It's a helluva town....

Last weekend, as anyone knows, was Rhinebeck. I, being the adventurous knitting I am, decided that this was the year I would go. And so, I did. I drove down on the Friday with some people from Lettuce, and spent the night in a lovely house. On Saturday we drove to the sight and shopped our little hearts out, and then ate some delicious food. Then, I took a deep breath and asked them to drop me off at the Rhinecliff train station just outside of Rhinebeck. I boarded a train, and not two hours later I found myself in a very big city. New York City!

Now all this might have been entirely overwhelming had I not had someone very special looking out for me, my cousin Renata. Actually I had a little crew of people, including her roommates Julia and Julie (I know!) who didn't mind at all that I slept on their couch for three nights. My days were spent wandering about in Manhattan while the evenings passed knitting in Queens. Renata was working on her very first sock, so we turned the heel in stages over the weekend.

These are some of my very favourite pictures from the weekend, though I have to say there isn't much from Rhinebeck. My fingers were much to busy touching wool to touch my camera in any meaningful way.

Lulu

Toronto is currently grey and very blustery. What better way to spend it than inside with a terrible (yet entertaining) book, and some excellent knitting? This sweater is speeding along at quite the clip, I've got about 9 inches of the body done. Unfortunately it is going to go on hold for a week now, as I am going to take along some more compact knitting for Rhinebeck/New York City. We leave tomorrow! So much excitement!

Purple and Gold for the win

Like most knitters, fall is a busy knitting season for me, thought it always feels way busier than it should be. Or maybe I'm just never as prepared as I should be. At any rate, on top of holiday knitting, I also have a number of birthdays to contend with, one of which is my brother.

Not unlike many brothers, he is rather difficult to knit for. I was informed this summer that the red Koolhaas I knit him for Christmas was never worn, but not for any particular reason. Apparently the fact that I had knit it was enough to render it unwearable. It was made abundantly clear that he fit into the 'unappreciative' subsection of giftees. This was hard to hear, after all I had put in a good two days of work knitting the thing for him, and even let him pick out the colour. A knitter of less fortitude might have given up at this news, however I decided I would give it one last attempt. After all, I am his big sister and it is my job to be annoying, especially when it comes to gifts.

So I settled down and knit him a scarf a few weeks ago, and wove in the ends this morning. His birthday isn't until the end of the month, but the kid was home for Thanksgiving, so it needed to be given today. It's a basic 2x2 rib in alternating big and little stripes, in purple and gold.

This isn't just any scarf, it's a Wilfred Laurier University Varsity scarf. For my brother who is not just a student, but also on the varsity swim team. Jesse told me this weekend that he had to go out and buy the sweatshirt because he didn't own anything purple or gold and it was starting to get embarrassing. Now he has a scarf too!

I was a little worried, but in the end it was declared "actually sick" which translates to "probably going to be worn". Now he has something to keep him warm on the way to those 5am swim practices.


And the red Koolhaas? It was regifted to a friend who was looking for a hat. It is much happier keeping someone's head warm.

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Sometimes everything with knitting just comes together. I saw Kate of Kelbourne Woolens knit this sweater a couple of years ago and loved the sweater, but she only released the pattern this month in latest Vogue Holiday edition. As soon as I found out it was being released I started thinking of yarn options.

And I thought of the perfect combination! Nordique, from Veronik Avery's new St. Denis yarn. I knit a little dude from the accompanying magazine a few weeks ago, and I really like it. Denny and Amy helped me pick out a pale blue for the main colour, and then light grey, white and a dark blue for the yoke. The yarn isn't the softest, it's pretty sheepy, but very nice. I think it will soften up a lot in the wash. I whiped up the first sleeve in class on Thursday, and I'm almost halfway through the second. At this rate I might have another sweater for Rhinebeck next weekend!

Brownie Hawkeye

I went to the St. Lawrence Market today with the parents and picked up this little gem. It's a genuine Brownie Hawkeye! These camera's were hugely popular in the 50's and took 6x6 photos. The lens needs a bit of a clean, but other than that it's ship shape!


I also picked up a thimble to help with some hand quilting I'm doing. It will save my little fingers... Got to finish up the quilt before it gets too chilly!