Yarn Thoughts

It's not all knitting and crochet

I'd like to show what I'm working on but it's a surprise! In the meantime gaze upon my floss box. Isn't it pretty! My coworker said it looks like ribbon candy and I think that's perfect.
It's my own little rainbow I get to keep in my tote. I don't do as much embroidery as I would like. I have a hard time committing to a transfer pattern and I have been known to screw up my ironing! Iron on transfers are great cause they're so simple, but I always feel like it's a big deal choosing one. Obviously I need to get over myself.

Staying Warm

I have a big family.  Not like the Duggars where I have 20 kids, I personally only have two.  But if you were to consider my immediate family - 3 sisters - all paired up, parents, in laws, brother in law, sister in law, 5 (almost 6!) nieces and nephews plus my two kids and husband- well let's just say that we use the landscape settings on our cameras for family photos.  And I really like my family, everyone in it.  I have a mess of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and assorted non-family relatives who I love dearly. 

That's too many people to knit for.  I like challenges but I'm not going to martyr myself and make sure every relation has a hand knit.  Though last year my heart melted when I got in the car with my boys and husband and everyone had something on I made.  That was a very warm and happy memory. So I let the whim strike me.   And occasionally I even knit for myself!  Ok, I mostly knit for myself.  BUT ANYWAYS.

Here's my nephew Owen.

He just turned four and is the cutest little spider monkey of a boy you could ever meet.  He has more charm and personality in his little finger than most people have their whole lives.  In his house he has a lot of kids.  He and his little brother are very close in age and are even the same size.  As a consequence Owen gets a lot of Orange things, Brody gets Blue.  Helps my sister keep track of cups, underwear, toothbrushes.  So my little buddy gets an orange hat. 

This was knit in KnitPicks Swish Worsted on Harmony needles (7s I think).  Colors are Carrot and Orange.  The pattern is my own with a motif from Color by Kristin by Kristin Nichols.  It was very challenging for me to continue the motif and decrease for the the top of the hat but in all I managed pretty well.

Even though it's a grown up motif he really likes it.

Next up, we all know that magical weekend is fast approaching.  The third weekend in October when the fiber obsessed converge on a tiny town in New York State for RHINEBECK!!

Oh my goodness I. CAN. NOT. WAIT.  Me and some ladies are getting hotel rooms and are going to huff wool fumes till we get high.  However long that takes.  We have time.  Luxurious time to browse and eat and shop and knit and pet and shop and browse and shop and count handknits and shop.  I swear on my life that the theme of the weekend will be gluttony.  G-L-U-T-T-O-N-Y.  Shameless, celebrated yarn mongering.  In the spirit of Rhinebeck I have made myself a new hat. I designed it, knit it and I love it.  And I'm happy to say it's beautiful and unique and no one else will have one like it but me!

 

Also done in KnitPicks Swish Worsted on Harmony 7s.  But this hat is has a stitch or two less per inch than the orange,  I think because the pattern is more haphazard and I basically winged the whole thing.  I just love it.  It's nicely loose for my wonking huge head and it won't flatten my hair.  Which translates it will be stretched to uselessness in a year or two but that's ok cause then I'll just make a new one!  Booyah!

If you see this purple thing bobbing around Rhinebeck you'll know you found me!

 

SCORE!

 

Look at that, isn't it a sight?  I'm a train commuter and my husband always drops me off and picks me up at the local station.  But today I drove myself (cause I'm a big girl!!).  When I got off the train my older sister was in the parking lot having dropped a friend off in my town (she lives 20 minutes away).  She, four of her 5 kids and her friend and friends daughter were at the Bronx Zoo today.  I'm getting off topic.  Anyway, her friend gave her these 5 books for me and they were waiting in my car for me!  I never lock my car, like ever.  Or my house.  Fun fact.

I got, from Left to Right (Amazon Links):

Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss

Homespun Handknit by Linda Ligon

Reader's Digest Knitters Handbook by Montse Stanley (what a name)  This link is to a softcover, I have the hardcover version

Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Rhighetti

and my initial favorite so far...and the only one without an Amazon preview...

The Mitten Book by Inger Gottfridson and Ingrid Gottfridson.

