Stopping Sweater Abuse

Hubby has decided to fight back. Throwing his sweater on the floor is no longer a valid way to control him.

The other day, when I knew the ribbing was dry after its encounter with the maple syrup, I ran upstairs to get it so I could work on it after dinner.

Of course, I made this decision just as Hubby was ready to fill our plates. Well, as soon as I crossed the threshold he launched into histrionics about slaving over the hot stove and now my food is going to be cold.

Since it took me, like, two seconds to run up, grab it, and come down, I was back in the kitchen while he was still talking.

So I held the ribbing over my head in a threatening manner.

When he saw what I was doing he pivoted and held my serving of spaghetti over the floor instead of my plate.

Obviously spaghetti on the floor was a more potent threat than knitting on the floor. You can't just pick spaghetti up and dust it off. Especially with two furry vacuums waiting to pounce on a situation like that.

I didn't realize he'd be willing to escalate the arms race to that level. We're at a stalemate now. Or would it be an impasse?

Anyway, the sweater is safe from any sudden, purposeful collisions with the ground from here on.

I'll just have to go back to fluttering my eyelashes as my primary means of bending him to my will.

The ribbing is done and I'm three colors into the body. I think I'll exchange the second ball of royal blue for a fifth charcoal. The royal blue will only have one stripe on each piece, so I have to imagine one ball will be enough.

Rhinebeck: More Stash Enhancement

Ok, I would say I'm going to be brief, but that would be a lie. Or at least an unachievable goal. You must realize by now that I'm totally missing the brief gene.

The portion of Hubby's Striped Sweater that had the encounter with maple syrup over the weekend was dry enough to knit on again last night. I have about 10 rows of ribbing to go on the front piece.

Right. On to more Rhinebeck yarn! My shopping strategy was to look for unique stuff that we don't carry at KC. If we carry it at KC not only do I have constant, easy access to it, but I get a staff discount. So why would I buy it someplace else?

Socks that Rock
As you can see, I bought a skein in the Tlingit colorway. But it was a real struggle. It shouldn't be this hard to buy yarn, especially sock yarn. And it wasn't hard in the way you might think.

As far as I can tell, there is a lot of buzz in the online knitting world about this yarn. However, it's hard to get your hands on. Well, unless you shop online, which I don't. I like to see and feel yarn before I buy it.

So I was very interested when I heard one of the booths at Rhinebeck would be carrying it. I also saw on Ravelry posts that it can be a bit of a feeding frenzy when the festival first opens, which kind of made me glad we arrived a little late.

Well, I found the booth...and I wasn't impressed. None of the colors reached out and grabbed me. None filled my little heart with greed and the need to possess it. I thought, "What is all the fuss about?" Maybe all the good colors were gone by the time I arrived, or maybe it just wasn't my style.

Decidedly underwhelmed, I moved on.

I might have made another pass during the day, again without buying anything. Then at the end of the day, really we were heading for the exit gate, I ran into my co-workers. G had a skein. I don't know if she had ever used it before. It gave me a chance to revisit my nagging concern that if I didn't buy a skein at Rhinebeck I didn't know when I'd have another chance, and I would be left continuing to wonder why everyone was so excited.

So I left mom and our bags on a bench (my nephew was watching the pumpkin carver) and I zoomed back to the booth.

Again, nothing grabbed me. There was a rainbow colored one, but it was no better than other primary colored rainbow ones I've seen in the past.

Since an impulse purchase wasn't working out I decided a more practical approach was in order. I remembered I needed more dark socks for when I wear dark pants. That narrowed things down.

I settled on this skein. It's got black, and some purply-red and green for interest.

I turned around to pay and asked Thor (as his Ravelry ID pin informed me) if the hype was deserved. He explained the woman who makes it is very particular about her base yarn, explained her dying process (which was Greek to me), and concluded the hype was deserved.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of projects in line before this, so it will be a while before I test it out.

Aussi Soxxi
Now this is a yarn that did grab me.

This yarn is 90 percent merino and 10 percent nylon. It's soft. Not the softest sock yarn I've ever felt, but also not stringy like Jawool, or scratch like Opal can be.

It's from Oasis Yarn.

I haven't used it before. Don't the colors make your eyes water? Apparently I prefer vibrant sock colors.

There were two other skeins I dithered over before I selected this one. One was in neon 80s day-glo colors. The second was a pastel version of 80s day-glo colors (if that is even possible). However, I thought this one might be more usable (ha!). I debated getting two colors, but didn't want to spend all my money in one booth.

See, not that is the way I expect yarn buying to be difficult. Because it's all so beautiful I can't settle on just one.

Samson's Angora
It wasn't until after I bought this yarn that I realized it was named for one of my puppies.

Aside from the Solo yarn, angora sock yarn was my other solid goal for Rhinebeck.

