Rhinebeck, Day One (after a short un-health update)

Well, here I am, such as I am. After having a slight headache yesterday, today I woke with a slightly stronger one, that got worse through the morning, until I had to leave work because I couldn't concentrate (on much beyond how my head hurt and my stomach was rolling, anyway). Funny how an editor needs to have her brain to work!

I came home, got in bed with a blanket wrapped around my head and a purr-ball by my side, and dozed for a few hours. Got up around 4 with the head much improved, but the stomach still crazy-upset. My system is weird, right? I've tried a ginger ale and some Tums, but it's still rock-and-rolling down there. At least the head is better! I hope that lasts. Meanwhile, I am making hay while the sun shines, so to speak. Let's talk about Rhinebeck! I don't have pictures of Sunday's haul yet, but we can cover some ground with what I do have.

As always, it's a short trip with a lot crammed in, and so is a little stressful for me. That said, it's wonderful, and I can't imagine I'll ever not want to go. We did talk about going up Friday afternoon one year, to have time to look around the area since it's so beautiful, so we'll see if next year is that year.

Saturday morning I drove to the house of the friend who borrowed her sister's van so we could road-trip it. She's a very experienced, knowledgeable, and fearless knitter, so we'll call her the Wise One. I left my car there (since overnight on-street parking is allowed where she lives), and we went to pick up the others in our party: first, a New Knitter who we had lured into coming with our tales of Rhinebecks past; next, a knitter who belongs to our stitch and bitch group on Ravelry though she Never Comes to Meetings, and who we'd only met when she joined us for the North Shore yarn crawl a few years ago; and finally, Wise One's niece, who I think is 13, and who came last year as well. She's a nice kid, but with an appalling amount of energy (more on that later). Then we were away!

We left the final pick-up around 9:30, and arrived at the festival around 1 o'clock. The drive was pleasantly uneventful, with the foliage still beautiful though past its peak. I ate my lunch sandwich early (since part of the fun of being a grown-up is that you can eat your lunch at 10 if you want to), and then took my turn of driving the second half of the trip. And you know where my first stop was:

Hooray for The Fold! Look at all that Socks That Rock, and that's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Wowza. I had some fun there (Saturday and Sunday, in fact, but let's stay chronological).

I had a commission from another knitting friend who couldn't come this year (giving the lame excuse of a 25th anniversary trip, whatever), and asked me to get her a skein. I've talked up my STR love so much that she recently decided to try it herself, but the skein she got was mediumweight, and when the socks started coming out too large, she decided to give them to her father (who loves the socks she knits him) and get another skein for herself. I was able to find a skein of lightweight in a similar color to the one she got and liked, so let's hope it will do for her.

I met Drin while I was there, which was fun: I was telling Niece that the button that I'd picked up with the mushroom on it (picture to come) was for the designer, Mushroom Knits, and how she's the designer of my all-time favorite sock pattern, and she was right behind us! We talked about her patterns (which were why I went back Sunday), and she showed me how her Ribbed Mitts pattern looks with yarn held singled versus doubled, as well as with and without a thumb. Cool!

And for me? Two skeins of the lightweight:

Then I got a skein of mediumweight, in a nice teal, for the fingerless mitts. Drin's pattern!

After that? Well, it's a happy blur of yarns and yarn things and yarn people, who are by and large very happy with where they are. I only experienced two not-happy people the whole weekend. The first was on Saturday: I was in line to pay for some yarn, and the woman behind me was a total crab, muttering about how the women at the front of the line were "having a coffee hour" and should "just go on the internet for lessons", presumably instead of talking to the woman from that booth. I can't comprehend how you can stand there with your arms full of wonderful yarn and be so cross! I said something about how I'd only been there for an hour, so I was still excited about it, and she said that she'd only been there an hour, but she was fed up and had decided to get some yarn and go. Huh!

[The second woman was in a different booth; I'd seen her talking to another customer, and thought she worked there, but when I asked her to be sure, she gave a very short, "Yes." So I asked her how much the lovely skein of 100% cashmere was, and she snapped, "Eighty-five dollars," as though I had criticized her mother. So, you're working in a booth that doesn't price the yarn, either on the label or with a posted list, so people have to ask, it's really nice and therefore expensive, and this is how you treat someone who might give you money? Well, guess what, honey, I can afford your yarn, but I choose not to. Thanks anyway.]

Back to Saturday! I had a wonderful wander through a lot of the booths, without feeling the pressure to see everything; hooray for being able to go both days. At one point, I stepped aside for a little out-of-the-crowd time; the area that on Sunday was to be crammed with people watching the punkin chuckin' was quiet and lovely Saturday afternoon.

And as long as I was there, I took some pictures of the yarn so far:

Specifically, the STR that you already saw above, and... a skein of Sock Dream from the Periwinkle Sheep:

I'm hesitant about the color, since knitting in dark yarns really needs good light, but by the time I got to the booth*, it was this or purple, and I think I would wear dark grey socks more than royal purple ones. This is the same yarn that I got last year, with birthday money from my grandmother; it has 10% cashmere, and I really love the socks I made with it. Possibly not the most sensible fiber to use in socks, but really, nothing about hand-knitting socks is that sensible.
*I guess next year, this should be my second stop!

Then there's some lovely blue sock yarn from the vendor that I see at Apple Festival and at Rhinebeck.

I saw this skein before I could reach it, and I knew it was meant for me when a customer nearer to it reached out a hand and I panicked, thinking she was going for it. She wasn't, and I grabbed it as soon as I could. Mine! Blue, soft, and again, 10% cashmere.

There was a non-sock yarn purchase, as well. When I saw this one, I told the woman that she couldn't have dyed it better for me if she knew me. My colors!

There were two skeins, and I took them both (thank you again, mama, for the birthday money!). They're half tencel and half merino, wholly soft and completely lovely.

Wait, I forgot a sock yarn! And yes, another that's, say it with me, 10% cashmere. This one is a new brand to me, from Bittersweet, a line called Glamour Gams.

So squishy soft. Love. And also love this, a little project bag for carrying my sock around in. A little variety soothes the soul.

Photography finished, I took out the sock to work on it a little, which is also soothing. Here's where it was.

Wide stripes are a fun change. This is Felici from Knit Picks. A few rounds, and I was good to go on. I liked this building:

And was so stunned by this man's hair that I had to Kinnear him. Is that all one dreadlock?

It really seemed as though it was. Whoa. Just, whoa.

Now, some lovely mittens on display:

I love that poem.

That's it for festival photos on Saturday, but I did get some pictures of the fun menu at the Eveready Diner, where we had dinner (and breakfast, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

I think I will leave you there for now, as NESN, god bless them, has another Quest for the Cup 2011 game on tonight, and it starts shortly. I heated up a chicken pot pie that I hope will settle my stomach down, and since that's ready too, I believe I will take the hint and get off the computer.

Coming soon: Sunday at Rhinebeck!