I went to the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck and I had such a great time! It was my first fiber festival ever and I just loved being there! It was awesome to have so many yarn shops to peruse in one spot. The festival was so big there was just no way to see it all in one day, but I did cover a lot of ground. I’m exhausted now. I woke up at 5am to be at the bus by 6am. I have a hard time sleeping in buses (same as planes, actually) so I didn’t really sleep much beyond the 4 hours I got during the night. But I certainly had an adrenaline rush when we arrived! It was a very cold day but that didn’t stop me in the least! I was wearing my Mara (that shawl got me more compliments than I have received since my wedding day, LOL!) and fingerless mitts and they both did a good job of keeping me warm – along with a jacket, of course. The first thing I noticed? The absolutely gorgeous colors of fall all over the place. It’s actually amazing how beautiful all the trees were. This picture doesn’t really do it justice, but you can get an idea:
The first thing I did? Hit up The Fold for some Socks that Rock, of course! I grabbed some gorgeous skeins and then spent another 20 minutes trying to pay for them, LOL. It was worth it, though!
That’s five – count ’em, five – skeins of STR! I’m excited about all of them but especially Pond Scum (on the far right), Jubilation (the dark purple one) and the Mill End (on the far left). I can’t wait to knit with them! And on my way around I ran into Ysolda Teague and Laura Chau, both of pattern-fame, shopping for baskets! I was so surprised I couldn’t think of anything to say, but it was still strange and exciting to just see them around!
Of course, I was *way* too busy shopping to take many pictures. I feel a bit bad about it, but then I look at my acquisitions and don’t feel bad anymore. I mean, just look at it:
Is that a great pile of fibery goodness or what? I spent quite a bit but managed to stick to my very sizable budget (remember the yarn diet? that was to save up for this!), so I’m happy. While there I got to meet up with the wonderfully sweet Christi and her equally sweet mother, Cindy. They were a lot of fun to hang out with and we did some shopping together and a bit of lunch (well, actually, I pretty much stood in line for chicken pot pie the whole time!) before we parted company. It was great to finally meet Christi after talking on Ravelry for so long! 🙂 After waiting forever for the chicken pot pie, and eating it all up, I wandered over to the outside vendors and checked out some sheep! They were very cute, though I think some of them were a little tired of being there… I got some nice shots, though.
And I know it’s probably just dirt, but doesn’t he (she?) look like he’s wearing mascara? haha!
And one more shot of a sheep checking out some kids hand. I swear it wasn’t trying to eat it or anything. 😉
I wandered around some more and found Briar Rose Fibers with all these gorgeous colors!
I bought quite a bit from them (including some buttons!) and will hopefully do a sweater sometime soon as I got 1300 yards of this gorgeous DK weight:
And that’s about it for pictures I took… I was pretty worthless as I mentioned before. But at least I took some! I also bought lots of yummy goodies – maple sugar cotton candy amongst other sweets! – for the hubby so he wouldn’t feel so bad about the yarn purchases… it’s called distraction, people, and you should learn it! 😉
Anyway, I’ve done some knitting since my last post – and on the bus trip too! – but I will leave that for a following post. I had a *wonderful* time at my first fiber event and can’t wait for the next! I’ll be off to Stitches West in February (going with my mom!) and I’m very excited about it. I managed to snag one of the seats in Cookie A’s class on traveling stitches and I’m beyond excited about that – you all know how much I love her socks!
Hope your Saturday was as good as mine… though maybe that you didn’t spend quite so much money! I’ll leave you all with one of my favorite purchases for the day – THE SOFTEST yarn – Suri Alpaca lace weight… is this gorgeous or what? 😀
Fiber festivals sound great, I’m very jealous you got to go to this one, it sounds like it was fantastic! That’s a great selection of yarn you bought. Very pretty! I love fall colours too, I need to get up to the forest near me to get pics of the colourful trees before all the leaves fall!
Gorgeous pictures! I would love to be there too- Enjoy, enjoy!! Martha
Glad you had such a great time at Rhinebeck! I always wanted to go when I lived on the East Coast but never had the opportunity 🙂
Love your STR purchases – you should come out to OR, where STR is always at the fiber fests – and sold at the local yarn stores 🙂
Amazing! It’s great that your first festival was such a great one. I freaking love Briar Rose and that colorway is gorgeous. Man, way to make a girl jealous.
Wow! Nice photos! When I say that huge skein – I knew you were sucked into Briar Rose’s booth. I spent a lot at Chris’ booth at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival!
Lovely, all of it! Sounds like a delightful time, and some beautiful yarn to remember it by.
I was looking at those same trees and wishing I could find yarn that color. You’ll love the Briar Rose yarn. I made a sweater out of 1200 yards, so I’m sure you’ll have enough. I love their yarn.
Your first fiber festival was NY Sheep and Wool? I’m envious! It looks like you took home a pretty good haul- I can’t wait to see the projects unfold! Do you have any special plans for the suri lace weight? It’s really beautiful stuff…
Sounds like you had a great time! I’m so jealous, that yarn is beautiful. How exciting about the class too!
I love your first picture, the trees look gorgeous!
What fun! I am so jealous – was hoping to go, but couldn’t get the weekend off. And isn’t it wonderful to come home with a giant bag of new, yummy yarns? I was lucky enough to go to Stitches East last fall & I’m still knitting with yarns I bought there. Thanks for the sheep pix too – you can never have enough pictures of sheep, in my opinion! It sounds like a wonderful day.
I stumbled over here from Ravelry, where I am GardenGirl611
You are so speedy! You posted right away. I have to do some photo editing before I get mine together. Love your lamby pictures! Oh and I think I missed Briar Rose, I don’t remember seeing them, which makes me sad because that yarn you got is beautiful! Ah well, I took home plenty! So great to meet you and thanks for the link!
Ohhhh that yarn diet of yours was sooo worth it!!! I agree with Kate— nice fiber festival to count as your first!
What fun with all your celebrity sightings, GORGEOUS loot and that adorable sheep with mascara 😉 You have such good taste in yarn. I can’t wait to see what you knit!
And Stitches West and Cookie to look forward to as well…. spoiled much? 😉
Gawgeous! Thanks for sharing. I’m definitely retweeting this post. 🙂
What a fab time that all looks! All the yarn … wow!
Thanks you for sharing your trip to Rhinebeck..and what a wonderful job you did!! – MaLinda
Your new yarns look amazing. Looking forward to seeing what you knit up with them.
Your photos look beautiful, as always.
I’d definitely feel a little starstruck if I ran into Ysolda and Laura!
I’m definitely going to try to get out to Rhinebeck next year. I think the drive would be manageable from Toronto (as long as someone else is driving I’ll be able to put in some serious knitting time!).
Sounds like you hit it out of the ball park on your first go. Congrats. I am going to have to try and get there next year. Love all your purchases♥ and great sheep photos too!!!
Rhinebeck! I am soooo jealous. So much great yarn, makes the yarn diet seem worthwhile. Can’t wait to see what you knit with your haul.