happy halloween

Pumpkins by me & Kate.

99 problems, but a stitch ain't one.

Just in case anyone ever reads this that doesn't know me personally, I guess I should explain that I am a graduate student in my last year of a social work program. So lately, my average week generally amounts to this: 16 hours in field + 9 hours in class + 8 hours doing research for my graduate assistantship + about 10 hours of my part time job + schoolwork...well you get the point. It's easy to burn out fast. And that's precisely how I've been feeling lately. So Rhinebeck came at juuuuussst the right time for me. It's a little ridiculous how much it did for the benefit of my mental state.

This is me & ms. meg with ridiculous grins on. We are smiling that hard cuz we did TWO days of Rhinebeck. TWO GLORIOUS DAYS!!

The first day we met up with h-bomb & greely which both made for excellent knitting geeky buddies. There were also fantastic animals to ooh & awe over. Meg & I were talking about sharing custody of an angora rabbit. But really, if this social work thing gets old, I could always be an Alpaca herder.

There were tons of people spinning incredible yarns. I definitely want to learn how to spin & maybe this will be the year to learn. There is a woman in my neighborhood that has agreed to teach me & I can't wait.

There was delicious food and of course, there was tent upon tent full of amazing yarn. Meg and I made it our business to spend the first day indulging in every color and fiber we could touch. I got some fantastic colors in socks that rock yarn.And, because I am all about knitting socks these days, I also got some super soft merino sock yarn from Ancient Threads. I can't wait to knit with it.

And after much searching, I also got a sweater's worth of this beautiful green yarn from Brooks Farm in order to make this version of the wicked cardigan that I am in love with.

I got more yarn then that, but I just photographed a few of the highlights. I also got some gorgeous brown alpaca yarn that I'm going to use to make the Tangled Yoke cardigan, some more purple merino yarn, some purple wool that I've started using for the minimalist cardigan, and some Classic Al yarn that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet.

In short, I am in yarn heaven. And just in time too, because the weather's getting cold & I've just finished a pair of socks:
Name: I'm calling these my "Watermelon socks", because if another person asks me if I'm knitting Christmas socks, I might poke them with my DPNs.
Pattern: Charade Socks
Yarn: Cranberry Bog from ThankEwe. The yarn is super comfy to wear & her prices were very reasonable. I highly recommend it.

With all this new yarn, I should have more posts coming soon.