Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Rhinebeck Trip: Sunday

Sunday was a much slower day than the frenzy of Saturday. My mom and I slept a little later, took our time getting ready, and even hit the Olympic Diner for breakfast (and yes, if you're counting, that's diner #3 for the weekend). I had the chocolate chip pancakes - yummy! I will say, that given the touristy nature of the area, the diners were all super reasonably priced. I think, not including the CIA, I spent about $50 on food for the weekend, including lunches at the festival. Not too bad!

We arrived at the gates at about 9:45 and there was already a line. Fortunately, it moved really quickly once the gates opened up. Here we are waiting in line:
The plan for today was to check out the few vendors I really wanted to see but had missed the day before - Into the Whirled, The Loop, and Spirit Trail Fiberworks - and for my mom to buy some yarn. She didn't buy anything on Saturday! We were also hoping to track down the African baskets we saw people carrying around on Saturday. At some point in the morning, my mom and I briefly separated and then I couldn't find her at our designated spot. I kept thinking that I was going to be in SO MUCH TROUBLE because I LOST MY MOM!!!! Fortunately, I found her again, so it was all okay.

I did buy some fiber from Into the Whirled, but held off on the batts from The Loop (I wanted a  bullseye loop). I have some fiber in my stash and thought I would practice on that before going for the complicated stuff. A little before 11 we noticed the Artichoke booth and the not-very long line, so we got some Artichoke French to try.
Tasty, but I think I would prefer it as a spread on bread. The vendors are from Rochester and one of the servers had on a Sabres hat, and that might make me like them a little bit more.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wandering around. We both bought a skein of 50/50 wool/silk from Spirit Trail to make a scarf that was on display (Elm something by Anne Hanson). This was my only purchase that didn't directly relate to my queue-driven shopping list.

Speaking of Anne Hanson, I saw her twice - once on Saturday in the Briar Rose booth and once on Sunday wandering around. I also saw Clara Parkes at the Spirit Trail Fiber Booth, but that was all for knitterlebrity sitings. ETA: Actually, that's not true. I saw Glenna C. in line at Miss Babs. I wish I had seen Stephen West, since I used his Windschief pattern for my prize-winning hat. And NO ONE I talked to spotted the Yarn Harlot, which seems kind of crazy.

My mom has been having issues with sweaters, so we both had a Swirl consultation done at the Carolina Homespun Booth. It was really interesting to see how the different sweaters looked on us. Mom bought the book, so a swirl sweater may be in our futures!

I tried to take some more pictures, so here's a few views of the fairgrounds:
Miss Babs' booth

Into the Whirled

I also bought 2 skeins of Cascade Eco+ to make a sweater, a lucet and book for my mom for Christmas, some red and white sport weight yarn for a stranded hat/mitten set and some lavender hand lotion. We spent some time in the Bosworth booth, where I chatted with both Mr. and Mrs. Bosworth. They live not very far from me, so we chatted a little bit about the area. Upon confirming that Mrs. Bosworth knits, I asked her where she shopped for her yarn and then felt like a complete idiot when she responded "I knit with my handspun." Um, of course she does! She was very gracious when I apologized for asking such a stupid question. I know I'll feel very lucky when I unwrap the midi spindle my mom bought me for Christmas!

My mom left a little bit after 1. Her cousin from Norway was visiting her sister who lives about 2 hours from Rhinebeck, so my mom was going to meet up with them. My competition items couldn't be picked up until 4, so I wandered around a bit more by myself. I spent a little time with the animals, but was too tired to really appreciate them. I consoled myself with the thought that I tend to visit the animals quite a bit when I go the NH Sheep and Wool festival in May. Here are few shots of the cuties though:



Since my mom didn't use her coupon to Bijou Basin I did go back to make the same purchase I made the day before. Now I have 2 skeins of each type of yarn which will give me some more options when I pick out a pattern. I also picked up some fudge to bring home to the kids.

Here's the view as I was leaving the fairgrounds:


As much fun as I had, I really couldn't wait to get on the road to go home. Fortunately, I had no traffic issues whatsoever and the drive felt like it went by fairly quickly.  My husband very obligingly sat through my show and tell, and ooh'd and ah'd appropriately.

Here's a picture of my haul from Sunday:

The day after I was pretty darn exhausted, but it was well worth it! I had a great time!


4 comments:

km said...

I've just finished reading all 3 days...and I've decided that I'll start putting money in a jar for my Rhinebeck trip one day. Of course my travel expenses will be more, so I'll be saving for awhile, but it will be so worth it. I LOVED seeing your whole weekend in blog post.

Gracey is not my name.... said...

Great wrap-up...I did not see The Yarn Harlot, but did meet Stephen West...

Celia said...

Looks like a good time. I like you yarn enhancements.

Judy11 said...

Dorothy - did not see you at Rhinebeck - DD #2 and I went for Saturday only. But we did see and chat with the Yarn Harlot in her new sweater - uneven sleeves and all :) DD #1 mentioned she had been trying to meet up with you today but never made it. It's been very busy with family stuff these days for all of us.