Lost: Medium Red GoKnit Bag, Size 5 Knitpicks Circ & 8 oz of Black Alpaca

(I am also posting this on my livejournal.. But I figured I would post it here as more of youwill understand my sadness.)

I was walking from the PATH station at 14th and 6th Ave to a doctor’s appointment at Union Square East (14th & 4th Ave.) today at aout 3:15-3:30.

I had my Medium Red GoKnit Bag attached to my purse. Inside were my Size 5 Knitpicks Options Circ & 8 oz of black sport weight Alpaca. It is the sweater I started.

If anyone found, I would appriecate it back. I am willing to give some reward or something.
Without the yarn, I will probably not be able to finish the sweater I started. I bought the yarn at Rhinebeck and am not even sure I can purchase more to match.

*sigh* This is so not good. This has been a tough day. It was already rough as I had to rush my cat into the vet’s as she is having trouble moving. She is improving I think. But this has so not been a good day... *sigh*

The problem is now I am not sure I have enough. I *think* I may. But I am not sure. I purchased 5 skeins to be sure. It is sport weight. Raverly calculates the 4 skeins at 2768.0 yards. I am hoping that is enough to complete a sweater, but I am honestly not sure.

Rhinebeck Stash Acquisitions

Look at all the lovely Rhinebeck stash!!

I got all the yarn at NY Sheep & Wool on Saturday.

I should post to my general journal about the beer. *chuckle* I didn't get this at NY Sheep and Wool, but at a place on the way home. But it was the same trip. Just a different sort of stash! *grin*

Schaefer Lola

I have been drooling over the Schaefer yarns for a while now. A couple different podcasts have mentioned them, including one with an interview ('course I can't recall which one now).

Their colorways are so beautiful. I really love them. But many of their yarn lines are pretty pricey.

I found some lovely Lola. Lola is made with superwash wool. It is pretty soft. Though it is also pretty thick. So I didn't honestly know if I could use it for socks. So I did it as a purchase that was open to use.

It seems Lola isn't done in specific colorways like the ones listed on their site. So they are less expensive. I read that Lola is made with whatever dyes are left over for the day. So they vary a good deal. And why may not ever do something similar. I think that is pretty nifty.

The upside of that is Lola is a yarn I was able to actually afford! *grin* I love the one I got. It is different reds with some browns & grey. Pretty thick so it will be quick to knit up.

I am *definitely* going to do these toe up. I want to use every bit I can of the yarn. I am not sure if I want to just do a simple pattern or something more complex. If the gauge is right, I might try the toe up Jaywalkers. I think that might work well. I need to knit a swatch & see.

I hope I remember to look when I get home. I can't recall what booth I got this from.

Peruvian Alpaca

I picked a lovely bunch of Peruvian Alpaca at A Touch of Twist. It should be plenty for a nice, simple, black cardigan.

This was my big splurge item. I really debated if I should spend the money on it. This was my last purchase. I had picked up the Lola and a $10 mixed bag of yarn. So I felt like I had been very restrained. I had set aside a pretty good chunk of money for this. So I figured it was the time to take the plunge.

I have been wanting to make a black cardigan for a while now. But I am always hesitant to purchase that much yarn. I knew it would be a pricey item to make in anything I wanted to wear much. (Yes, I could get acrylic for cheap enough, but I sorta felt like if that was the case, I should just buy a black cardigan.)

Paul said I looked kinda white after making the purchase. *laugh* I guess it is that I spent a good deal of money so now I want to make something good with the yarn. And that makes me nervous.

Now, I need to find a simple top down cardigan pattern. Preferably one knit in one piece. I really do loathe sewing seams. *grin* Too funny given I can sew. But with knitting, it just seems so wrong to do it. *laugh*

It is so super soft. I kept kidding Paul I could just use it as it is as a pillow. I was resting my head against it. It is definitely yummy.

