The Rhinebeck Report

I have loved Rhinebeck every year I've gone... until this one. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the fact that I went by myself and didn't see any of my friends, maybe it was that I only went on Sunday this time, maybe it was the feeling that none of the vendors had The Perfect Item that called out to me from across the fairgrounds, but whatever it was, Rhinebeck was just no fun for me this year.

The weather was crap. It was overcast when I left Vermont, drizzled through most of Massachusetts, flurried a little on the Western side of the Berkshires, and was a light, steady, dreary sprinkle the rest of the day. The only highlight was on my return trip when I crossed Hogback Mountain and found that at the highest elevations it had snowed just enough to stick to the trees but not the ground... a beautiful frosting on autumn foliage. The temperature was in the high 30s, the breeze at the fairgrounds was just strong enough to be annoying, and the amount and type of clothing that had been more than sufficient in years past proved less than adequate today.

Every year I have found at least one person to hang out with, whether it was my partner or an SnB buddy, and even though I experience the festival in a different way when I'm not alone, it's usually been a good thing that I had someone to interact with. This year, when the RV plans fell through and my partner caught a nasty cold, I decided to go by myself. I figured I'd run into a friend or two at the festival, which turned out to be a silly assumption. I saw two faces I recognized, both tangential friends I wasn't comfortable glomming onto for the day, and that was it. I was looking out for a bunch of folks, but didn't find them, and was very sad that I, who usually consider myself something of a loner in a positive way, was... lonely.

I don't know if the vendors didn't bring as much of the good stuff this year, or that my Sunday-only trip meant all the good stuff was already gone, but nothing really jumped out at me this year. This doesn't mean I didn't buy a few things, of course. It is, after all, Rhinebeck, and even with my crappy financial situation I managed to budget a little bit for a fibery splurge that will get me through to next summer.



On the left are two Merino braids from Stony Mountain Fibers, one peach, one violet (my mother loves this blend of colors, saying it reminds her of asters, and that's now what I think of every time I see it). On the right are an evergreen Corriedale hank and an autumn-colored Merino-Tencel mini-hank from Mountain View Farm, whose Corriedale has jumped off the rack at me before. (And speaking of that two-year-old Corriedale, it's still in Jenny's studio waiting to be spun. Hmm.)

I spent only three hours at the festival. I walked the barns twice, got an artichoke without having to spend more than five minutes in line, burned my tongue on some exceptionally tasty hot chocolate, watched the Punkin Chuckers warm up, and couldn't quite find the motivation to stick around any longer, so I was off the grounds and on my way back to Vermont a little after 1pm, which has to be a record.

So has this soured me against Rhinebeck? No, of course not. One mediocre experience is not enough to make me stop attending one of the best fiber events in the Northeast. I will be back next year with the same excitement and anticipation that I've had in years past, and I trust the festival to maintain its reputation.

But it had better be sunny next year. Just sayin'.

Third Time's The Charm?

I didn't even come close to getting enough sleep to make the drive to Rhinebeck today, so it looks like I'll be going on Sunday after all. See y'all there!

Plans Adjusted

So... that RV trip to Rhinebeck that I was so excited about? Not happening. Between last-minute schedule conflicts and illnesses, it was down to just two of us, which wasn't cost-effective. So instead of the fantastic multi-day extravaganza I was planning, I am only going to be going to the festival on Saturday (sorry, SFF!!!) and then resting on Sunday. I've been doing a lot of multi-hour car trips lately, and between the cost of gas and the stress on my back and legs, I need to cut back.

For those of you going to the festival on Saturday, keep an eye out for my neon pink vest and come say hi.

Pics of recent knitting to come soon!

Cables and Can Cans

Believe it or not, I've actually found some time to knit lately! Granted, one moderately simple scarf took me six months to complete, but the project I cast on as soon as I finished it is going to be finished by Rhinebeck, so I think that makes up for my sloth.

The FO:



This is the Reversible Cable Scarf from Nettie Knits, done on US#9 needles with a worsted-ish acrylic-cotton blend that had its first life as an Old Navy sweater.

On the needles now are Can Cans, a pair of cute mitts from Twisted Loops. This picture was taken as I started the first mitt... eventually I'll get around to pulling out the camera and showing you the finished first mitt and nearly-finished second one.



I tried doing the twisted stitches as written, but had issues (one of the twists wouldn't twist, and it's a critical feature of the design), so I ripped back and tried again treating them as cables. End result: happiness without headaches! I'm planning on wearing these at Rhinebeck, since I need something to show off, and the sweater I'd planned for last year is sitting in my WIP basket waiting for me to fall back in love with it enough to give it a second sleeve.

For those of you going to Rhinebeck, I would be thrilled if you said hi to me instead of waiting for me to notice you, because I have a terrible memory for faces and tend to be in OMGWTFFIBER mode as soon as I hit the fairgrounds. I will be wearing various shades of brown under a neon pink vest. I will be around all weekend, and instead of going through the stress of driving out and back both days by myself, I'm hooking up with a fellow Raveler from Maine who's bringing an RV for the weekend.

Tomorrow I'm off to New York for a great-uncle's funeral, Sunday is a visit to a friend in Burlington, and Monday I have to call managers at various stores and beg them to hire me so I don't have to move back to Connecticut. Why is life always so busy?

