Recently in savannahchik on the road Category

Oh my god what a fabulous time!

This was my favorite girlfriend vacation ever. Not even 600 miles of driving could put a damper on the yarn, girlfriends, drinking and good times that happened all weekend. Christy, Heather and Jody -- thank you for the awesome time and the fabulous company!

I think I saw more bloggers in Rhinebeck than I ever have at Maryland. There was Margene, Claudia (just a wave -- i'm sure she gets plenty of blogger hellos), Johanna, Alison, Carol (of Black Bunny Fiber fame, Kellee, Vicki, Cassie, Laura (who recognized me from behind because of my hair!), Jessica and her mom, and Eklectika.

Then of course there were the many times we saw Katy and her mom (a serious sign that we haven't seen enough of each other lately).

And still with all those people, there were several I was on the lookout for that I never saw. Oh well, something else to look forward to next year.

So, the festival. I only took a few pics. I just wanted to enjoy the festival and not feel like I was on assignment.

There was this fabulous mermaid all done up in felted roving. Isn't she gorgeous? I had a hard time finding the name of the booth. If you know can you leave a comment? She was just a couple booths down from The Fold.

Of course, I did buy some yarn...

Starting at 2 o'clock there's 3 hanks of Socks That Rock (Rocktoberfest, Rhodonite, and Bleeding Heart), a hank of sock yarn from Ellen's Half Pint Farm, 2 hanks of purple heathered Shelridge Farms sock yarn, a huge hank of very fine sock yarn from Sliver Moon Farm (it's over a 1,000 yards and will be for very thin knee highs)*, and a hank of Soxie (Antique colorway) from the Great Adirondack Yarn Company.

Now that I've finished the sweater I'm really in the mood for some sock knitting. I was looking for a few other things that I just didn't find (100% cormo sock yarn -- maybe from the cormo booth at MDSW?, enough of a hand-dyed laceweight for a sweater knit on larger needles, and barberpole in a weight thin enough for socks). Maple Creek Farm had a great DK weight barberpole but I didn't snatch it up fast enough. Oh well, there's always next year.

So, my goal for this yarn is to knit all of it before MDSW. That's really very reasonable. I didn't buy that much (probably less than the last 2 MDSWs) and if I don't knit it all up then there's no reason to buy much at Maryland.

And we all know that ain't happening.

* half of it is already wound up, the hank was really huge

Seems like everyone has Rhinebeck on the brain this week.

I've missed it the past 2 years but this year -- I'm going, damnit. And I'm gonna wear a new sweater.

even if it kills me

I think I know what I'm going to make. I've sketched it out. I've charted the center design motif. I just have to pick the yarn.

I bought a couple of balls of Reynolds' new yarn called Whiskey. It's a pretty, tweedy wool. But, the front of the sweater is going to be stranded and I think it's too heavy for stranding.

So, I want to use a tweed yarn in a DK weight. I'm considering Rowan Felted Tweed. It's tweedy, it's soft, and I've wanted to use it for a while now.

It seems like it would be lightweight and comfy. I'm a bit concerned about it being extra-warm because of the 25% Alpaca content.

If you've used it -- what did you think? Or, any other suggestions (other than *not* attempting a DK-weight partly-stranded sweater 9 weeks before Rhinebeck)? I have a good 6 weeks before that kind of reasonable logic sets in.