Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Rhinebeck Post

So Rhinebeck. It was nice to get away. I drove up to NYC Thursday night after work to eat at The Chip Shop and get my deep fried twinkie and dinner with friends Friday night. I spent most of Friday wandering around Manhattan.

For anyone who knows of the Japanese bookstore, it used to be a Rockefeller Center. They have now moved to Bryant Park. They're now on 6th Ave between 40th and 41st.

In keeping up with tradition, I was under dressed on a trip to New York (the state). I left the office and forgot my jacket. Hey, at least it isn't January in Ithaca and 20 degrees. And at least there's an H&M every other street in Manhattan. I used to show up week after week in Ithaca dressed in jeans, tank top, and a wool coat. It was a little chilly.

So Rhinebeck. Autumn leaves, chill in the air - it's what autumn is supposed to be. I had a limited budget and I didn't want to buy yarn that I could order from Webs. I also didn't want to buy random yarn off of a farm. I've got enough yarn. I also wasn't looking for generic fiber. It left me with hand dyed/painted rovings. So...

From Briar Rose, I bought a ball of roving. They don't make it out to MD S&W because they haven't been able to get in. They have some really beautiful handpainted yarn but I couldn't justify the purchase to myself.
Briar Rose - Cormo


Four ounces of the "Cottage Garden" colorway in BFL. I've been seeing beautifully spun up fiber in wildly varigated colorways that have knit up beautifully so I wanted to buy something with color to spin.
Frabjous Fibers - BFL - "Cottage Garden"


I wanted to find something from Carolina Homespun and ended up with this pretty thing from Grafton Fibers:
Grafton Fibers

It's my favorite mixture of colors. Red and black mix.

Finally, I had seen an ad on ravelry for Creatively Dyed Yarns. I am normally good on not clicking on the ads but when an ad has beautiful colorways, it draws my attention and I click. So I clicked and saw she would be at Rhinebeck and made it a point to visit the booth. She has some very unique fibers (wool/seacell, milk protein...) and beautiful colorways. so I got:
Creatively Dyed - merino/bamboo
This is the wool/bamboo blend.
Creatively Dyed - merino/seacell - "Ocean"
This is the wool/seacell blend. Creatively Dyed will be at Stitches East, but not necessarily with the wool/seacell.


The rest of the photoset from the weekend can be found here.

For anyone who is curious, it's a $100 deposit on a Golding wheel and the official wait is now out 8 years. Mr. Golding thinks the realistic date is 4 years if his son takes over the spindles and he has more time to focus on the wheels. Depending on how you look at it, I either didn't go far beyond my budget since I haven't actually bought the wheel yet, or I went way beyond my budget because I'll be handing over a ridiculous amount of money in 4-8 years for a spinning wheel that spins like buttah!

Monday, October 13, 2008

20 miles

It's nice when the only things on the "To Do" list are:
* 20 miles - run it, walk it, just get through it
* eat
* shower
* nap
* season opener hockey game

Cuz then you are in such a calorie deficit that you can go and enjoy those arena hot dogs that are piled with chili, cheese, onions, and sauerkraut. Mmm, good. Oh, and the introductions to the players and the images of the guys in street clothes with hockey sticks, OMG. Yeah, OMG. My brain just kinda stops there.

And then you go and find that the 20 miles has made you forget how to do math as in algebra and number theory and other things you're going to be tested on in a month. Or maybe it was the image of the Caps in their street clothes. My brain does kinda stop there... Have I said "OMG" yet?

Monday, October 06, 2008

Hmm...

It's the Jimmy Beans Wool Oct 08 Lorna's Laces exclusive colorway - Amber Rose. I bought 5 skeins in worsted weight to knit a sweater. It came in the mail today and just picture me going: "Hmmm..." (head tilt to left) "Hmmm...." (head tilt to right) ... repeat. It's a lot more bubble gum pink than I was expecting. I'm not sure how I feel about this right now.