My feet get really cold in the winter. I mean really cold. Forget about not letting them touch Hubby at night, I don't even want them touching me! (Actually, Hubby loves me so much that he does let me put them on him to warm up.) I've heard that angora has some homeopathic thing going on for poor circulation.

This yarn is 50 percent angora, 20 percent merino, and 30 percent nylon. I'm happy about the high nylon content since it means the finished socks should have some durability. They shouldn't wear out the first time I forget and walk around the house in them. At the same time the yarn is still soft and fuzzy.

I don't mind that it's plain white since these are just bed socks.

Actually, I saw some nice dyed angora yarn at the end of the day. However it cost more and the angora content wasn't as high, so I'm happy I bought this instead.

Maple Creek Farm Alexandria
Again, here is a yarn that reached out and grabbed me. I had to have it. The tag just says superwash and nylon with out ratios. It has a good softness.

At the end of the day, when we were heading for the exit, we realized there was an entire section of the fair we had missed. All the buildings housing the 4-H displays, which is where the live sheep, alpacas, and llamas were hanging out. There were more vendors in that area as well. We missed them because when we arrived we immediately veered off in search of the kiddie section. I can see why some people spend two days at this festival.

As we were zooming through, this yarn caught my eye. I saw it and was once again mesmerized. In addition to liking vibrant socks, I apparently think you can't have too many pairs of red socks.

Mom seemed a little iffy about them, but my nephew said to go for it. Of course, my nephew said I should buy it to make socks for him. I was like, "Right, kid, don't hold your breath." (Please see my previous post about being cold hearted.) Heck, since I taught him how to knit, he can now make his own socks.

Ok. That is all the yarn I bought at Rhinebeck. I can't wait to get to use it.

That Sunday morning, when we woke up, I snuggled up to Hubby and was telling him all about the festival and my beautiful new yarns. He asked how much I spent. I mumbled a figure that was probably on the low side (despite my vow never to smuggle purchases). He was like, "Geez, honey!" because it's almost time for his case of wine. In a panic I blurted, "Mom gave me some spending money!" And he said, "What are you, 15?" because he doesn't like me to take advantage of her. And I said, "Well, yeah!" But I wonder whether he was secretly happy, since this meant his wine purchase was safe.

In case you are wondering about my lack of post yesterday...it took me two days to write this. My lunch hour ran out and I didn't want to drag the yarn purchases out to a third post. :-)

Hubby's Sweater: Argh! Maple Syrup

See? I knew that if I just stalled long enough there would eventually be something interesting to report about Hubby's Striped Sweater.

The maple syrup incident was on Sunday morning.

I was working on the ribbing for the front and had my stuff all over my love seat and the coffee table.

Hubby made French toast for breakfast. We were lounging around after eating.

Then I got up for something. Decided to take some dishes. Grabbed the wee pitcher full of maple syrup without looking/paying attention...

I was walking away when I glanced down and wondered why the pitcher looked like the syrup was recently poured...

Glanced back to see a puddle of maple syrup on the coffee table and a trail across my knitting and the charcoal ball (the tan ball was out of range)!

The keening noise I emitted sent Baru scurrying for the Puppy Fort. I think even Samson made himself scarce.

I grabbed a napkin and blotted it up. But I knew I wasn't going to want to knit with sticky yarn. I wrapped the ball around my arm to make a hank. Then I very carefully, with no agitation at all, rinsed the yarn and the ribbing in hot water in the kitchen sink.

I was going to do cold, which seemed safer, but Hubby pointed out it wouldn't melt the syrup away as effectively. Actually, Hubby thought I should zap it in the microwave, but it was on my Addi Turbos and I didn't want to waste time transferring it to scrap yarn.

I just held it under the faucet and let the water flush it. Then I carefully squished the water out and hung it on the towel rack in my bathroom.

It doesn't look like any damage was done. And it seemed pretty dry this morning, but I figured I give it the working day to finish off.

That's a Back
First, that picture is a total lie. It shows about half the back. As of, oh, Saturday night, the back is done!

Wheee! That took just over two weeks, judging by the start date I entered on my Ravelry project page. But I don't know if that takes swatching into account.

The stripe pattern we had decided in the store that day fell three colors short of the length I needed. So I finished it off with Navy, Charcoal, and Green.

Hubby has blue eyes. But they are the kind of blue eyes that will look green if he wears green. So I had wanted the sweater to finish on either the royal blue or the green.

Hubby was watching like a hawk when I laid it on the coffee table to take a final measure. He commented it was getting big. I agreed and said it was done. He took it (after I put on point protectors) and held it up to admire it in the mirror over the mantel. Then he sprawled on the couch and used it as a blanket for his chest.

It was all very cute.

