This project… started on May 28,2012, is now finished. It’s currently visiting the kitchen sink for a nice soak:

Glamour shots and more info tomorrow.

*Yesterday’s post didn’t happen thanks to a cat that was spewing like a geyser in my dining room. Poor thing – she is okay today.

I had an interview today for a job that I would love to have. All good thoughts, mojo, swinging chickens (thanks Lesley), prayers, etc are greatly appreciated

My laundry helper – he often tilts his head backwards to see what you are doing instead of just turning his head. Strange beast.

Yes, I have hit that point. I want to finish my color affection, blackberry cardigan, endpaper mitts, and watershed cardigan ASAP. Mormorio, which is another WIP can just hang out and be reward knitting – I have to have that done by the start of December for a KAL. (Thanks to Heather for correcting me on that!) There are so many more projects and so much more spinning fiber that is waiting to become yarn.

So project number one that I’m focusing on is my blackberry cardigan. I started this before Rhinebeck with the idea of finishing it so I could wear it during the festival, but I was sidelined with some cross-stitch nonsense. Anyway, the other night I cast off the back, so now only two fronts, two sleeves, and a button band to go!

Crumb: ARE YA SLEEPIN SIS?

Haley: GO AWAY.

Personally, we lucked out as we lost power for all of 30 seconds on Monday evening.  Our Sharon lost her power for over 4 days and it finally came back on at 4 am this morning. Our house was on a little island of electrical power – friends came to give their kids showers, and we were able to have hot cooked meals, fresh water, and heat while so m any others are going without.

I spent about 10 minutes in line for gasoline today – our county is now going to be rationing gasoline.  This shouldn’t be an issue for us as of yet because our township does not allow for gas stations to operate within its borders – so we have to leave the township and thus the county to purchase gasoline.

We were very lucky with our end result from Sandy and our thoughts and prayers are with those who are still dealing with the aftermath of this historical storm. Also, many thanks to the many crews involved with getting power back on in our area: PSE&G and all of the crews who came in from other states; to the crews that worked many many hours to get the trains back up for service in 4 days; and thanks to Governor Christie for putting politics aside and focusing on our state.

I went in looking for a nice bulky yarn for a tunic sweater eventually but never really found anything that I wanted next to my skin. So I wound up making two purchases, both spinning fiber.

First stop was a sushi roll batt from Into the Whirled.  It was nice to see Cris – saw her last at Maryland Sheep and Wool but not during the summer like in years past. 

Chromatic Composition on Falkland. I’ve spun from a few batts before but never from Cris. I can’t wait. I think I’m going to navajo ply this for a neat gradation yarn.

My second fiber purchase was from Cormo from Foxhill Farm:

I’m not sure if this will see a trip to the dye pot or not yet.

And that’s it! Hopefully in the upcoming days I’ll have a few FOs to talk about and of course a review of Sandy and a pattern/yarn combo that we did with Picnic Knits!

We’ll be following one of the recipes in this book that she’s had for years.  We even have the tart-master thing and everything else. I think we’ll be making potato & cheese, some cheese filled, and some sauerkraut ones (DH’s favorite).  The dry run will be the day after Thanksgiving and then we’ll make a bunch I think the weekend of Christmas. I am really looking forward to this – DH said he’d help too!

This year, the girls – Peggy, Sharon, and myself, drove up to Jessa Lu’s house to spend Rhinebeck weekend in her camper. Little did we know that Mother Nature had different plans for us. The rain started Thursday around 11 pm in the Plainsboro area and was a torrential downpour until about 1 pm on Friday. All of that rain also fell in Jessa Lu’s back yard where the camper had been living. Lots of rain in a short amount of time resulted in a camper that was sunk into the ground up to its axels and a stuck truck.  The camper has since been rescued and moved to higher ground, but 2012 Viva la booze camper was not in the schedule anymore.  Since Jessa Lu is the best hostess ever, we crashed on her floor the entire weekend! But anyway, onto the pretty photos!

It’s peak leaf time right now, this is one of many many many gorgeous trees on the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. Saturday is always the busy day:

But when you are spending time with awesome friends, the day goes quickly!

It was great to see people I only usually see at fiber festivals and to meet new people from Plurk (Hi Erica and Emily!) and it was great to spend time with my girls: Annie, JessaLu, Peggy, and Sharon!

I also got to see Heather and meet her friend Helen.

And the trees and leaves! Oh my! The only thing that could have improved the weekend would be a little more of a chill in the air – it was weird walking around with short sleeves on – that is usually the MO for Maryland Sheep & Wool.

It was a great weekend and I will share my measly 2 purchases tomorrow!