I went back to Rhinebeck again last weekend for my 8th trip to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. Note to self for next time: enunciate more clearly when telling the border guard why I’m going.
What beautiful weather we had! It was great for the drive down to Poughkeepsie. Sarah and I had a spot at an AirBnb which we found thanks to Siri. There were quite a few turns on the way. This intersection still makes me smile:

Since we’ve been going to the festival for a few years, we didn’t feel the need to show up terribly early – and we didn’t even buy tickets online. That may change next time, as we did have to wait for a little while, but we had a nice chat with two ladies from Kromski who were off to see their dealers. Sometimes the best parts of Rhinebeck are the conversations you have with new people that you’re in line with!
I met up again with Danielle Chalson (makewise) and her lovely family including this cute new addition (shown here in her Rhinecliff hat, but it was too hot for that by the time we met up).

I was at the Cooperative Press booth having a chat with Andi Smith when Miriam Felton came by and handed out keychains and talked about her new Yarn Stories podcast (YarnStoriesPodcast.com). The intro episode for the podcast is up now, and she’ll be telling stories about where yarn comes from. It’s going to be an audio-only podcast, which means it’s going right into my list of things to listen to on the drive to work!
I also visited Barbara Benson in the author area to get a signed copy of her new Mosaic & Lace Knits book. Here she is surrounded by the gorgeous samples and explaining her inspiration and process to an interested knitter. She’s really good at explaining things. How do I know? She’s got a fantastic YouTube channel (Watch Barbara Knit) where she explains knitting and other fun things.

I meandered around for about 6 hours on Saturday and an hour on Sunday and ended up with a variety of items (bowl & small cup from Jennie the Potter’s booth, Neighborhood Fiber Company yarn (in Banksy colourway), cakes of yarn from Briar Rose Fibers, and a couple of signed books):

On Saturday, Sarah and I parked right behind Catherine (Mairwen) at the Mason-Dixon Knitting Rhinebeck Pie Party, so we all wandered in together.

We had pie, cider, and more discussions with other new friends on the large porch. Thanks to Ann & Kay for a wonderful event!
The happiest part of Saturday was when I sat down, exhausted, at a table in the food area. Pauline stopped off too, and we got talking. She’d done a great deal of shopping and it was her first trip to Rhinebeck. We had an uplifting chat as she showed off her great deals and fun purchases, and now we’re following each other on Instagram.
It was a wonderful weekend and the warm sunny weather made the driving very pleasant. Until next time, Rhinebeck!