Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Post-Rhinebeck post


Are you ready for the gajillionth Rhinebeck roundup? Want to see more sheep, goats, bloggers, and yarn? If not, I completely understand. But if so, read on.

I had such a great time, and the weekend passed waaaay too quickly. Véronik and I drove down on Friday afternoon and were home again by about 11 o'clock Sunday night -- it was about a six-hour drive each way, including coffee stops. The weather was just beautiful, and the fall colours blew my mind a little bit.

It was my first Rhinebeck, and it actually wasn't as frantic or crowded as I'd expected (although some buildings were pretty packed at times). I ended up spending more time looking at animals (including sheep-herding dogs and Frisbee-catching dogs) than at yarn, I think. And I came home with cash in my pocket. Maybe I'm some kind of freak.


It was great to see so many bloggers in person, some again and others for the first time. I finally got to meet some people whom I feel like I've "known" for years, like Adrian, Christy, Claudia, Joanna, darling Rachael, and Rachel M., as well as newer pal and alpaca-lover Veronique. And of course it was awesome to see a bunch of the NYC and TO knitters for the second or third time, like Jackie, Jenn, Laura, darling Michelle, Stephannie, and Stephanie. (I hesitated to start naming names, because of course I met and talked to lots of lovely people and can't possibly link to them all. You know who you are.)

I didn't take nearly enough photos, but if it's photos you want, I'd recommend Claudia's post and Stephanie's post in which Rachael and I look like a single two-headed creature. I will show you this one of Rachael and me, just to prove a couple of points: that we are in fact not a two-headed creature, that no clouds dared sully the sky over Rhinebeck, and that I did wear my new Woodland Shawl on Sunday.


Actually, I'll show you two more people pictures. First, I like this one of Maia and Véronik sharing a serious two-handed wool-fondling moment:


And second, this one of Brooke and Joanna was taken mere hours after Joanna said she didn't want to learn to spin:


Yep, that's the power of Rhinebeck. OK, so what did I buy? I spent $60, and I'm very happy with my purchases. At the Morehouse Merino party on Saturday night, I picked up six skeins of laceweight from the backroom bargain bin (numbers 1 & 2 below). I can certainly live with breaks in the yarn for $2 per skein. Number 3 is two skeins of worsted-weight merino from Greenwood Hill Farm in a colour I would never in a million years have chosen for myself if Véronik hadn't given a little push. These will probably become a hat or mittens. And number 4 is a 691-yard skein of chocolate-brown Peruvian alpaca from A Touch of Twist, which will become a scarf.


At the last minute on Sunday I bought a pretty Kromski niddy noddy (from ??) -- not because I'm going to spin, but because I unravel things from time to time.

Oh, and I also bought a sheep.


See you there next year? I think I'll have to go back.

(p.s., Ravelry has been in text-only format for me since I've been back. Is it just me?) Thanks, PICAdrienne!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Alison. This is the first year in many that I didn't hit The Sheep and Wool Festival and yours is the first post that made me miss it! I just wanted to give you a warning about the Morehouse Merino laceweight. My skeins varied wildly in thickness. You might want to alternate skeins (2 rows from one, 2 rows from a second) when knitting. Happy knitting.

Unknown said...

It was great to meet you. I hope I didn't freak you out when I practically yelled "Brainylady!" in your face without properly introducing myself or anything. Sorry about that... I was just full of happy, I think. ;-)

Rhinebeck is always a good time. I will definitely go back. :-)

Steph said...

Ya know what sucks about Rhinebeck?

That it is the same weekend as the annual conference which I'm in charge of coordinating.

I herded 130 "sheep" all weekend long while all of you were fondling the products of real sheep.

Anonymous said...

Yes, next year please! Of course, Maryland comes first, and I've never been to that one...we will wear signs that say "take our picture, please" so that we will not forget next time.

Christy said...

I could hardly believe that I was meeting you in person. It's crazy to me that you exist in real life. Seriously.

Hooray!

Unknown said...

I'm glad we Montrealers got to spend so much quality time together in upstate New York! Next time let's wear disguises just to make it more of a challenge to find each other, what do you say? :-)

And you know, Maine also has a sheep and wool festival... I'm just sayin'...

Anonymous said...

It was great to meet you! Sorry we didn't run into each other again on Sunday. Oh well, I guess there's next year! And Maryland! :)

Veronique said...

I had such a blast hanging out with you! And I'm glad I introduced you to A Touch of Twist... I knew you wouldn't resist :)

PICAdrienne said...

I have not seen that behavior out of Ravelry. I didn't get to go to Rhinebeck. However, as a software tester, I would start by clearing your browser cache to see if that clears it up (with the browser closed, of course.) And, if that does not work, then try deleting your browser cookies. If still no luck, then contact the folks at Ravelry.

Beautiful yarns!

J. said...

Yes, yes good to put your actual 3D face to your blog after all this time - stalker that I am. One day we will chat about Taipei, it was good, I miss it sometimes and it is always fun to compare notes with someone else who was there.

lori said...

well you're a lucky duck to live so close to Rhinebeck! it would be hard not to go with only a six hour drive.... Enjoy your haul!

middlevillage said...

i love your sheepie!!!

Cari said...

Sigh. Sniff sniff

Anonymous said...

I loved meeting you this weekend! What a fun time.

Stacey said...

what a fun time! and to come home with cash! what a deal!!! :)

Knotty-girl said...

Please help. I have a crochet pattern for a fedora hat and it calls for Behive Caressa. What size/weight is this yarn? Please e-mail at charlestontatter@yahoo.com and let me know what you know about it. I can't find any information on the net about this yarn.

Chris said...

That sheep is TOO CUTE.

Dr. Steph said...

It was great to see you again. Glad you had fun.

Brooke said...

It was great to meet you in person! I had a wonderful time. I'm glad to hear that you got home safe and sound.

claudia said...

Meeting you was such a highlight of the weekend for me. Definitely you are just as cute in person as in your pictures, in case you were wondering.

:)

I bought a skein of sock yarn and some circular needles. And soap. If you are a freak, I'm a bigger one.

rachel m. said...

so so happy to have finally met you in real life. maybe next time we'll have more time to chit chat! i was at my shyest this weekend, like, ever.

xo

Anonymous said...

[img]http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3979/goatsev3.jpg[/img]
I saw the same type of goats in the wild in Maui a couple of weeks ago!

pamela wynne said...

Such great photos of everyone! And the yarn! and the week sheep!

I have to suck it up and finally just GO next year, don't I?