Monday, October 20, 2008

Why is my wallet empty?

Wow, the weather up there is totally different than New York City. It was so cold! When I got off the train on Friday night, I realized that I didn't dress warm enough. My friend did warn me ahead of time that she was not going to turn on the heat. She is running low on oil and is thinking of switching over to Gas Heat, so she was still waiting to decide on what to do. I asked her for a bunch of blankets.We got to Rhinebeck at 9:30am, half an hour after they opened. It takes about 45min - 1 hour to get there from my friend's house in Beacon. The ride up was beautiful. You can definitely see that Fall is here from all the beautiful colors of the leaves. The above photo is the only photo of Rhinebeck I took before the shopping commenced. I took one or two more of the vendors booth, but after that I forgot all about it. I think that all the wooly goodness just puts a trance over you. It got pretty overwhelming with the crowds and just the size of the place.

After I bought my ticket, I looked up and saw someone with a blue hat walk by. It was Julie, so I called out to her and introduced myself. She had told me that she was going to be wearing that hat and we had exchanged cell phone numbers in case we had time to meet. I didn't expect to see her so early, but I am glad that I did since I didn't end up having anytime for meeting anyone. We were only able to talk briefly before we parted ways to make a beeline for certain booths that sell out fast. My two friends that I was with was making a beeline for a booth that they bought from last year, so I had to follow them. It was only 9:30am, and the line to pay was so long already.
I am glad that I made it to the Brooks Farm booth before noon, the booth was mobbed already. This is where I spent the bulk of my money and it was so worth it. A lot of colors were already going fast. Some only had one skein left. My friend and I waded in and tried to reach through people to get what we wanted. The problem is that the line to pay is also inside the booth, so there is not enough room for the people that are shopping and the people that want to pay. Luckily, us knitters are pretty nice people, so no one minded. The above two skeins is Brooks Farm "Solo" in a beautiful variegated greens.Brooks Farm "Solo" in reds, brown and orange.Brooks Farm "Solo Silk", 50% wool/50% silk in purples.And my favorite, Brooks Farm "Solana" in greens. This yarn is super wash and is super soft.Down-Under Wool Yarn in blues, 100% wool.Shelridge Farm is another must see booth. The yarn on top is W4 100% wool, worsted weight, color: cranberry. On the left is Soft Touch Heather, fingering weight, color: Sand. On the right is Soft Touch DKW, 100% wool, dk weight, color: Natural White.I wanted a pair of thrummed mittens for a while now, and I knew that they had kits at the festival. In this booth where I bought the kit, I also ran into my sewing teacher, Cassandra from Purl Patchwork, trying out drop spindles. I then proceeded to ask her for her opinion on spinning wheels. She basically gave me a testimonial to the brand of wheel that I had in mind.This is some rayon chenille that I plan on making a blanket with. I only bought it because it was cheap and the sample blanket was so soft.On the left is called Mystery Bump from Still River Mill. The mystery is that a bunch of different fibers are carded together and the colors may be different inside. It's mostly alpaca. The green ball on the right is Corriedale, 8oz. Don't let the pics deceive you. They are huge!The braids are from Cloverleaf Farms and they are all Merino Top, very soft. And the bag of white is fiber is Cormo & Silk Roving from Foxfire Fiber. These are so pretty. I want to hang them up as decorations.

You may wonder why I bought so much fiber when I clearly don't spin. DH offered to buy me a wheel for Christmas this year and how could I say no? I thought I was going to buy my wheel at Rhinebeck, but no one had the one I wanted in stock. They all offered to drop ship it to me from New Zealand. I saw a lot of wheels and tried 3. One vendor had the one I wanted as a floor model already assembled. I tried out that wheel and noticed two nicks on top. There was no way I wanted to pay full price on a floor model with nicks on it.This pic was also taken before the Yarn Coma set in. I saw these cute Fair Isle hats at one booth and wanted to get one for Melody. My friend insisted on buying it for Melody, but she let me pick the one I wanted.She actually has a pretty big head, but she is petite in body size. I knew the 1yr old size would fit her right now, but wanted something she could wear for a while. I picked out the 2yr old size. It's too big, but at least she can grow into it.

