Knitting Yarn Wish List

It's almost that glorious time in Spring! The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival!

Yippee!!!!!!!!! One of my most favorite weekends of the year.

Spent with my sisters and this year my MOM!!!! Yay Mom! One sister can't make it this year so we'll have a good time for her.
Yarn, wine, good food, fantastic hotel room, sheep, alpacas, green grass, gyros on a hill...yup.
It's all good.

I try to have a few projects in mind when I go to a fiber festival.

It helps me pick out enough of the yarn and I have some direction as I walk around.
Of course I always pick up a few things that I fall in love with and beg to come home with me.
The yarn that I buy will be knitted into a project that will always remind me of the weekend.
It's my souvenir knitting. I'm usually a project based yarn buyer, but I would like to get some stash yarn this year. 

So I've started looking on ravelry for some ideas. Thought I would share them here.

Whiskyfied

Loving the peach color version. 

Campside Cardi

This would be nice knitted with Miss Babs Yowza

Ara Shawl

I still can't believe I met Andrea Mowry and had no clue who she was! 

Clueless me talked to her about her baby and the awesome Moby wrap she was carrying the baby in and how I had the same one, same color, blah blah blah. Hah! Now she has the most popular shawl in the knitting universe. I haven't made her Find Your Fade because it seems too big for me. But this one, the Ara Shawl is more my size.

Louise Sweater

I like the colors on the band and sleeves. Thought this might be a fun sweater to knit up.

I can look for buttons at the festival too. There's a great little booth down by the back field. She always has great botton collections and packages them up so pretty.

Apple Blossom Socks

These seem appropriate for my love of "my" apple tree.

Saw Tracey on the Grocery Girls podcast making these and I thought they were cute.

Might look for some sock yarn for these.

Hadley Pullover

Something about this sweater makes me happy. It looks so big and comfy and reminds me a little bit of our old couches from when I was a kid. This would be a cute Rhinebeck sweater with leggings and boots. Hmmm....might have to think about this one.

I also like the colors in this version. 

Ok...so looks like I have a good list so far. Of course I'll keep looking online for ideas.

Can't wait!!!!!

If at first you don't succeed....

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

It's what our teachers and parents tell us. As kids we follow this rule. But as adults, maybe not so much. Well, I'm going to tell myself over and over again today to try, try again.

As most of the readers of this blog know, I'm a graphic designer by profession. 

I've been a designer since I graduated college in 2000. You also know how much I love yarn, knitting and fiber festivals. And of course my favorite festival is Rhinebeck (New York Sheep & Wool Festival) I have entered the design contest three times and I was the runner-up for 2016. As excited as I was to be runner-up, the 1st place prize was my goal. The winner does receive a decent monetary prize for 1st place. But what I really want to have MY work be the face of the festival. To have it on the website, souvenirs, program book...it would just be a dream come true. 

Once again I entered my artwork. I was in the top 10 again. The work was on display at the 2016 festival. People voted, the committee decided....

and last night I received an email that they were so pleased to announce that my artwork had been selected as runner-up. Runner-up. AGAIN. I was so disappointed. I thought I had this year.

I'm so close....and just can't get it. Normally I shake this off and move right on. I'm not one to dwell on things. I can usually shrug my shoulders, feel bad for about a minute and take a deep breath and move on. Get over it. Not to ever feel sorry for myself. 

So I went to bed. I figured I would feel better in the morning. Wrong. I woke up bummed out. Not motivated to go to work today and design. My husband was so sweet. Told me I'm his winner. Hah. He also said, try again next year. And I will. I'll try, try again.

This was my entry this year.

Next year....I'll try again.

Happy National Pet Day!

According to the imaginary person that creates these "National Days", it's National Pet Day!

Wishing all the pets you love a happy day!

Chelsea Yarns in Red Bank!

I am a big supporter of Local Yarn Stores. When I first started knitting we didn't have many options in the area but luckily knitting is so super cool (it is) and people in the area appreciate local yarn stores so a few have opened up in my area. The local shop owners are also great supporters of our farm and our store so it's always nice to spread the love.