I have a thing for craft books.  Like the way a crackhead has a thing for crack.  Or on a more positve note, the way Mozart had a thing for harpsichords.  Just love 'em.  I keep a quickly rotating stack of books by my bed and by my knitting chair.  I like all kinds, knitting, sewing, embroidery, crocheting - I'll try anything.  Crafter's Choice is my dealer, they're so cheap!  But I'll take books from Amazon, yarn stores, library sales.  I'm not fussy.  I love to read Elizabeth Zimmerman before bed, she's like my knitting fairy godmother.

I have a head cold and feel like crap, but this has cheered me immensely.  The plan is to hit the sack early nd get some lovely morning light to photograph those two hats I talked about.  Is there anything more annoying than reading about someone else's procastination?  What a downer.

In happier news there's plenty of pumpkin pie downstairs since it turns out I'm the only one who likes it.  Yeah me!  Modern family, pumpkin pie and sack time. 

Fin

Approaching the Equinox

On September 22 one of my most favorite things will happen.  Fall will arrive!  I love summer, I truly do and September is one of the most beautiful months of the year but summer has waned.  The brilliant greens of June and July are dimming.  The hot pinks and purples of August flowers have passed and I'm starting to see touches of brown and orange out my window.  It's been a long, beautiful September but I'm ready for a cozy, crisp fall.

Like everyone else in the country I too am sufferring from a slight pumpkin shortage.  There are no cans to be had anywhere.  Except today!  I saw one can of pumpkin pie filling (not the puree I was hoping for) hiding out in the bread section at the grocery store.  I spoke to a clerk and aked where the rest was and he laughed derisively and said he's been answering that question non stop.  They had gotten in a shipment that morning and someone bought it all!  No need to be greedy folks, I just wanted to make soem muffins!  We can all share!  Anyways, since it was pie filling I just went ahead and made pie.  I can live without muffins, but a year without a slice of pumpkin pie would have been sad.  I was going to save the can for Thanksgiving but then I figured why let it fight with chocolate pudding and pecan pie?

In the world of wool I have finished two beautiful hats, if I do say so myself.  I will happily blog them ASAP but I missed the light today as I had my boys on a ton of adventures and no time to photograph hats when there was a trip to a fair AND the toy store involved.  But these hat are stellar, they are ace, they are WICKED.  I love them and I'm very happy one of them is for me!

 

4:30 in the afternoon

I might be getting rained on today!
Me and the Eli are taking the train. Here's hoping for a dry commute!
The sky looks very ominous for a September afternoon.

Thinking

The Duchess County Sheep and Wool Festival, aka RHINEBECK is 6 1/2 weeks away.

Last year, my first year, was very very very chilly.  A crisp, slightly blustery autumn day.  I'm assuming this year will be a repeat as fall seems to be approaching quickly with many more cooler days than hot ones lately.

So what to make?  I have books and patterns up the wazoo for hats, mittens, scarves, cowls, fingerless gloves.  And then there's ravelry and the 6 billion other patterns available on the internet.  I don't even know what I want to make but I have a deadline.

I need direction.  I have a cowl I like,  a hat I like but now has bad karma attached to it and I can't really wear it until it gets resolved which won't be in time for Rhinebeck. I don't have any handmade mittens or fingerless gloves.  My nice scarf got felted, my crochet scarf is pretty light and I don't want to wear the same scarf as last year, though I could wear my cowl.

Even writing out a horrible stream of consiousness like that hasn't helped me.

I'm giving myself till Sunday to cast on, that will give me 47 days. I'll make it official I will vow to cast on by Stitch and Pitch this Sunday (which I'm really, really excited for!!). 

 

I also really want to make my dad a pair of socks for his birthday, which is the same exact weekend as Rhinebeck so 47 days only seems generous.  I know some people can crank out socks in a week, but I just don't have that kind of time.  Don't roll your eyes, it's true!

 

This isn't labor

I'm sitting on our neighborhood beach, enjoying the end of the end of summer. There might be two or three more visits till the October chill keeps me and my knitting confined to the recliner. I'm working on a hat for my nephew who loves loves loves orange. I was going to write a whole post about this lace cowl pattern I was designing but I can sum up the entire failure in one thought: don't end a round with a yarn over. One of those lessons you just have to learn. I'm not sure if I will write a pattern for this hat or not. The motif is directly copied from a book I bought this summer, Color Knitting. And the inspiration from the hat came from another book I bought the sane day, but the official title escapes me and I'm at the beach, away from my bookcase. I hope the last few bits of summer take their time and linger, it's been a wonderful season. Beautiful weather, wonderful memories have been made and lots of yarn got added to the stash. Life has been pretty freaking sweet.