I've started on the ribbing for the front now, which is how I managed to spill syrup all over it. It is moving along much better than the first round of ribbing did.

Speaking of Charcoal
I'm starting to worry about running out.

I'm sure that I have enough total yardage to make the sweater. It's having enough of the individual colors I'm worried about. Charcoal especially.

I have four balls, as it's my main color and that is the amount the original pattern called for.

But in messing with the color sequence we dropped a color and my main color is appearing more frequently than the main color in the magazine.

I have already used up one entire ball of charcoal just on the back. Then I dipped into the second one. Which means I'll need one and a bit for the front.

So I have to decided if I should just buy an additional ball. Or swap out one of the second balls of one of the other colors that might not get hit as hard. Like the royal blue.

I'm so concerned about this that I even sat down with the magazine and determined how many times each color appears in the sweater in the picture (which is only a size medium) and compared it to how many time I can expect each of my colors to appear. I was hoping this would help me decide how to rebalance my colors.

I thought if I could determine the pattern only calls for one 124 yard ball of a color that appears X times, then my one 136 yard ball should be fine.

Yeah, I don't think it helped much.

Although I'm really really sure I'm going to need more charcoal.

More Sweater Abuse
The sweater had a bit of a rough time over the weekend.

On Friday I had a fit of pique at Hubby and flung the sweater back off my lap and onto the floor! Where it landed half on Samson. Who didn't flinch.

I don't even remember what Hubby did to tick me off, aside from making me cook my own dinner. (If you ever had my cooking you would realize how cruel this was.)

As expected, Hubby gasped in horror and cried, "That's my sweater!" He dashed back into the living room to rescue it, protesting the entire time that it would be full of puppy hair now.

I, however, had a pretty good pout on by then and was impervious to his pleading. Until I realized that several stitches had popped off the needles! My ice queen facade crumbled in an instant as I snatched it back. Fortunately, no stitches ran.

Obviously we kissed and made up since I've started the front of his sweater and he's back to doing the cooking.

Rhinebeck: Stash Enhancement Solo

Finally, the post you've been waiting for!

Of course yarn was purchased.

But I was smart, I went in with a budget, cash, and a (vague) plan.

Solo
I knew for sure that if I didn't buy any other yarn I was going to stock up on Solo from Brooks Farm Yarn.

You might remember I was introduced to this yarn last year when Cynthia gave me a skein. I used it to make my Cropped Poncho. Well, I found it so lovely and squishy I decided I needed more.

When I was working on that uncooperative hat the other week, I was inspired with the idea of making a cabled sweater. A cardigan type that I could wear over other tops as a transition piece during the fall. Since I knew by then I was attending Rhinebeck, it made sense to get yarn for this potential sweater. (Especially since I'm making such awesome progress with that other cabled sweater I'm designing. [which would be none.])

I was thinking blue. Or maybe green.

As you can see I ended up with a glorious red. Turns out Brooks Farm is a very popular booth. I found a single skein in a nice green and asked whether there was more. The guy said what's out is it and there used to be 11 others just like it. sigh.

I considered getting one of their other yarns that they did have in green (or blue), but I had my heart set on Solo.

I ended up with six hanks in the NY18 color way. It is different than my poncho color. My poncho is dark red, with hinds of brown and dark orange. These new ones are more bright, scarlet red, with just a hint of orange. Trust me, they are different.

I had calculated that five hanks should be enough (they are 400 yards each) but there were six on the pegs and I didn't want some other poor knitter to go through what I just experienced with the pretty green one. Besides, what if I had stuck with the five and run out!?

Step Away from the Yarn
I got into the long line with my treasure. We were all chatting as we inched up.

Near the register was a rack of single skeins that were on sale. Some yellow caught my eye, so I switched the position of two skeins so I could get a better look at it.

It was a single hank of Solo. It was bright, sunny yellow and tangerine. It was like sunshine glinting off a glass of Tang.

I was mesmerized.

So I added it to my pile.

Then I reconsidered. It was only marked down $3. What would I do with a single hank?

I put it back.

Then I thought I could make another poncho and took it again. Then I put it back. But I had to give it a pet.

By now the lady behind me was laughing. I asked what she thought. She said I should get it, but pointed out she wasn't the best person to ask. I agreed that for that advice I should call my mom.

I took it again. Then I saw P from the store. She hadn't seen me yet. I held up the beautiful yellow skein and called, "Hey, P! What do you think?"

She told me to put it back. She said it as orange and she never saw me work with orange, so I obviously didn't like orange.

I put it back again. At which time the lady behind me snapped it up. Proving she was only encouraging me to get it so she couldn't! Oh, these games us yarn lovers play. At least it got a good home.

I also thought it was interesting that I looked at it and saw yellow, but P looked at it and saw orange.

Ah, drat, I really have to get to work. More yarn was bought, but will have to wait.