Last Day of Blogtober

It's the last day of Blogtober. I have enjoyed it immensely. I also have two finishes...

My first knit finish! Woo-hoo! I have made a square previously, but this is my first actual object! It is the Effect Hat by Steph Michaud for J. Knits. It was a cute kit, which I bought mainly for the bag it came in! The yarn is J. Knits Superwash Me-DK in Amesbury.

The second is mittens for my niece. They were made using Plymouth Encore and didn't not come out too great. But they are finally done, been working on them since last winter. They match a hat/scarf set I made her.....You can see that here Although I said it was Paton's Encore in that post, it is Plymouth Encore....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween, that celebrates. We got 3 trick or treaters. It gets worse every year, mainly because we don't have too many kids on my street, so noone hands out candy. Also my porch light is out. So I moved a lamp to the window, but still 3! I may as well not even try next year!

Tomorrow I wear my skeleton earrings in honor of El Dia de los Muertos.

Stitches East...

Holy Traffic Batman! For reasons only known to the Department of Transportation, on a weekend with something going on it the city, they decide to close two of the three lane highway going into the city. It was a freaking nightmare! And people were not allowing cars to merge over to the left. I finally just took an exit and trusted Stella, my GPS to get me there. With a few wrong turns, we eventually ended up at the Convention Center about 10:30.

I did some damage.....Last night I went through all the vendors in the market and wrote a list. I did not visit the vendors that I have previously bought from, except Holiday Yarns to get the bacon yarn. But I forgot to look for the Gnomespun. I did get the Firebird sock kit, as that is my ultimate sock goal.

Holidays Yarns was my first booth (which was good as they had only 3 skeins of the bacon left, they did find another in their tote - yeah me!), then a quick bathroom break and I was off and running....I went systematically up and down the aisles and checked vendors off my list as I went.

Next purchase was Bijou Basin. I got two skeins of the blueish teal yak/bamboo blend.
I had printed off a coupon, so got a deal. And she was nice enough to give me a bit of fiber for my class. I want to put together a display of different fibers for my students to feel. I got a bunch at Rhinebeck and hope to get more next week at Fiber Fest.

After feeling and touching my way through many vendors, I found Kitchensinkdyeworks. She was on my list. I bought the Petal Edge Scarf pattern and a skein of Seacell Merino Fine in Valencia for the scarf.


I checked out the rest of the vendors on my list. Stopped and said hello to Barbara at Sit and Knit and Mary and Maureen manning The New England Yarn and Spindle (my local LYS, right up the street). I also had to order some yarn from her, as I have to remake a baby sweater. I did stop by Creatively Dyed to show off my fingerless gloves and the Nook sock I made from the yarn I purchased last year at Rhinebeck. Diane took a picture, so it may end up on her blog.

Then I made my way back to Miss Babs. I knew I was going to spend some time and money here. She had just some gorgeous yarn choices. I eventually settled on Tierno, a handpainted alpaca and silk in Roasted Pumpkin for the Alhambra pattern that I also picked up. I also purchased a skein of Yummy in Moss and a skein of Mums in Windsor. I can't wait to try these yarns!









My Baggu bag was pretty full by then, but I stopped by Webs and picked up some Madelinetosh. My friend LoriNY raves about the Pashmina, so I picked up a skein of Norway Spruce. As it wasn't enough for the discount, I also got two skeins of Madeinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Well Water.

I'm not done. As this knitting thing is new and I go "whole hog" when I start something, I picked up some supplies too. A set of Hiya Hiya circulars, a set of Addi circulars, a set of Crystal Palace bamboo circulars and a set of Lantern Moon circulars. I also picked up a set of Lantern Moon straights. I had a list with me of what needles I had, as I picked up the patterns, I picked up the needles to go with them. I absolutely ADORE Lantern Moon crochet hooks, so I'm hoping to adore their knitting needles too. I also want to try a variety to get a feel of what brand I like. I'm a Bates over Boye brand in crochet hooks, or wood, if I have my choice.

I picked up three non-knitting items. I saw a pendant and fell in love. But I did not impulse buy. It was the last thing I went back and bought, however I also bought a pair of earrings. Then this ADORABLE sheepy mug. When I just unwrapped it now to take the pic, I realized there is a sheep inside too! Sorry for the craptastic pics on these, I just thought about taking them

So although I did buy a bit, it was mostly stuff that I had on a list. There was one vendor that I will wait to buy from at the Fiber Fest (spread it out, plus I get paid this week :)

The only other thing I would have bought was a Namaste bag, if there was a deal. I saw them only at one vendor. I have 3 of them and love the last one I got....

You can't take pictures inside the venue, so hope you enjoyed the yarny pictures. It wasn't the sunniest of days to take them....

More Yarn on the Way!

So tomorrow I will be heading to Stitches East in Hartford, CT. I'm not taking any classes, just wandering the market floor and buying yarn. I'm especially looking to get bacon yarn from Holiday Yarns. As I forgot to get it at Rhinebeck. That Fool's Gold is pretty nice, too. Think I might pick up a sock pattern and some Gnomespun yarn if they have some...How can you live without gnomespun yarn? (It would only be better if it was hobbitspun) I left that gem with my students today, that I'd be buying gnomespun yarn. They were quite intrigued. They can't wait to see the bacon yarn either...

