Rhinebeck 2011

Nice view from our hillside home in Rhinebeck. Beautiful sunrises over the mountains. I shared a cottage with 7 fabulous Ravelry friends. Face-hurting hilarity and laughter ensued.

The Sheep and Wool Festival was a blast. Always so fun to be inspired by vendors and fiber artists. The meet-ups are always good. Here's the Spunky/ Hello Yarn/ Southern Cross Fiber group.

Some other weekend highlight pics:

Amy(Boogie), Me, David

Erica(Weetsie) and John(Ironjohn04)

Dale(dirkhumblejunk) and Stacie(njstacie). Just Married!!!!
Check out the wedding dress she made in just 3 weeks. Love that she wore it again to the fest. Go, Stacie!

Too full of awesomeness to contain:)

Me, Tasha(nuttnbunny), Adrian(HelloYarn), John(ironjohn04), Stacie(njstacie), and Heather(Sparkcrafted)

Fleece hunters Tasha and Allie.

Kory(HarmlessDrudge)

Christina(miukat)and Kate(DragonflyFibers)

Mmmm LOOP. Lots of action in that booth this weekend. Everyone kept going back for more. Steph and Kate, my favey faves <3. After we broke down the booth, Steph treated us to an amazing sushi dinner, sleepover and breakfast before hitting the road. Thank you again, Stephanie!

Sarah of Sanguine Gryphon, Gale of Gale's Art, my new best friend(lol) KateyJ, and Kate(Dragonfly Fibers)

I learned an amazing lesson this weekend. I have a very giving heart. I used to think sometimes that is reciprocated and sometimes not. To give freely and purely, without expectation is the point. This is how I roll. Yet, over the past week, I have been absolutely, gobsmackingly fiber bombed with so much giving that it blows me away. I received this amazing package in the mail from a dear soul I met in Ravelry. It was HUGE and filled to the brim with individually wrapped packages, each with its own lovely ribbon and hand written note. Everything in my color sense, all from my wish list. Thank you, Jen<3!

Then on our road trip, Kate gifted me a Jenkins Turkish Delight that Ed himself had given her! It is simply the most beautiful thing.

She also gave me a bag of sock yarn for hexipuffs and a bag of fluff to end all fluff. This bag was HUGE!!! It was an industrial size trash bag overflowing with her amazingly prepared and dyed fleece. This girl has a gift for fleece prep like you've NEVER seen before. Here's a peek:

I seriously never need to buy fiber again!
Yet there was a more subtle soul nourishing that transpired this weekend. The little things some people may simply take for granted but meant the world to me. The sharing of John's harvest, libations from Dale and Stacie's ongoing wedding feast, amazingly prepared meals, someone always offering a coffee, taking a plate, refilling my wine glass, rides back and forth. So much heartfelt giving. It really filled me and made me realize that giving is probably always reciprocated but maybe in the most surprising ways. Maybe even by people you've never given to before. Perhaps that's the beauty of it. and that's what makes it pure. I dunno...but it was beautiful. Never really gave much thought to karma before, but I'm pretty sure I've just experienced it. Thank you, all<3.

Off the Needles

Striped Study Shawl
Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool

I really enjoyed this knit in a mindless knit kinda way. It's just that those rows and rows of garter stitch seem to be exponential. Just sayin.' Easy to get bored with this one. Would love to knit one for fall in charcoal and light gray. Just not this fall.

I also finished a handspun sweater for #7. Spun the yarn last fall from Hello Yarn's Peat colorway. Started the crochet in January on a trip to NYC. Babylove picked out his own buttons at Tender Buttons. Quite a number of city blocks we hiked for those little treasures. He exclaimed it was beautiful when I finished. Then promptly took it off.

I've finished a few smaller projects, too. I just realized I forgot to photograph the Chappy Newsboy Hat for a newborn. Just as soon as the little chap grows into it- have to have a shot for Ravelry. It was too cute. He looked like a little old man. Adorbs! This little hat below was a quick crochet for my neighbor's new baby, Owen.

Then this was a total knitter's ADD moment, cuz I knew I could whip it up in a Sunday afternoon. Needed a prototype for a workshop I'm teaching. It's The Bright Idea Scarf.