I also think I want to figure out some way to have a way to attach different cuffs and collars. I figure I can do a simple round collar. But then I can create collars and cuffs to attach to it. For instance, I have that lovely hand spun & dyed purple silk yarn. It would be great to make cuffs & collar to compliment the sweater.

Mixed $10 Bag

One of the vendors has boxes of bags with yarn in them. They are seal so you can't always see what exactly is in there. But with a bit of moving them around, you could make it out with some of them. It was sorta like treasure hunting. I did pretty well.

I ended up getting a bag with 4 different yarns. I think the blue cotton was what drew me to it. But the fact that two others were machine washable stuff made me think they would be ideal for some charity knits. So I figure it was money well spent.

Mystery Fiber

No idea what it is. Looks like it could be wool. Not sure. Greyish blue with some purplish flecks. Really wish I had a clue what it was as it could be good to use for something. But without having any idea how to care for it, I don't think I would know what to do with it.

There is about 50 gms of it.

Reynolds Gypsy

100% cotton. Very shiny. Like the blue color.

50 gm/ ~82 yards

I don't know what I will do with it. Though I am thinking that if I have changeable collars and cuffs for the cardigan, this might be kinda pretty for that.

Bergere de France Bergereine

50% wool / 50% cotton. Machine washable. Not sure what I will do with it. Thinking perhaps a baby hat for charity. There is only 50 gms/~104 yards.

So not my color. But the fiber feels pretty nice actually. It might be a bit slippery to knit. Not sure.

Reynolds Eternity

Color 764 - Burnt Orange

51% wool, 49% microfiber.

Washable

50 gm/ ~88 yards

Probably gonna be for a charity item.

All in all, I think I did pretty well. I am excited to cast on something with the Lola & the alpaca. I started the alpaca swatch this morning. I will probably swatch some of the Lola tonight. Though I am sorely tempted to hold off on casting on a second pair of socks until the pair I am working on now are done. Not sure yet.

*does a happy dance* Happy stash.

My First Rhinebeck!

My first Rhinebeck! Woohoo!

I am happy that I was warned there was sooo much there. I am also so thrilled with the Ravelry forums. They really helped me to get a good fix on things. The spreadsheet & research really helped before hand. It gave me some good ideas about what I should see and what I could skip.

Paul dropped me off around 10:00. He headed off the Aerodrome that is super close to the fairgrounds.

First thing I did when I got there was check out The Fold. I had heard on the Ravelry forums that they had a bunch of Socks That Rock. I wanted to see the STR up close & personal. And I am happy to say, it is some yummy stuff. I definitely see what all the fuss is about. They are some beautiful colorways and super sock yarns. I definitely will buy some of their stuff.

Thing is, I got there at about 10:15-10:30. There was already a huge line to pay. So there was no way I was waiting in line to buy something I could get online. I don't really get it. I suspect I would have had to wait at least 30-45 minutes. That would have been a waste. I really do wonder why The Fold gets such a small booth & why they don't have more registers. Seems like they are loosing business. Ah well.

I did check an alpaca vendor. The yarns weren't what I wanted but they had a simple pair of premade socks. Figured that was a good purchase as they would be nice and toasty. I am sure winter will appear sometime soon, right? *grin*

I wish I could recall in which booth I found the Schaefer yarns. I have been eyeing their yarns online in a big way. I heard about them in a couple podcasts. Their colorways are so beautiful. I really love them. But they are pretty pricey.

However, I did find some Lola. Lola is made with superwash wool. However, they aren't a specific colorway like the ones listed on their site. So they are less expensive. I am going to do a separate entry with what I got & all the pics as a separate entry. So that will have more details.

I had decided to limit myself to two sock yarns with superwash wool. After doing the test swatches last week, it seems some superwash wools will work for me. Some won't. So I set myself a two types of superwash wool for socks cap to make sure I didn't go overboard.