I was going to go after school, but plans changed. It's okay, gives me more time tomorrow to wander...and I have a free ticket thanks to the Ravelry gift bag!!!!

I was going to come home and organize my stash some more and figure out what else I wanted. I think last time I was intrigued by some kettle dyed yarn, but didn't get it...Also I found String Theory last year that was scruptious...I just like to feel it, as I haven't used it yet...But I fell asleep instead and woke up stupid.....

I think I'm awake enough now to do some stashing.....Or watch Lord of the Rings again....

A Whipped Up FO

I normally dress up for Halloween to go to school. This year, I've decided I'm not going to, but I am going to wear black and orange. I have a bunch of tacky jewelry and socks to go with it.

So I ran out today to get an orange shirt, as I threw away my orange turleneck last year. I also picked up a black one. Then I ran up to my local LYS and bought a skein of Plymouth Encore in orange and I whipped up a simple hat and fingerless gloves to wear tomorrow. I thought about putting Halloween buttons on them, but decided I'm going to keep them plain...

I think I'm going to dress all in black with orange accessories (except shoes, I don't have orange shoes, but I have orangey brown ones). I have to wear a pair that will show off the socks, either the jack o'lanterns or the dancing skeletons...

Sorry for the craptastic photo. It is 9:30 at night....I started this all about 5:30, with breaks for dinner and to read a few posts....

Blogiversary Winner!

It is number 10, Ivana, who is in Zagreb. I've been to Zagreb. Let me see if I can find a pic of me in Zagreb..Thank you everyone for playing!






Here is me, circa 1987 in a doorway in Zagreb. See those boots? I got those at Favya or maybe Little Red Shoehouse, I LOVED those boots!!! I have no idea where this is, I did have a picture on top of a hill by a church, but it wasn't in the album.






This is "Mary," Vladimira. She was an exchange student that lived with us for 10 months. It was senior year, we had a fantastic time! Then I took a year off before college and I went to visit her in Jastrebarsko, Yugoslavia (now Croatia). I spent two months there. This is a bar in Jastrebarsko that we went to every weekend and sometimes more often. It was one of the best times of my life and I'm so glad I went! We are still in touch, but infrequently....I just emailed her again....

Congratulations Ivana and thanks for letting me walk down memory lane....

You Capture - Autumn

You Capture for this week is Autumn. Since I live in the glorious Northeast, this means color, chrysanthemums, leaves and needles on the driveway, early morning fog...

Rocktober! and Sweets...

Here's a video of my students singing Rocktober...they are going to perform this next week. They are usually into it a bit more, although J was very into it. I did not film faces..... I hope this works....
I love this song and sing it with them. Our awesome music teacher lost his classroom this year due to the size of our building. So he is on a cart and is still awesome!

I went shopping for this today:
I will be sending 60 packets off to Germany.

You shouldn't go shopping when you're hungry, I brought home this:
and a Hostess apple pie that I ate after the potato sticks....I love snowballs, but rarely get them. If you don't know what it is, it's a chocolate cake (with cream inside) covered with a marshmellow outside and coconut. Hmmm, hmmm good!

The Hubs brought me home another one of those desserts and this time I took a pic before scarfing it...


It's been a junk food day...happens once a month. Luckily for me, it only happens one day a month...I had a Snickers bar for lunch, as I did not like my lunch...I think I'm set on sweets for awhile, I did not eat the Snowballs yet...

What I'm Working On

I'm never together enough to do Wip-it Fridays, since most of my crafting is done on the weekends.

This weekend I worked on two projects: My first knit project, The Effect Hat by J. Knits. I have 14 more rounds, but I'm on the decrease. Somehow the stitch count is a little wonky, but I'm just going with it...I think it was easier to read knit patterns since I read patterns for crochet, but I know something went wrong a couple rows back, but I'm just going with it. I'm not skilled enough to figure out what it was and honestly, there are no glaring holes, so just gonna leave it...

Also on the hook is Deidre's scarf. I bought her yarn from Three Irish Girls last year in the colorway Aiden (her son's name) and she has been waiting on the finished scarf. I started scarf/shawl from Drops. I'm fudging the edges, because I didn't like theirs. I also started over, as it was not quite big enough... I am now 6 rows in and really liking the effect.
Oh and I got caught up on Sanctuary watching the rest of season 2 and the beginning of season 3.

You Capture - Orange

I am going to participate in "You Capture" a photo blogging carnival. Which I just learned is different than a meme, which is a list of questions.

So here are my photos of orange, which I took all at school, except the back of Winggirl's hat.





There was alot of orange at school. I don't know how to do cool effects and stuff yet, but I will eventually learn....

Too Cute...

