We take the New Jersey Transit train into the city – we both get to sit and knit and we can even nap on the way home and dream about the new stuff we just bought. The train broke down on the way in though so we had to deboard (in 20 degree weather) and wait outside for 20 or 30 minutes. It could have been worse though. We could have been the guys with bikes who were told they weren’t allowed on. Or we could have been back far enough in line that we couldn’t fit and needed to wait for the next train. Those people probably waited a good hour outside. Our feet were frozen by the time we got on. The saving grace – at least it wasn’t windy.

So we finally got on and got into the city – maybe an hour later than expected. No worries though. They didn’t run out of yarn.

A few highlights…

Gradient yarns at Apple Tree Knits.  I went to the booth twice but left without buying anything.  Next year I’ll look more at patterns that I could use with this yarn.  They have them in several lengths and I left overwhelmed.

Cashmere yarns at Pepperberry Knits.  Oh squishy goodness.

A beautiful poncho kit at Ewetopia Fiber Shop – you guys know I’m a sucker for a gradient – and now I want that damn poncho.

Gorgeous color at Dragonfly Fibers.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Our normal MO is to make one pass at the marketplace and then go back. And that’s what we did unless we found something we couldn’t live without.

Here’s what I came home with.

3 skeins of Dragonfly Fibers Pixie in Red Bud for a Polaris. Look at those colors! All shades of pink with some darker purple bits.

2 skeins of Damesl (also Dragonfly) in Aurora Borealis for a shawl yet to be determined. Love the dyeing and the weight.  The name seems off to me though – aren’t Auroras brighter?

A fun pack of cashmere yarn from Pepperberry Knits. I got the Urbanite colorway for a cute stripey cowl.  Turns out I was really lucky – they don’t sell the fun packs directly to the public on their site and my LYS is out of this colorway.  I went with some colors I gravitate toward (those pinks and burgundies) but I love the other colors too – teal and poison green.

A skein of Stripey Sock in Tie Dye from Black Bunny Fibers. I keep changing my mind on this one. Socks? Shawl? Maybe one of those shawl-cowls? Who knows – but I like that I got out of my color comfort zone a bit.

After shopping we sat in the lounge upstairs and knitted a bit before catching a cab to the restaurant for dinner. We timed this one much better than previous years and had a leisurely dessert before taking a cab back to Penn Station. And bonus – no train trouble in the way home!

If you went, what did you get?

oh and ps – I *finally* joined instagram (I know I know, just a tad late to the party).  I’m @knitnkitchen.  I’m still figuring things out but if you follow me I’ll follow you back!

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

The friendships, the food, the parade of beautiful FOs, and of course – the yarn.

Like always, we got up to Rhinebeck on Thursday night.  Gorgeous ride and no rain!

We puttered around on Friday, ate a casual lunch and hung out on the roof deck and knit.  Yes, it was one of those Rhinebecks – even warm enough to take off outerwear and have the sun warm us up.

The weather wasn’t as cooperative on Saturday – it cooled down a bit and was overcast for most of the day (even with bits of rain thrown in).  Of course, none of this stopped us from shopping and buying yarn.

So what did I get?

A skein of Element Number Five Bakavu Sock from Into the Whirled.  I picked it because it has my colors (purple and magenta) but also with some cyan and burnt orange thrown in.  These will make a fun pair of vanilla socks.

5 skeins of Pixie from Dragonfly Fibers for Umbra & Penumbra.  I fell hard for this pullover when I got the email last week.  I don’t like the mock turtleneck though so I’m going to change that – maybe to more of a boat neck?

2 skeins of Scarlet Letter Yowza – Whatta Skein by Miss Babs for the Cranberry Capelet by Thea Coleman.  You guys know I love a good capelet and red is almost a neutral in my wardrobe.

1 skein of Perfectly Wreckless Yowza – Whatta Skein by Miss Babs for a Lintilla.  Total impulse buy while picking out Scarlet Letter but I scored.  Look at all these gorgeous shawls in this colorway.  I loved knitting my last Lintilla but it just isn’t big enough.  I’ve maybe worn it twice.  More yarn, bigger yarn and colors I love – this one will be a winner.

And finally, a combo purchase.