There were a couple sock yarns I absolutely adored. There were several of the Mountain Colors sock yarns I sooooo wanted. But they are one of the price fixing companies. So there was no way I was going to buy that. I put them back and swore at them a lot. *grin* There was one or two other companies I found that had the same issue. *sigh* I really hate that. But I can't support people who won't support fair pricing.

I found a couple places with bargain bins which was kinda fun. One had $10 bags. The bags had 3-4 different yarns in a sealed bag. I purchase one bag with some mixed stuff. It included some pretty cotton yarn that was very shiny. As well as some other ones that I will probably use for donation stuff. I figured for $10, it was worth picking it up.

I did stop by the Ravelry/Blogger meeting at noon. The problem is that I am so not good with going up to people. I did say hello to Necia as she is on the 6th Borough group. I have posted to that board a lot and knew she was local. There were a lot more people there. I was already feeling overwhelmed by the number of people around. So I just couldn't bring myself to stay long. Hey, for me, going up and introducing myself to a complete stranger is an achievement. *laugh* I am just *terrible* with large social groups.

I kept seeing Cat from the Let's Knit Together podcast wandering around. I debated saying hello and telling her how much I love her podcasts. But I figured she had enough going on already. *smile*

I did have a Yarn Harlot spotting late in the day (about 4). Though again, I didn't say anything as I suspect the poor woman was probably already getting too many people coming up to her. She had on her amazing Kauni sweater which looks just like the pics. Pretty cool.

I feel a bit of an idiot though. I put together the info on all the vendors, maps, etc. What did I forget? I forgot to write down what booths had collection boxes for Hats for Alex. I did look, but didn't see anything obvious. So I carried the hat with me all day. It was small & in my purse. But I feel so goofy that I have to mail it because I forgot to write it down. *laugh* Ah well.

At about 2, I gave Paul a call. He was just about to head over to the fairgrounds to join me. He had a great time at the Aerodrome and grabbed a beer at a local brewery bar. I was glad when he joined me. But I was just as thrilled that he got a lot of time doing things he enjoyed.

When he joined me, he was amazed. I only had the Lola & the $10 bag of yarn. He was stunned. *laugh* I had seen some yarns that were nice (like the Opal ones and some others). But there wasn't anything was screaming buy me right this instance! There were some yarns that I will probably buy online at a later date. But I knew I could get them online so I didn't see the point of getting them there unless they really spoke to me.

Though on a surprise note, there were some of the Lion Brand hand painted sock yarns that tempted me. I nearly did get some. But again, didn't see the point when I could get them online.

So I spent some time thinking. I figured *if* A Touch of Twist had more of black alpaca, it was a sign that I should splurge and get enough for a sweater's worth. I have really been wanting to make a simple black cardigan with something I would wear. But it is challenging when getting enough yarn for a sweater is pretty pricey in any yarn I would really want to wear for a long time.

I went back and low and behold. They must have gotten some more stock put out. Because when I was there the first time, there were only 2 skeins. This time there were 5 large 8 oz. skeins. Which are approximately 691 yards, so 3455 yards. I think that might be more than enough.

Wow. I really should have used my calculator. I was trying to make sure I got enough for a sweater. What I found for yardage said I should have about 2500 yards. So that was what I was aiming for. Oops. Ah well. It is black. It isn't like I won't be able to do something else with it! *laugh*

I was so happy that I got to see Diane. She mentioned she might be there. She is the woman who taught me to knit. She was on the look out for me which was good. 'Cause I was not looking at all at that point. I was in overload already. I think this was around 2:30-3:30.

It was so wonderful getting to meet her daughter Claire at last. She is sooo adorable. Though the poor girl did not fair well with the car & all the commotion. But her baby booties where adorable! *grin*

In review...

I don't think I need to stay overnight. I know a lot of people swear you can't do it all in one day. For me, that wasn't true. I had enough time to look over what I wanted to see and enjoyed the experience. I was definitely in overload by the end of the day. I don't think I could have faced going back to the crowds the next day.

