Rhinebeck Rhinebeck Rhinebeck!
This year I drove up to Rhinebeck just for the day on Sunday with my new friends-made-through-quilting (who also knit!) Nancy and Chris. I've decided that going for the day is optimal for me as opposed to staying in a house for the weekend, as being there more than a few hours means I end up buying way too much stuff! Last year I stayed in a house with several other women and it was OK, but not great. The way I did it this year was perfect! And since I love to drive I actually think the 4-5 hours driving there and back is a bonus =)
Because I've been to the show many many times before and it was Nancy & Chris's first times, I was the defacto tour guide. So when I suggested we start with the souvenir tent and a pit stop, they readily agreed!
I always go to the souvenir tent first because they usually sell out of Rhinebeck-branded stuff before the end of the show. Since we were there on Sunday, they had already sold out of some things but I found a good souvenir for me:
A Rhinebeck project bag! Love those Warhol sheep!
After our pit stop we went all the way to the far end of the show, where I found the book-signing section and stumbled across my buddy Dana signing copies for her book! I know Dana from Knitty City (aka the best yarn shop in New York City!) but didn't even know she had a book out!
So I got her to sign a copy for me:
I'm planning to dig out my bead stash and make a necklace or two from this book for Christmas gifts. They look so unique!
As we continued through the big back building, N+C found lots of felting stuff to look at. They went into this section to look at fleeces:
While I stayed safely outside the perimeter repeatedly saying "I can't take on another hobby. I can't take on another hobby." I'm proud to say that I managed not to buy anything for any new hobbies this year. Woo!
While Nancy bought felting stuff, I forced myself not to even look at the felting supplies. I ended up coming away with only these felted balls:
They're gorgeous aren't they? They're actually dryer balls! You use them instead of dryer sheets (which I don't use anyway), and you can put essential oils on them if you want to add some scent to your drying clothes. I love the idea of adding some wool to my laundry routine!
Oh and you see that dark blur in the upper right-hand corner of the photo? That's Arnold's nose. Most of the pictures I tried to take of these dryer balls looked more like this:
Because apparently to Arnold, these things look like toys for him. Of course. I am going to have to remember to keep these away from him so he doesn't destroy them!
In the way back of the big back building, I spotted this antique quilt:
I vaguely remember always seeing quilts in this general area, but until this year I didn't care too much about them. Now that I'm a quilter these beauties stopped me dead in my tracks!
This one is made up of all half square triangles, all hand-pieced of course. It was dated to the 1900's and was on sale for only $500, which I thought was very reasonable given the amount of work and the age of the piece. I'm guessing they don't do too well selling antique quilts at Rhinebeck though . . . oh and you see the two ladies to the left of the picture? That's Nancy lifting her glasses to take a closer look, and Chris's arm taking her own (doubtlessly better than my iPhone) picture.
Ok, what next? After we finished the big back building, we took a lunch break. I ate a burger covered with roasted garlic (and yes, N+C told me I stunk for the rest of the day) and french fries. They were wonderful. The fried fair food is definitely a must for me at the show!
After refueling and making another pit stop, we went on to see the other half of the show. N+C picked up a few more things but I kept not finding anything I *had* to buy. It was actually kind of annoying me that I hadn't bought yarn yet! We decided to make a detour to check out the sheep, and spent kind of a long time oogling and even petting them. My favorite were these guys with their long bangs:
And this little guy:
Can you see that he's got a stripe down his middle? His front and rear were gray and his belly was white! Here's another picture where you can hopefully see what I'm saying:
Absolutely hysterical and adorable. I wanted to take him home and introduce him to Arnold.
I was surprised that so many of the sheep let us get really close to and even pet them. I petted one for what seemed like forever, and when I went to move away he seemed like he wanted me to stay! Fascinating.
After the sheep we went through the rest of the tents and finished the whole show. I picked up a little present for Dave (no picture because I haven't given it to him yet) and N+C each got a few more things. When we got to the end of the show I *still* hadn't bought any yarn and I was pretty annoyed about it! So we went back to a booth I'd lingered at earlier, Hope Spinnery. I'd actually wanted to buy some of their yarn last year but my budget was already blown and I couldn't do it, so this year was the year! Here's what I came away with:
I'm planning to do yoked colorwork pullover with these beauties. The brown and white are undyed wool (LOVE!) and the the yellow and orange are naturally dyed. I love how each of their colors tells you what was used to dye them:
Oh, Weld and Cochineal, of course!
I'm pretty excited about this new project, but am forcing myself not to even cast on until I get some overdue things finished first . . . we'll see how long I hold out.
At this point in the day it was around 4 and we were all losing steam, so we stopped at the 4H booth to refuel:
My hot apple cider totally hit the spot. It's my first cup of this season and I can't wait to have many many more! I just love hot apple cider.
After we snacked we all looked at each other and basically all said at the same time that we were ready to go home. We were exhausted!
So we packed up and said goodbye to Rhinebeck and headed home. My GPS took us some weird way out of town that involved driving on local roads for a while (I will never understand why a GPS will give you different directions when going than returning from a place) but we made good time home. Much of the ride home was spent discussing what a Chiagu booth at Rhinebeck might look like . . . so you may be hearing way more about Rhinebeck in the future . . . maybe. We'll see.
By the time I dropped the ladies off in the city I was done for and came straight home to dinner and the couch.
All in all we had a wonderful day and I can't wait for next year's Rhinebeck, whether I'm vending or just shopping again!
