Home from SAFF. It was awesome. Unfortunately, I woke up yesterday with the unholy mother of all colds (I’m actually worried it might be the flu). It was bad enough that I didn’t think I’d be able to finish the drive home yesterday. I was afraid I’d have to get a hotel room for the night. However, my knight in shining armor (aka hubby) came to my rescue. He took the train down to Richmond and drove the last two hours home with me. I love him.

I’ll catch y’all up as soon as my sinuses start to behave again.

Sitting here on Turtlegirl’s couch, posting pre-SAFF. Yay!

This is Storm Moon Knits’ Twilight Sock in “Mandragora” that I picked up from her at Stitches East. It’s gorgeous stuff.

OK, first things first - Alke asked about the purpose of the box I was carrying in that first Rhinebeck picture. It was on its way to the Great Adirondack Yarn Company booth, because they volunteered to act as a dropoff spot for contributions to my Hats for Alex project. Between the box, MaryBeth Temple’s collecting at the Ellen’s 1/2 Pint Yarns booth, people who tracked me down, and what I’ve gotten in the mail in the last week, the current tally for this year is…

291 hats!!!!That’s right - we’ve officially made the goal of 250 I set for this year! Thank you all so much for making this project a success! And don’t forget - you can still get in on Weezalana’s contest if you get three hats to me by the end of October.

As far as the rest of the weekend, it was so amazing. I’m not sure I can really put it into words. There were so many people I’ve wanted to meet for so long (including some who I didn’t recognize at first… sorry about that, RosiG! I blame the yarn fumes for that…), and some I’d met before who I was thrilled to see again. The food was incredible - we found apple cider doughnuts that were SO yummy, some of the best hot cocoa I’ve ever had, the obligatory fried and French artichokes, fried pickles, and fried garlic cloves. I was pretty well-behaved on the fiber front - I bought one more hank of the purple alpaca/silk that I bought from Ellen’s Half-Pint at Stitches so that I have enough to make an Icarus shawl, and I bought four hanks of Brooks Farm Solana to make Cherie Amour. And that’s it. (Well, ok, I also bought an amazing handwoven basket, a curly purpleheart lucet, and some matryoshka stitchmarkers, plus a couple of dragonfly buttons, but that was all the yarn I bought.) And I didn’t buy any fiber at all - I’m not allowed until I actually get through some of what I already have. Here’s hoping I can be that reserved at SAFF next weekend…

I’ll get to the recap soon (I hope - I’ve got to prep to head down for SAFF!), but I uploaded the pictures Kris took this weekend to Flickr.

(Click on the picture to go to the photoset)

What an amazing weekend. So many awesome people, such fantastic weather. Such fabulous yarn and fiber. Loved it.

Well, what else should I call it? It’s “Disco Lights”, after all!

The Tilli Tomas Disco Lights in “Ruby Wine” for the Twilight Capelet. It’s a lovely deep red, slightly variegated (more like a kettle-dyed than a true variegated)

Happy Friday, and if you’re at Rhinebeck, look for me! Come say hi! I look like this:

Although generally without the horns (tempted as I am to pack them), and I won’t be wearing RennFaire garb. I’ll wear the Charlotte’s Web shawl on Saturday, and the Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl on Sunday. I’m hoping to be at the Ravelry/Blogger meetups, so you can probably find me there. (Oh, and the dragonflies are the henna tats I got with Amanda that day. Mine never darkened, though, so that’s all I have of them. Until I decide to get them on a more permanent basis, that is. :D )

Got some pictures tonight when Kris got home from work.

And seriously - this pattern is ridiculously addictive. I’m so in love with it, and as soon as I pulled with one off the blocking wires, my first thought was “Oh my God, it’s awesome. Amanda picked FAB colors!” The second? “I need to make another one.”It’s a sickness, I swear.

The deets: from neckline to hem, it’s BMFA STR Lightweight in Peaseblossom, Titania, Fire on the Mountain, Firebird, and Knitty Rocks. I did 2 repeats of the single color sections, and one of the 2-color sections until I got down to the Firebird. I did 1-1/2 repeats of the single color sections of Firebird and Knitty Rocks because I was concerned about running short. I’m not positive, but I think I made the right choice.

As you can see, it’s HUGE. I’m 5′9″-ish, and it’s wider than my armspan. And clearly, this is the way to deal with the issue of triangular shawls acting as an arrow pointing at your butt - just make it long enough that it goes right past your butt and points at your knees. :D

But yes, I’m actually posting two days in a row!

Since I finished up CW2*, I started on the Twilight Capelet last night while watching Dancing With The Stars (Yes, I’m watching again. I’m just not doing the recaps. Although I am totally loving Sabrina Bryan. It’s her season if she wants it.). By the time I went to bed, I had finished 8 of the 18 rows. I <3 crochet…

This is where it was as of this morning, with one more row completed:

And a nice closeup of the stitch pattern:
The Tilli Tomas is really lovely to work with. And I love the sparkle from the sequins. I’m planning to wear it as part of my Halloween costume, and then I’m going to have to convince Kris to take me out somewhere that I can wear it again, because this needs to be worn, not stuck in my closet!

*Modeled photoshoot to follow after Kris gets home, I hope. You might get posts THREE days in a row. Plus Friday’s YPF post! :D

… *whoooooooooo* There. That should get the dust off this puppy.

As it was so subtly pointed out to me by someone on Googlechat last night, it’s been two weeks since my last blog entry. I didn’t plan for it to go that long, but sometimes life has other plans, you know?