If I started spinning, I can *definitely* see why I would need two days. There is a ton of spinning stuff there. Since I don't, there were entire booths I could skip easily.

Also, since I have allergies, I tend to just give a quick glance to all wool places. So that also cut down on how many places I need to see.

I would love to get to some of the workshops. If I took the workshops, I would want to stay a while longer.

But I suspect next year, I will just stick with day tripping again.

I am definitely glad I did all the research. It helped me to figure out what I needed to see. I think I wouldn't have been as interested in A Touch of Twist if someone hadn't recommended them. I found with the recommendation, I took the time to take a closer look. And their prices were good for the yardage. So I am pretty thrilled.

I was definitely exhausted by the end of the day, but happily so! *grin*

I will have to do another post about the other stash acquisitions. But they should probably go on my general journal as they weren't knitting related. *smile*

Superwash Wool & Allergies

My allergies are about itch factor. I find it itches and I get red bumps in the area where I am wearing something that affects me. I don't have hives or trouble breathing. It isn't that sort of thing. It is mild. But it is too irritating to actually want to wear anything made with wool.

When I posted to a dyeing group about my allergies, a woman told me that superwash wool should not set off my allergies. She explained they are treated with a polymer to coat the wool (thus making it machine washable). This coating should allow me to use superwash without the response I normally have.

I was certainly willing to give it a try. There are some beautiful superwash wools out there, especially a lot of hand dyed ones that are amazing.

My mother-in-law was kind enough to give me some Sockotta yarn. It was leftover from pair she did. I made a swatch in the round a couple days ago. I wore it around my wrist for all of about 10-20 minutes before I took it off. I found it was scratchy and not good for me.

I check online and read some reviews. It seems that people without wool allergies have also had some trouble with that yarn. A lot of people complained it was rough, scratchy & hard to knit. One woman even said it was so scratch she threw out the yarn. So it may not have had anything to do with allergies.

So I knit a test swatch of Sarah's Yarns Superwash Merino/Bamboo/Silk Blend. It is 65% super fine grade merino, 20% bamboo and 15% silk. Machine-wash-and-dry which has so much appeal. I wore the swatch for about 3 hours yesterday and another 2-3 in the evening. It didn't seem to affect me at all! Woohoo!

So it seems I may be able to wear some superwash wools. But it seems to come back to *some*. Not all. So I need to feel it & do a test swatch before committing to it.

On the plus side, I can always check out some of the superwash wools at NY Sheep & Wool this weekend! Woohoo! I definitely want to feel the Socks That Rock yarn after hearing so much about them. I don't know if I will buy any there. I will see. I have heard the Fold is the place that sells them. And last year the wait to pay was 30-60 minutes! That seems way too long to wait if I can order them online. But I will see.

I suspect I should limit my superwash purchase to enough to make 2 pairs of socks for me. I can always pick up wool yarn for others. But in case it doesn't work for me, I would rather not have a bunch of yarn I can't knit for myself.

*wiggles happily* In less than 24 hours I should be there!

Rhinebeck and the Geek I Am...

In my typical geeky fashion, I find when I am heading off on a trip or to a big event for the first time, I need to research it to no end. *laugh*

So in order to be less overwhelmed when I walked into Rhinebeck, I decided to put together a spreadsheet with some of the map & vendor info in it. (Any you say anal, boys and girls...*smirk*)

I have put in the vendor name, map location, booth, Ravelry recommended, website & type of items (when I had the info).

I figure others might find it useful. It isn't pretty at all. I am going to be making it into a Palm database for myself so I don't need to be.

I have posted it as a zip file & and excel file.

Please, if you can unzip a file, download the zipped file. It is smaller & won't use as much bandwidth.

Zip File
&
Excel File

I am going to convert this into a Palm database today.

I posted it on Ravelry as I hope it might help others.

It did help me to look at the different vendors. It gave me a better sense of what might be there and where I should go. Definitely some interesting vendors.

