The Rhinebeck Sweater

I always buy something when we go the Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck.  And I’m not talking about lunch.  Last year, I bought yarn.  Yeah, a pretty obvious purchase to make at a wool festival…  I had no pattern in mind but I wanted enough to make myself a sweater.  I picked yarn I had never seen before in a blue that called to me.  It’s Brooks Farm Trio yarn. 70% wool, 20% alpaca, 10% silk.  And it looks kettle dyed.  Just the one color but not evenly dyed.

And then I looked for a pattern.  With all the patterns I own and all the free patterns out there, I could not find a single thing.  Until I found the Dragonflies Jumper.  It had to be that one.  In case you didn’t know, yarn is like fabric. It speaks. And sometimes, it’s quite stubborn about what it wants to become.  So I bought the pattern and got to work. I just made the neckline a little lower so that I could wear it with a blouse.

See the pretty stitch pattern?  And it’s super stretchy so there’s no need for shaping as long as you make it with a bit of negative ease.  It’s also knit in one piece, top down so you can try it on as you go and be sure that it fits well.

It took a while.  There were blanket squares to make, travel knitting to do (socks), olympic knitting (socks again), and a baby was needing a blanket.  But I wanted that thing for this year’s Rhinebeck and I was going to have it.  And I did!

I had Mr. Mouse take pictures when we were at Rhinebeck.  It was a cool, windy, and sunny day.  Perfect sweater weather and it kept me nice and toasty.  Wool, alpaca, and silk for the win!

And this is one of the first pictures he took.  Blurry.  It’s a good thing I checked.  I told him to focus on me.  He was puzzled. I told him about the red dots that show where the camera is focusing.  He never saw them.  I do realize that they can be hard to see in certain lighting conditions but Mr. Mouse?  Colorblind.  I kid you not.  So combined with difficult light (I had a hard time seeing them too), it isn’t surprising that he couldn’t see the dots.  So I gave him a more depth of field (smaller aperture, i.e. bigger aperture number) so that I could still be in focus even if the camera focused on the tree.

And now I know why he takes so many blurry pictures…

About deuxsouriceaux

Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?