I bought this skein of Peppermint Twist from Spinning Fates (it was a tease and arrived while I was at Rhinebeck!) with the plan to add some Christmas green to the toes, heels and cuffs.  I pretty happy with this skein of My Kelley Northumbria by Miss Babs.

So how do you think I did?  What do you think I should CO first?  Hint – I’ll be doing it right after I post this.

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

This is what our house looks like today…

 drywall dust.  everywhere.

 those windows will be over the kitchen sink.  yes we have no kitchen right now.

why yes that *is* a refridgerator in our living room

and here’s the temporary door the contractors installed so the girls can safely roam the second floor

We decided a few years ago to live in this house until we retired and so we’re making it exactly (ok, mostly) what we want.  It’s a 1920s Colonial so it’s a big job – we’re on the third dumpster.  It’ll be awesome when it’s done (in two more months) but for now we’re cooking on our patio and living on the second floor.

I just keep telling myself – October will be awesome.

That doesn’t mean there’s been no knitting, but it’s definitely lessened.

I’m happy to report some yarn acquisition has occurred

And my inspiration

Moda on the left and Orange on the right.  We named her Nova when we adopted her but the names sounded too similar and they both just answered to both.  Orange suits her anyway.

I’m planning socks out of the tabby yarn and a hitchhiker out of the tuxedo yarn.

I’m starting with the socks and I organized a little KAL for them in the My Sister’s Knitter group on ravelry.

Late every fall I lament that I didn’t make Little Pumpkin socks so this time I decided some public peer pressure might do the trick.  I was happily surprised by the number of people who also had them on their to-knit list but never made them.  Maybe we’ll have lots of new Little Pumpkins this fall?

Are you in that group too?  C’mon and join us!  They’re knit top-down but I think I’m going to do mine toe-up.  We’ll see – I’m winding the yarn and casting on today.

If you want to join the KAL just join the group on rav and post to the thread.  Simple and it’s fun to see all the peer pressure progress pics.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

I have a variety of projects planned – accessories and garments, small and large gauge, for both me and Paul.

Shaw Hill

Swans Island Bulky in Beetroot for a Shaw Hill capelet.  The color is complex – can you make out the bits of red popping out from under the purple?  I can see wearing this at the office and even on the weekends when it warms up a bit (maybe March or April?).

Cladonia Shawl

I saw this FO and knew I had to make one.  I’ll be pairing this up with TML in Onyx.

Pismo Hat

I made a Pismo back in 2005 for Paul and it’s worn like iron.  He just got a new coat and the blue doesn’t go with it so I’m making another one in red and black.  Nothing says I love you like 1×1 twisted rib.

Blender Socks

I got these mini skeins of merino nylon sparkle yarn from Xray Ann’s etsy shop for a pair of Blender socks.  These are going to be so much fun to knit and wear!

Full disclosure – these were a last minute addition.  I found these while browsing etsy and I just couldn’t say no.  And who cares that I’ve only finished two pairs of socks this year?

Downeast pullover

Swans Island Bulky in Garnet for Downeast.  This has become a frigid winter and I only own one bulky sweater.  While it’s been getting a lot of wear I fear I’m going to become that girl with the sweater.

Now I’m sure you’re reading this thinking that I’m crazy to start this many projects and that I’ll never get anything done over vaca.  I don’t have any expectation of finishing them during vaca.  If I do finish something – great – but my goals are to have fun, stay warm, sleep in (which for me is 6 or maybe even 6:30 am), drink tasty wine (we have a few new bottles to try) and eat great food (sometimes cooked by me).

My last work day of the year is this Wednesday.  Can’t wait!

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

First, there was Rhinebeck.

It was mine and Christy’s eighth year and one of the best weather-wise.  As Christy said, it was cool enough to wear our sweaters but warm enough not to need to cover them up with a coat.  And it didn’t even rain on Friday.  It almost always rains the Friday before.

The question that I’m sure is on everyone’s minds is Did you finish Sugar Maple?  I sure did!  I only have one crappy photo so I’m going to hold off on an FO post until I do a photo shoot.  But I love everything about it – the yarn, the fit, the colors – everything.  And it’s gotten me jazzed about garment knitting again.

