In Pictures

Thursday, I left for Rhinebeck, and got on a plane, and then another one, and landed squarely in the arms of magic. There’s no way for me to explain to you what Rhinebeck is, or… more properly, what it is to me, because on the surface it’s all easy.  On the surface, Rhinebeck is a sheep and wool festival, and there are sheep and yarn and wool and thousands of knitters, and I guess really, considering how much I like all of those things, it’s a set up that I would love it, but Rhinebeck has become something else over the years. I could show you the sheep… Oh, wait. I will.

judging 2015-10-21

talkshop 2015-10-21 shear 2015-10-21 baa2 2015-10-21 baabetter 2015-10-21

I could show you the grounds, the yarn, the stuff… Oh, fine. I will too.

intothewhirld 2015-10-21 ronshawl 2015-10-21 thetrees 2015-10-21 fleeces 2015-10-21

Mostly though, I want to show you what I really go for.  It’s the people….

shopping 2015-10-21 notfleeece 2015-10-21 threeselfie 2015-10-21 clarapic 2015-10-21 wendyamy 2015-10-21 kristine 2015-10-21  wemeanparty 2015-10-21

and more specifically, these people.

ussteady 2015-10-21

Way back, in the beginning of knit-blogging, when all of this was fresh, and we were all discovering the virtues and wonder of far flung friends connected by a love of yarn and a bunch of websites, a bunch of us started going to Rhinebeck together. We’ve continued that, and this weekend I had the privilege and joy of spending this time with a group of women that I’ve been proud to call my friends for a decade.  We spent the weekend enjoying wool, talking knitting, talking everything, knitting, catching up, and cementing what brings us back, over and over.

uslaugh 2015-10-21

I love us.

(Photo credits to Caro, who always gets the best us on film, this time thanks to a recycling bin, and a timer.)

usselfie 2015-10-21 selfie 2015-10-21

And I wore a new sweater. Rhinebeck.  There’s nothing like it.

102 thoughts on “In Pictures

  1. Thanks for the virtual tour. I would love to see how your sweater turned out. Maybe sometime this week before you forget and are on to another dazzling project?

  2. It is everything you describe and so much more! And it was pure joy meeting you in the Harrisville Designs booth. Thank you for being so gracious to an ogling admirer and her equally ogling friend!

  3. And fancy boots too! Not that that’s the only thing I’ve taken away from these pictures. Currently thinking I need to plan me a trip to Rhinebeck!

  4. Fun pictures, thanks! Your sweater looks great on you and fits you really well – not surprised, of course. I loved seeing all the pretty knitted sweaters. Inspiration for me to make a sweater for myself. I’m just finishing one for my 23 yo son and I’m thinking, “I hope he wears this A Lot!” Love the colors in Clara’s scarf/shawl, and I really, really want one of those party bags!!

  5. I may be a wee bit jealous that you are friends with Amy Herzog and Clara Parkes. And that they are friends with you. Looks like it was a lot of fun!

  6. I was there, too, for the first time. It was a bucket list item although I certainly hope to go back. It was everything you said it was and yes, your sweater and books are super!

    • Me too! My second bucket list item after Port Ludlow…didn’t see Steph, darn it, but I got consumed by yarn fumes and came home with a suitcase full after Rhinebeck, Fabyarns in Tivoli and Spinning Sheep in Dover, NH (lovely people all of them)

  7. It’s always more fun with critters. That purple shawl! And the grey sweater with the openwork pattern. Really these pictures should come with captions for the pattern names.

  8. Haha! My husband and I are in the background of the first picture – he’s in the bright turquoise hat, and I’m next to him.

    We go to Rhinebeck every year for our wedding anniversary. Thank you for sharing some of the magic.

  9. It’s been 3 years since I moved away from driving distance to Rhinebeck. Your post makes me ache and think it might be worth a flight next year.

  10. Love it all! Couldn’t make it this year, but I have enough in my stash from previous Rhinebecks to get me through the year until 2016. Most memorable was the year I met you!

  11. Hi!
    Thank’s for sharing !
    I live way too far to come to Rhinebek, therfore I apreciate seeing all those news and atmosphere pictures of the festival.
    Thanks again
    Sandrine

    • People do come from all around the world. I have been once (though I am on same coast) and am plotting a return trip.

