Rhinebeck 2015 Part 1

Last weekend was the 3rd weekend of October which can only mean one thing... RHINEBECK!

Yes, last weekend was the happiest of the year. I only went on Sunday this time around and was a little unprepared for how cold it was. Most years are too hot for me to even show off any knits, so I didn't prepare much this year and spent most of the time with stiff frozen fingers. Whoops. The snow was pretty though. Yeah, snow! I thought it was just a cottonwood tree at first. 

I have not been home when there is good sunlight since getting back from Rhinebeck so I only have pictures of a few things but I thought I would break them up into 2 posts.  

First, this is a silly "artsy" pic of the cowl I wore from my subway platform in Brooklyn, because clichés happen (please never let hipster insta barbie learn to knit).  Pattern coming soon-ish.  If you are interested in test knitting message me through Ravelry for more info.

This is my new, and first, yarn bowl. It's from Primrose Pottery/Sins and Needles 89. She paints the best fandom yarn bowls. She has one with Winifred from Hocus Pocus that I covet but I could not pass on a Buffy bowl.

This is my favorite Rhinebeck yarn purchase this year so it got a pic from the car on the ride back.  I will hunt down and put the info in the next post.  The guy who dyes is does not have a website yet but everyone was bugging him about it and he said it was in the works. This is not the first time I have seen pretty sparkly yarn at Rhinebeck but this one was by far the prettiest. The ladies paying for their yarn in front of my were teasing me that I had heart eyes staring at it. If feels glorious and looks ethereal.  I am so in love.

Hatdings!

I have a new hat pattern to share today!

Hatdings is super quick, snug fitting beanie that comes with 22 different motif charts. It can be knit in a day or weekend by an experienced knitter, or a week for an inexperienced one.  

Little mirrors added to the sequin chart pattern.

It's perfect for this time of year when the weather starts to get cold and you want a quick hat or if you realize your holiday gift list is longer than you thought and you really should have started knitting in the middle of summer to have everything ready in time, but you didn't and now you are starting to panic.

In these colors I thought it looked like a crown.

The Hatdings Beanie is knit with 2 colors of worsted weight yarn on US Size 6/4mm circular needle. It comes in 2 sizes. The small size is good for people who can wear most commercially sold hats. The large size is good for people who try on hats, only to have them perch on top. I have stopped bothering to try on hats at craft fairs; they never pull down around my giant noggin (24").

It's like an urban tree farm.

The charts range from taller, lacy motifs, to short scallops, to fall acorns, and winter trees.  Depending on the motif and colors used, the hat can be customized to suit just about anyone.

More details can be found on the Ravelry pattern page.

Happy Fall Everyone!

Screaming Floral: A Hat Pattern

Would you look at those angry little flowers?!  

I love them.  

The Screaming Floral Hat pattern is a quick and easy, worsted weight, beanie/toque.  The floral pattern makes if fun to knit in the summer so you can get a head start on your fall accessories or gifts.

 

If you are thinking the style of the Screaming Floral Hat is similar in style to the Pop Blossoms pattern, you would be correct.  I worked up the charts at the same time, but when I knit the Screaming Floral Hat the first time around, I make the mistake of (not once, but twice!) using yarn that was far too close in hue and value to photograph well.  

See what I mean?  And that is with the exposure boosted.  Luckily the purple is ridiculously pretty in real life.

In an effort to complete patterns in process, I revisited the charts and whipped up some much higher contrast hats.  If knit in similar yarns, the Screaming Floral hat would be an excellent companion accessory to the Pop Blossom cowl or mittens.  Different pattern, same world.

Coming Off the Back Burner

Remember the Baktiari hat?

I started a Baktiari cowl too, but at about the halfway point it got back-burnered.  You know how it is when you have to do some yardage math and purchase more yarn (the black Cascade 220), the momentum slows and other projects are picked up.  After unearthing it from the WIP bin last week, I have decided to use the longer summer days to finish it.  The colors of that Sanguine Gryphon silk Codex* yarn are just too pretty to sit unknit in a ziplock bag.  They are Rhinebeck purchases and deserve better. 

I took it to see Blockbusters at the Bryant Park Summer Film Festival.  Three hours claiming a decent spot before the movie meant ample time to make significant progress.  You can tell how pumped people were to watch that movie next to the NY Public Library, where the opening scenes were filmed, by how far back and to the side my decent seat was.

See Bill Murray on the screen?

I am hoping to have a Baktiari cowl pattern out by the end of the summer.  In the meantime, here is a sneak peak at what's coming next.

*Sanguine Gryphon is no longer, but one of the spin off(?) companies, Verdant Gryphon, still carries it.  Such pretty stuff and lovely to knit with.

Recently on Insta

I'm more active on Instagram (username Wonderfallz) than anywhere else these days so I thought I would share a quick roundup.  But first this, not from my instagram:

My Galaxy S4's camera is my MVP.  I can't believe it got a pic this nice.

I went to visit a friend who lives in Long Island City where there is a beautiful new waterfront boardwalk/park.  It was a beautiful night with a crystal clear shot of Manhattan.  I got to watch the sky go from light blue, to pinky orange, to deep blue with a sparkly skyline.  I will be going back to knit in one of the many public lounge chairs.

Next up, this spring, a dear friend agreed to model some cowls for me.  I had several requests to see them on an actual human being (imagine that!).  We spent the morning wandering around the meatpacking district looking for good background walls, drinking chai, and just having a good time hanging out, which we don't get to do nearly enough.

Bloomst Cowl

Wribbons Cowl

Next, in May of this year I hit 10 years of living in NYC.  I like to make note of this anniversary every year if only because it is so darn tough to live here so it feels like an accomplishment.  

Now that it is summer the beach is warm enough to visit.  The first visit to Rockaway Beach every year marks the first good full breaths of air I get outside after allergy season.  Gotta love that salty ocean air in the lungs.

Just out of shot are all the buildings that remind you where you are, but really how incredible to be able to visit a place that looks like this and then hop on the subway and pick up bubble tea in Chinatown.

Blame it on the Girl Scouts

I went on a bit of an embroidery kick recently and whipped up a patch.  I love patch projects because: A- I was a Girl Scout who loved her patches 

and 

B- Patches are a small, easy to complete project.

I took inspiration from Valentino's Pre Fall 2015 celestial dresses and made this.  100% hand stitched.  Finished during Eurovision (Congrats Sweden!).

(please ignore the difference in lighting between the WIP and final product)

WIP Shot

Final Product

Detail Shot

Bonus pic of a truly embarrassing Kpop patch project that will make little sense to anyone unless you watched the Korean variety show Roommate.  It was a bit of an inside joke project between friends and I was going to make a whole series of them but the show got recast and this project got pushed to the backburner.  I still think the patch is super cute though, so I am sharing.

Bloomst

There is something about a brutally cold winter that makes a person want to knit flowers in bright colors.  With that in mind I would like to share my latest cowl pattern, Bloomst!

The cowl formula is my favorite to wear.  It flairs at the bottom and covers my collar, protecting even the nape of my neck from the chilly winds blowing across my elevated train stop and folds down around the neck nicely.  It is a looser fitting cowl and does not fit closely around the face but if that is the desired fit, there are tips for customizing in the pattern.

Technical details about size, yarn, and needles can be found on the Ravelry pattern listing.