Rhinebeck Reentry

I'm not sure I can even begin to capture everything from this past weekend and the excitement that was my first Rhinebeck, but I'm going to try -- and please forgive the long post! It was a long, busy weekend, and while it was technically a working weekend for me (meaning that I spent most of the time at the festival in the booth), it was absolutely wonderful.

We left early on Thursday morning and pulled into the fairgrounds at about 4:30 in the afternoon to unload all the stuff. Then we headed to the campsite to set up the camper and then to dinner at Terrapin, which was absolutely delicious. On Friday morning, we went back to the fairgrounds to set up the booth. We were done by about noon, which gave us time to wander a bit around "downtown" Rhinebeck and have some lunch before heading to the Needles Up event. I made just two purchases there, a new sock-sized bag (I'm calling that a necessity, as I'd forgotten a bag for the socks I cast on for Rainbow on the trip up) and an Elizabeth Zimmermann pin from the Fat Squirrel and a braid of Cheviot in Starry Night from Classy Squid Fiber Co.

We decided to try to get into Indie Untangled before dinner on Friday and after spending a very long time in a very long line had about 25 minutes to fight the crowds. I purchased just one skein of yarn, the Rhinebeck 2017 colorway from Skeinny Dipping on her fingering singles base, and also got to meet Christine, the dyer, who I've "known" online for a number of years.

I also met Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade in the crowd and met fellow designer Mary Annarella. I didn't get a chance to get a picture with Helen, but I chatted with Mary for a bit when I escaped the claustrophobic room, and she's every bit as nice in person as she is online.

Once we escaped that madness, we went to dinner in Saugerties with Danielle, the owner of Fibre Space, and her husband and adorable daughter (a.ka. Fibre Space Tiny Human). That was a very fun dinner, and as both Danielle and her husband are originally from the Southwestern Pennsylvania area, we discovered a lot of connections.

On Saturday we were up early to get to the fairgrounds and finish setting up the booth. I thought it looked pretty great when we were done:

If you look closely, you can see one of my patterns on display!

Though the temperatures did get rather warm later in the day, it was chilly enough in the morning to wear and show off my Rhinebeck sweater!

I'm so glad I wore it, because, a bit later in the morning -- completely by chance -- the designer of the sweater, Elizabeth Doherty, was in the booth and I got to show her my sweater in person! She was so nice, and meeting her was probably the highlight of my day.

The booth was busy for most of the day, but it calmed down enough by late afternoon that I was able to wander for a bit. My first stop was the fiber arts competition display, where I was stunned and delighted to find that all three of the handspun skeins I had entered had won ribbons (one fourth place and two fifths)!

I ran into Melanie of the Savvy Girls Podcast (who I had met at Maryland Sheep and Wool last year), and the two of us wandered around together a bit.

Saturday night we headed to Kingston for a delicious Mexican dinner and made it to Jill Draper's open studio event for about the last fifteen minutes. That proved to be a good thing, as the studio was fairly empty by then and we were actually able to talk to Jill and Rachel of Daughter of a Shepherd, whose yarns were being featured at the event. I may have bought a little yarn there, too.

Sunday at the festival was much more relaxed. I got a chance to try the famous apple cider donuts and do just a little bit of shopping. At the end of the day, we packed everything up, loaded it onto the truck, and headed back to downtown Rhinebeck for one last delicious dinner. We had a long day coming home yesterday -- I didn't get back to my house until about 8:45 last night -- but it was worth it.

I'd say the best part of the whole experience was all the people I got to see and meet. I ran into a number of friends from SSK and elsewhere, and thanks to Amy and Scooter Pie, met a bunch of designers, podcasters, and other fiber industry people, including Laura Nelkin, Thea Colman, Amy Christoffers, Anne Vally, Boston Jen, and EmilyStraw. I also ran into Miriam Felton just outside the booth and introduced myself, as I'd "met" her online probably a decade ago when she helped me get through my very first lace shawl from one of her patterns (and I later loaned her the finished shawl when she got the rights back to the pattern and needed new photos). I got to meet a number of friends from Ravelry who I'd not yet met in person and ran into some friends who I've known for years.

I'm sure you're wondering what else followed me home, aren't you? Here's the full haul:

In addition to the things you've already seen, I bought a woven basket from Ghana (perfect for carrying all my purchases), a festival T-shirt, a sock blank from Gale's Art, and some Ross Farm Romney and CVM fiber and a skein of Shetland sport weight that I kept fondling throughout the show and Amy wouldn't let me leave without. I also came come with three new-to-me Lendrum WooLee Winder bobbins (not shown) that I bought from another Raveler who was nice enough to meet me at the booth for the exchange.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading it all. I'm going to wait until my next post to share the knitting I did on the trip (because it's a long drive to and from Rhinebeck, and that's the perfect time to knit). I'm thoroughly exhausted from the weekend, but I wouldn't change a thing -- and I really hope I can go back next year!