  12. I was at Rhinebeck, in one of the big buildings with the windows, turning a fast corner around a line at the end, and nearly bumped into you. I was so excited, I blurted, “You’re the Yarn Harlot!” (I was squealing like a teenybopper who had just met Bobby Sherman!) You were with a group of friends, but were kind enough to introduce yourself, and make small talk. I got to see the sweater in person, and Fox Paws! (I didn’t finish my sweater in time). It’s because of you that I went to Rhinebeck, with my LYS on a bus trip, and there is so much to see and experience. Thanks for your graciousness, and when you wheeled off to join your friends, I could feel the joy and the freedom coming off you. You were with your peeps.

  13. Love the photos, especially the second to last one with the smile on the beautiful baby. AND that purple shawl!!! Thanks for sharing the experience with us.

  14. Some day I want to go to Rhinebeck. But I have MD Sheep and Wool, which is closer and almost as good.
    I can’t wait to hear what you think of the recent Canadian elections and Justin Trudeau (I remember his father). And I missed your Canadian Thanksgiving post this year.

    • Rhinebeck has much better grounds…and beer and wine….and espresso coffee drinks….and much better food.

      Maryland has more sheep.

      • It really is unfortunate that the fairground’s rules limit the food options at MDS&W. I’d be happy if they just let a local farm set up an apples and carrots stand or somesuch. We did get lucky with the weather this yearr, which was great. I’ve been in 90+ degree heat and in 60 degree rain. You just never know. I never minded the grounds until I perma-ouched my knee (my friend says the warranty on my parts ran out when I hit 40 not long ago).

        It’s nowhere near the scale of Maryland or Rhinebeck, but the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in late September is a real up and comer with a wonderfully curated selection of vendors, nice flat ground, and lots of parking.

  15. Although I couldn’t be at Rhinebeck, I compensated by attending Creativ back here in TO and attending a workshop with Kate Atherley, who mentioned Rhinebeck and the wonders it held. As God is my witness, I will be there the first Fall I retire from teaching!! Wait for meeeeeeeeeee! 😀

    • When I read the part about the new sweater, I had to look back at the pictures to see if there were two full sleeves. CHECK!

  16. Boy do you ever look stylish and hot, in that beautiful new sweater and killer boots. I’m impressed! Great photos of you and your friends.

  17. As we rushed around our lodgings Saturday morning, getting ready to head to the fairgrounds, my normally low-maintenance 10-year-old daughter (who I brought along at the last minute on a whim) was frantically insisting I show her how to bind off the cowl she had knitted on the drive up. “Can’t it wait?” I asked her, trying to charge my phone and add more data. “No, I NEED it for the festival,” she said. And I realized – it was her Rhinebeck cowl. SHE KNEW that’s what you do. I’m so proud.

    And, yes, there is something special about Rhinebeck. I hate crowds, and I generally hate festivals. But this was different.

  18. Thanks for the tour, I missed going this year but my youngest isn’t ready to go and needed me home (and the adoption was finalized last week! I now am 54 with officially three children, ages 20,17 and um…4). Next year we are both going!

    Rninebeck, when I am able to go, just makes me happy. Everyone is lovely, the grounds are lovely, the sheep are lovely and the fiber is lovely. This post captures that perfectly and I can show it to my non-knitting folk and say “See!? This is what we’re talking about”.

    • That “purple” shawl isn’t just a shawl- it is amazing – has a bazillion beads on it and it feels so special on. I know cause I got to “try” it on one time. Stunning shawl!

  19. i have tears – there is nothing like love and wool. Wow on the Rhinebeck ground and wool and sheeps and scarves and people…

  20. I really enjoy your blog and love love your projects. I’m in Germany and I had hoped that there would be more sheep and yarn festivals since they have so many sheep. Have you ever been to Germany?

  21. The sweater did look pretty fab! (you stopped and talked to some folks in line for food who were standing right in front of me, but I felt it would be rude to interrupt).

    It’s hard to describe the absolute joy that is Rhinebeck 🙂 For me, it always feels like coming home!

  22. It’s the place, the people, and the wool. I suspect that your long weekends at Rhinebeck with friends help make up for the times when you’re away from hearth and home for weeks at a time, in a different hotel each night.

  23. My guess is that on the second group-on-the-porch shot, you’re who made the comment that cracked everyone up. (And that was a horrific sentence, but you get the point.) We’re working on putting together a group for next year. We’re all Rhinebeck virgins. Be gentle.

  24. Thanks for the lovely photos! And for revealing next year’s featured breeds for those of us who weren’t able to attend. Gotta get some Rambouillet to spin and knit up – STAT!

  25. I, too, looked at the purple shawl long and longingly. Then the next picture almost blew me away — those beautiful autumn leaves!!