What I am happiest about is how many alpaca vendors there will be. I am hoping to find some good stuff.

Ideally, I would like to get enough black alpaca for a cardigan. But I am completely aware that that might not be in my budget. But I figure it can't hurt to look.

Misc. Knitty Bits

I am glad I caught up on my knitting project babble & pics. That is progress. Now for the various babble bits.

Swifts!

Paul made me two swifts. I need to take pics when I have them set up. They are pretty cool. They are the windmill type. I figured that would work better. He did a really great job though of course, he isn't happy with them. *shakes head*

Carrie/Dharmafey from the Socks in the City podcast mentioned on Ravelry that she uses two skeins to help with her dyeing. I figured I would give that a try.

I was hoping that it would work for creating a long skein. It didn't honestly. I tried but it was not working for the long skein. They work beautifully for a typical hand dyed skein though. It just doesn't work for creating a super long skein for self striping yarn. I really think I need to create a warping board that is bigger to see it that will help.

I dyed a smaller skein batch of the Sarah Yarn's 100% bamboo yarn during my vacation. I did it in various greens with a little bit of blue. The thought is to make my sister-in-law Jennifer some socks for Xmas. She doesn't like wool as she gets too hot.

Thing is, my sister-in-law Tee is making her some socks already with some Panda Cotton in Roses. Which is actually my fault! *laugh* Jennifer mentioned that Tee *might* make her some socks. I thought Jennifer said Tee *was* making her socks. *chuckle* Ooops.

Tee is a super-experienced knitter. So of course, the socks she is making are looking really good honestly. So I am hesitant. I also feel like I have been taking on a lot of knitting for the holidays. I will see. If they get done, great. If not, no worries. *smile* Or hey, give Tee the yarn and she can make them for Jennifer? *laugh* (Just kidding if you read this Tee.)

NY Sheep & Wool

I am excited that NY Sheep & Wool is so close! *wiggles happily* I am going up this Saturday. Spending the day, though not staying overnight.

I really do hope I don't get too overwhelmed. It does seem like there is so much to see.

I have been reading the Ravelry boards about it. Getting lots of helpful hints for the NYS&W newbie.

The consensus seems to be:

You can't see everything so don't stress it.

I know I want to see everything, but good to know I probably won't.

Buy things you like when you see them.

They probably won't be there when you go back.

Bring cash.

Not all the vendors take credit cards. (And hey, it is probably better not to get into too much trouble frankly!)

Wear mud resistant shoes.

It is a fair ground. So if it has rained at all recently, it will be muddy.

Take lunch & snacks with you.

The food lines can be really long. So it helps not to spend time online. And hey, more money for fiber. Though I may not be strict about that. I love lamb and all. And you can rarely get it. But I heard the lamb burgers are like hockey pucks. So I will definitely skip those.

The fried artichokes are worth the wait.

Might have to find out... *grin*

Get there as early as you can.

Things sell out throughout the day. The later in the day you get there, the less vendors have. Though I know Paul isn't getting up at 7 am no matter how much I want him to!

I am sure there is more.

I want to go to a couple of the after parties. Seems that Morehouse has one. They are the people I got my nifty dragon scarf pattern from which I love.

The Ravelry folks are talking about having one. But there haven't been any details posted yet. I doubt I will go as Paul will kinda want to do other things with the evening.

He will probably spend the day at the Aerodrome museum. It actually looks cool. Though they won't have the air show this Saturday. It seems that stopped this last weekend.

Missing the Yarn Harlot

I am sad. The Yarn Harlot and a bunch of other authors will at NYS&W on Sunday, but not Saturday. I am going on Saturday so I won't get to see the Yarn Harlot speak. On the other hand, more shopping time, right? *grin*

I do want to see her speak sometime. But she has just finished up a new book so I suspect she will be doing the rounds again when the new book is released. Her publisher really does seem to have her working hard.

