A Move, FO's and the Beginning of the End

So Kendra here, finally checking in again with lots to update you on! First off, I moved! It took what felt like ages to actually pack up four years of living in NYC, but we made it out after shipping 49 boxes and selling all of our furniture. 10 bags at the airport later...

...and we made it to California!!! It's good to be home, I gotta say. I miss my Brooklyn knitters dearly but it really is great to be back. We even found an apartment in San Francisco already, a gorgeous home up on a secluded hill. Here is the view from it, although the photo does not do it justice and the trees are about to be trimmed so it'll get even better!

And although I haven't been knitting a great deal recently I have finished two things since I last spoke up. My Scroll Lace Scarf, aka Whimsical Little Mushroom Scarf, was knit up ages ago (only took a couple of evenings in fact!) but I've barely stopped wearing it long enough to photograph/I forget to ask someone else to take a photo when I wear it. So here it is finally, in all its golden glory!

I knit it out of the beautiful Metamorphosis by A Verb For Keeping Warm in an awesome colorway that is naturally dyed with "locally foraged mushrooms". As an Oakland based company, this seems like the perfect welcome back to the Bay Area project! I love the color because it goes with everything so it's been my in-purse-in-case-of-chill-emergency scarf since I cast it off over a month ago.

The next big FO is a Color Affection shawl, the beloved pattern by Veera Valimaki. I love it!!! I picked out three colors of Miss Babs Yet Lace (in Pewter, Moss, and Oyster) while at Stitches West 2012 (with fellow WLKAer Lindsey's help!) and got knitting! And look how pretty!

This was one of those fortunate times when "blocking will fix that" actually worked out! The garter edge was just wee-bit-too-tight, but I foraged ahead because that's how I roll. By the time it was finished the effect was quite obvious and causing the points to spiral. I had pretty much decided to call this a Design Element and move on, but a goofy blocking on the bed with towels (this thing is HUGE!!!) where I tugged at the straight edge and smooshed the garter body and poof! Perfect shawl!

(Side note: Turns out adding a yarn over after the 2nd stitch then dropping it on the way back is good idea to help this tight-edge problem - little late for me, but thought I'd help a fellow knitter out.)

I love the pattern and loved knitting it, but making the lace weight version meant by the end I had probably 600+ stitches (although to tell you the truth I didn't actually want to know the number at the time) so the last 20 rows were a bit painful. Now that it's bound-off and blocked the painful memory is gone and now it's just the warm and fuzzy feeling of new love. Even Adam is a fan...

Now it's on to the next and last project of Whimsical Little Knits 2 with the Cotton Reel Mittens. I'm making mine in the fingerless mitt version out of Miss Babs Yummy Toes in grey and greenie-yellow. The pattern starts with an I-cord that becomes the bottom of the cuff which is super cool in this knitter's opinion, which is as far as I've gotten so far.

Luckily I'm casting on in time to take them with me on the flight back to NYC for graduation. Back already, I know, but it means I get to see some knitter friends so it's all good :) Stay tuned to see how the final project of this knit-along goes and what we'll be knitting up next!

Knitting Disappointments

Nobody knits to create stress. Unfortunately, things outside of our control can quickly take knitting from relaxing to infuriating.

First, I had the worst time ever choosing yarn for Levenwick. I'm usually pretty decisive about these things, so not being able to select a yarn, let alone a color, was mind-boggling. After purchasing a few sweater quantities (which will all be put to good use), I finally settled on the recommended yarn, Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Homemade Jam.

This brings me to my second piece of stress. As much as I love the tweedy shades and wooly hand of this yarn, I just can't get over the sheer quantity of vegetable matter (or VM, as we say in the biz)! For those not in the know, VM is the general term for hay, wood, and other goodies that may make it into your yarn from the fleece. While I can tolerate a little bit of VM (sheep aren't the cleanest animals, after all), I cannot justify spending a pretty penny on yarn that is absolutely ravaged by it. Here's how much I pulled out of less than half a skein:

When I contacted Brooklyn Tweed about this, they were sincerely apologetic and offered to replace my yarn in the same dye lot. Hooray! Except when I received the yarn, it had just as much VM as my old skeins. Sigh. So now I'm knitting a sweater in yarn that is making me very angry, but I can't let myself admit defeat. I worked too hard to select this yarn, dammit.

