23 October 2006

More Fiber Than You Could Shake A DPN At

Rhinebeck. Was. Awesome.

When you stay at the same hotel as the Harlot and a village-size passel of fiber freaks, the pre- and post-festival knitting circles in the lobby are lots and lots of fun. I wish I'd been awake enough to socialize more... I was running on fumes Friday night after a long day at school, and walking around the festival on Saturday exhausted me so much that I had to take a nap instead of hanging out with the other knitters.

There were so many pretty things at the festival. Cute animals, beautiful tools, fluffy fleeces, and gorgeous yarns almost overpowered the senses. Saturday was Browse Day for David and me: just looking, no spending. This turned out to be a good strategy. It kept us from selling our souls in order to buy every hank of yarn we laid eyes (and fingers) on. On Sunday, we made our selections, and managed to walk away with a little cash left in our pockets. Behold, my spoils!

the spoils of Rhinebeck

The two greys are a llama/merino blend from Mountain View Farm, and I think they're destined to be a pair of intarsia (or perhaps Fair Isle) gloves (or mittens). On the left is Supersock superwash merino from Cherry Tree Hill in a colorway that I wouldn't normally touch. Maybe it was running into Claudia that got me looking at bright orange yarns, or maybe I just needed some brightness to counter the seasonal blues. Whatever the reason for it, the trend continued with the mammoth (665 yds.) skein of alpaca from Maple Creek Farm, which, if I can find a good pattern, will be a lace shrug.

The last item in that picture isn't something I got at Rhinebeck, but it arrived in the mail an hour after I got home, so I figure it's close enough. It's one of two bags of Orappa Creek mohair that I bought from a fellow chainmailler and hope to spin soon.

Sheep says:

Baaaa

"Come baaaaack next year!"

I will, sheepie. I will.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your blog makes me want to want to take up fiber art again. Maybe some day the sewing machine will break and I'll have an excuse to create stuff "unplugged".