The Rhinebeck 2016 Day-Trip Report

So, yesterday was my first time to Rhinebeck as a day trip; always something new. The verdict is that I'm glad to have gone and had a really good time, but I am super sore* and tired today, short-tempered** and not good for getting much done. If I hadn't had to leave the house for cat food, I wouldn't have gone anywhere, and the trip was fraught with bad temper, unfortunately. When I am this tired, every minor thing is so super-irritating, and even though I know the things are minor, that doesn't make my growly feelings less real. Ow.
*It does crack me up when well-meaning people ask if I have taken something for the pain. Uhh, yeah, I have, plenty.
**More than usual, I mean. I know, scary.

But on to the fun part! Rhinebeck!

As far as the trip details (related more for my own future reference than because I think anyone else cares), I was at my friend's house (about 10 minutes from mine) at 7 AM (I know, yuck). We went to a Starbucks to fuel ourselves and used the bathroom, so we left there about 7:30, and arrived at the fair at roughly 10:30; as always, I was too excited to get there to note the exact time, but more or less. A three-hour drive is about the best we can hope for, so no complaints on that.

As for the return, we started to walk to the car at 3:25, so by the time we got to the car, and waited to get out of the parking lot, it was probably around 3:45. We stopped once for a bathroom break and to switch drivers, and we were detoured off the Pike by the GPS near the end, which added a few minutes, but we were back at her place at around 8, I think. I don't know, I was pretty tired. (Still am, in fact!) Long-ass day, truly: that's about, what, eight hours in the car, and five hours mostly spent standing and walking. No wonder I hurt.

From Mason-Dixon Knitting, words to live by regarding How to Rhinebeck:

Have a blast, and remember to shop sensibly, by which we mean buy anything you really can't live without.

That's always my rule of thumb: If I can't put it down, it's meant to come with me. There are plenty of perfectly lovely yarns that I can walk away from, and if I can, I will. This year, I  had a list of a few vendors I wanted to be sure to see, ones with yarns I have particularly loved, and a general idea that I would like to find a medium-sized project bag, since I have many small ones and quite a few larger totes, but nothing that works well in between.

After stopping in the bathroom, we went into building C, the first one we came to, and halfway in I lost my friend to the Miss Babs booth, or more accurately to the line--Miss Babs is hot stuff, and in the end she was on line for about three-quarters of an hour. I went on through the building, went back to check on her progress, then shopped on, looking and enjoying, not buying much. Well, that's where I found these:

Replacement bumper sticker for the one that's peeling off the car, and new buttons. I particularly liked "Finished is way better than perfect."

Once she got through the line to pay, my friend and I went on, finishing up with A-B-C and then heading over to the numbered barns, pausing on the way so I could get a pretzel and Coke (the vendor had both the big pretzels and pretzel sticks this year, and the stick was a perfect size). I got a little something at Starbucks in the morning, and before we arrived I ate a chicken sandwich I brought with me, but to jump to the end of the storyline, that didn't hold me (as solid "food" instead of treats) all day, the way I had hoped it would. Live and (hopefully) learn. Next time, I will have to buy some "food" there, as well as treats.

I wanted to start not at the first barns we came to, but at 27A, which is actually tent-booths in an aisle between barns, as Briar Rose is over there, and so was one of the bag vendors I wanted to see. I didn't end up getting any more Briar Rose (which is fine), but at Jennie the Potter's booth, I found this skein of Indigo Dragonfly yarn that I couldn't put down.

It's so hard to get a good enough photo to show the details of the color!

It's dark, but is it grey? Green? Purple? Brown?

Kind of yes to all, with a tweedy sort of speckle. This may be one that has to be seen in person, and in daylight, to really come across.

Interesting colorway name, isn't it? At the bottom?

Further down the row, at the Knitting Garage booth, I found the bag I liked:

The dark fabric won't show dirt too much, but has specks of colors for interest. The inside is white, so I won't lose anything (unless it's white, I guess), and there are a couple of pockets.

As well as the drawstrings, there are wrist straps, and it holds quite a lot, as you can see by the full Rhinebeck and Apple Festival yarn haul (which latter I will blog separately, this thing is a Russian novel already):

I like it; I think it's going to work as I want it to. Whew!

We went on, through the barns and along the vendors, new-to-me and not. At the Maple Creek Farm booth, I couldn't resits this lovely skein, which I don't think I really captured the colors of here.

Pale green-aqua-blue-purple.

All alpaca...

And even better, the $39 is before the 40% off. I do love a deal!

The other skein I got, at the Carodan Farm booth, is a sort of lilac, or violet color. There were so many pretty ones, I had an awful time deciding which to take.

Other than my visit to the maple booth for maple cotton candy and a few other maple treats to bring home, and one tiny thing for a gift, that's all I bought. "All"! I couldn't be happier with it. I do have more photos, though.

A bunch of the ones from the competitions. Beautiful shawl.

I loved this sweater, and hoped that the tag would give the pattern, but apparently not.

All about the details of the competition, I guess. Do you suppose the knitter made the pattern up? If so, even more wow than before!

More amazing shawls.

I mean, really!

Knitters are amazing.

One of the booths was wood carvings, and it was neat to see that the sellers were also the makers.

I only took out my camera in the booths one other time, for these signs.

We were walking along at one point, and heard a bell ringing, which turned out to mark the start of a small animal parade.

I can't help wondering if the bell was to provide a noise to guide the animals (who were, after all, being individually guided), or just to get the attention of the people that they were coming through.

Now, I haven't mentioned the weather yet, have I? I wore my fleece in the morning, and gloves, it was quite chilly, maybe in the 50s. Oh, and what else did I wear? This lovely cowl that Mary Ellen made for me for my birthday!

Only the photo is crooked, I promise. I clearly wore it sideways.So soft and warm! It's more of a purple-blue than the photo shows; I didn't photo colors that well today, sigh. Some days are like that. The cowl is great, anyway.

Once we were there, and either in barns or out in the sun, it felt much nicer. I would imagine the temp got into the 60s, though the wind didn't go away. But the better to enjoy showing off your hand-knits, say the knitters.

Speaking of which, in the category of Knit-recognition for the striped shawl, four people told me they recognized the yarn, and two of them that they were knitting with it themselves. When I went to check on my friend in the Miss Babs line, the woman behind her recognized it, so we were talking about it, and when she told the women behind her that it was all one yarn, they were terribly impressed. Magic yarn!

Celebrity sightings: two. I saw the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, when my friend and I were separated, just shopping like a normal person, and then later we both saw her. I also saw Stephen West (a notable knit designer) when I was on my own, and honestly only noticed him because I heard someone say to a friend, "Look, that's Stephen West." But when we were in the car, waiting to get off the grounds, we both saw him walking by, and only then did I realize that seeing him at a slight distance, in a crowded booth, did not reveal the full ... nature of his outfit. He is such an interesting person.

A few gratuitous tree shots to wrap it up:

It really was a beautiful day, and I don't just mean the weather. It's worth feeling like this today. But I need to get to bed soon, and work on healing it off.