And finally, here's my last disappointment. I ordered 3 skeins of yarn for my Peaks Island Hood, but only 2 were available. That means I'll have to wait until at least Monday, maybe Tuesday, to get the yarn and start the project. I guess that gives me more time to begrudgingly trudge through Levenwick, right?

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can focus on enjoying my knitting (no matter how much VM I must pluck from it). Maybe I'll cast on a beautiful shawl for myself to make up for my recent string of annoyances. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself.

Rhinebeck Hangover

Rhinebeck 2011 has come and gone, and I have to say it was an overwhelming experience. I laughed, I almost cried (more on that later), and I spent way more than I should have.

On the way up to our hotel in Saugerties, we couldn't help stopping at Webs, the largest yarn store in America. What's an hour or two out of the way (and out of the state) when it comes to yarn, right?

Needless to say, we were all very excited. The plan was for us to buy sweater quantities here to avoid temptation at Rhinebeck. I went in with a very specific idea of what I wanted: worsted weight gray yarn with a nice tweed to it. That should narrow it down, right? So very wrong. Webs has an incredible selection, and with great selection comes great confusion. I kept placing more and more yarn in my basket, and it became a blur of gray tweed fiber. It got to the point where I couldn't differentiate between yarns anymore, and I began to truly panic. I made a rash decision to abandon the tweed and go with a cheap heather, which Kendra and Claire assured me was a solid decision. Of course, after 2.5 hours in Webs, they probably could have convinced me of anything. I purchased my sweater quantity, a bit of sock yarn (for my Beekeeper's Quilt), and a pair of circular needles. My brain was absolute mush (but in a good way).

The next day we were off Rhinebeck! We all had an incredible time playing Rhinebeck Bingo, making new friends, chatting with designers, and eating too much food. I received so many generous comments on my Acorns sweater, including from Ravelry's own Mary-Heather. At the Ravelry meetup, we had the wonderful opportunity to say hello to Ysolda herself! It was so wonderful to thank her in person for permitting our knit-along blog.

Of course, it would have been better if she had seen us the second day -- we were all wearing our Damsons and Snapdragon Tams!

As for the festival itself, it's difficult to put into words. It's so great to be surrounded by people who are passionate about the same things you are, and Rhinebeck is the epitome of that. I walked a llama, pet lots of animals, ate some ghost pepper sauce (I'm addicted to spice), attended a hard cider tasting, sampled lots of food, ate pickles, drank too little coffee, walked until my feet hurt, and snuggled lots of yarn.

While I did go over my intended budget, I certainly got a lot of bang for my buck! Here's a catalog of my bounty:

• 1 skein Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveler in Rojas (probably for a shawl)
• 2 skeins Sanguine Gryphon Mithril in a point mutation, not sure on the intended colorway -- maybe either Little Caesar or the Shepherd at the Fold by Midnight (for a sweater)
• 1 skein Sanguine Gryphon Mithril in Starry Night over the Rhone (for a shawl)
• 1 skein Jellyfish Knits Intergalactic in Emerald City (for some sparkly hexipuffs!)
• 1 skein Jellyfish Knits Ephyna in Iron (more hexipuffs)
• 2 skeins Sliver Moon DK Superwash in Antique Brass (for Levenwick sweater)
• Owl buttons from Jennie the Potter (for Levenwick sweater)
• 5 skeins Valley Yarns Northampton in Dark Grey (sweater)
• 1 skein Valley Yarns Huntington in Deep Pine (for even more hexipuff action)
• A block of spicy cheese
• A packet of spicy pepper jack dip mix

And that, dear friends, is my incredibly brief wrap-up of Rhinebeck. I'm still exhausted and way too obsessed with cuddling the yarn that I bought, but I think I'll recover in a few more days.