Blah Saturday, some knitting progress and a book review

It's Saturday I am sorry to say I feel like crap.  The cold is in a sort of holding pattern; the meds are working to a certain extent. I sure don't want this blog to be a boring rundown of the minor medicals of yours truly, LOL! Soooo... how about a short discussion of some knitting projects to date and a book review? 

First, I am determined to get some version of this cap done for my son before he leaves for L.A., LOL! The yarn is Karabella Donegal and it was the HUGEST pain in the arse to wind! However, it is a nice bulky wool with which to knit, so I'm not complaining too much. originally bought this at Schoolhouse Products in NYC. I was going to knit John a hat in the bitter cold January of 2012 as we traipsed through the lower and midtown Manhattan wind-tunnel streets.  Berta Karpetyan, the very talented owner and author of Runway Knits, was enormously helpful and knowledgeable. We've paid a visit to her store each year we came to Manhattan-my own little yarn pilgrimage of a sort. She has quite an assortment of yarns on skeins and cones from all over the world.  Time being what it is when it comes to a knitting project and John's general avoidance of hats (the most he'll ever wear is a baseball cap and how in blazes does THAT keep the ears warm I'd like to know!), the yarn sat in my unusual skeins box until now. I started the cap, but the ribbing was really not head-hugging enough, so I frogged it and will start again with smaller needles, THEN go to the US 10s/6.5 mm size for the crown part.

Am also still working on the Little Wave Cardigan for S, the Penultimate Adult. The colors in the photo below are a bit distorted - it's all one orangey-goldish color. The bizarre looking holes near the ribbing with stitches on waste yarn are stitches saved for the pockets once I'm done.  The sleeves are already finished so I won't have that to worry about when the body - which is worked in one piece and then joined with the sleeves in a yoke for the shoulders and neck - is finished.  Since posting this picture, I have gotten a couple more inches done.  12 more to go:).

The Knitting Retreat our Columbia Sip 'n Knit had at the Claggett Center out in Buckeystown, Merlin, had a few corporate sponsors.  One of them, the Knitting Boutique, in Glen Burnie, Merlin, was particularly generous, giving each of us a skein of lovely lace yarn.  Mine was a beautiful pale greenish yellow. I have it wound and ready in a kit to knit a beautiful shawl. My travels one Saturday took me not far from the area, so I thought I'd take a look, go in, and thank them for their sponsorship.  Totally out of character for me, I did not buy any yarn on that trip - I have a lot and they had increased my stash by one more - but I did see a book for which I had a particular fascination and I bought it. 

I don't generally buy a lot of pattern books, firstly because I already have more than I could ever use and secondly, because I pretty much aspire to design my own at this point in my life. Let's face it: I'm not going to be wearing any cropped cardigans in this lifetime;).

The all-star cast

Anyway, this one was a notch up from the usual.  Will I knit all the patterns in it? No, of course not.  Will I knit one? Maybe. This book is a collaborative effort of an all-star cast of designers, farmers, yarn vendors and knitters who have created a beautifully photographed book to celebrate the NY Sheep & Wool Festival, commonly known as Rhinebeck (because it happens north of Manhattan Island in the town on the Hudson River  known as Rhinebeck, duh....) Rhinebeck occurs in October, so upstate NY is in the throes of the peak Fall foliage at that time.  In this book, we are treated to designs by Ysolda Teague, Cheryl Burke, Mary-Heather Cogar, Pamela Wynne, Cecily Glowik MacDonald, Melissa Wehrle, Laura Nelkin, and some of my favorites: Mary Jane Mucklestone, Gudrun Johnston, Thea Colman, Connie Chang Chinchio and Amy Herzog.  In addition, we get to hear from Shelridge Yarns, Green Mountain Spinnery, Foxhill Farm, Miss Babs, Briar Rose Fibers, Bartlettyarns, Jill Draper, Bijou Basin, Fiber Optic, and a place I visited exactly a year ago today and of which I still have very fond memories: the Verdant Gryphon.  After an Introduction by Ysolda, we have Clara Parkes' imprimatur  - or is it nihil obstat?;) of a Preface and we are on our way to some lovely photography to complement some interesting interviews and lovely knitting patterns.  

I'd say it was worth the trip to Glen Burnie:) for me and possibly a reason to go to Rhinebeck some day and see what all the fuss is about. But Merlin has quite the respectable Sheep and Wool herself, you know:)

Well folks, that's all I have for now.  Until later,
God be with you 'til we meet again:)+