rhinebeck, round I

a good part of the magic surrounding the new york state sheep and wool show—better known simply as rhinebeck—is that it is held each year over the third weekend of october, coinciding with the peak of the hudson valley fall foliage display.

it is a rare rhinebeck wool festival where the backdrop is nothing short of spectacular fall color and crisp air—quintessential sweater weather.

we always make a long weekend out of it—our friend kimkimkim (or kim3 for short) flies in to ohio and we travel from home by car with beckie; this gives use a chance to catch up and have a good long talk on the way to NYS.

by early evening we arrive in the catskills, unpack the car into our little rental cottage, and settle in to knit for the evening. we missed beckie being along this year; she had a family wedding to attend in another state—we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again, haha.

on friday morning we set out for the fairgrounds early to deliver patterns to a couple of vendors and get a little preview of the wonders to behold at spirit trail fiberworks, miss babs, and briar rose. whoa, was it ever raining; we felt bad for those who were setting up in an all-day downpour, but kept our fingers crossed that rain on friday would mean blue skies the rest of the weekend.

then it was on to the CIA (culinary institute of america) for a special lunch, which is another yearly tradition for us. we settled in to the ristorante caterina de medici to peruse the menu and watch the rain come down outside (kind of a treat for me, since it’s been so dry at home; i can’t remember the last time i saw so much rain!).

it was a tiny bit bittersweet without our usual large table of five or six guests—we missed beckie, nathalie, mary, and woolen rabbit kim, who have joined us each year recently; i sure hope that next year they can all make it.

lunch was delish—i ate sea bass and kim ordered steak. and yes that is two full orders of french fries on the side, haha; i remembered from last year that they are some of the best i’ve ever eaten, so i ordered them again.

no matter what, we always order dessert as well—this is a holiday. in fact, we often order an extra dessert if we can’t decide on just one for each of us. so friday we had this yummy walnut fig tart, plus the chocolate pudding

PLUS the apple terrine.
i know—what an indulgence! but so worth it.

afterward we rolled back to the car and headed to kingston to meet up with another rhinebeck pilgrim who came a very long way for the upcoming weekend

look, it’s megan, who traveled from australia to see beautiful new york state and the biggest yarn show on earth. she had been in a beginning spinning class all day, and was very ready to relax and knit for the evening.

we spent a couple of hours hanging out in the lobby of her hotel, where we also got to visit some more with chris and may from briar rose and other hotel guests in town for the show. then we got ourselves back to our house for a good night’s sleep—we didn’t want to face saturday without one.

i got to the fairgrounds pretty early to report for work at the briar rose booth, where i was to be found most of the day.

the booth was absolutely packed with yarn, in anticipation of day-long crowds. it looks like a lot now, but those piles would soon be dwindling.

the morning started out sunny, crisp, and fresh—not a raindrop in sight

i love this photo of roger and chris in their sticks and stones sweaters; how cute is that?

chris says it’s roger’s favorite sweater these days.

jenny the potter took a  minute form her booth next door to pop in and say hello, while things were still relaxed. i went over to see her booth before it got picked clean by the waiting crowd.

this is what it looked like at 8:30 am—but that didn’t last long . . . her booth was as busy as the briar rose booth the rest of the day.

this is what it feels like to be inside a very popular booth right before the opening bell. i hurried back next door to get ready for our own early morning rush.

next thing we knew, roger rolled up the traps and we were open for business.

for the next eight hours, the inside of our booth looked like this—shoppers packed as tightly as could be to see the beautiful yarns and hopefully, find something perfect for a project.

i helped find sweater and shawl quantities of sea pearl, guide them to appropriate pattern choices and figure out yarn quantities and substitutions. i twisted more skeins of  errant yarn than i thought possible in one day—it’s an all day job just keeping things neat in a situation like this, haha.

but lots of fun too, especially with so many attendees stopping in to show off handknits, say hello, and ask for help finding yarn—i had a blast!

around 12:30, i managed to duck out to attend our knitspot meetup on the hill behind the children’s play area. i have some terrific photos to share of our annual lunchtime picnic, but i’m going to save those for next time—kim and i need to get ready to leave our little cottage in a bit and head for NYC.

we are meeting up very briefly with mister knitspot to pass off the car, then continuing our adventure down in the city for the rest of the week. i will be back tomorrow with a rhinebeck wrap up (including photos of stash enhancement)—stay tuned.