Rhinebeck Madness!!!

So for anyone doubting what I was doing yesterday, it was the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. Up at 5am, to Framingham by 6:30am, bus ride to the gate in Rhinebeck, NY took about 3.5 hours. The traffic getting into the damn festival took more than 45 minutes....but it was well worth it. The whole thing was quite overwhelming once you got through the gates!

We didn't have to stop here, thankfully, since we already had tickets. Really great to have paid in advance and just be able to walk in the park!

At the gate, +Sara Marks and I got our guide book and we started mapping out where we were going.

Ready to conquer the day!

And these little guys were right by the entrance...

Lemurs!!

The food area...

SO MANY PEOPLE!!! This was only at 11am or so. It was a madhouse!! +Sara Marks needed a bite to eat so we took a break for that. While she was in line, I was knitting. What was I knitting? I was working on the Hurricane Hat I started Friday night. 

Remember this??

I don't know if I was sniffing it or cuddling it actually..

Ok, so I worked on this from the onset of the trip to the gates. Between chatting and resting, the rest stop and meeting people, I was still able to nearly finish it before we got there. When Sara was in line, I got to the decrease part... so I just finished it.

Tada! Picture taken this morning, however.

So then we went yarn shopping!! The first place we went was building C to pickup +Mori Gryphon 's Shark Week socks. I didn't take a picture of that but they're adorable. After that was the souvenir tent for +Erin W 's mug and memorabilia. I got a project bag with the logo on it and Sara got one, too.  

From there is was our mission to actually get yarn since up to this point we hadn't yet! For the next several hours it was one gasp after another. Rows and rows of vendors with all kinds of fibers and yarns. The smells of amazing food wafting around. Fried dough! There was just so much to SEE!!

This was just one Vendor space. And evidently my phone can use both cameras at once!

Throughout the day I met up with #Fiberatti from all over: +Petra Cosgrove-Tremblay , +Elizabeth Ives , +Hugh Tauerner , +Heather Zoppetti , +Stephanie D'Annibale !! I met the crew of Ravelry.com and they signed my official Ravelry bag!! (Total fanboy moment, btw) And you can see me on the far left of the group shot from the Ravelry meetup: 

I was getting my bag signed at this point. And my Rav button!!

Eventually they did a big group shot. I caught this one and then made my way into the crowd for it!

+Sara Marks were wiped out from all the walking and browsing and at 5pm, sat and waited for the bus. It was time to head back to reality, drunk on yarn.

By now we were cold, and hungry, and sore...

At the end of a long day, I did end up going over budget. Oh well. My birthday's next month so I'm using that as an excuse. And I didn't go totally crazy like I could have. I was looking for worsted and heavier which was tough. Everyone had tons of fingering and lace!

SO HERE'S THE HAUL::

Worsted weight Superwash Merino from Blue Ridge Yarn (Sara wanted to take this one from me..)

More Blue Ridge worsted in what we're calling "Drowning Zombie"

Dragonfly Fibers "Zombie Apocalypse"!! So amazing!

Briar Rose Fibers Chunky in "Robusta"

And finally, the yarn that put me over budget:

This is 570 yards of superwash merino in this GORGEOUS colourway!!! The yarn is by Tess Designer Yarns. It is so soft and wonderful. I don't know what I'm making just yet but with this much worsted, I can kind of go nuts.

My first trip to Rhinebeck was nearly perfect. The only thing missing was +Zen Alpaca to make the DDA complete...but next year!! I met a woman named Anise from Maryland that said we need to go to the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival, too. Plus the New England one is in November.... Dear god, the yarn.

So that's it! I'm still tired. I need more coffee. And I need to plan my projects!!!