This is my niece, my winggirl, my companion, my yarn pusher, the person I make the most items for excluding babies...how cute is she?? She is modeling the new hat and keyhole scarf I made her. Both were designs that I made up as I went along. I think she looks adorable in the hat. She also makes me laugh, she's such a goofball.

Her brother's birthday is on my blogiversary. I think we are going to go to NYC at some point to celebrate it. I took him to NYC for the first time a couple years ago. We stayed over and went to see The Phantom of the Opera, his first Broadway show. I've taken all of my nephews to NYC for a day...Next up is my nephew Christian and then it'll be the winggirl's turn...I love spending time with them...

If she had been with me at Rhinebeck, I would have come home with loads more!!! Dare I take her to Stitches East (20 minutes away) or The Fiber Festival of New England (about an hour)????

People I Met At Rhinebeck

See that table, behind the man standing up.....those are some of the fun people I met at Rhinebeck this year. Now I don't go on Ravelry and chat too often, but I have now met a bunch of Ravelers. This was taken at the Rav party, which was the reason I stayed over this year. It was a fun party. I went with Alice from Iowa. I had posted on a Rav blog that I was driving by myself if anyone wanted to carpool. She took me up on my offer. We went together to Rhinebeck on Saturday and then to the party Saturday night.

We eventually got there. But it did look like this for a bit...

We finally found the party and parked, after following an RV around and around and coming back to where we started. There was a bus running, but the line was long, so we decided to walk. It was cold, it was dark and it was a kinda long walk.....
Eventually we saw this:
and then we were there Luckily we walked or we would have missed out on a goody bag. A bus pulled up right after we got there and the goody bags were gone after that...

There were alot of people at the party that I recognized and I said hi to several people. But I kinda did my standing in the corner impression. I didn't mingle alot. Which normally I wouldn't have a problem with, but for some reason just didn't feel like it. I was also trying to spot Bingo players and did see a few and had them sign my Bingo card.

Eventually I went and sat with the group from the hotel. I didn't want to intrude, as they are all part of a forum on Rav, and were visiting each other, but I was invited to take a seat.

This table is filled with people from a SnB that I have attended twice. I met "WifeMomKnitter" through blogging. Their SnB's are alot of fun, but about 45 minutes away, so I won't attend too often.

For some reason I didn't take any pictures of or with people I met, hmm...but the roll call for the weekend was: Maureen (from my local Knit Night), Gale Zucker (I'm reading a book she did the photos for and hooked up with her through her blog), Samantha and her posse (she's local and I met her through her etsy shop and Rav), Ann I met her last year at the noon Rav meetup, The "hotel" girls: Abbie, Melissa, Gingy, Liz, Texaspurlgirl, Jennifer and Alice. I know that there were a few more....Doug, not one of the girls, but the husband of one of them.
I also ran into NutmegKnitter, who is part of the SnB group, but was traveling with a friend....I also met several people through playing Rhinebeck Bingo......Maybe next year, I'll be a bit more social...

Sandy and the 1000 Paper Cranes: 98. Fancy

Sandy and the 1000 Paper Cranes: 98. Fancy

I have been thinking about photography lately. Now I don't think I'll ever buy one of those big expensive cameras with all the gadgets. That's too much for me. But I'd like to take nicer and better pictures. In fact, on Monday, I downloaded over 400 pictures I had on my camera. Mainly because I did not have a computer for awhile and just left them there. So today I stumbled on some great blogs about photography.

The one linked above is a fantastic idea! I would love to use this in my classroom. My students discovered an origami book in my room last week and have been making tons of birds and it has been driving me CRAZY!!!!! So I'm thinking to channel this...maybe start off small in our school community. They make cranes for students/adults who they see in the building are in need of a crane and then move it out into their community some how....They live in the poorest district in the state and it really could use some love.....

Hyde Park

So this year I took a long weekend and stayed at "Rhinebeck" until Monday. I really stayed in Poughkeepsie. On Monday after leisurely laying in bed, I got up and lugged all my stuff out to the car.

I headed north and went to Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt's home. It was a great visit and very interesting. I couldn't take any pictures inside, but the park was very pretty, too...The house was originally a factory that she turned into a house. There is also another house called Stone Cottage on the property, but she let some friends live there...












Then I continued up Route 9 and stopped at "Hyde Park," the Vanderbilt Mansion. I have been to many mansions, including the Newport ones. Although this is not one of the largest I've seen, it's setting was nothing short of spectacular!!!!!! I decided not to tour the mansion, as I was tired by this time, but I walked around the park...



The front lawn
The view over the Hudson.









The House









Another view over the Hudson and the front drive. I just went through two massive gates...

Llama Limbo

On Sunday when I went back to Rhinebeck, I caught the Llama Limbo in one of the barns. 4-H students use this as a training tool for the llamas and alpacas. In this demonstration, they allowed kids from the audience to participate. This little girl led it with Lolly the Llama. Lolly is about 15 years old. He was a rescue, so they are unsure of his complete background.


The video is too big for Blogger to upload, so here is a link to it at Photobucket, if you are interested.

Some more random pictures from Rhinebeck: