Yarn, yarn, yarn!

I think it's time to talk about the big reason I went to Rhinebeck: yarn. Yes, I loved the sheep, the fair food, all the animals and fleece and buttons and tools, but I mainly went to get yarn. A girl needs some stash!

And get yarn I did. I bought merino/nylon, this lovely-colored Fiber Optic Yarn with the great sock-yarn name of Foot Notes:




And I bought, uh, more merino/nylon, in the gorgeous Stonewash Denim color from Periwinkle Sheep:




I had to try some Socks That Rock, having heard so much about it. I went with a medium-weight, after holding it and the lightweight and lamenting to a neighboring shopper about how one is supposed to choose.



I bought some merino/bamboo from Sliver Moon Farm.


I got the best daylight I could, but ... anyway, the color in this second photo is more true.


Stupid photos won't stay rotated. Stupid Blogger.


So many handspuns were a bit too rough for me. I have to enjoy knitting with them, not just respect the finished object. But this one, my hand sinks in. Mmmm. Merino/tencel, and I love the colors.





Isn't laceweight an amazing bargain, considering how much knitting time you get out of it? On Sunday, I found this in a booth I could hardly get into on Saturday. Note: if you get claustrophobic in crowds, you might be better going to Rhinebeck on Sunday, not Saturday. I know, things sell out, but the crowds were overwhelming at times on Saturday. Sunday was much more laid back.

Anyway, some alpaca laceweight from Cascade, in a lovely delicate yellow.




Finally, my big indulgence. Do you know how expensive yak is? Do you know how good it feels? Do you know that in the Ravelry goody bag, there was a coupon to buy-one, get-one-free for Sunday?

I actually bought yak/bamboo, which is a pretty funny thing to say, don't you think? The man in the booth and I had a fun talk about how strange the work "yak" looks on a yarn label.

At half price, this is only "too expensive", not "you must be joking".



The pictures don't look like much, but it feels wonderful.

The overall Rhinebeck experience? What's pretty funny to me is that after I went to the trouble of studying my Ravelry queue, pondering projects and patterns that had appealed to me, and printing it out so I could know the types and amounts of yarn I would need ... I pretty much bought random skeins of what appealed to me, for no particular projects. Not that I'm complaining! I just think it's funny.

Actually, I bought two other skeins of yarn recently as well. There was this one at Apple Festival, mmm alpaca, mmm those colors.






And this one via a friend who's a yarn rep. Not as soft as my usual, though not harsh, and somehow compelling.





Looking at these pictures makes me almost as happy as looking at all the yarns themselves, only lacking the touch factor.