Knitty Kitty: Allergy Season

i love the month of october. it's my favorite month. you break out your sweaters, cool crisp air, glorious colors on the trees, apple picking, pumpkin picking, it all leads up to my favorite holiday - halloween.

my body hates this month. i'm not sure what it is that it hates so much. dust from the leaves? temperature change? who knows. i felt like i was an inch away from getting a cold for three weeks. for the past week i have been mis-er-a-ble. hence no posting.

so what has happened since oct 4? i have a few photos (only because i was sharing them on ofoto.com - more to come when i post from home.) only one has to do with knitting. ;o)

Oct. 10.

monica gets married! more photos on her site.

the only photo i have of my knitted shawl (until i get pics from monica and my mom, who made monica's dress) is of grandma sparkes and myself (i hope no one minds her in the photo, but she's just too beautiful to crop out!)

(she turned 83 on the day of the wedding. i hope i'm that sexy when i am 83!)

it was a ton of fun, a beatiful venue, my room was next to the billygoats but i completely forgot to take a photo of them :(

on oct 12, i saw charlotte martin at irving plaza in NY. she's awesome! (I told you to buy her CD - i hope you did! if not, you better go now!)

this past weekend, i made two road trips.

Rhinebeck baby. oh yeah. more details when i post photos from home.

on the knitters review forums, someone said since it's smaller than Marylands S&W, it takes 1-2 hours to see the vendors. 4.5 hours after fighting the crowds, i was broke and exhausted and went home! i didn't see ALL of them, but probably 3/4 of them. I didn't even search out the sheep - i had no clue where they were, and if they were only in the petting zoo i wasn't ready for a sea of kids. (a few of them at the fair were pretty obnoxious.) i breezed through a barn with alpacas though, and said hi.

lets see. i got there. went through the food (wine, cheese, random stuff) vendors. got some hand creme. went to the next large building of vendors (silly me i thought that was about it for the vendors!) bought a drop spindle and roving, and some beginners books. (because of the crowd this took about 40 minutes because i needed questions answered and demos.....) then i found brooks farm. i couldn't pry myself away (both because of the yarn and because of the people packed in there.) i bought yarn to make shawls for myself and my mom (for christmas) like the one they had hanging - a self fringing one, larger than the little one i made last year.

i refueled with some onion rings (being vegetarian is diffifult at festivals like this!) and hit the other side of the fair.

the other largest barn (with two levels) was the only other one i spent serious time in -- i got a kit for my cousin for christmas (so i can't talk about it. but it came from the great adirondack yarn co.!) i got more roving (the person with the spindle gave me a free tiny bit. i wanted more.) i got a pennanular brooch (i collect authentic ones, meaning they work like they are meant to and not with a modern pin back glued on). and i kept going back to one booth with woven alpaca stuff, including a beautiful ruana. it was out of my price range. i tried calling my grandma, but she wasn't home, and finally bought it as a birthday/christmas present from her to me. i walked out of that booth three times and kept going back. but now i have slight buyers remorse. i hope i will get enough use out of it. if not, its pretty just hanging around too. ;)

at that point i breezed through as many of the small barns as i could, but everything was a blur of people and roving. i stopped at spirit trail fiberworks, said who i was on KR (BTW, never saw any knitted scarf pins, but i didn't look that hard!) i love their corset tank top kit, but fear that i would hate wearing it on my body! i got some sock yarn (soon. soon. it's on the list of the next major thing to learn!)

i bought a hat and gloves at another outdoor tent with alpaca wool clothing. i went back to a booth were i spoke with a man about a swift, and purchased said swift. (worth it. i should have gotten the ball winder too. damn.) and the twisted sisters sock book (it covers dyeing, spinning, and socks! cool!)

it was a little after 4. i was pooped. i had french artichokes (yum! glad they had them!!) and spoke briefly with another woman who was there on her own. and i went home. happy, tired, and poor. ;o)

i still wish i got to talk to the sheep. next year!

on sunday, a friend and i had a road trip to warwick NY. we picked pumpkins (hayride and all!) and petted cows

i took her photo with them. she was trying to take mine, they thought i had food and practically attacked me! i was afraid they would take down the fence!

then we went apple picking at masker orchards.

the best part was a pre-recorded message over the radio station. comments such as "apple cider - tastes like liquid apples!" and "respect the apples - for one thing, they're food." (there was no second thing. we still don't know what he meant!) and "apple pies that are so good you'll never want another!"

we stocked up on apple butter, pumpkin butter, and a pie to split. (warning. we'll never eat any apple pie again. don't even think of offering it to me!)

then we ended with a trip to pacem in terris. there is no website. the artist frederick franck opens his home and grounds on the weekends to the public for free. it's a very spiritual, mystical, amazing place. words can't describe it. it's hard to find but that's a good thing. i've never seen a crowd there. there is a beautiful mill which holds musical concerts in the summer and i hope to make it to one next year!

ok that's it. i need to get back to work now - this took way too long!