Travel Knitting: Sweater, Socks, Or Socks?

Rhinebeck Rhinebeck Rhinebeck.  That’s all anyone who’s into yarn is talking about this week.  What to wear to Rhinebeck.  What to pack for Rhinebeck.  How to play interactive bingo at Rhinebeck.  And, most importantly, what project to bring to Rhinebeck. It’s been a dilemma for many a knitter.

Well, I have a dilemma, too.  I’m not going to Rhinebeck… huh?  No no, that’s not the actual dilemma… I mean, it is a dilemma, because I really would’ve loved to go, but that’s not what I was getting at… what?  What other dilemma is there this week, you ask? Well if you’d let me finish, I’ll tell you.  Shush.

I’m not going to Rhinebeck because I’m going to NYC for the day with my daughter.  We’ll mostly be doing stuff she loves, like going to the American Girl Place,

Simultaneously the most amazing, and the scariest, store in NYC.

going to Times Square to watch the billboards,

going to a museum,

My daughter will LOVE this exhibit... her favorite insect!

and all the while, enjoying the culinary delicacies that NYC has to offer.

... but do they have roasted chestnuts? I will NOT leave the city until I get some. Period.

Doesn’t sound like much of a dilemma, does it?  Turns out that I have the same problem that many of those Rhinebeckers have, something that I’ve been spending a lot of time pondering but not making much headway:  what knitting project to bring on the trip?  So I’ll ask you, my loyal readers, for help on what I should bring.  Check out the poll in the sidebar… let’s have a little fun with this.

For a 1-day excursion, in which you’ll be pounding the pavement part of the time, and sitting on a bus part of the time, would you bring your current WIP,

Making great progress on this... I'm working on the sleeves now.

yarn to start another pair of socks for yourself,

This is Dyed Bright Here's High Society Sock Yarn, colorway "Polo Ponies".

or yarn to start another pair of socks for your child?

South West Trading Company's TOFUtsies. Originally for me, but then my daughter found my secret yarn stash...

Majority wins, but I’d love to read your opinions, too.  Feel free to leave comments.  What is the best kind of knitting to bring on a trip?

Another Successful KDO, Another Successful Heel Turn.

Day 2 of Knitter’s Day Out:

7:30 am:  Left the house an hour before my first class, fearing that I’d get stuck on I-81S again.  Thankfully, there was absolutely no traffic at that hour, which consequently made me 45 minutes early to campus.  Made my way to the classroom and thought I’d knit on the Norfolk Ramblers a bit, but instead, chatted with other early birds until class began.  Shadow Knitting was a lot of fun, and easier than I thought.  It might be a little tricky for me to create my own illusion patterns, but at least I’m more familiar with the technique now.

11:30 am:  Lunch!  Gotta hand it to the KDO Organizers, they treat their students REAL WELL.  The food was excellent!

12:00 pm:  Strolled the Market again.  Went back to some of the vendors from last night to chat with them and take some pictures:

Sweitzers Countryside Yarn Shop:

Beautiful display - rustic and homey, it just draws you in.

Sweitzers had their yarn in Mason jars... I love it!

Fluffy U Fiber Farm:

These artisans spin yarn from the fleece of animals on their farm. No artificial ingredients!

Don't believe me? All of Fluffy U's yarn was labeled like this. Personally, I love knowing exactly what kind of wool is in my yarn.

Dancing Leaf Farm:

DLF has the most gorgeously dyed yarn. Wish I had a LOT more to spend at the Market today...

Dancing Leaf also had these needle felted scarf kits... wow!

Alpacas of York:

This is Sheri from AoY, carding some alpaca fleece. At least I think this is carding. I never saw it done like this before!

Alpaca of York roving. Makes me want to attempt the spindle again.

I also had a picture of Gerry from Dyed Bright Here, but for some reason I’m having trouble downloading it.  We chatted as she spun some beautiful pink and gray roving that her daughter dyed.

1:00 pm:  2nd class, Crochet for Knitters.  It was so nice to be in a room full of smart, talented knitters who, like me, knew NOTHING about crochet.  Some of these crochet stitches were confounding at first, but I got a lot of practice during class, and I think I can single, double, and triple crochet with the best of ’em now.  Not planning on giving up the knitting needles for a hook, but VERY glad I took this class!

4:00 pm:  One last stop at one of Central PA’s most revered yarn vendors to buy some sundries, then… home.

All in all, a very successful KDO.  Many, many thanks to the organizers for all their hard work and dedication to this conference – I truly hope they know how much they are appreciated.

And now… back to the Norfolk Ramblers:

Since I refuse to allow this crazy heel turn to defeat me, I decided to do some research. Turns out that this pattern is describing a Welsh Heel, which creates a pocket that’s more square than the commonly-knit round heel.  The YOs in this case don’t create holes in the work, which is what I had assumed would happen because… that’s what YOs do.  Create holes.  Decorative ones, for lacey things, as I’m sure you know.  Maybe when I first tried this heel turn, I misread the instructions or something, because my 2nd attempt was much better:

See the cool "seams"?

So yay!  Moving on to the heel gusset… oh, and my Tilli Tomas Symphony Lace is on its way!

… But Did You BUY The Sock Yarn???

… hell YES!  This is Dyed Bright Here‘s High Society Sock Yarn, in color “Polo Ponies”:

Love those colors!

What Goes On.

sigh.  OK, time to catch up… again.

First, the good stuff.  I finished my Gathered Mesh Polo about 3 weeks ago… and it ROCKS!  What do you think?

It fits! It fits! It fits!

My first sweater-in-the-round was a huge success… after I had to frog it and start again on bigger needles.  This is really a great pattern, whether or not it’s your first sweater-in-the-round.  I’ll definitely keep an eye on other patterns from Cathy Carron.

Next up… another Harrisburg Academy sweater, this time for the lucky auction winner from the school that bears the same name.  Can’t remember if I mentioned this or not, but after getting a lot of thumbs-up from my daughter’s friends (and moms), I thought I’d offer a custom-knit sweater, a la my daughter’s, in the school’s annual fundraising auction.  And the winner happens to be one of my daughter’s classmates, who chose the sweater over being Head of the School For A Day – does that kid have taste, or what???

My daughter modeled the sweater wearing a pair of shorts... in March. She's such a good sport!

And more yarny stuff:  I was checking out one of my favorite yarn shop’s website, and on their home page is a long bio/description of some locally-produced sock yarn.  Dyed Bright Here is the brainchild of one Sue Taliaferro, who basically sounds like a yarn prodigy.  After I read the piece, I kind of hated her.  I mean, she caught on to knitting/dyeing/spinning so fast, and that’s so unfair to those of us who… just haven’t gotten around to all that yet.  So when I visited the yarn shop, I checked out said sock yarn… and it’s soooooooooooooooo pretty!  How can you hate anyone who makes such pretty-colored stuff?  Now I’m really… intrigued.  Maybe she’ll be at…

KDO!!! Knitter’s Day Out 2010 is coming September 24-25, and finally finally finally, I’m a registered student!  I’ve gone in the past, but only to the Knitter’s Market (which is awesome).  But now I get to attend classes – New Ways To Knit and Intro To Sweater Design – and go to the Market.  It’s a serious Mommy’s Day Out for me!  Anyone else goin’?

And some non-knitty news:  my daughter turned 5 last weekend.  Overnight, she went from watching Nick Jr to iCarly.  And she says things like, “Yeah, baby!” and “Oh… My… GAWD!!!”  She’s such a big girl… for such a little girl.  And she’s awesome.  Love you, JoJo.

My daughter graduated from Junior Kindergarten... so cute!