Things I Learned At Rhinebeck

1) I like mohair!

(1000 yds of mohair boucle, half price!)

2) There's always a sale. Really, I should stop justifying purchases by saying they were on sale. There's always a sale somewhere. (Just like it's 5:00 somewhere. But don't worry, I'm not throwing that baby out with the bathwater.)

3) When you spin mohair from the lock, you get really soft, really expensive FunFur. I'm not sorry I did it, because now I know the answer, but now there's a new question: what am I going to do with 3.5 oz of 100% mohair FunFur?










4) When you fill a two-room, two television hotel suite with Red Sox fans during a pivotal game, the next door neighbors may get cranky.

5) You will buy something, whether you intend to or not. (1.5 lbs of llama/Romney lamb roving, really a deep chocolate brown)

(a bag of silk and Corriedale cross roving)

6) Cheryl is a Fountain of Friendliness. No, really, she had this great insight, which is that we're all at this awkward stage where many of us know each other a little but perhaps not that confidently, and therefore we perhaps hang back in groups instead of going forth effusively to greet one another. So she decided she would be a Fountain of Friendliness and embrace one and all in a warm, inclusive and confident manner. Unfortunately, she told me this fabulous new policy which I immediately wanted to adopt after I had already slighted, like, pretty much everyone. Sorry!

Next year I too will be a Fountain of Friendliness and you'll all be like, "Who's this freaky stranger hugging me?"

And then I'll introduce myself as Seedstitch Cheryl.
(I kid, I kid!)

Behold the Blueberry Vomit

Whew! It’s been some summer. But it’s slowing down now, thank goodness.

There has been knitting and spinning. Early in the summer I reminded myself that knitting and spinning were great stress-relievers, and I picked my knitting back up.

First, I finished the Scary Rainbow socks, made from the ginormous, thousand-yard ball of Rainbow Brite yarn Grumpie gave me.They’re a little heavier than standard socks, but they’ll make great boot socks come winter.

Then, I cast on for Kate Gilbert’s pattern “A Sweater for Arwen” using the fabulous (and pattern-perfect) dark pine green Aran-weight yarn I won in Claudia’s MS raffle. The back and left side front are complete; I’m still working on the right side front. This is a really clever pattern and I'm enjoying knitting it up. Do I need another cabled green hoodie? Of course I do.
(Side note:am I not the luckiest girl, to be gifted with so much fabulous yarn?)

In the meantime, I spun up some of last year’s Rhinebeck fleece. I’m spinning it up sort of rough and chunky, intended for a cabled cardigan for the hubby. I have about 3 good-size skeins so far (haven’t measured them yet, sorry!)

And I experimented with last year’s Rhinebeck Spinner’s Hill roving purchase. When I bought it, I commented to Carole that it could turn out to look like blueberry vomit. Here’s what it really reminds me of: Freshman year in college so very long ago, my friends and I made an excursion to the bustling city of Burlington, VT one fall afternoon. We stopped at the MacDonald’s on our way out of town, where they were offering raspberry shakes on a trial basis. I drank one. Later that evening, I drank WAY too much gin at Zeta Psi’s Casino Night and wound up revisiting that raspberry shake in all its vivid glory in the bathroom of my freshman dorm. If that were yarn, it would be this.

Anyway, first I tried spinning it by separating out the colors. When I did that, I kept the gorgeous purpley blues but also (and somewhat unfortunately) the acid greens.

So then I tried blending the colors together as I spun. And now I can’t decide which I like better. The blended swatch does indeed look less vomity, but also less blueberry-y. And that is a loss.

What do you think?