Another year, another Rhinebeck in the books. The last few years I’ve ended up going rather last minute, but this year I planned ahead and got to spend some time in NYC with friends before heading up to Rhinbeck, New York, for the New York Sheep and Wool festival (commonly referred to as simply “Rhinebeck”). That stay included seeing Catfish and the Bottlemen play at Terminal 5, and so much walking that I had to ice my shins because they were killing me.
#catbAnd then it was the weekend and my friends and I drove up to Dutchess County for the show!
My first stop and indeed my first purchase of the morning was a trio of apple cider donuts.
And then there was a visit to the sheep stalls.
I was fortunate to get a spot on a couch last minute, thanks to Dana and Maria and their friends. Dana made excellent pancakes for breakfast on Sunday before we headed to the fairgrounds.
I wandered around for a bit more that Sunday, then visited with friends and laughed with Bristol Ivy when she got stuck in her excellent sweater while it SNOWED. I’ve only been to three Rhinebecks but this is the first year it was cold, and then cold enough to snow a bit.
After the festival, I went to Rhode Island to visit with Amy Christoffers and Alison Green. I’d never been to Rhode Island before and I had a great time checking out Providence, before heading back to NYC and the plane that carried me home.
A couple of Rhinebeck trends that I noticed:
1. Baa-ble Hats. These hats were everywhere. I think there were easily more than 100 individual Baa-ble Hats worn by festival attendees. They’re really cute hats and probably knit up fairly quickly, as they’re knit in an Aran weight yarn. Have you knit one of these?
2. There were quite a few cormo and cormo blend yarns at the show. Sincere Sheep was represented at the festival, and Brooke has three weights of cormo; Elemental Affects also has three weights of cormo in their lineup; Foxfire Fiber has three cormo blends. I haven’t really knit with any cormo yet, though I have some Elsa Wool Cormo in my stash.
But what you really care about is the yarn, right? I know.
My first purchase was a couple of skeins of a new yarn coming out from Solitude Wool. It’s a two-ply Border Leicester, probably a DK or light worsted weight (there’s no needle size listed on these ball bands). I wound it Sunday night at Amy’s house without thinking of taking a photo of the skeins, but they’re SO FLUFFY. I’m not sure what this will become. As usual.
Then I picked up two skeins of Periwinkle Sheep’s Sock Dream yarn in her Rhinebeck 2015 colorway and She Dances color. I think these are going to be a Picnicknits Shawl.
My final purchase was two skeins of Into the Whirled Pakokku sock, one in their Radioactive handpaint color, and then another in one of their new kettle-dyed colors. I had a skein of their Ramble handpainted on another base, so it’s interesting to see how it looks when it’s kettle dyed and not handpainted.
Want more Rhinebeck Recaps? Check out these posts:
Teresa at Canary Knits did a video recap
Hey, you visited my home state, fun! 🙂 I love the yarn you picked up, especially the skeins from Into The Whirled. I grabbed some fiber from them but didn’t explore the yarn much, which I now regret! (And thanks for the link!)
Gorgeous finds! It was so good this year!