round up

First things first. This followed me home from Rhinebeck on Sunday. It already has a layer of dust because those 10 minutes I allocated myself on Sunday? That’s been it. I do want to write up a nice one page guide to your first night alone with your new HitchHiker because it has a few small quirks that newbies like me would like to have biting their nose. It fits nicely under my desk, even nicer if I remember to disconnect and put away the flyer. I’m in love and hope I have some time to get to know my new friend who purrs and /can/ be fluffy. I think it’s a great design and the craftsmanship is marvellous.

I do have some sad news to report though, and I wish I didn’t need to write it right away, but it seems I confused a few people who thought I actually brought home a kitten. How I wish. Anyway, my boss-client lost his cat two nights ago suddenly and it marks the third cat among the three of us (me, his partner, and now sadly him), this year. May tonight be a better night for our loved pets. His cat L and I would play a hide and seek game (mostly he hid, I wanted to find him). I’ll miss him greatly when I make site visits.

Onward to happier things!

I guess I owe a “write up” of Rhinebeck. Last year I went to my first fibre festival, in Maryland. I was overwhelmed but loved it. I went up to Rhinebeck that year expecting to understand a little of what was going on and make a few confident purchases. I was wrong. I was totally overwhelmed and frankly frightened by everyone. It was crowded, which never helps anything. This year we returned to Maryland and I felt much more confident and while it was quite busy, it didn’t feel overwhelming to me. I also felt that the vendors were laid out in a manner which allowed me to look at their products much easier.

This year I went up with one real goal in mind and that was to evaluate wheels with the very strong possibility of bringing one home. That almost didn’t happen. Maybe it’s the admission fee which well, adds up pretty quick to the cash I had onhand. Maybe it’s the smaller vendor spaces in the barns (or is it the narrower walkway). Maybe it’s this freakish October weather; no one saw my scarf, it was too darn hot. Despite having quite a bit more knowledge of both fibre and people than last year, I still felt incredibly overwhelmed. I went to the blogger meet up and only spoke really with the two people I had met before since I was so overwhelmed (and hot), Squid (and Squidette!!) and Jessica. The meet up was a bit scary to me because all the cool kids were there. I saw Stephanie and Ann/Kay walk by and Jessica and Casey and I about fell over. It was too much. Somehow the Squids and Jessica succeeded in unlatching me and I went and sat in the shade for a while to recooperate. I’m not good in crowds where I don’t really know anyone yet have to network and I see those that are there as better at everything than I (whether that is a valid assumption or not).

Anyway, despite the fact that Maryland does end up costing more (it’s further, hotel cost, etc) I think i prefer it and will think long and hard before I return to Rhinebeck next year.

So… PG went all decked out. I broke down and quick crocheted her some booties Saturday night and a AA battery case for me since I am sick of my spare set of batteries rolling around the bottom of my bag. This is the most wonderful ball of lavendersheep ever. It’s never ending. I got two pairs of decent length socks out of it, booties, and a small bag! I still have more left! Yvonne gives awesome yardage. :)

Frogging first then prototyping!

As I mentioned a while ago I needed to frog R’s socks and start over because they were too loose both in gauge and overall size. I finally frogged it Sunday night and restarted. They don’t look that much different from ages ago, but I am about an inch in from the toes and it looks much nicer. I love the colours that R chose and Yvonne dyed so beautifully. The Cargo pants need to be frogged too. While I want to make them a little big so they will fit C (since he’s already a year!) they uhm er… right now could potentially fit ME and I really am not that small! I used to knit super tight so I didn’t really think about it too much. Plus it was always scrunched up on the needle and while I checked gauge every so often row wise, I neglected to check stitch wise. I was off by about ¾ of a stitch, and that equates to making it me-sized. Grrr.

I saved the best for last. My friend & coworker N who has a son about 9 months old told me about the cutest hat she saw in the store but she balked at the price and it wasn’t quite the colour she wanted. While talking with her on Monday, she asked if I “did hats”. I said yes and extracted some information from her. I went to PS Yarns (note the URL seems not to work anymore, I’ll have to remember to ask them what’s doing) and grabbed some Lion Wool-ease thick and quick. My goal was to prototype the design fast in a yarn that would show me the shaping easily. And thus the polar bear cub hat was born in about an hour. I still haven’t figured out the ears but she took this home today to check the sizing and the placement/size of the ear flaps (a request). I did some reconnaissance today at the shop where she saw the hat, and mine is going to be *so much better*. She couldn’t believe I did it that fast. I don’t know what size hook i used but it’s HUGE and I can crochet in circles with my eyes closed. I’m really excited about this. I’m going to make a froggy next. Any suggestions to a yarn to use? I refuse Berroco Plush and may have found a sucker er wonderful person to take my current stash off my hands. For this hat, I want it soft, fluffy, warm, and inexpensive but not super cheap.

• Category: handmade
• Tag: crochet, knit, spin