In the tradition of The New York Sheep and Wool Festival, I was hoping to have some kinda wow factor handspun garment to wear to Rhinebeck this weekend. Instead, I'm settling with the fact that it's all I can do just to get to Rhinebeck. A little like parting the Red Sea for me to step out of my life for a few days. This weekend promises to be a little over the top in the best kind of way. Such good company. What an amazing husband to encourage me to take an EXTRA day away. I was trying to figure out how to do Rhinebeck as quickly as possible for the least amount of impact on our family when he said, "I think you should take as MUCH time as possible!" So supportive of my life's work, so appreciative of how much energy it takes to raise our family, so genuinely giving, this man. Love my mister.

Oh, and one more crazy thing. I've been kickin' this book around. It's been around for a while. Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith is a creative adventure in pushing boundaries and stepping outside the box. The other day I discovered Wreck this Journal blogs and Flickr sets. It's a great concept. The whole idea is to express your creativity by way of creative destruction. Each page contains an exercise to encourage creative expression by letting go of perfectionist ideas that keep people from creating to begin with. I stumbled upon this Book years ago at the bookstore and thought it looked like fun. I've picked it up here and there over the years, but thought it might be fun to share the process with you. Go get your own copy and play along with me! You know you want to!

Traditions

It's that time of year again. We've done it as a family for nearly twenty years. It amazes me to realize the duration of this family tradition. Nineteen or so years ago on a trip back from beautiful western Maryland, we stumbled upon a pick your own pumpkin place. The kids loved the hayride, the pumpkin picking, the apple cider tasting, the petting zoo. We stopped for dinner at this mom and pop restaurant out in the country with a covered wagon for a salad bar and a miniature train on permanent display to keep little kids entertained. We took home a loaf of frosted raisin bread and have returned to engage in this very same routine for nearly the last two decades. Our family has grown a lot since that first serendipitous visit to the pumpkin patch. The activities at the pumpkin patch have likewise grown and changed over the years. Today there are opportunities for scarecrow building, pony rides, face painting, and a moon bounce. Our four year old remembered the pumpkin patch and for days leading up to our family excursion he would count down to the big event. On Sunday, he literally woke up smiling and announcing that it was finally time to go to the pumpkin patch and jump in the pumpkin moon bounce.

That's one excited puppy! He could hardly contain himself!

Here's our fearless leader, aka, Captain Fun. I'm still loving those dimples after all these years;)

So #7, ever focused on his mission, got right down to the serious business of pumpkin picking,

while 3 of the girls worked it for the camera.

#1 and #4

#3 and #4

#5 hard at work

#6 planting a happy kiss on mama<3

Another fun day in the memory books.
Making memories is a beautiful thing.

Batt Happy

Been in the carding mood lately. Cathy Z padded the Jenkins Turkish standard spindle I won during Tour de Fleece with some gorgeous hand dyed locks.

I was inspired to card these into a batt, but wanted to leave the locks intact for some textural interest in the finished yarn.

I spun up the batt yesterday and here's the pre-bath yarn.


Such happy colors!

I've been having myself quite a yarnival of my own here at home.

This

became this

50ish meters of corespun fun.

One of summer's best memories for me was playing Beach Blanket Bingo with the Lushmommy group over on Ravelry. I was having a very lucky afternoon. Crazy, I know, but I won 3 games.

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The competition was hysterical. Just between you and me, I kept telling my kids, "Mommy's working!" to buy a few more rounds of Bingo. Too much fun!! I had purchased some Lushmommy bamboo for carding and then won some as prizes, too.

Here's the gorgeous loot. These colors make my heart sing.

2.6 oz batt

The bamboo

Sara even included an extra which blew me away. This vendor is simply over the top generous and amazing.

I 've already carded that along with some bamboo into the Yarnival batt above.

I spun the Lushmommy batt this afternoon and here's the finished yarn.

Pretty productive day, eh? That's only 'cuz I told everyone I was taking the day off. It's been really great to putter around. I've worked on the border of my Striped Study shawl. You can see the beginnings of this shawl back in this post. It is literally taking me forever. I can only take a few long rows of garter stitch at one time before it bores me. I have enjoyed knitting this nonetheless. I've also been working on a handspun crochet cardigan for my little guy. Really need to wrap that one up. Soon, hopefully. There's a long weekend ahead, so maybe...just maybe!

Wishing everyone a nice long weekend to regenerate. You're beautiful and you deserve it!