So, since we last spoke, hubby turned 34 (Yes, he’s two weeks younger than I am. And never lets me forget it.), my lovely SP figured me out and received her last package, and the hat count for this year has reached (drumroll, please) 227! That’s right - we’re only 23 away from reaching the goal!

Thanks to the generosity of Ellen’s Half-Pint Farm and Great Adirondack Yarns, there will be TWO places at Rhinebeck for people to drop off hats. Mary Beth Temple will be signing her book The Secret Language of Knitters from 1-3 at the Ellen’s booth (building 26, booth N) both Saturday and Sunday, and has volunteered to collect hats. If you miss MBT, you can stop by Great Adirondack Yarns (building 22, booths 2 and 3) anytime to drop off hats - I’m bringing them a box for the hats. I can’t thank these ladies enough for helping me out with this project.

Oh, and do you remember this? Charlotte’s Web V2.0? Started on 9/26, and I finished the knitting yesterday. It took me some searching to find an edging I liked, but I finished that at 3-ish this morning (yeah… couldn’t sleep, so I kept crocheting). Here’s where she stood as of this morning:

And now?

All pinned out on my blocking board, happily drying so I can wear her at Rhinebeck this weekend  (The colors are a bit better in the first picture, because the blocking one is still wet). So yes - if you’re a Blogger Bingo-er and I’m on your card, you can look for Charlotte’s Web on Saturday or the Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl on Sunday. My first CW about doubled in size when I blocked it, because I blocked it pretty hard - I needed it to grow. This one I am not blocking nearly as hard. I doubled the number of repeats in the solid sections of the first three colors, and did 1-1/2 times the repeats on the last two (I was concerned I might run out if I doubled all five colors). Fresh off the needles, the top edge measured about 66″ across. Pinned out, it’s about 90″ (that picture shows it folded over - it’s too big for the board otherwise). I’m really happy - I wanted it to be big. It will be great to wrap up in.I got a lot of work done on the shawl this past weekend because it was Stitches East. My friend Stitchcounter came up from Florida for it again this year, and we had a great time. We both had classes Thursday afternoon and Friday morning and afternoon, and we hit the Market Thursday night for the preview, Friday after class, and Saturday afternoon. Wanna see what I got?

Thursday night:

BMFA Socks That Rock lightweight in Oregon Red Clover Honey - 5 hanks (with apologies to anyone else who was looking for that color.) It’s going to become Spanish Dancer, once I get myself geared up for a 401-stitch provisional cast-on and a ruffle that ends up with (gulp) 3256 stitches by the bindoff. The Tilli Tomas Rock Star in Ruby Wine is going to become the Twilight Capelet. We were standing by the Tess’ Designer Yarns booth when something caught my eye in the Dreamweaver booth. One of the women was wearing the capelet in the loveliest peacock blue-green color (I think it was Jade). I considered getting the same color, but I just loved the Ruby Wine, so I bought that and the pattern.Friday:

Having chatted with the absolutely lovely ladies at Just Our Yarn on Thursday night, we knew we had to go back there on Friday. Their yarns are gorgeous, and they had a kit for a Maple Tree Shawl that was just stunning - that’s two hanks of 100% Tencel and the beads on the right. And B and I both succumbed to their cashmere laceweight (the blue-green on the left), along with a pattern for it.Saturday:

OK, this was my slightly misbehaving day. Until Saturday, I stuck to my goal of not buying anything without a planned project for it (even if I may have only discovered those projects when I found the yarn). We stopped once again by the Neighborhood Fiber Co. booth, because Karida is just too cute, and her colors are SO gorgeous. I picked up some Studio Sock yarn in “Foggy Bottom” for Kris, because it’s almost Penn State colors, and one hank each of the Loft and Victorian Bulky in “Mt. Pleasant” to make a Scribble Lace scarf for me. (Karida names her colors for neighborhoods in DC). I also stopped at the Celtic Knot/StormMoonKnits/Eleanor Francis Designs booth to check out SMK’s sock yarns (gotta support the fellow Ravelers!), and picked up 2 hanks - one in “Mandragora” for me, and one in “Rockabilly Blues” for Kris. I was bummed to miss out on the “Let There Be Lips”, but I’m hoping she’ll have more sometime soon. And I had to stop by Ellen’s Half-Pint to say hello and thank her for letting MBT collect hats. And I succumbed to some really awesome baby alpaca/silk in purple. I need to double check the yardage, but that *might* end up being Icarus. I also (under the nefarious influence of B, Annemarie, Jas, and Sharon) found those awesome dragonfly earrings. Aren’t they gorgeous? (I have a bit of a thing for dragonflies. If/when I get another tattoo, that’s what it’s going to be.)The best part of Stitches, though, was totally the people. I’m going to save that for another post, though - I need to sit down and make the list of everyone so I don’t forget who I met. Because, erm… I’m a little fried still. :D

So, yes. That’s what’s been going on since my last post. I’m going to make every effort to blog more regularly, but with Rhinebeck this weekend, and SAFF next, well, I might not be quite back just yet. :)

But really, there is nothing to be ashamed about in plugging this.

The lovely Aimee of Fairie Knits (who I will be meeting at SAFF!  Yay!) is doing the Walk to Cure Lupus, and she needs your help.  Her goal is to raise $5000, and she’s about halfway there.  So, if you can spare a couple of bucks, go help a fellow yarnie do some good.

What’s in it for you?  A kick-ass array of prizes from an amazing bunch of knitters.  WendyKnits patterns…  Turtledaddy sock blockers… Signed copies of books from the Yarn Harlot and Crazy Aunt Purl… gorgeous bags and yarn…  Seriously - she has some amazing prizes.  Go look!  And then donate what you can.

The walk is this Saturday, so don’t wait!  Help her out!