Recapping Rhinebeck

Y'all, I am tired! (So tired that I've apparently become Southern!) I got back from my weekend away late this afternoon, but when I got home, I had bathrooms to clean, laundry to do, and dinner to make -- no rest for the weary! I have a lot of catching up to do in reading blogs and responding to comments, and I expect that will take me a few days, but I didn't want to go to bed without posting a bit of a recap of my weekend.

Let me preface this by saying that my experience of Rhinebeck is not typical, largely because while I'm not a vendor myself, for this weekend, I'm working like one. I had very little time outside the booth this time around, in part because for most of the festival it was just me and Amy working and in part because I didn't really feel a need to shop (see, my resolve is strong!). So if you're expecting lots of photos of people in beautiful hand-knit sweaters and colorful fall foliage, I am sorry to disappoint you. Okay, well I do have one sweater photo to share -- this customer came into our booth and I loved his sweater so much that I asked to take a photo of it:

If this isn't familiar to you, click here to see the inspiration.

The weekend was a real whirlwind. I got picked up my Uber at 9 on Thursday morning and met Amy at a Panera not far from the PA Turnpike. It was the two of us and the two puppies in the car; we met Amy's three friends who were coming to help at our AirBnB -- they'd flown in from Nashville and Chicago. We set up the booth Friday morning, and then went to Indie Untangled in the afternoon, where I saw a few friends and made a couple of small purchases. Saturday and Sunday were a blur, but I did find time for one very important Rhinebeck tradition:

This counts as lunch when you're working a festival.

I'd say that in addition to seeing friends and getting hugs for the first time in two years, the highlight of the weekend for me was meeting, live and in person, the Knitmore Girls! I've been listening to their podcast for at least a decade, so I was so excited to talk to them. And they are just as lovely in person as they are on their podcast.

In case you're wondering, Jasmin's sash says "Stash Dash Champion."

Amy and I got on the road before 7 a.m. this morning, with quick stops for bagels and caffeine, and we were back at the Panera (where the Mister was waiting for me) by about 2:30. The puppies had the right idea for the ride home:

Zzzzzzz

My acquisitions on the trip were very modest and almost exclusively made at Indie Untangled on Friday afternoon:

I got the mini skein set (which I'm planning to use for a design sample) and "Knitting Jedi" pin from McMullin Fiber Co. and the greenish speckled fingering weight skein from AT Haynes House Yarns, both new-to-me dyers. I bought Clara Parkes' latest book from Amy (I even rang myself up and checked myself out) because I've been wanting to read it, she had a stack of copies, and I figured one less copy meant less for her to have to take home. The only other thing that came home with me that's not shown here is the festival t-shirt I preordered.

I'm sure I'll have some more details to share in the week ahead, but that's it from me for now. I'm off to go tuck my kid in to bed and then tuck myself in!