I can’t believe how quickly the last few weeks have gone by! I had the best of intentions to blog before Rhinebeck, but I ended up not having time. A small part of it was also that while I had been knitting, I didn’t have any pictures to share because I’d been too busy to take or upload any, so it seemed boring to just say “Oh I’m going to Rhinebeck, hope to see you there!” Ah well. Life happens sometimes!
Last weekend was New York Sheep and Wool, also known as Rhinebeck. I planned to take Wednesday off to get packed and ready for the road trip, leave Thursday, see people and shop on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, drive home Monday, and take Tuesday off to recover. All went according to plan! Diana shared the drive with me again this year, but we had our own hotel room. Friday she had a workshop at the fairgrounds. I spent some time driving around Kingston when Hillary sent me a text saying she was getting into town earlier then planned, so we met up for lunch and went to a sushi place. Friday evening we went out with a few of Diana’s friends that were there for the weekend.
Saturday morning we were at the fairgrounds early since I had workshop in the morning. I took Fit-to-Flatter with Amy Herzog. The class was fantastic! I learned quite a bit from it and would recommend the class to anyone who likes to knit sweaters. I spent the afternoon walking around, checking out vendors and met up with quite a few folks. I wish I could remember and link everyone, but I think my brain was a bit on overload from everything going on that I know I’d leave out a lot of people! It was so great to see all the familiar faces and meet some new folks, too. I only bought yarn from one vendor on Saturday, Good Karma Farms. I think there was just so much going on and so many people that I was just overwhelmed by the vendors. I was really glad I planned to go both days this year! Saturday evening we were both so wiped out from all the socializing, the class, and the vendors, that we went back to the hotel and relaxed. We did meet another group of Diana’s friends for dinner, but only went to the diner across the street, which was probably all we could manage at that point after all the action of the day.
There were so many great vendors and a huge range of colors!
Sunday we got to the fairgrounds pretty early, partially because we didn’t realize that it didn’t open until 10 am and partially because we were worried about parking. We had breakfast at the Eveready Diner right across from the fairgrounds Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning and on Sunday morning, we saw quite a lot of people in the parking lot, so we decided to go over early to get a good parking spot.
Everady Diner
We got over to the fairgrounds a little after 9 am. I walked around a bit, checked out a few of the vendors I wanted to see (who were all not ready for customers yet), then wandered around until Kim (aka crazywig on Ravelry) found me. We had coffee together and chatted for a bit until things started to pick up. While we were sitting and chatting, Jesh came walking by. I’d been trying to find her most of Saturday, but she had been good about not being at the Holiday Yarns booth any time I walked by! After things started picking up and vendors opened, I wandered around contemplating what would come home with me.
Around lunch time while I was sitting eating a chicken pita, Michelle finally found me! We tried to meet up on Saturday, but didn’t find each other. I was so glad she spotted me in my Angry Birds green pig hat (which got TONS of comments from people) before she left for the day. It was great to have a chance to talk to her in person. 🙂
The fairgrounds closed at 5 pm on Sunday and I admit I was a bit sad to see it all come to an end. I had a really good time, came home with lots of goodies, and was so happy to be able to see many of the folks that I have the pleasure of knowing through Ravelry, Plurk, and Twitter.
As I left the fairgrounds Sunday
I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I wish I had (especially not of all the lovely people I saw), but I’ve uploaded my Rhinebeck pictures to Flickr and you can check them out here.
Did you go to Rhinebeck this year? If you did, how was it? If not, do you have plans to go next year?
Next time I’ll share all the goodies I purchased. 😀
Ms Lindz - My little corner of the internet 
It was great to meet you!
Is plurk still around? haha! 😉 I’m glad I found you too. I was a little sad walking out when I hadn’t found you yet and that hat was perfect for finding you!