Happy Hallowe'en!

The dark side of Princess Leia!



No Zack, you can't wear the Princess Leia hair all winter long, I don't care how warm they keep your ears!















My scarrrrry pumpkin!

Saturday Sky and Knitting

It's a lovely, rainy Saturday, perfect for knitting and movies and baking.















Don't let the stretch of days between my posts let you think I'm not doing anything. I've got lots of stuff on the go and one or two I'm not ready to show today. They'll be coming up in the next few days.

I started Bobbilicious a couple of weeks ago. It's serving as a side project. With its big chunky yarn, needles and stockinette stitch, this will be what I go to in between the other knitting. It knits up fast and the bobbles are fun. It'll be perfect for the winter around the house when it's chilly and very festive with the berry red colour.

Then I've got two more Sea Water Scarves to knit for Christmas presents (less than two months away!). I'm pretty sure I could knit this pattern in my sleep now, but who can complain about knitting with silk?
















I'm dying to start doing some cable work, so I've decided to knit Forbes Forest in the alpaca from Rhinebeck. I'm not ready to cast that on yet, though. I need to those two scarves well on their way first.

Rhinebeck Virgin

Somehow I convinced my friend to go down to the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend. Neither of us knew much about it but figured it'd be a nice drive and there was sure to be yarn. All the cool kids were going, so why not. It turned out to be a very nice weekend and well worth the 1500 km drive. If you've never been, here's what I learned as a Rhinebeck Virgin.






1. Rhinebeck is in the middle of nowhere, but it's beautiful country. It's just to the east of the Catskills. If you want a nice, scenic drive, take Route 9, rather than the I-87 (you'll also avoid tolls). There's no need to stay close to Rhinebeck itself. We had a hotel about 1 hour north of it and it made for a nice drive.




2. It's held outdoors, in barns for horse/cattle. Each vendor has a stall or two. Pray for good weather. We lucked out and had a perfect day of blue skies and warm sun, but if it had been cold and wet we'd have been miserable.





3. There's more yarn than you can imagine.








4. It's only $10 USD to get in. $15 for the weekend. It's open from 10-5.
5. The parking system is very well worked out and it's free.

6. Exiting at the end of the day will take a long time but it's monitored by the local police to keep traffic moving. Be patient. (I wasn't)





7. The food is pretty good. There's lots of lamb being served, which somehow feels wrong but is popular all the same. Eat lunch early to avoid line ups. Try the apple crisp with ice cream.

8. There seems to be only one main bathroom for hundreds of female knitters, but they've got that worked out better than any I've ever seen. You'll wait less than 1m for your turn. One amazing, friendly and courteous woman is in there directing traffic, keeping it clean, supplied with toilet paper and freshening it with spray. Tip her well.

9. Baby strollers should be banned. Especially the double strollers. In fact, leave your spouse and children at home (or hotel). There's already a lot people there and they only get in the way of knitters who have serious yarn buying to do.

10. Go with a plan. Bring lots of patterns that you want to knit so you'll know what you want to buy for. Not enough planning can leave you indecisive and you'll end up with just one skein of yarn. A very nice, soft, luxurious skein of alpaca, but it'll be lonely. However, if you're Kelly D then just buy everything you like and figure it out later!







11. Outside of a few vendors, hardly anyone was actually sitting down to knit. I guess there's no time to knit when there's only two days to see it all.

12. Alpacas are cuter than llamas. Sheep are always cute.

One Garter Stitch Jacket Coming Up!

At long last, the Garter Stitch Jacket is done, and with the weather turning colder it's not a moment too soon! Too bad the heat seems to be pumping out at the office, causing most of us to strip down to t-shirts like it's the middle of July still.

Anyway, take a good look because it'll be handed over to its new owner tomorrow. Enjoy Kelly D!

Hurry Up and Knit!

There's not much farther left to go on the Garter Stitch Jacket and it'll be good to get it done because there's a line up of projects waiting to go:

* Princess Leia Hair
* 2 Storm Water Scarfs
* Bobbilicious
* Estonian Garden Wrap
* various knitted flowers I must make

Oh and then there's that little trip to the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival down in Rhinebeck that I'll be making next weekend. OMG!!!

Knitted Flowers

Looky what I got! I've wanted this book for a long time and now I have it, thanks to my generous friend who took me out for my birthday last night. I canNOT wait to make every flower in it!

We also saw Little Miss Sunshine, which was so outstandingly funny I laughed myself hoarse. Go see it!

In stitches

Half a front, one collar and two sleeves to go!

It's My Birthday!

Will you check out this fantastic knitter's birthday cake Ms. Blonde One made for my birthday!?! I was blown away! Seriously, THANK YOU Ms.B! My month long birthday festival began yesterday with High Tea at the Knit Cafe with Kokopuff and Michelle where we sipped tea and nibbled on treats and pet the yarn surrounding us.

I was well-gifted by the Knutty Knitters with a swift and winder which I can't stop playing with! At work Vanessa gave me some beautiful jewellery she made, Vilma gave some delicious smelling candles and chocolate and is sending me to buy some yarn (woo!) and Zack gave me Lord of the Rings figurines. Of course, family has spoiled me even more rotten!

I tried for almost an hour to take some decent pictures of all the loot, but either my camera skills suck (likely) or the lighting sucks in my house (also likely), so I gave up.

It's my birthday!