Tuck's New Sweater

Just a little over a month since I bought the yarn, and I finished it off this morning. I think that may be some kind of record.



As soon as I finished weaving in the last end, I put it on him. Since his natural tendency when I get down on his level is to run over and give me kisses, getting a good shot of it in use proved a bit more challenging. It's quite form-fitting, which is exactly what I was going for, and he's very pleased with it.

From Semi- to Fully FO

Last night was really busy at work, but during a very late lull I was able to finish up the last few rounds on #2 of the pair. I ended up casting off the thumb stitches just slightly tighter on the second one than on the first, but it's not enough to irritate me and they're very cozy.

The pattern is one we had at Rhinebeck that was originally written for Landscapes, which is a discontinued baby alpaca/silk yarn - worsted weight, so comparable to the Mojito I used for these. It's a very straightforward ribbed pattern with a simple thumb gusset. The only change I made to the pattern was to reverse the shaping of the thumb gusset on #2 so that the two would be more or less mirror images, rather than one always looking like I put it on backwards.

Now I need to finish up Tuck's sweater so that I can cast one from the Japanese pattern books for myself.

The Funniest Thing I Heard at Rhinebeck

Me: Did you set me aside a copy of your book?
Franklin: My publisher sent like 150 copies, so I don't think you have to worry.

All I can say is, I'm glad I ran over and bought my copy while I still could.

And a Semi-FO

I did manage to finish the first of a pair of handwarmers, though a little late to serve as a display model for the Mojito yarn we were selling. We'd gotten to play around with some of the early prototypes for this yarn, but this was the first we'd had our hands on the final product. It's incredibly luscious stuff - 100% baby alpaca worsted weight - but didn't sell as well as we would have liked. This is in the colorway "Winter Blues".



David spent a good chunk of the drive home this afternoon wearing it, so I'm thinking I won't be getting much chance to use them for myself when I finish the second one.

Rhinebeck 2008

My camera has exactly 2 photos on it from the festival, neither of which turned out well. I know that Scout will have some pics, and Carol has one of the most "interesting" experience I had this year. Suffice to say it was busy, which is a very good thing for us as vendors, albeit a bit rough on the feets. As always, though, the best part about Rhinebeck is seeing wonderful, dear people who have become part of our world - most of whom we see far too infrequently. We were especially grateful to Stephen and Sean for all their help over the weekend, even if Stephen isn't going to be able to come visit Tuck.

The second best part was the gorgeous black Shetland fleece that I bought. That one's going to be blended with my Juliette fleece and made into luscious, dark chocolate yarn I can make into sweaters, because I'm so worth it. I'm taking it to a mill to be spun, though, 'cause as fun as it would be to do it myself, I really want to be able to wear it in my lifetime.

My only other purchase was a set of ram's horn buttons from Frelsi Farm, who are also the source of yarn (purchased last month) for Tuck's latest sweater-in-progress. So I guess that means a cardigan will be going on the to-knit list, likely one from the Japanese pattern books I just got last week. Beautiful stuff, all of it.

Now I'm off to go watch some cable TV with my sweetie, and tomorrow we actually get to sleep in, which is very truly a wonderful and marvelous thing.

Pre-Rhinebeck Rush

I'm running on three hours' sleep, haven't packed, have to drop the car off at the garage (which is, admittedly, only a two minute walk away) and we're supposed to be loaded up and on our way in a few hours. Since we got home from Peru a scant 107 hours ago, I've spent 45 hours or so working, 4 hours commuting, and most of the rest sleeping, doing homework and trying to spend what little time was left with David.

So it is in that spirit that I offer you this random photo from Peru:



If you will be looking for us at Rhinebeck this weekend, please note that we will be in a different spot from previous years. Up until now we've been in Barn 39, which is where Franklin will be signing copies of his book on Saturday. This year, however, we will be in Barn 31, which has a highly-coveted cement floor instead of sometimes-beetle-larvae-infested bark mulch.

In case a visual will help, here is the interactive ("I do not think it means what you think it means.") map lifted shamelessly from the festival website.



The weather is supposed to be perfect for warm woolies this weekend, so we hope to see you there!

A Quickie

Not really any time to write anything. We have an early morning tomorrow and I've been dealing with the mild-but-a-bit-of-a-nuisance fallout from what was most likely a contaminated, albeit very yummy, tomato yesterday evening (though I haven't ruled out something in my lunch sandwich).

Anyway, today was a national holiday here in Peru, and the naval hero who lost his life in that battle has a statue in his honor at the traffic rotary by our hotel. This meant a military band and parade in front of the hotel rather early this morning. They didn't roust me out of bed very effectively, but I did manage to get a few pics at the end of the proceedings.







And this is the view from our hotel room of the volcano Misti, whence comes the name of Misti Alpaca yarn company.



Tomorrow it's back to Lima for another night and several more meetings before we catch a Friday night redeye home.

Another Reason to Love Peru

Saludos Desde Perú!

After a night to rest up in Lima, we hopped on a plane to Arequipa this morning, and Christine snapped this shot with my phone just after we got off the plane. The mountain in the background is a volcano, one of three visible from the city, called Chachani.

We're about another half a mile higher up than Denver here, and I'm feeling it just a little bit - mostly needing to take more deep breaths. David, however, is a firm believer in the local tradition of coca leaf tea, so I'm following his lead. Hopefully I won't be required to take a pee test anytime soon after our return! Oh, and the food here is nothing short of phenomenal.

More photos will follow, but I need to be working on some homework just now. And to the raffle winners, all the franticness (franticity? franticosity?) of late prevented me from getting items into the mail before we left, but it's just a matter of getting the packages ready and down to the post office. I shall e-mail all when things are sent out.

Home Sweet Home!

We closed on the house yesterday! I was a little afraid to blog any updates - worried I'd jinx the process - but it finally happened. No rest for the weary, though, as I had to hurry home and gather up my things to head to work. And now I need to get in a few hours' nap before taking Tuck to a dermatology appointment to see if we can work out some of his skin allergy issues.

There is a New York Times article right here that actually explains very well what made our process so difficult. I was prompted for a login (which is free) this morning trying to access it, and if I weren't so tired and badly in need of sleep I'd excerpt the pertinent part here(maybe later). Anyway, I've had a login with NYT for years and it's worth it for the read.

In the meantime, I think I'll just distract you with this clip I found on Fail Blog:



I laughed 'til I cried.