Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival ~ Day 1

My sister and I met at the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool show, it was our first visit. The weather was a little chilly and the foliage was outstanding. The drive there was a beautiful tapestry of colors. If I was a yarn dyer, I would want to capture those colors in yarn. As we made our way in, my sister noticed Freckle Girl and Rainy Day Goods from Ravelry.
The fairgrounds were so extensive that we didn’t know where to begin. So we had lunch. The line for Fried Artichokes was the longest food line there. Although we were curious, we didn’t want to spend time on a line.

After lunch we went into the nearest field house and it was wall to wall people. As we made our way in, we stopped at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. I’ve always been curious about their yarns. I picked out this skein of socks that rock called Julbilation.While we were there, my sister said, “The Yarn Harlot just went by!” We thought about going up to her, and then what? Are there knitting celebrity autograph books? We figured if there was, there would be a vendor at Rhinebeck.
Somewhere along the way I found this wonderful skein of 100% merino yarn from Punta yarns. It had all my favorite colors. I don’t even know if I’ll knit with it. I may just put it in a bowl and enjoy looking at it for a while.

Well, when we came out the the Field House, we saw the Yarn Harlot again. My sister asked her if we could take a photo with her and she very graciously took a picture with us. We shared with her how much we love her books/blog. I told her that my husband is just now starting to get it when I read passages from her book to him. Then, we thanked her again and went on our way. It was a real treat to meet her and we didn’t want to take advantage of her good nature. She just came out with a new book, Free-range knitter: The yarn harlot writes again.We took a walk through the exhibition buildings with the animals. This particular Llama was giving me the hairy eyeball. These guys spit when aggravated and who knows what sets them off!

This guy was in the pen across. He (or she) had great coloring.

Look at those eyes and it looks like he’s got a toothpick in his mouth.

Here are some pictures of very cute Hy bred (not Hybrid!) Alpacas.

They are adorable and funny looking at the same time.

Everything was nice and quiet in the Alpaca/Llama building. Not so in the Sheep house!

These guys/gals were “baaaaaaing” and “BAAAAING”. There was quite a conversation occurring between the animals and not all of it sounded friendly.

Here’s a picture from the Decadent Fibers booth. I saw them at the Manchester Knit & Crochet show. I was entranced by the needle felting. I’m feeling another hobby coming on. I maintained some semblance of self control… on the first day.
After a full afternoon of pawing at yarn and sometimes people’s sweaters (a/k/a the knitter’s handshake), we were tired and hungry. It was time to check out the fried artichokes. The line was still there, although now quite manageable. We split an order, being cautious and all. Well, it was delicious. It was all be could do to be polite about sharing this delicious dish. I now totally get the whole long line thing. People wait a year to have this again.
Full of yarn and artichokes, we headed to the Ravelry party. The first 400 people would receive goody bags. We were all about the goody bags. The party was held outside at a pavilion at the Elks Lodge in Red Hook. We were in time to receive goody bags (yeah!). Then we got on line for food. I’m beginning to feel a theme here as I write food/yarn/food/yarn/beverages of course!

Anyway, there were two tents with heaters and Nancy, having gotten her food first set off to snag us seats in the tent. Coming to sit at the same table was, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot!

There were three different groups of people at the table and most of us were knitting. We explored our goody bags. I traded yarn with someone who had purple and didn’t want it. I quietly jumped at the trade. It was a good thing I brought back up knitting because I left the pattern behind for one of my projects. I brought mindless knitting and I still messed it up. I was so in awe of all the knitters/crocheters at this party. There had to be at least 600 people. Depending on how many people my sister has told, the count may be over 1000. (it’s gone up a hundred at each telling).

Later on I met Lisa from LMG Designs

She designs couture knits for people and their pets. Isn’t this the cutest doggie dress!!! I love the ruffles. She showed us some great pictures of her designs.

When it got to be so cold that we could see our breath inside the tent and our noses were cold, we packed it in and went back to the hotel. Needless to say we slept well.