What a great event! Saturday was the trip to Rhinebeck. While the weather started out less than stellar, it cleared up quickly which was really nice. We ran into a bit of a problem with a flooded out Taconic Parkway, but after a quick run to the facilities and some much needed food we hit the vendors around 12:30pm. I knew exactly what my first stop had to be. I've been hearing about how great the sock yarn from The Fold was for quite some time so I was really excited that they were going to be there. Unfortunately the specific colorway I wanted was sold out by the time I got there, but I still came home with one skein:

This is the Azure Malachite colorway which I still love. I wish you could all feel just how amazing this yarn really is. I'm definitely going to need a really special pattern for this pair of socks. I'm very happy to say that the colors they show on the website are really that amazing in person.

After completing mission #1 it was off to see the other vendors. There were so many barns full of so many yummy things it was really overwhelming. There was yarn, there were needles, there were patterns, there were completed items, there was roving in every color imaginable... the list just goes on and on! I just couldn't figure out to buy there were so many things. But there was one other mission I had to complete. Mission #2 was to get a drop spindle and some roving so I could learn to spin! Yes, I'm completely insane for allowing myself to get into yet another fiber addiction gateway, but it was an idea I'd been toying with for awhile.

Apparently Sneaksleep read my mind because it turns out that she had already made plans with Mamacate to get materials and a spinning lesson! They were nice enough to let me tag along and I ended up buying this:

3 carded batts and a bottom whorl drop spindle! After we had secured the supplies, Mamacate gave us a lesson:


That's Sneaksleep spinning her very first yarn. I followed soon after. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of drafting the roving while holding the top of the twist and then getting the spindle to spin. Definitely a two person exercise at first. So much so that there ended up being some tandem spinning later:

(Perhaps this should be a new olympic event?!)

Sneaksleep is helping me get things going a bit more here while we wait for our group to get ready to leave. I've done a little more since then and while I can do it pretty well when I use the technique of twisting the spindle up tight, holding it between my knees, and then letting the drafted roving go and spin up the slack, I can't seem to get the hang of getting the spindle to spin while I hold the yarn up in the air. I'm hoping Eklectica might be able to give me a few pointers this week (*waving to Eklectica from down the street*).

There were a couple of other funny things I saw that I couldn't resist taking pictures of:

The owner of this is either REALLY tall or thinks they were REALLY good this year!

I guess after a day of fiber mayhem the people aren't the only ones that need to sit down and take a break... but at least we usually don't sit on someone else!


After the gates closed at Rhinebeck there was still more fun to be had. Our group went out for dinner across the river and then it was on to Morehouse Merino for a look around the store. Most of us didn't really hit their booths at the festival since we knew we'd be making this stop on the way back.

I can't tell you how much I love this store. It is so big and well merchandised. They have all kinds of samples around so you can see the different patterns you can make with their lovely soft yarn. And they always have some free goodies in the back room (the hot cider is my favorite). While I've been drooling over a certain sweater they have on display (but apparently isn't on their website) for a couple of years now, the pocketbook wouldn't allow, so I came home with this instead:


The shawl in their laceweight (I still can't believe I got involved with more laceweight!) will be done in the brighter blue yarn for me. I'm planning it as something I can leave on the back of the chair at my new job since I was already told the climate control commands layering. The darker blue yarn is their two strand which is going to be a scarf for HWJF (who, by the way, had to be informed of the boyfriend sweater curse after a trip to a local bookstore/cafe on Friday. After hearing about it he replied "So is that why you haven't offered to knit me a sweater yet?" and also said "Don't you want to be the first to break the curse?" Perhaps I should get brave with such a willing recipient???). Hopefully we'll be able to pick out a pattern for that soon since I think it will make good train knitting.

It was a long day but a really fun one. I'm excited about the prospects of learning more about spinning and I definitely have some fun new projects ahead of me. Next year I just have to remember to put aside some more cash so I can bring more goodies home! And if you didn't get to go this year, make plans for next year. It's definitely worth the trip!

And be sure to check out Sneaksleep, Almost Felted and Woolybuns to read about their experiences during the day too!