Rhinebeck 2009 (picture heavy)

here goes nothing!
I was so excited to get to rhinebeck:





That's my excited face. I'm wearing the earrings I got from last year!























that is apple crisp. its delicious. it doesn't look it, but it smelled and tasted delicoius. we each had like 4 cups of apple cider too.









Now onto the yarn I bought. I bought ALL bulky, ALL handspun or hand dyed. I can get machine spun any day but its rare I get to buy from local farms that card/dye/spin their own stuff, so I did it as frequently as possible. I think I was completely successful in ALL of my purchases but I didn't look into each purchase super carefully.


I got roving! and a drop spindle. This is from the Sheep Shed at Mountain View Farm





Its so beautiful!

This is from the Hudson Valley Sheep and Wool Company. I bought four skeins for a cardigan/sweater type thing.



I got this for Boyfriend, two skiens. It has a bit of green in it too that did not photograph well.



I got this little bundle from This and That Farm



I got this from a woman who uses sea water and the sun to dye her yarn. She's from Maine but her company slips my mind right now and I'm being a lazy pain the butt.



This is from Kid Hollow Farm. I love their stuff, I wish I could have afforded more.



I bought two bags of roving from these fine people:



This is Scotia, a dark blue color.




And pink!



I have quite a bit of knitting ahead of me, including a scarf for Boyfriend, knitting for myself and here is an ALMOST completed ear flap hat:





Its a red/orangey mess that I LOVE! I'm making this for Boyfriend's sister who absolutely does not read this so I am not worried about ruining any surprises. It's knit with some wool that was handspun that I traded from Ravelry.

Ok, I am pooped from uploading. I got a pro account for Flickr, I feel like a new woman! Enjoy and keep knitting!

Jersey!

Hihihi

The only reason my head isn't lost is because its attached to my shoulders. I've been so out of it with the start of the semester (three weeks strong ::gag::), a car accident, redoing my room and a semi-vacation I'm surprised I have knitting in hand. In fact! I finished a basketweave scarf (awesome!) and I am in the process of knitting what I call, Smittens. Smittens are actually the Urban Necessity Gloves by Colleen Michele Meagher and the pattern is great, easy and I'm about halfway done with my first pair and I'm sure not to be the last pair.

I decided to knit both of the glove parts first and knit the mitten caps second. I'll have pictures up I promise, the semester kind of took me by storm, and the car accident, well.. that just took me by surprise. (I was rear ended leaving my job, I serve aka waitress but not at a diner, I KNOW! you would think I would, living in New Jersey and all...)

thanks friends for reading, if you still read :)

-j-unit.

PS: I MAY HAVE TALKED THE BF INTO GOING TO RHINEBECK. (just for Sunday, I have a lacrosse tournament Saturday)

Festivals

Oh just when I thought I had my summer planned, I get an email from Knitter's Review with the subject of the review this week centering on 2007 fiber festivals. Now, I am definately not complaining other than my sheer lack of money to travel to all of the places on the East Coast (I've decided that upon winning the lottery and/or retiring, this is what I plan on doing). Here's the link if you don't get it emailed to you.

So here I am, sitting at my computer with roughly two weeks left to a hectic semester thinking about how I wish I could pull off the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I know a few people who live in Maryland, who probably have empty couches I could sleep on... except the very next Monday I'm staring down three tests in two days - sadly I need to look at text books instead of sheep. Most of the other festivals are far enough away that I haven't been daydreaming about them although I really can't wait until I'm out of school and have the resources to start going on some serious sheep-related road trips.

What I didn't know, and why I decided to post today, was that The Great Garden State has its own festival! About an hour in traveling time, and about a month before the much anticipated NYS Sheep & Wool Festival I think it would be completely doable. As in, I shouldn't have a problem getting there and back and perhaps even checking out one of those spinning workshops.

Do you think festivals would have a problem with video cameras?

As always, I am a slave to the textbooks. At least for another two weeks. Very little knitting has been occurring and I can feel the stress oozing out of my head. I've been working on a strip of knitting for Warm Up America! . I've been trying to incorporate unusual stitches or things I don't normally knit. This requires me to actually look up different stitches and I haven't had the time to do that. Well now that I mentioned it, I'm going to look it up now.

Okay, that's about it. Check out the Enormous List of Festivals, it's very vast and huge.

-Jersey

PS: Thank you Springtime for finally coming to visit us :)!

The Sweater Post.

I've been working on my sweater. I resized pictures, and I have so much to share! First, I made an M&M and if I can figure out how to make it my profile picture, I totally plan on it.

She's got a hat! And fake Uggs! Oh goodness. The funny thing is, I tried to make her look like me - and she isn't even close. But lets talk about my sweater. Its a top down raglan, knit on size 8 Clovers which at the time I purchased all the material (LAST MARCH.) I decided to treat myself to my first pairs of wooden needles. I bought size 6 and 8 in the same length that I can't remember how long they are, and I have to tell you, I love them. The yarn is Cascade 220 and I bought 12 skeins. I should remind you, this was wayyy back when I had a job, and spare cash.

Now I'll show you some pictures interspersed with why it took me so long to get this on needles and somewhat complete.

I decided about this time last year, that I was absolutely capable of making a sweater. The entire sweater is knitting in the round, which I could do, simple ribbing and simple increases. The problem was that I was overwhelmed and I was still hooked on instant gratification. I suppose all relationships are like that at first, but I digress.

So in late March I casted on, and I knit and purled and placed markers and increased and knit and increased and knit some more. Until I realized my increases weren't consistent, and I decided to put the sweater down and come back to it in a week when I was more patient.

A week turned into a month which turned into a season or two and in late December, I frogged the entire thing. I had to sit in a car anyway, I might as well do something constructive. This time around, I've been very diligent about my increases, marker placement and counting. I watched Independence Day (with Will Smith) on TBS one and a half times while I counted my sweater stitches twice.

I also seem to be more patient, or at least I don't need instant gratification. As much..

Oh those increases! They are beautiful. I can actually say I'm proud of myself and mean it. I feel as though this sweater will get done, and as long as its not 70 in October at Rhinebeck, I plan to wear it. I'm so excited about my sweater and I am absolutely definitely going to Rhinebeck this October.

I've got about ten inches done, which is less than I had when I frogged it. But I'm pleased with my progress. It is slow, but steady.

Speaking of Rhinebeck, I am a college student. I am extremely fortunate that I don't have to work during the school year, but this presents both good and bad things. The good is that I focus much more on school which is at the top of my priority list. The bad is that I am perpetually in debt. My parents are wonderful people, and it was their idea for me to quit working - nobody wants a teacher with a poor GPA. I have decided to work two jobs this summer, in order to finance my trip to Rhinebeck. I can drive their, that's not a big deal. I haven't decided what I'm going to do about Saturday night though.

I went to Rhinebeck in 2005, when I read Knitters Review people (or maybe Clara herself) talking about it. It was a Wednesday, and the festival was Saturday. I convinced my dad, his girlfriend and my best friend to go, and off we went. We only spent Saturday, but oh my goodness, it was perhaps one of the most amazing and incredible knitting related days of my life. This past October, I really wanted to go, but Dad moved to Florida along with his girlfriend, my best friend and I had a falling out, and I had no money.

This only means now that I am more determined than ever to get to Rhinebeck this year.

Oh. I'm coming :) If I have to walk.