October Elegance Socks

Very easy pattern, and a quick knit! This pair is for Mark, for Christmas.

The Friday before Rhinebeck, I was invited to join Ravelry. Ravelry is very fun; it's not a blog, but more of a photo, project, yarn, sharing, chatting site. Basically for those who like to cruise the organizer aisle at their local store, can't get enough of HGTV, or just dream of being organized, it's complete nirvana. Even those who aren't interested in organizing will find themselves cataloging their projects, yarn, size needles, etc. It's like an online knitter's notebook. My name on ravelry is ladysslipper.

Also joined another KAL, Mystic Waters. It's a lace shawl, and clue #1 has been released. The yarn which I chose in Rhinebeck was lighter than the yarn recommended; the yardage was right, but it was 100 grams versus the 200 grams recommended. The swatch and the initial 28 rows seems rather small and lightweight. I'll have to decide whether to use this yarn- and have a lighter and smaller shawl- or shop again for a heavier laceweight yarn. The decision is tougher as this will be my first lace project. It's already freaking me out that there are HOLES in the knitting that are SUPPOSED TO BE THERE! :O

Rhinebeck

Traveled to Rhinebeck on Sunday along with a busload of crazy knitters. It started really early in the morning; rising at 5:30 to leave by 6 to drive 1/2 hour to get the chartered bus. The drive up was very scenic, with the autumn colors at their peak. The bus arrived at the New York Sheep and Wool early, and we were able to browse many of the shops before the crowds arrived. The products at the fair ranged from yarn, to spinning and weaving supplies, every type of knitting needle/yarn accessory, to rugs, hand made slippers and earmuffs. Although there were many choices of food, there were many lamb related choices, including the lamb chili, offered by the 4-H tent, which was (surprisingly) excellent. The sheep judging was quite interesting, and I enjoyed knitting while learning about the many types of sheep. There was also a canine frisbee show which was quite amazing.

As far as purchases, I was quite conservative. I bought some supplies for the Mystic Waters Knit a Long-1300 yds of lace-weight wool, circular needles, and a knitting guage to replace the one which was broken. There was a unique shop which sold leather handles for bags, and the bagaholic in me couldn't resist purchasing two handles for bags which I'll have to make to match the handles! Doesn't make a great deal of sense.........

When we all returned to the bus, it was apparent that some bought a few things and others went wild! After leaving Rhinebeck, we traveled to Morehouse Farm in Red Hook, New York. Very nice shop, with much too many choices of yarn! It's closing its store and staying open as an internet store. As a joke to my husband, I brought home a stuffed ram. I had joked that I was bringing home some sheep. Near the yarn shop was a very large fork (25-30 ft high) which bore a sign "fork in the road". No pictures of scenery, people, Rhinebeck or the unusual fork, as I left the camera at home.

The trip home was very fun as "Alpacca Annie" recounted a story about a casmere sweater which she had knit which had turned out too small. She frogged the sweater and set it aside, and lost track of it. When her bathroom was being renovated, her son found a mouse nest which was made of the casmere yarn. Many jokes arose from this story! Gotta give the mouse a lot of credit for its taste in picking out the softest, expensive yarn.

Very interesting fair, and a nice family destination, not just for crazy yarnies!