    Here in the MidSouth, the trees are not into autumn colors yet, and when they finally do, it seems like they are gone in one windy, rainy day. I used to live in Ohio, in Utah, in Pennsylvania, in Connecticut, in upstate New York… and I’ve seen what autumn can truly be–

    *I Miss Autumn*

  26. Great pictures! Thank you for sharing! Did you do some serious stash enhancement while there? Rhinebeck is bad for the budget, but great for the soul!

  27. I’m so lucky to live in Woodstock, right across the river from Rhinebeck. And even more luck, I saw you Sunday with your group looking at a booth with both cashmere and quiviet (yum). The Rhinebeck sweater looked wonderful! Hope to see you next year –

  28. Great post, great sweater. Can’t believe you pulled it off in time. Also nice is your friend’s terrific cape. Any pattern for it?

  29. Is there any way a person could get her hands on some of those “I like to party…” bags? I can think of a whole bunch of knitting friends who would LOVE them for Christmas. And Christmas is definitely on its way. Eek.

  30. Hi Stephanie, it was really nice to see you at Rhinebeck. I was one of the many knitters who stopped you as you were walking. I was hoping I would see you, but with the thousands of people there, I figured the odds were near 0. I love your Rhinebeck sweater and your scarf. Nice work!

  31. I have similar feelings about Rhinebeck. Its like coming home after a long trip each year….familiar but wonderful. I’ve gone with different friends over the years, and my dutiful husband who manages to keep busy (I let him bring his own friend!), and its truly one of my favorite days of the year. The friend who has come the last few years isnt really a knitter, but she looks forward to it every year as well. Standing in line at Miss Babs (forever!) I met a lovely group of women who it turns out frequent the same LYS and live close by. Its just a very special weekend.

  32. I made the decision not to go this year (i’m about 2 hours drive away) and I sort of regret it and sort of don’t. Scheduling-wise, it was much easier not to go, But I kind of wish I had. I’ve yet to find the right friend to go with, so while I’m not in conflict over where to go and when to leave, going by yourself is a little bittersweet.

    Stash-wise, I’m set anyway, so The Plan is to knit down the stash this year and have a “good” reason to go next year. Maybe I’ll finally finish my Rhinebeck sweater.

    • Ann – I left my knitter buddy in CA when I moved to Idaho, and took my boyfriend with me to Rhinebeck this year. While he was patient (sort of), it’s not the same. Maybe we should email and meet there next year! Helen (hbcolombo at juno.outlook.com)

  33. I don’t know how, yet, but I am SO going to Rhinebeck next year. It’s not a million miles from here, although not exactly just down the road either, and I’ve driven for three days for lesser events! I could drive 5 (or 7) to get to Rhinebeck, no problem. I’m going, and that’s all there is about it.

  34. I love the photo tour!
    I wonder if you could name the women in your posse?
    I recognize a few but would love to know who the rest of the knitteratti are!
    Too nosy? Okay.
    Nancy P

  35. I have to laugh at the photo of the woman eating the maple cotton candy.
    I brought a non-knitting friend to the festival. She was a tad overwhelmed by the spectacle. At one point she grabs my by the arm to chase a woman down the aisle…….she thought the woman was eating wool.

    The maple cotton candy people missed a huge marketing opportunity….Edible Wool!

  36. I was at the long wool yearling ewe judging. I can’t be seen because the judge is walking in front of where I was sitting. My friends can be seen in the picture. 🙂 I caught sight of the Yarn Harlot throughout the weekend. It was really cool.

  37. The beautiful creature in the second picture…of sheeps and/or goats that is, is probably the real reason I love yarn, knitting, and al things wooly. This particular specimen is truly beyond compare …just looking at her is enough inspiration to fire up the creative instinct and I hope that at one point I might, if I’m lucky, and the stars are all aligned, I might knit something that comes close to doing her justice.
    You were the lucky one. You were there.Sue

  38. That last pic is almost as good as the now-famous Oscars selfie. Only thing that could make it better, is if Bradley Cooper was in it!,

  39. I went to Web’s last week and it was fun spotting the knitted and crocheted garments people were wearing there too even though the weather was warm. Of course I was wearing mine as well. On a side note thank you, Stephanie, for blogging about the store. It was wonderful and an experience I would have never had but for you.

  40. Just catching up on the internets and reading this totally made me weepy at work. I miss you guys, I hate that I had to jet early. I’m already looking forward to next year! Especially now that I know where the Stop button is.

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