Rhinebeck!

So much pretty yarn!!!

My family and I spent the whole weekend at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York and it still wasn't enough time to see everything. Wow, what an amazing festival! It was like the Big E and Sock Summit rolled into one. The place was just stuffed to the gills with knitters, fiber artists, dyers, farmers, and families looking for some weekend fun. I saw so many amazing knit goods as well - gorgeous shawls, socks, sweaters, hats, and scarves...it was so inspiring.

We got there on Saturday morning around 11:00 am and dove right in to the fiber madness. We started out a little overwhelmed and not sure what we should expect or do first, so we just wandered into the building immediately in front of us. It was chock full of vendors. So were the next 4 buildings. Our morning was spent admiring yarn, petting sheep, cuddling bunnies, examining spinning wheels, and nuzzling llamas and alpacas.

Sanguine Gryphon

I loved visiting the Sanguine Gryphon booth. We got there after the mob cleared away so it was busy but not overwhelming. There were some gorgeous samples hanging in the booth including the beautiful Lalique that I fell in love with at Sock Summit. I even got to visit my Duchess Anna socks and show them off to my husband.

I want a sweater like this!

While looking for lunch and an ATM, we accidentally stumbled into the building that housed the food vendors. Not the vendors selling lunch and other ready to eat foods, but the fancy food vendors that were there to exhibit their wares. We were suddenly surrounded by all sorts of tempting treats and tastes. First we sampled the wines on tasting, then the cheeses, then the savories, and then the sweets. YUM! Boo was a particular fan of the cheese tastings - I think he sampled 22 varieties. He spit some of the riper tasting cheeses onto the floor like a good toddler, but I'm still not sure how he fit the rest into his tummy. Then he managed to charm the bakery ladies into giving him tastes of all their wares, including ones not actually being sampled. He managed to find room for all of those too.

Socks That Rock in Festival of Lights

I split of from my fellahs for the afternoon and went in search of yarn. I must have visited every vendor that was there. Since it was the first day, I wasn't planning to make any purchases - I was simply scoping it out to plan my shopping strategy for the second day. One beautiful skein of yarn caught my eye though and it demanded to come home with me. Festival of Lights, a seasonal colorway from Blue Moon Fiber Arts was my first Rhinebeck purchase and the only one of the day. It's so pretty!

On day two we decided to get there a bit earlier to beat the morning traffic and the afternoon crowds so we were parked (in a prime spot!) by 10:00 am. I was past the gate and happily trolling the vendors by 10:15!

My husband was planning to meet some friends and watch the Punkin Chuckin event (which sadly got cancelled!) at noon so I continued to browse and plot while he and my son were with me. My husband kept checking out spinning wheels in such a way that I think he may just have picked up on my not so subtle hints about what I'd like for the holidays. I'm not going to get my hopes up about getting one, but I will keep my fingers crossed. You never know!

Before parting ways, we stopped for an amazing snack of lamb ravioli. It was a little greasy but OH SO GOOD. I love lamb, my husband loves lamb, and it turns out that our one year old loves lamb too. I think he ate half the bowl himself. Good thing it was a snack! I found this delicious looking lamb ravioli recipe that I think I'm going to try out as a family meal. It was too good to eat just at a festival.


Now the shopping. I was amazed by my own frugality at Rhinebeck. This may have been because of the overwhelming number of vendors. It may have been because it was so spread out that I kept losing track of where my favorite vendors were located. It may have been that nagging voice in the back of my head reminding me about Stitches East and the New England Fiber Festival. I don't know...but my purchases were spare. One thing was for certain, it wasn't due to the lack of gorgeous fiber!

Don't Fence Me In (from sunsetcat.com)

I visited the Cooperative Press booth and was pleased to finally get the chance to meet Stephanie Tallent, an amazing designer who also happened to be my technical editor for Flickering Fire, the socks that were just published by Knitcircus Magazine. She's so sweet and so talented! I fell in love with a new mitt pattern of hers, Don't Fence Me In, so I bought a copy on the spot even though it will soon be published in her soon to be released book. I can't wait for it to come out - a lot of the patterns were on display at the booth and wow, talk about gorgeous. I love the Peacock Mitts. You can see a sneak peek of them here. I also picked up a skein of a gorgeous alpaca yarn from "A Touch of Twist" in Pattersonville, New York so that I would have a some beautiful natural colored yarn to knit them with!

Dancing Leaf Farm Bee Bop

Dancing Leaf Farm yarns were a discovery I made at Sock Summit this year so I was thrilled to see their booth at Rhinebeck. The colorways are just gorgeous. Dalis, the dyer, has an amazing eye for combining colors! I picked up two skeins of Bee Bop that I plan to use together to make a pair of boot socks.



All in all it was a wonderful weekend and I'm really looking forward to next year's festival! In the meantime, I need to start thinking about Stitches East...