Happy Halloween!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Halloween. Since I have no crafts of my own to show off, I am going to let my nepotism run wild and lead you over to my sister's blog, so you can see the Halloween costume she made for my adorable niece. She's just booo-tiful!!! Sorry needed to throw a Halloween pun in here somewhere.

Really, between having a crafty mom and auntie the kid is pretty lucky.

Rhinebeck!!!

I am back from my trip to Rhinebeck with my friends Ariel and Jenny and it has taken me a few days just to rest and recover before being able to get to the computer to post. For those unfamiliar with this event of fiber-y goodness, the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival, it takes place in Rhinebeck, NY, so hence it is just referred to as "Rhinebeck". A fact that kept confusing Jenny who could not comprehend how anyone could mention the word Rhinebeck and not be referring to the wool festival.

The whole event was truly a feast for the senses. The Hudson Valley area of NY in autumn is just gorgeous.


Then throw in the smells and tastes of fair food: fried dough, chicken pot pie, fudge, maple syrup cotton candy (yummy!), all that plus they had wine and cheese tastings. Really people! Yarn and cheese, does it get any better?

But most of all there was yarn, fabulous, colorful, soft, roll around naked in, yarn. There were just buildings and buildings of vendors with such pretty things to touch and see. Most of the yarn was from small farms and independent dyers. I think I was pretty restrained in my shopping but did add to my stash with absolutely no idea what I am going to use some of this for and I don't care! I don't usually buy without a specific project in mind so I think this was really good for me.

Saturday night was the ravelry party and I think someone said there were nearly 700 people there! We initially were way early so we stopped at a local diner for an amazing burger and chocolate milkshake. So we ended up getting to the party a bit late but we did get goodie bags! Since it was so very chilly we took refuge in one of the tents with heaters and hung out with the wonderful folks of the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm.

Diner


Ravelry cupcakes

Now for the photos you are really waiting for....yarn!!!!

Socks That Rock

Alpaca light fingering weight, the softest thing ever! I literally cradled it in my arms and stroked it as I waited to pay for it. I have adopted it as my new pet and I think we are just going to sit on the couch and watch tv together. Far less maintenance than a cat or bunny.



Lluxury Llama, the only thing I bought with a specific pattern in mind


Best bargain of the day, this 100% wool cranberry fingering weight heather with blue flecks that I figured had to have something wrong with it since it was so reasonable!



I finally found a cute vase to show off the colorful needles my grandma gave me.

A Harlot in Church

I have to say the new fiber guild in Boston, Common Cod Fiber Guild, has started off to a very good start. Last month the inaugural speaker was Franklin Habit. Very funny and started knitting while in college in Boston (fine, Cambridge) so bonus points for that.

And last night I got to see The Yarn Harlot. While I will admit to not being one of her more obsessive fans (I read her when I remember to, not religiously on a daily basis - I save that for Crazy Aunt Purl) I have to say if you ever get a chance to see her then go, do it. She is so very funny, she says "arse" a lot and talks all canadian and stuff and brings a group of really talented knitters together. One woman had a lace shawl made with her own handspun that was so fine and beautiful and of such a gorgeous color. As one of my friends put it, " If I made that I would just sit around naked all day and wear just that." Did I mention that The Harlot was speaking in a church? This all just gets me more excited to go to Rhinebeck this weekend and see all the goodies peoplehave made and fondle lots and lots of yarn. And there will be bunnies! But I am not talking home no matter how cute and soft they are.

Sorry these photos aren't the best, lighting in a church is apparently not focused on picture taking.

Ariel and Anna

Signing

With Coffee

Fruit of the Loom... well, needles...

I like to think I am pretty savvy. I have a healthy cynical streak that keeps me from falling for internet scams, magic cure-all pills and get rich quick schemes. But I will admit when I've been played. Oh yeah, and by a master manipulator at that. I got played by a four-year-old.



I gave my niece one of my felted pumpkins at dinner the other night. She adored it and could not stop playing with it; hugging it, admiring it and in one case looking like a chicken laying an egg with it. At that point I was literally in tears laughing so hard. But it was not until the next night that I fell into her trap.



This time we are at my sister's house and my niece is serving us pie from her pie shop. (Imaginary pie payable with imaginary money. I tried to pay in hugs and it was a no-go, she's a shrewd business-owner). So she serves me a special new pie flavor she's made up, Pumpkin-Oreo (I had knit her an Oreo in the past so she made an imaginary pie of just Auntie Sarah knits.) So I innocently ask her "Would you like me to make you other knit foods?" She replies "I loooooooove when you knit me things" with a smile that could melt the polar ice caps. That was it, I was a goner, it was like in The Grinch when his heart grew 3 sizes that day...

So really I had no choice to start making fruit (good pie-fillings) in a knitting frenzy. I figure by the time the holidays roll around I will be able to stock her toy kitchen and pie store with a Whole Foods worth of play food. For pattern details check out my ravelry projects.

Goats On Film

For those of you who are Duran Duran fans and are wincing at my title of this post, I'm sorry.

Recently I got the chance to visit the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm . Home of the first yarn CSA and some super cute goats. For those who are unfamiliar with CSA concept, you buy a share of the yarn and then get a portion of the fiber at "harvest" time. Susan the Shepherdess is so cool and it's just an amazing concept I was forced to buy a skein of yarn for myself on my visit (photos to come) I am not a shareholder but wouldn't a share make an awesome birthday present (hint, hint for any family members reading along).

Also about a month ago I saw a mention on one of the many craft blogs I read about the Intel Need A Tech Makeover Contest. I actually forwarded it to my mom kidding that we should enter her 'cause her PC is soooo old. We like to say she's not on the Information Highway but selling boiled peanuts on the dirt road off the Information Highway. I didn't enter Mom but it turns out the MVFF entered and are looking at using the tech upgrade to add webcams so we viewers at home can check out the goats in action. So go on and vote for them right here. You don't need to register or anything just click it says "like it?" next to the number of votes they currently have.

Now to the best part of this post, cute goat pics. Feel free to ooh and aah amongst yourselves.

Break Out the Candy Corn

So the other day a friend sent me an email of Halloween patterns because well, she knows I love the silly. And then it hit me. I have not knit anything stuffed in many months! Since Halloween is coming ,I decided to make last year's silliness an annual tradition. So I present the Second Annual Sarahland version of It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

First I knit up some miniature pumpkins.





Then it's time for the auditions for the role of Linus.

First up, Mr. Peabody. I think he may be a bit too cerebral to believe in The Great Pumpkin.




Next, Gumby & Pokey. They do have the right color scheme to hide in the pumpkin patch incognito while waiting for the Great Pumpkin.




And last but not least The Little Prince. He may be the front runner.






So who do you think should be this year's Linus?

Rainbows are Visions but Only Illusions

So I was heading out of work tonight and I looked up there was this huge full rainbow that seemed to span a good part of the city. I had no choice but to stand in the parking lot and take cell phone photos.