Rhinebeck

Rhinebeck was wonderful! The weather was nowhere near as bad as they predicted. It was cold, but it didn't rain at all. Mom, Kim, Jersey Boy and I got to enjoy all the fibery critters without any of the mud.
And there were all the crafts too. Sausage is a craft, right? Well, I think it's crafty!


The Ravelry meetup was well attended.
I particularly enjoyed the button scrum.
Like they always say: so many buttons, so few Sharpies!

Kim and I knit on the Big Sock.
It takes a lot of circulars to knit something this big. There was a lady there to wrangle the knitters so they knew how to get started working on a section, and also how to stop. I wonder how the heel turn will work, whenever they get to it?

As for acquisitions, I was quite reserved. I bought a couple of small llama batts (3.8 oz total), a half pound of the infamous "Party in a Bag" blend, and some hand-dyed longwool roving (approx. 8oz). I also signed up for a subscription to Wild Fiber. I also brought home a cold. They were giving that out for free!

Ma vie en chaussette rose

My current plain stocking sock is a very pink affair. The yarn, S.R. Kertzer On Your Toes 4, is giving me fits. It's probably just me, but I don't think I'm crazy to insist on having actual patterns in my self-patterning socks. Despite my growing distaste for this yarn, I've continued to work on the sock while commuting. I got a lot of work done on it at the latest Smithsonian hosted Alton Brown event.

The slide in the back has a human brain in a jar of bright green liquid and the text says "the most important tool in the kitchen." His talk was great, with the usual good humor and lots of audience participation. This may be an observation only a Washingtonian would care about, but I do find his broad appeal curious; politically speaking, he's seemed well right of the majority of the audience, but he had no problems holding an open forum on family, modern life, and of course, food, with a left-ish audience. Anyway, most of the foot was finished during the talk and subsequent wait to get an autographed book.

I only had about a 30 min wait. There were way more people behind me (I'm telling you, he's got some serious groupies). Come to think of it, I guess the line must wound its way back into the auditorium.

The next day, I finished the first sock at the Caps/Sharks game. Here it is with the future owner:
She seems kinda attached to it, so I'd better finish the second one!

Secret Pal Revealed!

I got my final Secret Pal 14 package from the wonderfull Bette! It's quite a collection of treats any knitter would love. She even sent some of her own handdyed yarn. Thank you so much, Bette, for being such an awesome pal!!!

Crafty Goodness

Last weekend was all about craftiness. I was spoiled by my own Secret Pal spoilee, the lovely Judith, who very craftily turn the Secret Pal tables on me by sending this:What a lovely box of goodness! Judith even designed personalized notecards for me. Isn't the turtle adorable? And its colors match the rest of the package too :-) Thank you, Judith!

Last Saturday was the annual Crafty Bastards fair in Adams Morgan. As in past years, it was really crowded.
Traffic issues aside, it was, as promised, all sorts of awesome, all day long. Handmade plush monsters were all the rage. There were lots of booths selling them.

I thought the sleeping ones are extra cute, thought I didn't bring any monsters home with me. I did buy some fiber though.
The green roving is wool/silk and the orange batt is some sort of kitchen sink blend. Hmm, maybe I should go spin something...