The other question had got to be What did you buy?  I was quite restrained this year and only bought 2 things

7 skeins of Shelridge Farm Soft Touch DK in Lipstick.  Yep, another perfectly pink shade for me.  This one is going to be a Wrapped Pullover but I’m doing it in DK instead of Aran weight.  A sweater as heavy as Aran just isn’t practical for me – and I’m sure it’s also not very flattering.  I think I’ll get a lot of wear out of it in DK and it’s a good thing too.  With the yarn weight change I need to knit a 50 to get a 36.

Yep – a lot of knitting

The other yarn I got is another skein of Sock82Me in a much more cable-appropriate color – Lord-Love-A-Duck!  It has my pinks in it with a healthy dose of orange – a shade I’d like to use more of in my knitting.  No idea which pattern I’ll do but I can only get this at Rhinebeck so I didn’t want to miss out.

Then, there was casting on.

I started my Wrapped Pullover – it’s just to the ribbing.

And then, I cast on for Elisbeth.  Again.  This time in an even smaller size.

And finally I admitted to myself that I need a pair of fingerless mitts to wear at work.  I’m cold All. The. Time. and there’s no freaking way I’d allow myself to buy a pair of squeaky acrylic mitts.

No f-ing way.

I wanted something that covered my wrists and went up a bit on my forearm.  And I wanted simple so I can wear it with just about anything and for a while I was considering just doing a pair of stockinette mitts.  But then I got an email about the Mirri Mitts by Ambah and I knew they were the ones.  They’re almost as simple as st st but have little dots of eyelets to keep it interesting to knit and a little something special to wear.

And there was some Etsy buying.

I got a skein of custom ordered stripes in Chicago Bears colors for Paul from Ladybug Fiber Company.

And a skein of 15 Colour Rainbow from Fab Funky Fibres.

I don’t want to interrupt the stripe sequence so I’m thinking afterthought heel.  I love the little bullseye that heel forms but it’s not my favorite for fit.  So we have the classic form versus function question.  I think form will win out on this one.

And finally, a little something for you.

There’s a big group of indie designers participating in the Indie Gift Along that are offering discounts.  I got the Mirri pattern for 25% off.  Take a look at the whole list.  There are TONS of designers offering discounts – some I recognized and some there were new to me.  The GAL is a win win – support indie designers and get a great pattern out of it.

It’s great to be back.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

Christy and I switched up our shopping approach and started with the main barn this year. Many of our favorite vendors are there so why wait?

My first purchase was at Frivolous Fibers where I got a skein of Freia laceweight ombres. I bought it thinking it could work for a  Now in a Minute shawl from knitty. Have you seen this shawl? It just came out this week.   But then I found another yarn that’s even better (scroll down).  I’m not sure what I’ll use this for but it was unique – hand dyed and hand spun – so I couldn’t leave it.

Then I came across some simple metal shawl pins.  In addition to shawls, I think this one will be perfect for holding together my Vertex cardi.  I’m not a big person so I needed to find a smaller pin.  This one is only 3.5″

We then walked down to Miss Babs where there were 2 long lines – one for browsing and one for paying. I could have bought a lot more but in the end I got 2 skeins of Tarte – 75% superwash merino, 15% nylon, 10% tencel – in pewter for Line Break.   The tencel will give it a nice drape and the color will make it super wearable.

At this point it was noon so we took a break and ate lunch sitting on the grass near the big barn.  Relaxing and I was able to eat something healthy – pit turkey on a kaiser roll with barbecue sauce!  I brought 2 protein bars and some nuts just in case, but really happy I was able to eat some of the food I was smelling.  Yum!

Fortified with some food, we walked over to the smaller barns.  We checked out several of our favorites and then came upon the Fiber Optics booth (was this their first time at Maryland?  I don’t recall seeing them there before).  I love the deep saturation of their colors and was tempted by several bases and hues.  In the end I went with their Paintbox Gradient kit – 15 mini skeins – in the Bitter Lime-Rose colorway.  Although the yardage is smaller (450 versus 600), this will be Now in a Minute.  The pattern looks like it will easily adjust to the yardage you have.

After that, we walked up to the open area at the top of the hill.  They added it a few years ago and it still feels awkward to me.  I was looking forward to seeing what Creatively Dyed had but they didn’t bring anything to hang their skeins on – everything, every single skein – was piled onto tables.  We didn’t even bother going in.

