Category: Don’t you just love Tiffany’s?

There is so much for me to be thankful for, not the least of which is the world of blogs.  I have learned so much from reading them and from my own readers, and so I want to say thank you to this truly special community.  You are all little pieces of my heart.

Today after I do a little more cooking, Neal and I will head over to my oldest brother’s home.  Four-fifths of my family will be together, which isn’t bad considering how spread out we all are.  I’ll bring my Sock for Maggie, which I love knitting not only because it’s for a good cause, but also because using the yarn reminds me of friends who are far away. 

I hope that you have a festive day of feasting and that your loved ones are with you. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I took this not long after I got up this morning.  Nearly two hours later the grass is almost covered over.  I’m all giddy–just this weekend, as we sorted our Christmas card list, I told Neal that this is the first Christmas since 2000 that I’ve been truly excited about; I’m in the spirit in a big way this year.  Maybe it’s because I finally feel settled into life again and less uncertain about so much.  In any case, I’m thrilled by the snow, and as soon as I get my Treadmilling and a chunk of grading done, I’m going to go play in the snow.  Can you come over?  I’ll make us hot chocolate and maybe even Snickerdoodles when we come back in from playing.

Today is my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.  They are the most devoted couple I know; my mother adores my father, and he dotes on her.  While their lives together may not have always been easy, they have managed to handle obstacles with grace and to maintain their deep affection for each other.

Weren’t they beautiful?  Aren’t they still?

I love you, MB, and I hope you have a great day (ok, month.  She’s a Scorpio.  They have birth months, not days).

Mona, Mona, Mona.  I mean I’m going to make a hooked rug with a beaver motif.  I picked it up at Rhinebeck from Janet Conner.  I noticed a lot more rug hookers there this year, and as Sara and I had both tried (rug) hooking years ago, we decided to give it another shot.  I was leaning towards an ornament-sized project until I saw this.  It’ll look swell on my office chair.

So, yeah.  Rhinebeck.  The best part, of course, is meeting up with other bloggers.  Some, like Erin (pictured next to me) and Annie and Annie and Jess are pals whom I’ve met in real life before.  Others, like Jessica  (pictured on left) and Katy are bloggers I’ve known online, and I finally got to meet.  There were so many more people than the ones I mentioned, and the meet up was a blast.  A crazy blast.

As you can see, I wore my wedding stole.  I let others touch it and pet it, but they had to give it back.  Wanna see some of the stole love?

Here’s Concateknit giving the stole a whirl, then helped me
to i.d. some of the bloggers on my Bingo card.  When I saw Jess handing out Ravelry pins, I figured it was only fair to ask her to model, too.  A few strangers admired the stole, especially commenting on the color.  Next year I’m going to have to get some cards from Scout–she won a number of admirers at Rhinebeck!

I over spent this year, but I don’t regret a penny of it. I couldn’t sleep on Friday night; I was so excited to head out to the festival–it felt like Christmas to me, and I feel like it’s Christmas again when I pull out my new fibers and toys and play with them.  Baskets made by Desto
and Tina, designers and weavers from Ghana who live in the U.S. now and are teaching their craft to their daughter, were the hit of the event.  Here’s my basket filled with the goodies I purchased (click, of course, for bigness). 

The zippy bags are filled with an ounce each of crack  cashmere, I mean.  I was going to buy one, but when Linda Cortright shared the story of the nomad who raised the goats (his picture is on p. 87 of the Fall 2007 Wild Fibers issue–hello, cute nomad, I like your goat’s fur) and that this was the first time this cashmere was being offered in the U.S., and about the struggles the nomads faced, well, I felt like it was a moral obligation to buy a second ounce.  I really did.  The fact that this stuff is so soft that you don’t quite know when you’ve begun to touch it didn’t hurt, either. 

Well, that purchase (cashmere is, apparently, a gateway fiber) led me to lust for a new spindle so I could spin something right away in practice for the cashmere.  Erin subliminally coaxed me over to the Golding booth, where I bought a lovely light-weight Tsunami. I tried out my new spindle on the 4oz. of fiber that I’d purchased from Steam Valley Fiber–"Copper Penny," which has mohair, wool, and some glitz.  There’s a green merino/silk fiber in that basket, too.  That was actually the first purchase of the day–the purchase that opened the floodgate to my wallet.

That other wooden tool?  That’s a lucet.  I’ve seen Dave use his with great results, and I thought I’d give one a try.  Mine is made of beech wood from England, which appealed to me as that was my favorite tree (well, the weeping beeches) when I lived in Oxford.

