Rhinebeck 2012

Another year came and went. And this one was a doozy.

First, there was the weather. Once we got through the rain of Friday (which we usually spend knitting indoors anyway) we had the most awesome fall weather ever. Saturday even bordered on too-warm and required a quick walk back to the car to drop off my jacket.

Then, there was the food. We stayed in Kingston this year and had the best luck with new restaurants. We had home cooking, tapas, soup, steak (and to Christy’s dismay – brussels sprouts). And of course, a butter rum muffin from Hannaford’s. No trip to Rhinebeck would be complete without a stop at Hannaford’s.

And yes – of course there was the yarn, patterns, new books, lines out the door (with the occasional pushy person who doesn’t understand personal space), amazing projects, somewhat less-amazing projects (this seemed to be the year of the too-wide neckline/yoke), new exhibitors (hello Lisa Souza!) and cider donuts (glad I finally tried one, don’t need to do that again though).

What I brought home:

• A skein of Lisa Souza Cashmere/Silk fingering in my not-so-standard teals and greens. I’m thinking shawl. No I don’t have a pattern in mind yet.
• Color Affection kit from Miss Babs in her 2 ply sock yarn. I, of course, went with my standard pinks and purples.
• A skein of Sock82me also in my not-so-standard brown semi-solid. This yarn is supposed to have great twist for texture and cables.

I’m happy that I didn’t over buy and I can see myself knitting everything I bought before next year’s Rhinebeck. I already started Color Affection and that’s the bulk of my haul.

Having said that I still had a yearning for some yarn when I got home so something else is on its way to me as I type. That can be for another post though.

And I just realized I’ve been forgetting to post the link love at the end, so here goes:

• There’s a great conversation over on the Stash n Burn board about what makes a sweater successful and how to determine what works for you. I’ve sat with this thread for almost a week and am close to coming to terms with the fact that worsted weight is probably too big of a yarn for me.
• Look at this ingenious cowl that’s part mobius and part straight knitting.  And there’s a pullover too.
• Speaking of cowls, here’s a new cowl that Olga just came out with this week
• Isn’t this a great shawl pattern to use with a variety of yarns?  I can see it with leftovers, partial skeins and even done with just full skeins of long-color-repeat yarn like Noro.