Chelsea Yarns is one of our local yarn stores, run by the awesome Christina. For the past few years she has had a shop in Colts Neck, NJ as well as an online shop. She was ready for a new space and so Red Bank was going to be her new home. Throughout the past two months I have been doing the graphic work for her and it's been a blast to work for Christina. She has a fun style and she makes it easy to come up with designs. I rebranded her logo as well as her Luxe sock yarn labels.  Made some moving cards, a new store sign and a banner she hung in the shop. But anyway...more about the new shop!!!

As soon as the NJ Wool Walk finished she packed up and moved to Red Bank. In the matter of hours, she was in the door of her new shop and setting up. 5 days later she was open for business. I still can't get over how quickly she and her team did the move! I stopped by on opening day and it looked awesome.

I also picked up a few goodies. Two skeins of her LUXE sock yarn Merino, Nylon base.

The names of the yarn are Backyard Chicken!!!!! and Baby Chicks! Had to have them.

I also got a fun project bag with the logo.

The light colored yarn is Baby Chicks and I'm knitting socks with the Kirby Wirby Afterthought Heel. I've never done this heel but listening to Jodie talk about it on the Grocery Girls podcast made me want to try it. I've made two pairs of socks with the Susan B Anderson Smooth Operator Socks but I don't love how the heel fits me. I love knitting it, but the heel is a little too wide for me.

Not sure if the Kirby Wirby one will be better but I'm going to try it.

Check out Christina at Chelsea Yarns if you're in the Red Bank area! 

Chelsea Yarns Website Link

Wishing the crew of Chelsea Yarns lots of success in their new location!

Speaking of local stores, I'll plug the other ones in our area too:

Frame & Fiber and the wonderful Paige!!!  Paige runs this beautiful shop located in Point Pleasant, NJ. She combined a framing business, yarn and fabric all into one. It's a great shop and she's one of my favorite people! Funny, I also did her logo :) Love my fiber people!

The other local LYS is A Stitch in Time in Farmingdale, NJ. Great yarn, super sweet owner and she also has a lot of embroidery thread now. Always a great stop!

Ok...so there's my LYS plug for the week. It's always nice to support the local peeps.

Happy knitting!

Yarn Along

The yarn along has ended, but it was a big part of my Wednesdays for years so I thought I would try to keep up with sharing what I'm working on. So, here's what I'm up to these days...

I finished up a new pair of socks using Chelsea Yarns Luxe BFL/Nylon base. LOVE them!!! I'm trying to figure out what sock I like to knit vs. wear. I followed the Susan B Anderson Smooth Operator Socks pattern again. I love knitting them but wearing them...not positive yet. The heel doesn't fit me right. I think I prefer wearing the slipped stitch heel with gusset. So, going to try that next time. But that Smooth Operator...man they're fast. I finished a pair in a week. 

I'm knitting another baby sweater from the Heart on my Sleeve booklet. This time it's the Tenderheart. Using a dark tan for the body and white for the yoke details. The yarn is Cascade Pure Alpaca. We sell it at the farm. I love knitting baby sweaters. They're so quick!!! This one will be for someone that comes to the farm.

Reading....I started The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan and I'm loving it! I picked it up from the library strictly on the cover and the description on the flap. 

Hope your week is going well. What are you reading and knitting?

-Leanne

From the weekend....

Sharing some photos from my phone that I took last weekend. Some time on the couch, in the Coop, and the baseball field. Finished knitting project is my Girl from the Grocery Store shawl. Finally took a finished picture of it! It was fun to knit but I'm finding it a little hard to wear. It's big!!! But I do love it.

The quilt that Jeter is laying on in the first picture is the quilt that I made when I lived in Doylestown, PA. I was newly married and I took a beginning quilting class at the cute little quilt shop in town. I went once a week and we made a sampler quilt. It's still one of my favorite quilts that I've made. It's funny...I love knitting so much but I do miss the quilting. Maybe I'll have to make a new one....add it to the list right? Hah. So many projects, too little time.

Hope you're having a great week. -Leanne

Alpaca Owners - Meet & Greet at Arrow Acres Farm

For more information, please contact Dee at arrowacresfarm@aol.com

or Don at Arrow2021@aol.com

or Liz at Lalvino913@gmail.com