Rhinebeck Recovery

I observed what I am now calling the Highest of High Holy Holidays in the knitter’s pantheon last week. Rhinebeck is something we knitters wait all year for, saving our pennies and making lists, and frantically knitting items to showoff to the crowd. It’s overwhelming and sheep-scented and the longest lines are tied for the Fold (where they sell STR) and the booth that sells the homemade pot pies.

I had the joy of hosting my dear friend J for the weekend when she flew down from Toronto to join me, and we took the train into the city and then up to Croton, where Melissa met us to drive the rest of the way up and we all proceeded to dive in headfirst. Here, have some pictures:

1. My train station, long before sunrise 2. Grand Central at dawn 3. Display at Brooks Farm 4. This sign speaks for itself, doesn’t it? 5. One of many seasonally appropriate displays 6. Lace display at A Touch of Twist (my absolute favorite) 7. The line for Franklin’s book signing at Carolina Homespun 8. Franklin & Me! 9. Pumpkin Carving 10. Melissa showing off some colorway serendipity. 11. Summoning People for the Ethical Treatment of Muppets! 12. Outside the Horticulture building 13. Ready for his close-up 14. A strange and mysterious creature 15. Shearing aftermath 16. Hanging out 17. Making a run for it 18. Longest Stocking Ever 19. Llama 20. Alpaca 21. J making friends with a llama (and lookit her beautiful shaw!) 22. Colorwork 23. Late in the day the sun started doing beautiful things with yarn 24. Lesson time 25. Read the dunce cap 26. Flame Tree 27. I had to wonder if this U-Haul was for a vendor or some lucky shopper! 28. This followed Melissa home (lucky girl)!

I shopped til I dropped, too:

In this picture are:
– two kits from Holiday Yarns/the Tsock Tsarina (Oktoberfest socks and the Vintage Leaves) and a skein of Jennifer’s Sock Flock yarn in Candy Cane (which I think wants to be these socks
-from A Touch of Twist: four skeins of fingering weight Impressions in Oriental Lantern and Phoenix from the Ashes, which I think will make some awesome colorwork mittens; three skeins of Zephyr lace in Admiral blue. (These guys are my absolute favorites. They make great yarns, and Melissa bought her new wheel from them.)
-one skein Done Roving Happy Feet sock yarn in Cherry Pits
-two skeins of sock yarn from Sliver Moon Farm in Grape Ice, which I think would make really beautiful Rivendell socks
-two skeins of Socks That Rock, one in Loch Ness (hiding because I have Sekrit Holiday Plans for it) and one Rare Gem in a beautiful magenta
-copy of the Lenore socks pattern by the Harlot from last year’s Rockin’ Sock club
-many, many skeins from Wild Apple Farms 100% wool: one each of the red and natural for myself to make a christmas stocking (I have an idea for one with candy cane stripes and an afterthought heel) and ten skeins of the light sheep grey, which I think will make a smashing Eris cardigan/a>.
-autographed copy of Franklin’s book.

Not a bad haul at all.
Then I fell asleep on the train home, took J to the museum on Sunday, and was so worn out by the end of the weekend I couldn’t even manage typing. And now the week is nearly over, and I have no excuses to not be working on my master’s capstone… except for the knowledge of all this new yarn, calling out to me. I need more arms, clearly.