Insomnia

It's so late it's early, and I can't seem to be able to sleep, so what do I do? Blog, of course! It's been almost a month since I told y'all what I've been up to, which means yet another apology for not posting as often as I should. Sorry, folks.

I've got a good excuse, though: I was busy breaking up with Erik, trying to stay on good terms, realizing he was just going to keep taking his unhappiness out on me, and finally being forced to threaten him with a restraining order if he didn't leave me alone. It seems like every time I break up with someone in an especially painful way, fate has a way of nudging other people into my path who will make me feel appreciated and healthy again, and this time is no exception. An old flame has reappeared, offering proof of his changed ways and asking for a second chance, and I'm inclined to let him have it... but I'm taking things very slowly, since I'm in rebound territory and don't want to screw up my life by running to the next available bed. I have learned a thing or two in the last year, and I'm not going to repeat past mistakes. My therapist is mighty proud of me.

On the fiber front, there's... not much to talk about. I now have two fledgling knitting groups in these parts: Mondays from 6:30 to 8 at the Townshend Dam Diner, and Thursdays from 7 to 9 at Boccelli's on the Canal in Bellows Falls. I've been lazy about promoting these groups, so membership is minimal, but I'm hoping to whip up some flyers just as soon as I get a handle on all this free time I'm supposed to have.

My not-job learning woodturning is splendid, and some of the skills I've learned are going to be applied to a business I'm thinking of starting. I'm hoping to create a variety of wooden doodads (pendants, coasters, etc.) decorated with pyrography to sell at renaissance faires. I'll let y'all know when I have some products to offer... there might even be some fiber-related stuff! I haven't found another welding job yet, and I'm into the extension of my unemployment benefits, which means I have just a few months left before I get desperate and submit an application at the video store.

I'm going to try to go back to bed (if I can evict the dog from my spot), but I'll leave you with some pictures I took this afternoon.




(This one has notes that you can see if you click through to Flickr!)

Trimmed Brunette and Oiled Redhead

I know my Flickr stalkers and Facebook peeps have already seen these, but for the rest of you, here's what I look like now that my hair is a whopping twenty inches shorter:





Cute, eh? The shirt was designed by my SnB buddy Aaron, and is a reference to a reference (yes, a reference to a reference, that's not a typo) to a video game that I've never played. I just like pie.

...I'm sure there's something else I wanted to tell y'all about, but I have Candide on the turntable, and it's distracting me. Wherefore and hence, therefore and ergo...

*ahem*

Oh, right! I was poking around in my storage unit the other day, and was dismayed to discover a thin-to-moderate layer of mold coating quite a few of my possessions, including Brigid, my beloved walking wheel. I pulled her out and brought her to Erik's, where I cleaned her up and have been giving her a new coat of linseed oil every few days. The wood is beginning to look a little less old, and much more colorful... turns out this wheel is more of a redhead than I thought she was.







The oil is showing me that her various parts may be different types of wood, which fits with the evidence I saw when I first got her that she'd been re-spoked. The spokes have a definite redness, while the hoop seems to be much more yellow, and the table and legs seem to be somewhere in the middle.

Any woodworking folks out there want to guess what the various bits are made of? I can spot walnut most of the time, but most other local woods all look the same to me. Keep in mind that Brigid may have been made in Virginia or thereabouts, but she was in Massachusetts when I met her, and I'm not sure at what point during her journey she picked up new parts.

And while I'm soliciting information, are any of you familiar enough with bird species to tell me what this is? (Click to embiggen.)



It looks like a peregrine falcon to me, but I'm no ornithologist, and everything I've heard about peregrines in the last decade relates to them living in cities, not rural Vermont.

Catch-Up

Hi, there. Been a while, huh? There hasn't been much knitting here at the Lair of Lunacy, but there has been some spinning, some moving, lots of drama, and even a little chopping. Let me give you the photo tour of the last few months.

I went to the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair in Cummington and hung out with Jenny and Debbie. We saw a Llama Bus:



And while I didn't intend to walk away with fiber, I ended up with two braids:



That's some BFL from Spunky Eclectic and some alpaca/superwash merino from Abi's Web. The Spunky BFL almost immediately turned into this:



I also went to the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival, and didn't buy any fiber. However, I had an amazing dinner afterwards with Jenny and Matt at a restaurant you need a treasure map to find, but is totally worth the effort. (That's Concord Grille at Eagle Square.)

Then, the drama. Things with Erik got to the point where I couldn't live with him anymore, so I mustered the troops and moved into my own place:



A caboose! On tracks and everything! My greyhound loves it.



I'm getting used to living on my own, discovering the joys and pains of paying bills, doing dishes by hand, and visiting the laundromat every week.



Despite living apart, Erik and I are trying to maintain a relationship, and that means going to events together. We set up Erik's merchant tent at Sommer Draw:



And I made a gambeson (the red jacket) to protect him when he competed in the second annual Traditional Chinese Sword League's full-contact tournament:



And finally, something I've been thinking of doing for months and months: I've been growing my hair out for several years, and have grown tired of the upkeep involved in having yard-long tresses, so...



I'll try to get some good shots of the new 'do soon. I'll also try to make time for more knitting and spinning so y'all have something to look at.