The Never-Ending Scarf

I really think the cable scarf for Kyle is the bane of my knitting. I am knitting at least 8 rows a day. It is my homework. And it takes about 15 minutes for the 4 rows. I am guessing I am a very slow knitter. Thing is, I was praying it would be long enough at the 4 skein mark so I could use the last skein for a hat. No such luck. I can't recall if Kyle wraps his neck once or twice. But either way, it just isn't long enough to wrap. It would be fine without a wrap. But I know how he wears his scarves. So I have started #5. *sigh*

Mind you, it isn't terribly challenging. It is just taking soooo long.

There should be a link on the side with a pic and such so long as I am working on it. *Love* that I have my works in progress from Raverly in my side bar. Soooo cool.

Teaching a Coworker to Knit

I spent my lunch hour trying to teach a coworker to knit! I really hope I explained things well. I am not sure if I did.

She ordered a cupcake kit from Etsy. I have the same kit which I am planning to do for my neice for Xmas. Thing is, the vendor shipped the completed purse. The coworker's daughter loved it so much she didn't want her to return it. Mind you, she isn't sure if she could have gotten the order wrong anyhow. And given it was a Friday at 5:30 when I was talking to her about ordering it, it could have easily been mixed up.

Instead I am doing a hat with her. She has a 4 month old son who is wearing 24 month old clothing! He is a big boy. He was 10+ pounds at birth. She doesn't have little babies! All three of her kids have been 10+ pounds. Wow. *shivers*

So I figure we can do a rectangle that will become a hat. I mean, I found a scarf a good starting project. But the Yarn Harlot and others say that is a lot for a beginner to take on. The hat should be small enough to be manageable.

I hope it comes out alright. I took the measurement for a 24 month old head, added 1/2-1" and did it according to the gauge. She is knitting kinda tight. Which I so get as I did too. But I think it should still work. Hey, we can always add a panel if it comes out too small and say it is a design element, right? *grin*

Okay. I think that mostly catches me up with any new stuff. Not sure but I am heading off very soon either way. The NYC Homebrew club is meeting tonight. Paul and I haven't gone in ages. So I figured it would be fun. Off to that.

I think I might have too many expensive hobbies between knitting, beer & bellydance. Though have to say, it has been ages since I have gotten to bellydance class, much less spent money on it. Ah well. Maybe I will get to class *this* week!

Stating My Intention to Not Buy Knitting Stuff Til NY Sheep and Wool

I am going to state this here. It is my hope that I will abide by it. *grin*

I think it is good for me to be on a yarn and knitting supply diet until NY Sheep & Wool festival. I know, that is only two weeks away. Not a big commitment. But I still think it would be wise.

There are three exceptions I might make:

1.
I really want to find a yarn to work with the Bernat Lana I bought. I really want to do a pair of Fair Isle mittens with it. But I need a contrasting color. There is a marine color that is a dark blue that would work well with it. But Lana is a discontinued yarn. So finding the marine might be challenging.

I did write someone on Ravelry in hopes she might want to either sell me or trade one of the 6 skeins of Lana she has. She is in NJ, so I am betting she hit the same sale. Smiley's sells them in bags. The Lana was $10 for the 6 skeins. If I had seen the marine, I would have picked that up as well. But I only saw the denim that I picked up.

2.
Socks That Rock has a cotton sock yarn but there hasn't listed since I found out about STR about a month ago. I emailed them about it. The woman who dyes it has been recovering from surgery. So they said to check back in about a month. This was about 2 weeks ago. So I will keep trolling their site in hopes of getting cotton yarn.

3.
Stuff to make the swifts for reskeining. I meant to pick the stuff up already. But Paul and I haven't settled what I want and if it will work.

But other than that, I should just save up for NY Sheep and Wool. And that does include everything else involved, not just the yarn. I can sooo easily spend money on knitting related items.

Damn. Forgot to mention the new Cat Bordhi book in the exceptions! I sooo want it. Ah well. Maybe at NY Sheep & Wool. *grin*