Before we headed to the amazing Ravelry shindig, Annie, Blogless (not for long) Sara, and I went to Morehouse Farm Merino.  I can’t believe I lived less than an hour away from this place for so long and never visited it.  They’re closing their B&M shop and going strictly online, so I"m glad I got to see the shop–it was so much fun to paw the samples while sipping wine.   I picked up five skeins  each of a chocolate brown and mint green laceweight yarn.  They were $2 each, people! 

In my next post I’ll talk about the Ravelry meet up and a lovely gifty or two, and some animals.  I’ll tell you a secret :  shhh…I think I might start a yarn diet…again!  But I’ve got that feeling of gluttony, like after Thanksgiving dinner, and I totally have more fiber than I’ll use up any time soon.  I’m not ready for any commitment just yet, though.

This was taken on my honeymoon in May. I’ll probably look just as glowy and happy on Saturday, because, let’s face it:  fibery goodness can be orgasmic.  You know you think so, too.

Weather update:  partly cloudy, high of 70.  Bring layers, folks, and a change of foot garb.

I’m planning on being at the Ravelry party, and I’m tickled to think of all my bloggy friends I’ll get to see/meet in person! 

"…yes I said yes I will Yes."–Molly Bloom

Put on the socks that Dave knit from his hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn.  I love these socks so very much.  The fit is perfect, (and he didn’t even make them for me, specifically.  It’s magic.  They are magic.) and they feel so good on my feet.  I’ll say it again:  thanks, Dave.

If the magic socks weren’t enough to cheer me, get a load of this hand-spun yarn from the Cheeky Red Head.  I won it for donating to Craftlit.   CRH didn’t send the yarn all by itself, though; she included adorable, nay, beautiful stitch markers, too.  Thank you so much!!

Would you like to see what else I found in my mailbox of late?   I thought so.  This is the October installment of the Year of the Sock club from Erin.  She does rock the dyepot, don’t you agree?

My crisis of confidence has passed.  I spoke with my dissertation chair, and the things that were on my mind have been resolved.  Neal advises me to get a good night’s sleep when there is turmoil in my life.  It helped, as did a few beers on Saturday night.  Dancing with Blog-free Kim was also a stress buster.  I want to thank everyone for their kind comments.

I’m getting excited for Rhinebeck.  I don’t think my Lady of the Lake jacket will be done in time, but I’m making good progress on it.  I’ll post a current picture before the end of the week for you Blogger Bingo players. 

We’ve had a fun day together, and there are still presents to be opened.  Oh, how I love birthdays!!

This lack of communication among my toys tools is bumming me out.  I really want to show you pictures of my Sockapalooooza socks on my feet.  My pal had e-mailed me that she would be late with them, but that I’d understand why when she revealed herself.  Well, this week, Dani’s lovely Monkeys arrived with a packet of S.O.A.K. and a skein of her own hand dyed in shades of black and gray.  She got married this summer, too, and had a glamorous honeymoon trip in Belize.  The socks and yarn and sweet note were more than worth the wait!  Thanks, Dani!

But wait, there was more good mail this weekend.  Remember back in May when Erin directed her generosity towards me?  The first installment of her yarn club arrived, along with an adorable "We Rock the Dyepot" tote.  The colors of this yarn, "jewel", are so rich and yummy that I’m going to wind the skein into a cake and start a shawl with it today.  It’s too wonderful for my feet!

I feel pretty lucky to have had so much wonderfulness head my way in one week.  After my SnB debacle, in which I knit a whole lot before checking my gauge and had to rip out the start of the Cozy V-neck Pullover and now I’m doing gauge swatches, but may have to knit on 15s to make gauge (ok, I’m exaggerating, but just a little), these fantastic treats help me to keep my head on straight.

Cough*twentycommentstogo* cough. 

At about 2:00 this afternoon I received my new computer.  The tech guy kept the hard drive out of Phineas who is now just a shell of his former self.  Anyone have suggestions about what to do with the corpse?  I’m keeping the hard drive as there is some gadget I can get to be able to use it as an external drive.  Or something.

I just downloaded iTunes, and I am thrilled that my music from the old computer is appearing on this one.  Maybe others find this mundane, but it’s a little bit of a miracle to me.  As is the fact that all of the work on Phineas was recovered. 

My Vaio has a ruby red shell.  I just have to figure out a name, now.  I’m sort of crazy for Phineas as my computer name, but I don’t want to burden a new computer with an already-used name.  Ideas?