The final set of tents brought a real treat – All About Yarn – one of the Maryland LYSs.  I regretted not buying any Neighborhood Fiber Company while at Vogue Knitting Live in January, so I fixed it!  I bought 2 skeins of their Rustic Fingering in Rock Creek Park (teal) and Charles Village (magenta) to make a Varjo.  I’m really psyched about these colors – it has my dark pinks that will go with a lot in my wardrobe, and the contrast of the teal, a color that I have in several tops.  And then of course, I think it will look awesome on top of an all-black outfit.

Referring to last week’s post was so helpful to remind me of the projects I’m interested in knitting.  I had pics and links to Rav to check yardage, other people’s colors and their yarn usage notes.  I’ll definitely be doing that for future shows.

So I’m sure you’re curious what I’m going to cast on first. Right now I’m leaning toward Varjo but I may do a last minute substitution.  I have a couple errands to run before I can sit down to knit.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

It started with looking for a warm weather-appropriate yarn for the Vertex Cardi in the Spring 2013 IK.

But it didn’t end there.

I’m happy to report I did find a yarn for Vertex.

It’s Misti Alpaca Tonos Pima Silk in the Berry Rich colorway.  It’s subtly variegated and not a fiber of wool in the yarn – 83% Cotton, 17% Silk .  I want this cardi to truly be wearable in the summer months and I can’t imagine wearing any percentage of wool during the heat and humidity of August.

The shopping didn’t end there though.  Not even close.

I’ve been wanting to make a Shawl Collared Cowl for a while now.  I have almost no yarn heavier than 5.5 SPI in my stash though.  I considered doubling a stash yarn but I don’t think it would give the same result.

This will though.

Misti Alpaca Tonos Chunky in the Burdeos colorway.  My goal is to knit this up in time for Rhinebeck this October.

Up next, I’ve been wanting to make an Aranami shawl, but I’ve learned from wearing my Wingspan that I don’t enjoy wearing wooly wools.  I love the look of Wingspan but I often reach for something else because I’m not in the mood for the scratchiness around my neck.

My Aranami will be a bit different than the original though.  I’m going to use 3 balls of Jojoland Melody for a gradiated effect!  I think it will be gorgeous!  And yes, Melody passes the softness test.

Now, no yarn shopping binge would be complete without some sock yarn.

Regia Super Jacquard in orange/pink/purple/white.  These socks will replace my now-lost India socks. They were one of my favorite pairs and I still look for them in every nook and cranny in the house.  If Murphy is at play here, I’ll find them as soon as I finish this pair.

Now I know what you’re thinking.  Awesome yarn.  And.  Will she knit it?

Yes.

I started the Vertex Cardi yesterday.

It’s been a while since I’ve knit with cotton and it’s taking me a bit to get in the rhythm.  At this point I’m about halfway to the armholes on the back.  I’m pleased with how the yarn’s tonal effect is showing up the biased fabric.  I’m a bit concerned that the back neck doesn’t dip down like a traditional top.  I think the neckline might lay lower in the back.  Just look at this pic.

I’m considering working a small stockinette piece at the shoulders but I’ll need to decide soon because it will effect the armhole depth.  I could also work a facing after I’m done if I don’t like where it sits.  Decisions decisions.

But for now, let’s look at how pretty the yarn is working up, ok?

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

First up, a couple purchases I made at Vogue Knitting Live yesterday.

Dragonfly Fibers Pixie in the Save the Ta-Tas colorway.  I swore I would get any more pink/purple/red yarn but I could NOT resist this skein.  I’m thinking some kind of garter stitch shawl so I can see all the gorgeous shades mixed together.

Next, Madtosh Pashmina in the Midnight in Manhattan colorway.  I got 2 skeins (720 yards) because I want to be able to made a big, cushy cowl.  Maybe cables?  And if I have leftover I’ll do a pair of mitts.

Desert Vista Dye Works sock yarn in the Summer Berries colorway.  Self-striping!  A giftie from the lovely Andi.  Thank you, dear, for feeding my self-striping addiction.

And finally, another self-striping sock yarn – this one a Christmas gift from Paul in the Wild and Crazy colorway by Ladybug Fiber.  Because, yes – he too knows my obsession with the self-striping.

I’m a lucky girl.

And now, I really need to get one (or even two) WIPs off the needles because I’m itching to cast on all of these beauties.

Have an awesome Sunday.  Happy Knitting!