Now, Rhinebeck, This Time I Mean It

Well, I only rode the bike for five minutes last night before my legs were done. Hurmph. I mean, yes, better than nothing, but not by much. I had missed a few days of riding recently, what with the Bruins game Thursday, the attending exhaustion Friday, and the cramps on Saturday. I did get back on it on Sunday, not for that long, but I don't want to lose what little momentum I have. Still, those legs, ow. I do stretch before and after riding, but for whatever reason, some days are harder than others*. At least the sock is coming nicely, past the heel decreases (in two months of biking time, but hey, whatever).
*Have to agree with my aunt's suggestion that the seat might need either cushioning or replacing. Add that to the to-do list.

I did get to bed around 10 last night, not too-too late, but I've still been really tired today. As I was saying to someone recently, "Work full time, get enough sleep, have any sort of life: pick two."

On to a happier topic: Rhinebeck and the yarn thereunto appertaining! I was amused to read on the Yarn Harlot's blog that she "fell down" at the Fiber Optics booth (swiping her credit card on the way), since that's where my friend and I saw her, in my only celebrity sighting of the weekend. Come to that, there aren't that many knitting celebrities I would know on sight, so I guess I should be glad I saw the one I did! Other sightings of interest included more than one man in a kilt; I saw at least two different ones on Saturday, then on Sunday saw one that might have been a third, or might have been a repeat.

While on the topic of men and Rhinebeck, on Sunday afternoon, we sat for awhile on the benches opposite buildings B and C, and had a nice chat with a man there who was knitting an interestingly constructed sock. The way people stopped to ask him what he was knitting reminded me of a story in one of the Yarn Harlot's books, where she described biting her tongue while people gushed over her friend Ken and his garter-stitch knitting project, while ignoring her and her lace shawl. Gender politics in knitting, whoa; it is interesting to observe. There are absolutely male knitters, but they were vastly outnumbered at Rhinebeck, and a number of the men who were there were in the camp of the man who complained to my friends as they walked past him that he just wanted to go home, but "she" wasn't done (and also that "she" had claimed she didn't need to come, but he knew she wanted to, so he figured go Saturday, so he could watch the game in peace on Sunday).

Other random notes: the moon on the way home was huge and awesome to see; also, we saw a cloud shaped just like the USS Enterprise, which was unexpected. And a few notes to remember for next year: for the love of your sanity, either stop requesting library books by mid-September, or freeze the holds until the traveling is over; also, it's a good idea to visit the stash before going to Rhinebeck, just as a what-do-I-already-have refresher.

Now, yarns!

All that I got from Socks That Rock are Mill Ends, as I mentioned. On Saturday, a yellow-brown-gold lightweight and a medium-bright blue heavyweight, and on Sunday, two darker blue heavyweights. Will they all be socks, or will the blues aspire to something larger? Time will tell.

When I stepped into the Bittersweet Woolery booth on Sunday, the man working there, noticing my Sheldon t-shirt, said, "Dave Kellett is the nicest guy," and told me about meeting him at a convention. Then he pointed out my shirt to his wife, who told me that after Sheldon had that knitting storyline, they told him to put it on a t-shirt, because the knitters would buy it. I thanked her, both verbally and by buying a skein of yarn (no hardship); I bought a skein from them last year, and haven't used it yet, but it's damn nice yarn and I doubt I will regret the purchase.

Oh, you want to see it?

I know you're shocked: blue! Get ready for more.


Also, by the way, while I was in that booth, I found myself next to a knitter wearing her own Tardis shawl, which was fun. Since I wore mine to Rhinebeck last year, I wasn't expecting it to be a big deal this year, somehow, but over the course of the day, it got several compliments, and two different people asked if they could take a picture of it, including one woman whose teen daughter lurked in the background in an agony of embarrassment--and interest.

Next skein (this is in order of how I photographed them, not bought them) is this lovely blue-and-green skein of blue-faced leicester from Misty Mountain Farm. So soft!

After that, a lovely tonal green skein of alpaca-merino-tencel (60-20-20) from Snowshoe Farms that just wouldn't be put down.

Next, I decided that although I wasn't going to splurge on more mink yarn this year, I would try something else from Grinning Gargoyle, and got a lovely skein of her Seda Sock, which is 50-50 silk and wool. The colorway is called gun metal, but I think bright denim would work, too.

It amuses me that I bought an unknown-to-me yarn from Good Karma Farm the weekend before my week of extreme good karma. They're from Maine, and it's 100% wool in, I'm sure you are shocked, not blue!

Well, there's a little blue in there, but hardly like my fetish color.

The next one also isn't; one of my friends wanted to get more of a nice bamboo-wool-silk blend (52-43-5) that she'd gotten from Maple Creek Farm before. Since she was wearing the little shawl she made from it, so pretty, and had nothing but praise for its wear and non-itchiness, and since I liked other fibers from them, I followed her lead.

Next, the skein I mentioned that I bought from the trunk show Saturday night. The line is called Spencer Hill, and she uses all natural dyes, so I don't know how on earth she got some of those colors, they were amazing (the lighting wasn't great in the room, so I didn't take pictures). For me, I went with a soft lovely green.

Not quite as much green as blue purchased this year, but a close second, I think.

I mentioned before that my last purchase at the festival on Saturday was a skein of Briar Rose that I couldn't put down. This is it.

Technically, I did put it down for a moment, as I was going to be responsible and take a picture of the label and think it over ... but then I picked it up again in a fit of non-buyers-remorse, and that time, it clung. It's alpaca-merino-silk (50-30-20) and just delectable. Squish, squish.

I have knitting updates as well, but they will have to wait. Why am I so damned tired? Dunno, but I am. Enjoy the pretty pictures!