on a little glitter!



I tried on a DKNY ski sweater that I've decided I must knit. Excuse the squinty face, but its really a happy squinty face!!



It was so very comfortable, oversized, and knit with Lions Brand Cashmere Blend. I"m not a huge Lions Brand fan...but this yarn was SUPER comfortable, SUPER warm and just super all around. Really made me change what I think about Lions Brand, and if I can't find anything suitable at Rhinebeck to knit this sweater out of, I might even buy some Lions Brand Cashmere Blend for it!

After the VK showcase, we all chatted. There were so many SNBers there! Michelle came for the night, and we've been seeing less and less of Heather! It was awesome to see everyone! On monday, in a fit of excitement I emailed my SNB gals that I'm getting that knitting tattoo I've been talking about for months! I made the appointment for Saturday and decided it was going to be an early birthday gift for myself. Well, on tuesday they all got together and decided to buy my tattoo for me!!! Now, not only will the tattoo have the meaning of my passion for knitting, but it will also be a constant reminder of my SNB gals and how much they all mean to me!!! How awesome are these folks!?!? Seriously, I know I've thanked you all a million times, but I love you all thank you so much!!!

Here's a shot of the card they all signed (isn't it just adorable and awesome!!??) alongside a nifty coin bank my roommate picked up at a quirky store in Jersey.


The smaller print on the tin says "Is wool your dirty little secret too?" There's a woman on the side saying "I need half a gram of wool and quick! I'm starting to come down..." and there's a warning on the other side that "sharing knitting needles can be hazardous to your health" It's so awesome!

Getting back to the tattoo: when I got to the studio on Monday, the dude took a quick glance at the pages of my notebook and said "oh, a knitting tattoo!" There wasn't even really all that much knitting related on it, just a few sketches of balls of yarn, but it was a good sign. When we were talking about when to do it, he suggested a day, i was busy, I suggested a day, he was busy, and then I was like, "well...the weekend after that I'm actually headed to a knitting thing, so it can't be then" and he was like, "well, you've got to get it done before then!" I'm so excited and curious to see what he did with the drawing I gave him. I'll be sure to post photos as soon as I get them!

I had to rip back the Berkshire pullover twice, so I'm on attempt number three. The first one was way too small, the second one was way too big, and this one looks rather on target.

Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks are about halfway through the faire Isle on the second sock. It hasn't been knitted as much because of the Berkshire pullover. They're so close to completion and will probably be done sometime next weekend.

Overheard In A Yarn shop continues... It's only been around for a week and it seems to be getting a decent number of hits a day. I didn't post tonight cause I've been working on this blog and to be frank, I didn't get any submissions to use. I realize that I seriously need to get the point out. Kimmy mentioned that I should get a contest of some sort. I should find some local or smallish yarn company trying to get its start, get them to donate a prize or two and get the word out. I'm, frankly, thinking this could be a great opportunity to get a good banner and button...I just need to do a bit of research, which I'll do when I get down to it, but I've got a lot of stuff going on, what with the birthday and going to Rhode Island and all that jazz. Looking for smaller yarn folk might be kinda fun though!

Anyway, I desperately need submissions, so keep your ears open, blog about it etc. Submissions can be sent to overheardinayarnsop(at)gmail(dot)com. It's really only going to be as awesome as the submissions allow, and there's only so many times I can post crazy hearings or - worse - my own mutterings at The Point before I even end up getting bored!

New Project!!

Of the interweb variety! Check it out!

Overheard In A Yarn Shop

Button to come...pretty much everything to come, but it's there!

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Note to self:
Berkshire Pullover, take out neckline, and un-cast off 2 columns around neck. When casting off neckline, use the sewn bind off (Knitting Without Tears). Completely frog Berkshire Pullover and re-knit in much larger size for sweatshirt like feel. This sweater, upon further reflection needs way POSITIVE ease, not negative ease. I still think I'll be able to finish it before Rhinebeck though.

I have much to report on

Where have I been?


Burning Man. I've been at Burning Man. So, sorry for not posting, but I really had a good time. To check out the photos I took while I was there go here.

I did manage to finish one of my Jack Sparrows favorite socks while I was waiting for the plane. Here's a photo of it not so finished:


Quite bright eh? But I really like them that way. The fair isle isn't really that bad if you twist the color you're not using every time you switch colors or after every 3 or four stitches. I think you have to wrap it more because it's in a circle. I'm sorta hoping to get the other one done before National Talk Like A Pirate Day (September 19th).

So before I went away, at the last minute, I put Icarus out to block.


And when I came back, all I wanted to do was flop on my bed. Until, that is, I saw the beautiful Icarus lying there!





It came out more beautifully than I thought it would!

Currently, the only projects I have going on are the Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks and the Berkshire Pullover from Weekend Knitting. I know what you're thinking...it's a Melanie Falick book and you suck at knitting Melanie Falick patterns! Well, not this time! I picked the easiest sweater pattern in the whole damn book. It's seriously knitting for 16 inches, dividing front and back, and then picking up stitches for the sleeves. There's seriously no way I can bork this. I've already finished half of the body.


I'm knitting it with some Morehouse Farm Bulky that I picked up last year at Rhinebeck. I figured that I should probably use at least a little bit of the small amount of Rhinebeck yarn I got last year before I get there this year!

I've also started in on that top down shrug I want to design/knit. I havne't made much headway in it though because I'm really trying to do more mindless knitting (for once!). I'll proabably come back to it a little later when I want a bit more of a challenge.

In preparation for Rhinebeck, I culled my stash quite a bit for the yarn swap today. I'll post on that separately later this week. Stay tuned...