Blog game time!

There will be knitting content tomorrow, but today I'm being lazy and posting a blog game that I swiped from DomesticOverlord.

If you google "Heather needs," this is what you'll get:

Heather Needs Men...Now! Okay, but don't tell The Boyfriend.
Heather needs a rest. Yep...most likely
Heather Needs a Childhood by Bill O'Reilly. No thanks. My childhood was just fine.
Little Heather needs you. Well, I'm not all that little...
Heather needs a female parent who can help show her appropriate ways to attract
the attention of guys and learn how to choose appropriate partners. Sorry, but I've already got the Sephora Lady. She did a good job.
Heather needs an acidic soil. wtf?
Little Heather needs to be congratulated for defending herself from unkindness
and overly high expectations when she was a child. Why thank you!
Heather needs sun and open air circulation. This is true.
Miss Heather needs to stick to her career as an country artist. I'll take that under advisement.
Heather needs to be reminded of tasks. Hey! I'm a busy woman!
Heather needs more Senate and Assembly committee information. No...really...I don't.
Heather needs at least two mommies. Again with the mom thing? Okay, fine, as long as this one doesn't spend all her time shopping online.
Heather needs to complete organizational
related tasks. Pffft.
Heather needs help. I think we've established this already.
Heather needs to raise $3500 to cover her expenses during the 10 days in Toronto. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Please donate to the Toronto fund!
Heather needs gentle introductions to new people, places and animals. Yes, this is very important. Please don't scare me.
Heather - Needs to lose 150 lbs. Good gourd no! I'd look like an Olsen!

Okay, enough of that.

The Prodigal Sun Returns...

Well, I think this weekend proves that the Goddess loves knitters. After 8 straight days of drenching, unending rain in the New York City metro area, the Sun finally made an appearance just in time for the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, in Rhinebeck. I rented a car for the occasion, and set out at around 9:30. It was still drizzling a little, but I had faith that it would let up by the time I got up to Rhinebeck. It's about a 70 mile drive from where I live, and I estimated about an hour and a half. Unfortunately, the rains had done a number on the Taconic Parkway. While I didn't experience the closed roads and detours that some ran into earlier in the morning, there were some pretty heavy traffic snarls due to (1) an accident, (2) a lane being flooded, and (3) a car running off the road and into about 3 feet of water and mud. Then, I took a wrong turn (confusing Route 9-G for Route 9), and I finally ended up at the fairgrounds around 12:15.

I'm not sure what I expected, but I think it's an understatement to say that I was overwhelmed. This place is a knitter's paradise. A virtual Bacchanal for fiber enthusiasts. I wandered aimlessly for a few minutes, getting my bearings and trying to cope with the sensory overload. Then I met up with a few people from Knitty, including those enablers Karen and Valerie. Finally, with a tight grip on my wallet, I commenced shopping.

I had a definite idea of what I wanted to get, and I managed to stick to that pretty well. I ended up with a drop spindle, a 1lb. bag of "beginners" roving, a beautiful bunch of space-dyed Corriedale roving (which will not be touched until I am much better at spinning), a skein of handspun yarn for my Secret Pal, some Crystal Palace circs, and the Summer 2005 issue of Spin-Off. Yes, that's right...I didn't buy any yarn for myself! Truthfully, I'm a little disappointed about that, but I have enough in my stash to keep me busy for quite a while. I also picked up two bottles of wine and some vanilla fudge from the food vendor hall. It's a good thing I didn't find that area until later in the day, or I'd have bought a lot more!

On the non-purchasing side, I wandered around a bit and ogled the animals. Naturally, I wanted to take all of them home with me, but I contented myself with picking up information about alpacas to try to convince The Boyfriend's mother to invest in a small herd. There were some adorable sheep, especially the lambs.



And I always enjoy the sheepdog competitions.



I wish I had taken some pictures of the yarn, but I'm an idiot that way. Animals make me pull out the camera, yarn makes me pull out the credit card.

Socks for Sephora Lady

I started on my mom's Christmas socks last night. I was going to do Broadripple, since I like to try out different patterns. So, I cast on, knit the garter stitch cuff, and thought it looked a little weird. Now, it looked exactly like it was supposed to, but it just wasn't working out with the self-striping yarn I was using. Why not? Because of the garter stitch. We all know what garter stitch looks like at a color change, don't we? To tell the truth, I wasn't that thrilled with a garter stitch cuff myself. I'm more of a ribbing girl--I was worried that, since I wasn't using Cascade Fixation but a wool yarn instead, the sock would get droopy. Believe me, Sephora Lady is NOT into droopy socks.

So I frogged it. Well, actually I knit a bit more hoping that when I was through with the garter stitch it would look a little better. But then I screwed up on the ripple pattern and took it as a sign that I really should frog it. I decided to go back to my trusty friend the toe-up lace sock pattern from Elann.

Still no clue what to do with the one skein of Shimmer. Do I buy more? Look for a pattern that will suit it? It's so pretty and soft, I want to use it...

FOtography

Ha! I have finally managed to bring both the camera and the USB cord to work, so you can all admire my latest creations.

I give you...ChildHood (sans hood)



Made with Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria. Man is that stuff yummy to work with. Hopefully when I see my goddaughter in November I can get a pic of her actually wearing the thing.

And, what I finished while watching the Yankees lose last night...Voodoo wristwarmers.



A different angle...



I made them with a wonderful merino/silk blend that my current Knitty SP sent me. I just wish it was cool enough to wear them. But, I hear it's going to be chilly this weekend, so I'll have to plan an outing just so that I can wear my new wristwarmers.

In other news, the KnitPicks yarn came last night! Tonight I'm going to cast on for either the cigar gloves or the socks that I'm going to make for my mom. I think I'm going to do Broadripple, but I may meddle with the pattern a bit and do a short-row heel instead of the gusset. Then again, they are a gift, so maybe I should just do it as written rather than screw it up and have to redo it. Or maybe I'll just start on the gloves. If I have the right needles, that is.

I really need to do a needle inventory. Right now, I have a vague idea of which sizes I have, but when it comes to circulars I don't have a clue about which lengths they are. That leads to a bit of frustration when I've got the yarn all ready to go but I have to wait to get the right needles.

For some reason I ordered one skein of Shimmer in Stained Glass and I have no idea what I was planning to make with it. I think it was intended for Clapotis, but it's the wrong weight. Huh...guess it'll go into the stash until it decides what it wants to be.

Sigh...

I'm a terrible blogger. I really am. I should have posted some picks long ago, but I can't manage to remember to upload them from the camera. Truthfully, when I get home at night I'd rather knit than mess with the computer.

I had the root canal on Saturday. It was...not painless, but definitely not as bad as I'd anticipated. Really, if you have to have one, you're better off not knowing what they're doing. Knowing the procedure is worse than actually sitting there having it done. It made me worry for the entire week. My dentist plays Mr. Bean DVDs while he works on you. I find that pretty neat.

In Knitting News, I'm going to Rhinebeck! I've decided that I deserve it, given the dental work and the efforts I'm making to clean my apartment. I may rent a car and drive up, but Gayle from Knitty Coffeeshop has kindly offered me a ride with her and her husband. I haven't accepted yet, but I'm seriously considering it (saves me the hassle of dealing with Hertz). I think I'll finally take the plunge into spinning. Just what I need--another crazy hobby.

Furthermore, where is my KnitPicks order? I'm getting the itch to start a new project, and I refuse to start on something for myself when the christmas gift yarn is in transit. Maybe it'll be there when I get home tonight...