a Rhinebeck recap

Saturday was rockin'. I'm so, so glad I got the chance to go to Rhinebeck, even for only one day. Muchas gracias to Erin and her mom for providing transportation! It was my first fiber festival experience, and I'm definitely up for doing it again in the future (memo to self: start planning now for next year, so maybe you'll be able to do a whole weekend then).


The day started out a bit overcast, as you can see in this pic of the available health food offerings.


Look! Bean made a new friend!

I admit I'm not much of a knitblog-reader - I basically read the blogs of people I know in person, and that's about it. So I know there were a lot of famous bloggers there, and I had some of them pointed out to me, but I really couldn't tell you who I saw. I'm sorry! I'm oblivious, what can I say? Of the people I actually know, tho', we were hoping to run into Diana, at least... But instead, we ran into Rachel (yay!), whom none of us had seen in quite some time, and with whom we did not get to spend nearly enough time. It's a shame we had time for little more than hello's, but... the fiber was calling us all. We only had about 5 hours to try to cram in the whole show, so, alas, there was no time to waste.

I had made myself a promise when I decided to try to go to Rhinebeck this year - I swore I wasn't going to buy any roving or a drop spindle or any spinning paraphernalia at all, because I do not have time to get into that right now. I don't even have time to knit these days - how on earth could I cram spinning into my schedule, too? So I swore I wouldn't get pulled into the spinning thing, and I'd only buy yarn if I found something really special. And I stuck to that promise! I bought no roving at all, unlike certain people I could name (tho' I'll admit some absolutely gorgeous stuff from Indigo Moon Farm sorely tempted me. It was $4.50/oz, tho', and I just didn't think I could afford it).

I took some surreptitious pictures, but the lighting was crap, so I don't think they quite do the fabulous colors justice.

The stuff on the right is the stuff I wanted. Bee-yoo-ti-ful. Stunningly perfect mixture of blues and purples... it breaks my heart, but I just couldn't justify buying it in any way.

I did buy one skein of Alchemy Yarns' Synchronicity (50/50 silk/wool) in my favorite shade of periwinkle blue, because it's just like the Fiesta Yarns La Luz that I've been drooling over at the Knitting Connection, only in a color I love, and $5 cheaper ($20/hank at the festival vs. $25/hank at the store). I know exactly what I'm going to make with it - it's going to be a small loosely-stitched bias-knit crochet-edged scarf that will slide around my neck in the most heavenly way. I just have no idea when I am going to get around to starting on that. Maybe by summer 2006?

I also bought some super-ultra-chunky-bulky purple stuff from Hudson Valley Sheep & Wool for $5 a ball (I got two of 'em, so, like the song says, I've got big balls - hee). I have no idea what I will do with that yarn, but I had to get some. They had it all out in a big basket, and it just looked like a basket full of fun. I was powerless to resist (tho' I am going to have to figure out something to do about the pungent farm smell this yarn emits). Besides those things, I got a bag of maple cotton candy (which, ironically enough, looked like a bag full of roving - enough so to fool Erin's mom) and a tiny felted sheep ornament which was, honestly, one of the cutest things I've ever seen. And that was it. Hooray for me! I managed to get some special, festival-unique bargains without losing my head and overspending like a maniac. It's a rare thing when I set boundaries for myself and actually manage to stick to them.


(Me with my "roving").

The other condition I set for myself, if I was going to go to Rhinebeck, was that I had to get some homework done on the way there and back - or else. And again, I was so good - I worked on my Japanese homework in the car most of the way there. On the way back, I tried to do more, but we'd barely been on the road for 20 minutes when I passed right out. I was so pooped! And being massively sleep-deprived didn't help matters any. (Still, I got enough done that I was able to hand in my Japanese homework on time today, for a change, so "mission accomplished" there.)

Even tho' the day started out overcast, the sun did end up coming out by day's end:



Me, Bean, & Erin with our loot.


On the way home.

I thought I'd had such a full day when I got home and went to bed at 10:30pm - but my DH, who had gone to see Bill's band, The Hot Steppers, play at the Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester, didn't get in until after 4 in the morning! And he was still up before me on Sunday! I swear, he's a crazy man. I told him next year he needs to come to the fiber festival, because they had that whole exhibition hall full of NY State food products and cooking demos. He'd have been entertained. It'll be fun for the whole family next year! I can't wait.