theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Orange was a strong thematic element last weekend at Rhinebeck!  It seems impossible that just a week ago today at 9:00 a.m. we were entering the Dutchess County Fairgrounds to experience the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York.

Thursday
Susan arrived in Washington, DC last week Thursday and was soon whisked off to the Bourbon Steak House at the Four Seasons Hotel.  They served the best iceberg wedge salad she have ever had, and the poor thing dreams about it every day!!

Friday
Friday morning we headed to Rhinebeck, following a crazy, circuitous route that defied logic.  GPS, what were you thinking??!!  We chose to travel up the east side of the Hudson so we could get the lay of the land before the “big day.”  The river and fall foliage were spectacular.  We drove through Hyde Park, the home of the Roosevelts.  And easily found the fairgrounds.  We ate in Rhinebeck and discovered a local specialty: crispy artichoke hearts.  Delish!!!

Our accommodations were quite luxurious 😉 :

Saturday
Saturday morning we headed to the festival in time to wait in line with hundreds of other excited fiber enthusiasts.  We had not done any homework: we did not know the layout of the grounds or anything about the vendors.  We like to go with the flow!!  The venue was wonderful: the buildings seem new and clean, the grounds were covered in colorful fall trees, etc.

The first building we entered was packed with people.  You had to fight your way into some of the stalls.  It was wild.  Noni from Noni Knits was there and had a full array of purses and the findings to complete the bags.  We may have dropped a dollar or two!

One thing we both wanted: apple cider donuts!

OMG!!  The best!!  Cannot be described.

Susan’s other obsession was Maple Sugar Cotton Candy.  She had heard about it and really wanted to try it!

It looked exactly like the most beautiful fleece in the world: creamy colored and just like cotton batting.  Melted in your mouth and not very sweet.  It was worth a trip back!!

We shopped and shopped.  Susan found this stunning felted bag:

Julia Hilbrandt Felted Bags

Sally loved these bags, too but couldn’t find exactly what she wanted…decided she could order one later.  Julia makes many cute styles.

It was fun to see so many people that share your love of wool and knitting.  Susan wore her Scatness Tunic and cowl as planned and enjoyed wearing it.  Sally wore her Creature Comforts Cardi and wrapped up in her Mary Tudor Wrap because the weather was a bit unpredictable.

We dragged ourselves exhausted and broke into town to dine at The Terrapin (for more crispy artichokes).  We were a little early for our reservations, so we shopped “a bit.”  Well Sally found the bag o’her dreams in a little shop across from the Terrapin:

Now Susan thinks hers looks like a piece o’crap!!  Sally’s is a truly stunning bag!

Sunday
Sundays at the festival are much less frenetic and far less crowded.  We spent a couple of hours revisiting spots (okay, the donut shop and cotton candy stand), and bought more yarn (lots more yarn).  And ate more crispy artichokes.

That evening we were relaxing in the hotel café, minding our own business, knitting and munching when a woman swooped by and invited us to a “post-Rhinebeck” yarn tasting event being held in our hotel 3 seconds from where we were sitting!  Anne Hanson had her line of Bare Naked Wool and a few other yarns for sale.  We thought we were done and all our yarn money spent.  Nope.

Monday and Tuesday
Monday and Tuesday were travel days, getting back to reality.

Here is the yarn that Susan bought (Sally will share her great buys in a later post — she is travelling at the moment):

Harrisville Watershed – Penstock: a lightly spun worsted in a very dark, almost back, deeply colored wool.  Purchased for Rowe (which she actually started last night!).  Susan bought a ton of this for a sweater coat.

Shalimar Yarns Paulie — Orange is the New Black!!  Found this yarn at the Anne Hanson event: could not resist this color (it added to the orange theme!!).  Both of us snagged a skein.

Miss Babs Yowza in French Marigold — MORE orange yarn!  A gorgeous coppery tone, perhaps for Thorntower.  Miss Babs’ booth was crazy busy on both days.  You could not even get to the yarns: people had to hand them back to you to look at!!

Take-aways
We love apple cider donuts, maple sugar cotton candy and crispy artichokes.  We both really enjoyed the trip to Rhinebeck.  The travel time and expense make it not as attractive an option as the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (an hour’s drive from Sally’s home), but we would probably go back.  Just not every year!!

As promised, I’m sharing a new FO: Sprig, designed by Alana Dakos. This was my first use of a Plucky Knitter yarn. I used Bello Worsted, which is 55% merino and 45% cashmere and is just as luscious as it sounds. My color is called Skies of November — very appropriate for this time of year.

This is a fast and easy knit, and I loved all of the little details, especially the buttons at the elbow. (I added a few beads for extra pop.) The sleeves hit just below the elbow, which I find a very flattering length.

My only modification was to do a rolled stockinette hem instead of the garter stitch hem called for in the pattern.

Addendum from Susan — Sally and I just got back from Rhinebeck.  We spent money like drunken knitters (even though we were sober!!).  At least sober while we shopped!  It was fun and interesting and we will share more in the days to come.  Sally’s Sprig is darling and fits like a glove!

Wow! Who knew?  I got dressed to go to work today and was going to wear my Maestro Jacket.  It needed a little pop, so I pulled out my Oro Azteca Kinetic Cowl. It looked pretty good! The gradient section from yellow to gray matched the color of the jacket perfectly and added a big color boost.

The other old thing I want to share is my Scatness. The nylon (plastic) snaps really bothered me. I thought they looked cheap and distracting. I used black metal snaps on my cowl and liked them much better. So I replaced the snaps on my tunic and also moved the buttons to the other side. I understand why Kate put them on the left side, but it bugged me.

So old is new again! Well, not that old! 🙂

PS – I leave tomorrow for DC to start the Rhinebeck adventure!!

I haven’t been knitting much lately; I certainly haven’t been whipping out the finished projects the way Susan has.  I do, finally, have two projects to show for my time.  Because I don’t post as often as my sister, I’ll show you one today and one later to stretch them out.

First, up — my Song of the Sea Cowl. The pattern, by Louise Zass-Bangham, is very simple but still has lots of visual interest. The yarn is Sojourn by Miss Babs. It is 65% cashmere and 35% silk. Need I say more? It is wonderfully soft, even more so after blocking. The color is Lady Bug. Although I envisioned making this cowl in a more neutral color, by the time I found the Sojourn at Fibre Spaces Miss Babs Trunk Show, it had been picked over. (That’s putting it mildly — this yarn was flying out of the store and for good reason.)

I do love pink and it’s so cheerful.

Speaking of cheerful, we created a little garden path for our beloved Thor. He insisted on cutting through this part of the garden, mowing down anything planted in his path. We surrendered. When I went out today, look what had bloomed next to his stone! One of my fall bulbs. I think it means he approves.

I adore my Scatness Tunic!  I loved knitting it and after yesterday, I adore wearing it!  Yay!  Because I had so much yarn left over, I decided to make a matching cowl.

I could go in many different directions, but then I realized that what I love about Scatness is the corrugated ribbing, the fair isle band, and of course the buttons.  I did not want to cover all that up with a cowl.  So, I decided to incorporate all of my favorite elements into the design.

The cowl is a plain rectangle, and when I went to wear it, it looked weird in the front.  So I twisted it fully once and then snapped it.  Voila.  A faux moebius (a fauxbious! …Heidi) was born.

I wore the tunic and cowl to work yesterday.  A friend I’ve known for more than twenty years said it was the cutest thing I had ever made and was her favorite of all my sweaters! 🙂