Rhinebeck is so much fun and I am glad that I went. There were lots of cute animals to see there. The Alpacas and Llamas were adorable. I only went on Saturday, 9:30am until 6pm, but enough damage had been done to my wallet in one day's time. My friend didn't want to go on Sunday because she knows she will blow her budget on the second day and she has no will power. She needs to convert her house from oil to gas and that is going to cost anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000. So, in order to save her from over spending, I told her I was not going to go on Sunday and made her buy the one day pass. She would go if I did and I probably would have bought more, too. Knitters are enablers so it's best to avoid the temptation all together by not going the second day.

With the traffic from the festival, we left at 6pm and didn't get back to Beacon until 7:30pm. DH and Melody drove up to pick me up and they were already waiting at my friend's house. We hung around for a bit and then drove home. It took us another 1 1/2 hours to get back to Brooklyn. I was so tired on Sunday, I could barely get up.

19 comments:

YayaOrchid said...

Oh, how I wish I could have been there! All the yarns you bought are beautiful. I LOVE the fiber. I hope you buy your wheel SOON so I can see what you come up with. So, if I may ask, about how much was the damage overall (to your wallet)? You bought a hefty amount of yarn!

Melody sure looks cute with that hat. She was probably so glad to get her Mommy back from the trip!

nova said...

O my gosh, I wish I had known you would be there! We got there around 10:30 but only stayed till 2:30 or 3, I just couldn't take it anymore. It looks like you acquired lots of really nice things!

Sue said...

You certainly bought some gorgeous colorways in your yarns. It sounds as though you had a lot of fun too. I love the hat you picked out, so cute.

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

Having been a fond observer of Melody since the beginning of her blog adventures, perhaps I AM a little bit biased, but she just seems to be getting prettier with each new batch of pictures you post.

And that sounds like a fun trip, too.

~Elaine~

Rima said...

What a beautiful loot! Good for you -- you so deserve it!

Jackie said...

What a beautiful place ! I wish i m there. Lovely lovly yarn. I m happy for u to have all the beautiful yarn in your treasure box.

Melody looks cute in the hat too.

rohanknitter said...

That looks like great fun - and the new yarn is beautiful! I would have to stay away the next day to avoid the temptations as well.

Jennie said...

Sounds like you had fun.
All of the yarns look so pretty, I can't wait to see what you make from them.
I would also want to hang the braids from Cloverleaf Farms as decorations, so pretty to look at =)

Julie said...

You bought some gorgeous things and Melody looks so cute in her hat! I had a similar discussion about day-tripping with my friend although to her I also pointed out that no hotel room means money for another fleece! ;) She may come out to join me for next year's festival and I'll definitely be looking for fleece then.

hetty said...

Nice spending! No wonder your wallet is lighter! But the stuff you bought is beautiful. Can't wait to see what you make with it. Hope you get your wheel soon. You'll be all set. Cute photo of Melody! She just keeps getting cuter every time you post!

priscilla joy said...

looks like a fun time...the trees are so pretty. that hat for melody is so cute and she makes it look even cuter!

Anonymous said...

Cute, cute hat!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, Melody is so precious in that hat! And it's big enough that she'll have many years to treasure it... I know that I would, it's so beautifully made!

Rebekah said...

wow! What a haul! It looks like you made quite the scores : ) That's so cool that you're getting a spinning wheel for Christmas! Can't wait to see what you spin up.

Melody looks so cute in that new hat. I love it!

flanthrower said...

Wow! What an impressive haul. I really like all the green yarns you got. I'm excited to hear that you're going to be spinning soon. Can't wait to see what happens with that!!

Anonymous said...

What a great haul! The Brooks Farm yarn is amazing - I'm completely jealous. Melody is such a cutie - great hat! Sounds like you had a great time!

LittleCanoe said...

Oh Melody Melody, so photogenic! She looks fantastic in that new hat. Hey, you weren't kidding about the yarn! I want to touch it all, I can't wait to see the fibers spun into something beautiful.

schrodinger said...

I'm so sad we missed each other (even though we actually live in the same city - LOL). I adore the Brooks farm and am wondering why on earth I didn't buy any, then remember we got there late, the colours I wanted were in the wrong fibers, and the fibers I wanted were in the wrong colours (make sense?)

Stephanie said...

oooh - brooks farm, by the time I got there, the stuff I wanted was gone :( Looks like you had quite the haul :)