Only a Week Later: Rhinebeck, Day Two

Yes, it is finally time to get to last Sunday at Rhinebeck. It's been so crazy around here, somehow, though it's the kind of crazy that, if I list all the things, doesn't sound like it should be that crazy ... but it makes me crazy, so I declare that it IS crazy. There.

When I covered Day One, I brought us up to dinner Saturday night at the good old Eveready Diner, which I highly recommend if you're in that area. We went from there back to the motel (we had run down to check in before dinner), and there was a note on one room door asking me to come to the office. I went along, and the woman there asked if there was any way we could use two rooms instead of three. Wise One and her Niece were sharing, and New Knitter and I had mutually agreed not to (you know I love to save money, but the quiet time is worth a lot to me; and then, she was getting over the flu, and still coughing, which made it seem an even better decision)(Never Comes to Meetings, by the way, was added to our group after I reserved our rooms, so she got one on her own). The motel woman said that she'd over-booked, she couldn't find another room at any motel nearby, and she was begging me to give up a room. I tried not to give in, but not only was she so imploring*, I felt bad at the thought of someone coming to the motel for a reserved room and being told that they were SOL. Then what would you do?
*Apparently next year, we will be getting "the best rooms". This motel is pretty basic, and I'm curious just how nice the best rooms can be!

So I ended up sharing the room with Wise One and her Niece, which actually had three beds (since I am not sharing a bed, no compromise there), and it was fine, just not the quiet rejuvenation I had planned. Though I do wonder where the young get all that energy! Niece stopped talking eventually, sure .. when she was asleep.

But it really was fine, and we talked a bit before falling into exhausted sleep: all that walking around, fresh air, and the yarn highs just wore me out! And seriously, my arms were already sore by Saturday night, and only got more so on Sunday. I'm a wimp.

Sunday morning, we packed up, checked out, and had breakfast back at the diner, then drove north to the festival. Like the last few years, we saw some great old cars going the other way on our drive. Fantastic! And then we were back in heaven. Before I go on, here are a few pictures from Saturday that I didn't get into the Day One recap. The license plate of someone with a Boston accent:

Alternately, it could be Lobstah, but never with the R!

We'd been talking in the car about the idea of being a yarn snob, so I had to get a photo of the "micron snob" mug.

And another mug that I liked, "Live, Love, Llamas".

In the award display area, this man was demonstrating a pendulum wheel: the dangling part on the left really did swing back and forth. Since I don't understand how modern spinning wheels work, really, I didn't even try to follow what he was saying about this one, but it was pretty cool. Needs its own room, though!

Right, now, Sunday! I didn't go around the animal barns very much this year; see last year's post if you miss all those pictures. But there were a few, of course. Bunnies, for instance, this one:

And that one:

And one sheep picture, since I don't think it's legal to write about Rhinebeck without one:

What curls!

I did make it to the punkin chuckin', which I hadn't realized was a competition between local school teams (high school and college). They were quite serious about it, in their hard hats.

It was fun, but I didn't stay long. By mid-day Sunday, I was in an advanced enough state of tired that staying still for too long would have led in short order to "not moving again", and there were still things I wanted to see. Could I have forgiven myself if I didn't get to see this creative sock display? I think not.

And I did swing through the llama barn, too:

 Eyeliner, darling, all the llamas wear it.

And, yes, I bought more yarn. I finally photographed it today, though the lighting was not ideal. Better than no pictures, anyway!

Here's the complete haul, yarn-wise:

Not bad, eh? I had a good time! New Knitter asked on the way home how long it would take me to knit it all, and my guess was that if I knit only from this (which of course will not be happening), it would last me a year. Maybe? Who knows.

Moving on to specifics, there's the Socks That Rock I showed you already, two skeins of lightweight ("single cell dating pool" and "puddle of bleu", specifically), most likely destined to be socks:

And the skein of mediumweight, which I plan to use for Drin's ribbed mitts pattern (it'll make more than one pair, we'll see how long that takes me).

This colorway is called Tempest, and it's a nice dark teal sort of color.

On Sunday, I couldn't resist one more skein, in heavyweight this time. Look at the yellow! "Saffron surprise".

I don't know if this will be thicker socks, or if I'll make something else with it. I just couldn't say no to that color.

I got another skein at The Fold's booth, and it's my big splurge, but when I touched it, and touched a shawl made from it, well, no contest. There were some gorgeous saturated colors, but I went with a more neutral shade, with an eye to being able to wear it more flexibly. This is from The Grinning Gargoyle, and it is ...

Yes, 100% mink. Mink! Unbelievably soft.

Pictures cannot express it, I'm afraid, but if you're on the fence about getting it, then do so! I haven't worked with it yet, but the feel of the yarn itself is amazing.

Now, more lovely sock yarns.

This one is a purply sort of blue, and (you can say this about everything I got) so soft!

Merino, nylon, and cashmere.

The same blend as the Sock Dream from Periwinkle Sheep, which I showed you previously:

And the same as this one:

And again, this one:

AND the same as this one! Are you sensing a theme, here?

Then this one is merino and nylon, no cashmere, still so soft:

A couple of yarns actually are not sock-weight, if you can believe it. Lovely autumn colors in blue-face leicester, DK weight.

And this one, the colors that speak to me so much. Merino-tencel, handpaint.

I got three different brands of sock needles, in hopes that one will feel more pointy than the others:

I got the little project bag, which I'm using now, and also picked up some super-fun buttons at The Fold's booth.

All very true!

And as you can see a hint of in the project bag photo, progress is being made on the latest sock. I did the heel flap last Wednesday, and turned it Thursday, and on we go. Fun wide stripes and bright colors as the daylight dwindles.

Also working on Christmas knitting, thus un-show-able, but happy with it, so that's good news.

So that's Rhinebeck and all along with it. Back in the present day for now, I'm trying to determine what this storm is going to mean for me. Reports are very mixed, with representation from both the "we're all going to diiiiieeeeee!" side and the "whatever, wind and rain, you people are wimps" side. It's hard to know who to believe.

One report I read said that for my kind of area, being inland from the coast, wind and rain will be the extent of it, but there's going to be a lot of wind, which may cause further problems like power outages even with our distance from coastal flooding areas. On the other hand, schools are already announcing that they're closing tomorrow, and the governor is asking businesses to close Monday as well; I guess the worst of the storm will be Monday afternoon, and they don't want people stuck.

My boss forwarded on an e-mail from the management people of our office park, so I'll be able to check before I go in the morning that they're going to be open; for now, they're planning to. However, the boss recommends we either work from home (not easy for the three of us without laptops, of course), or plan to take a personal day (or two, since Tuesday may not be good either). I'll probably go in for the morning, then bring work home, unless anything changes drastically before then. I just don't know; I guess I'll have to play it as it comes.

I have plenty of food and water, I've caught up on the laundry and showered and the dishwasher is running, so I'm pretty much ready for it, whatever it turns out to be. 

To be honest, what's bothering me the most is that stitch and bitch is probably out for tomorrow night. Rats.