Rhinebeck II

The next day - early for late-riser Amanda - we got to Rhinebeck by just after 9:00 when the event opened.  We were by no means the first to arrive - the parking lot was already pretty full.  Amanda and I have been going to Rhinebeck for a number of years so it was quite familiar and comfortable.   Having spent money the night before at Indie Untangled, we wanted to pace ourselves.  A group trudged toward the entrance gate before us, rolling a huge suitcase in anticipation of scoring.  It's always surprising how fervent yarn shoppers are.  We knew where our favorite vendors are and made sure to hit certain areas.  This year we made sure to taste the famous fried artichokes (they are really tasty, even at 10:00 in the morning) and we visited the book vendors.  This gave us a chance to thumb quickly through the latest Pom Pom and other recent publications.

This year we spent a little more time with the livestock, even watched a sheep judging.  As we were leaving around midday lines at food vendors were already long.

-Chee Mee


Five words: fried artichokes and kettle corn
-Amanda

Coming up: Rhinebeck purchases

Rhinebeck ...again

To add to the tons of  photos and comments from Rhinebeck this weekend, these are snaps taken by Amanda.  We went up to Kingston to attend  Indie Untangled - our first time.  We were bowled over by the huge numbers of attendees squeezed into basically two hotel rooms.  Despite the crowding the general impression was one of enthusiasm, civility and community.  A lovely thing.  We even saw the famous Stephen West.
- Chee Mee


Indie Untangled was interesting for me.  I was obviously interested in seeing what these small batch dyers had to offer since I've been interested in dyeing (though mostly natural) for the past fews years.  I wasn't prepared for the mob scene that was INDIE UNTANGLED.  The Best Westin of Kingston was probably not ready for the onslaught of yarn hungry, yet mostly polite, knitters.  Despite the winding queue to just enter the 3 exhibition rooms there was no pushing or shoving, just energetic enthusiastic energy.  We saw multiple people knitting socks while on line (that's dedication) and people knitting in the hallways with their purchases as well.

My favorite vendors at the fair were Backyard Fiberworks , Spun Right Round, and Skeinny Dipping. They had some beautiful colorways and my mom bought a bunch of skeins from Backyard Fiberworks.  I would like to go on the record that I didn't buy anything at Indie Untangled so my mom is using the royal "we" above... I do have self restraint...sometimes. The overall vibe of Indie Untangled seemed younger and yarn more trendy.  We're talking small batch kettle dyed and speckle dyed yarn. I enjoyed the contrast of seeing Indie vs. Sheep and Wool.

Afterwards we went to a great taco place called Diego's.  The night ended with spicy chocolate mousse made in a mason jar.  Yarn, great food, fun night! I can't complain about the Indie experience.  If I go again depends on the vendor lineup, but it's definitely worth checking out at least once.

-Amanda

MORE ABOUT SHEEP AND WOOL TOMORROW...

What do you do when you are smart, driven and retired?

I just spent some time in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (a bucket list item - not mine) and then Pittsburgh where I met Karen and John Crandall.  After working for years in corporate America, Kate and John retired.  Instead of fading into the sunset, they've spent the last thirteen years building up a small business based on machine embroidery.  Starting with one machine and some talented and trustworthy employees, they've built the business into what it is today.  They can embroider just one item or several hundred. They can customize designs and items exactly to each customer's needs.  If you can imagine it, they can probably do it.  Wow.  Something that is both practical, commercial, and creative all at the same time.

As a lifelong sewer and handcrafter, I was green with envy seeing their walls of threads, in every color and sheen imaginable, and seeing their four industrial machines lined up and ready for action.
This is a great example of entrepreneurship.  If you are ever in Monroeville, Pennsylvania look them up at monroevilleembroidery.com

-Chee Mee

I could not wait to start spinning the hand painted fiber bought from the SOADFF aka the best fiber fest I've ever been to* and I'm pleasantly surprised by how its turning out.  When I opened the roving knot I found that the 4oz of dyed wool was mainly yellow with irregular splotches of pink, blue, and red.  Needless to say I was a bit skeptical mainly because I've never spun hand painted roving and didn't know if it would turn out speckled, striped, totally irregular, or what.  I guess part of the fun is in the mystery right? I still don't know how it's going to look knit up but I'm very happy with the results so far.  I'm planning to make a scarf or shawl since I believe I'll have one generous skein once it's double plied... or I might chain ply to keep the colors separated... Hmm.

*As my mom said in a previous post, SOADFF was a completely relaxing and fun experience.  I enjoyed talking to a lot of the vendors, taking time to learn about the sheep, and eating 4H food served by business saavy 8 year olds.  Highlight from the festival was talking to a woman about feathers she collected from her farm's fowl for about 15 minutes. Yes, I bought some of them and they are beautifully spotted.

-Amanda

I've had a few days to think about my comments about the Rhinebeck Yarn Festival.  While I stand by my comments, I also wanted to add more color.

The RYF has evolved over the years into a very well-attended and much-anticipated event drawing serious yarn addicts from the region.  Clara Parkes in "Knitlandia" cites that RYF started in 1972. When I first attended RYF, Amanda had not yet been born so that was over 30 years ago.   As I recalled, back then Rhinebeck was an agricultural fair with yarns, animals and demonstrations of sheep shearing etc.

Today Rhinebeck is an "event" with a strongly commercial bent.  Years ago, yarn was just yarn.  Today, knitters are particular about what breed of sheep, from what region, organic or not, natural dyes or not...long ago knitting was a way to save money.  Today, it is a political or life style statement.  It is part of the movement away from mass-produced, environmentally irresponsible consumption.  Rhinebeck has become a part of that statement.

Somehow the Southern Adirondeck Fiber Festival seemed to harken back to the Rhinebeck that I knew so many years ago.

All this is to say that we certainly look forward to Rhinebeck like the thousands of other yarn fanatics but Southern Adirondeck was a nice breath of fresh air.  Perhaps next year we will make it to the wool festival in Maryland!

-Chee Mee