Shenandoah Fiber Festival

As you know, last weekend was Rock Creek Yarn's third show, the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival. It was both Saturday and Sunday in Berryville, VA.

I have to say, the show was a great success and worth all the hard work. We had good sales despite the crumby weather, enjoyed seeing the fall colors in the mountains, introduced some new products and colorways, and even saw some friends.

Here's E holding down the fort in our booth.

Your wish is my command

Orange Kit Kat.

Boo!

While going through and organizing the yarn left from the festival this weekend, I broke into the Halloween candy. And you know what? Halloween Kit Kats are not covered in chocolate, but some weird orange stuff. Boo!

I'll try to get pictures from the show and the new products posted tomorrow, plus some other knitting fun.

Yarn and leaf peeping opportunity.

This weekend I'm exhibiting at the largest fiber festival I've done yet. It's the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival, and it's in Berryville, VA. It's only about an hour and a half drive from the DC area, or eleven hours from Chicago. It should be a good opportunity to see fancy yarns and nice leaves in the upper Shenandoah Valley.

Not too shabby

I can't believe almost a week has passed. I've been dyeing yarn like crazy. More about that later. And then there was the disastrous dental work. (Went to the dentist for the first time in five years and had no cavities or anything. So the guy decided that a couple of my old fillings needed to be replaced, which lead to chipmunk face all weekend.)

But to the news at hand. They accepted my paper at school and issued a grade. B+.

Rejoice!

This week Jews are celebrating one of our lesser known holidays, Sukkot. It's the feast of booths, and it lasts a week. On Sukkot, we're commanded to do three things:

1. Build a Sukkah. This is a little hut with a leaky roof. You're supposed to build one and dwell in it. Mostly that means eating in the Sukkah. I gave a lot of thought to building one on our balcony. After all, this is the first year in many years that I have an outdoor space that's mine. My old condo didn't have a balcony. But alas, I haven't built a Sukkah. It didn't seem practical, and I know putting such a thing on the balcony is technically a violation of the apartment rules. So I haven't fulfilled that commandment.

2. Wave the four species. During this holiday, Jews are commanded to have four plants and to wave them. Why? Because we're commanded to. The plants are willow branches, palm fronds, myrtle, and a funny citrus called an etrog. We don't have our four species, so we can't wave them and we can't fulfil that commandment.

3. Rejoice. During Sukkot Jews are commanded to rejoice. And why not? What could be wrong with that. So I'm making sure I rejoice every time I can.

Happy Sukkot. And if you see a strange hut spring up in your neighbor's yard this week, rejoice and wish him a happy Sukkot too.

Small Vacation

Sunday night E and I went on a one night camping trip to Assateague Island National Seashore. This is a barrier island off the coast of Maryland, and is about a two and a half hour drive away. The island is really neat because a heard of wild horses lives there. We camped there overnight, finally using the camping equipment we got last year.

Assateague is beautiful. It's a little skinny island over 30 miles long and perhaps only a few hundred yards wide. There's a campground near the ocean side where you can hear the surf all night. The camping area is covered with goldenrod that attracts monarch butterflies and bayberry bushes that smell wonderfully. It was great fun and very relaxing. I'm sure we'll be going again.

Hand Dyed Sock Swap

I've organized two rounds of a hand dyed sock swap on Ravelry this year. This time my swap buddy was Joe82 from Ravelry, a very nice young lady from Ontario, Canada who shares my birthday. I got a package from her yesterday.

Aaaand. It's way too cool. She sent me some Canada souveniers which I just now realized I haven't photographed. I was too excited about the socks.

These socks have an allover spiral pattern and are made from SweetPaprika's 100% Merino sock yarn. They're very soft and squishy. I love the shaded dye job. (Sorry, I had to take the photo of my own feet myself this time. Of course, the ubiquitous cat face lurks at the top.)
The other knitting item is some hand dyed yarn. She sent a whole kit also from Sweet Paprika, and it's the cutest thing ever. I may have to cast these on tomorrow because, dude, there are fishies on the toes. I'm totally going to wear them with my Birkenstocks so everyone can see.Thanks Joe, and thanks everyone who participated in the swap.

Non yarn related cheering!

Yay! YaaaaaaY! HorraaaaaaY!

Hip-hooray-and-ballyhoo!

I turned in that crappy paper only minutes ago. I'm done! Done done done with my thesis/master's project/crappy paper! So I'm sort of done. I'm still finishing up the end of my coursework, but my project is done and my classes are done.

E knew I was turning it in tonight, so he got me these flowers and is preparing a celebratory meal as we speak. (And behind the vase is our extremely sophisticated havdalah spice box that's still out on the table.)

Hooray! Yay!

FO: Imladris Socks

Yay! Hooray! They're finally done.
To review, the pattern is Rivendell Socks. They were knitted out of Great Adirondack Yarn Co Soxie in Wild Birch. I did them magic loop style on size 1 needles with no alterations to the pattern. They fit me very nicely, but sizing might be tricky for people with thicker ankles. The wrapped stitches in the cuff can make things kind of tight.

Productivity

Alright. Alright. So I am doing some things that are productive. That crappy paper is nearly done, and it's a good thing. It's due this week. I wish I didn't have senior-itis. I just don't care how well I do on the paper, and that frustrates me. Not to brag, but I'm normally a very good and conscientious student. At the end of my graduate studies, I have a 3.8 GPA. I've worked hard and now at the end I know that the only way I can really screw up is to not turn the darn thing in. If I turn it in completed and and meets the basic requirements they'll pass me and I'll graduate. So it's hard to feel like I should make this thing a masterpiece. Even if I feel like I should turn in a masterpiece.

Between plodding through that paper, I've been preparing for the Shenandoah Fiber Festival. It's in three weeks, and will be the biggest show I've done. A pile of yarn dyeing has lifted my spirits a bit.
I also knitted up a sample made from my Priiti yarn.