SparkleShan

I set my self a budget for New York Sheep and Wool, because I already have over a 100 skeins of yarn and I really don't NEED anymore. But of course I had to snag a few select goodies. The two yarns on the left are sock yarns from Into the Whirled and the yarn on the right is a sock yarn from Dragonfly Fibers (my daughter picked this yarn out for socks for herself).  The little bag and the felted soap are my daughters (I can't remember the vendors).

If you are an avid knitter you have probably heard of New York Sheep and Wool ( http://newyorksheepandwool.com ) , also know as Rhinebeck. It is a two day fiber festival that takes place in Rhinebeck, New York. There are tons of fiber related vendors, selling yarn, spinning fiber, spinning wheels, etc. I have been knitting for almost 9 years and this was the first year I finally got to go this past Sunday. One of my local yarn stores (Madison Wool in Connecticut) organized a chartered bus trip to take us there. So glad I didn't have to drive! I actually got Emma to come with me and keep me company as I browsed around. We had fun petting yarn and watching the sheep dog demonstrations. They also had the cutest Frisbee dogs putting on shows. If I go again I will drive myself because I don't really need to spend 6 hours there and I would bring more money to buy more goodies.

This week I decided I wanted to work on my Boxy Sweater, that I literally started 3 years ago. It has been hibernating on and off in those 3 years (more off then on). It is knit with fingering weight and it is over sized, lots of stockinette stitch so it gets pretty boring. But I am buckling down and working on it because I really want to wear it this winter. It has been far to long in the making.

It's surprising the past few weeks I have been knitting exclusively on one project and not jumping around between projects. Don't get me wrong I still have about 6 to 7 projects on the needles, they have just been hibernating. After my mom saw that I knit socks she decided she wanted a pair. So I cast on a pair for her yesterday. I'm using the same pattern I used for the first socks (Go Your Own Way Socks), but these are a little bigger then mine, as she has bigger feet then me. I am using some vintage KnittInk Hand Dyed yarn that I got from the lovely dyer (who also happens to be a friend), in 2011. These skein is so lovely I am glad I finally decided to use it. And the color name is awesome, Thunder Cats in a Blender! I was hoping to have these socks done in time for Saturday night so I could give them to my mom as a birthday gift, but its not going to happen as I am not even done with half of the first sock yet. Here is my progress so far.

I finished my first pair of socks that I blogged about last week! I am so excited to add more knit socks to my small collection. They fit great and I am pretty pleased with how they came out. The only thing was that I did get small ladders from using the DPNs. Eventually I will trying knitting socks on two circular needles, as I have been told that helps to eliminate the ladders. But these are just for me and I can live with them. My feet are really tiny so it took me only about 8 days to knit the pair. I have already began plotting and planning more socks. Luckily Ravelry.com has a ton of patterns to choose from and I have about 50 skeins of sock yarn. Here are my first ever pair of knitted socks. Yay!

I have finished a few knitting projects since March that I will now share with you. I finally got my hands on a skein of Madeline tosh holi festival in DK Weight and I knit the Latu Hat with it. This colorway is so much fun and I have been trying to find it for a while. I took a trip to Knit New Haven (which is an hour drive from me) on the hunt for another yarn and they happened to have this one too, so of course it had to come home with me. I also finished my second Ishbel Shawl. This was only the second shawl I ever knit 5 years ago and it took me about a month and a half to finish. This time it only took me about two weeks to finish it. My cousin had twin girls in March and I had to knit them something using this awesome hand dyed Unicorn Poop Yarn from Sunrise Fiber Co. So I knit two Tiny Trees Baby Vests. I knit another pattern for the second time, the Hitchhiker Shawl using some awesomely bright hand dyed yarn from Atomic Blue. Last time I knit thi...

It's my first work in progress Wednesday since March and this is a good one. While I have about 6 projects on the needles currently, this week I have been working exclusively on one project. I am knitting my first ever pair of socks!! I have been knitting for almost 9 years now and I have been scared up until now to try socks. I have two pairs of hand knit socks that my friends have knit for me, but I want more. So I figured now was the time to learn, with the encouragement of my good knitting friend Sara, I cast on my first sock this past weekend and I finished the first one in three days! It was so much easier then I thought it would be! I stated out with a simple stockinette sock pattern that I found on the Knit Picks website ( Go Your Own Way Socks by Stacey Winklepleck). I am knitting the socks using Knitters Pride double pointed needles. I did get a slight ladder in the sock, so I think next time I knit a different pair of socks I will attempt to knit them on two ...

Again time and life have gotten away from me, and my poor little blog has gone neglected. In the last 5 months I have started a new job, started college classes and moved to a new house in a new town. So I guess I have some what of an excuse for not posting. I am hoping to finish out this year with a few more blog posts. I will be bringing back the Work in Progress Wednesday posts for my knitting and other craft projects that I am always working on and hopefully some new content too.