It was another gorgeous weekend in New York. Even though we had a major wind storm and it was really chilly it was nice to be outside all day. Especially after I put on my my newly purchased hoodie.Yesterday (Saturday, October 16th) the girls (Suzy and Cheryl) and I headed up to Rhinebeck, NY for the Annual New York State Wool and Sheep Festival. I never had an interest in attending the festival, but for some reason I got a bug up my ass and I wanted to go this year. OMFG why didn't I listen to people sooner and go there. The festival was awesome. Tons of vendors selling amazing merchandise. Lots of things to see and learn about. Did I mention lots of stuff to buy. I bought a lot of amazing things. (You will find my list of goodies below.)
I really thought that I was going to hate the festival. I thought I was going to be surrounded by nasty smelling animals and that I would either have to pee in dirty porta potties or wait in line for an hour. Once I go there I realized that none of my fears were true.
The animals were there and they were smelly, but they were easily avoidable. The bathroom situation was great. They had real bathrooms! No porta potties! And they were clean! That alone made me a happy campier. When you have a bladder the size of a thimble that is always an issue.
While my friends played with the sheep I waited on the short bathroom line, so I didn't have to smelly the funkiness. I did see two super cute alpacas near the gate as we left and that was more than enough animal interaction for me.
The setup was really interested. Again, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I am sure I would have been wrong. The festival took place on the Duchess Count Fair Ground and all of the vendors are set up in barn house. The setup reminded me of flea markets that I used to go to growing up. There were approximately 10 barns.
Vendors sold everything from, live sheep, fleece, roving, yarn, books, clothing, maple syrup, jewelry, meat, bread and much more.
And me being the good American.New Yorker that I am, I had to do my best to stimulate the economy of upstate New York by purchasing the items below:
- Strauch Handmade Ball Winder - Check out the website and you tube video. I am truly in love with this thing. I think my next post will be about my love affair with my new winder. Yes, it is pricey, but it is worth every penny. If you need a winder, get this one.
- Birch wood yarn swift
- Blue cheese
- Blair's Mega Death Hot Sauce - This is no joke. My mouth burned for 20 minutes.
- New York State Honey - for my allergies
- Dip mix packets - :( The packets are downstairs and I can not remember the name of the company
- Gourtemtible Candy - It is so yummy that I wish I didn't buy it. I am so afraid that I am going to eat them.
- A Cute Kid Sweater Pattern - It's one piece so I can't screw it up
- Summertide Wine
Honestly, I couldn't. I think I would really have to take myself to rehab if I did. Especially since the night before I went to Micheal's and bought two bags of Vanna's Choice yarn to finish Olivia's jumbo blanket, start a blanket for my forthcoming great niece or nephew and make a silly scarf for myself. Plus I have bought a lot of yarn recently and planning to buying more soon.
Let's take a quick look at my (yarn)life for the past couple of weeks/future plans:
- I went on to the yarn crawl last weekend - I got 12 skeins of random wool yarns
- I went to the NJ Smiley's sale a couple of weeks ago - I got 24 skeins of merino wool
- I went to Micheal's the night before heading to Rhinebeck - purchase an ungodly amount of Vanna's Choice
- I am going to Flying Fingers on November 6th
- I am going to the NYC Smiley's sale in December.
So I couldn't do it. Plus there were so many other things there to buy. All week long I kept asking myself what did I want, because I knew that if I came back with more yarn I would not be happy and the only thing I could think of was a swift and a ball winder.
I am really happy that I finally go a good ball winder and that I have a swift. Now I don't have to ask Suzy to make balls for me and I don't have to wait in long lines at stores to get my skeins balls and I don't have to hear store managers bitch that I want something balled that is apart of their standard complimentary winding.
I haven't tried the swift yet. I hope it is good too. For those of you who do not know what a swift is click here.
Even though I didn't buy any yarn that didn't stop me from touching it and falling in love. I fell in love with 5 different yarns. I wrote them all in my trusty note pad in phone, so I can always buy them online if I ever use the stuff that I have. It was nice to finally touch the legendary Socks that Rock yarn. It is awesome! Once I figure out the method to two socks at home, I am buying some.
Recommendation:
If you have been to the New York State Wool and Sheep Festival, then start making plans to get there for 2011. It is worth leaving the city for a couple of days and surrounding yourself around nature and beautiful things. Start putting your dollars away now, so that you can have a nice chunk of change when you go there. I am normally the girl who takes $60 dollars to every sale and I took a couple of hundred of dollars, because I didn't want to deny myself from the possibility of buying something amazing. Go with a group of friends and make a day or better yet a whole weekend out of it.
Sorry I can't report if the food is good there, because some how we managed not to eat there. Our lunch was tasting all of the cheese and other food items from the vendors. Then topped it off with wine and candy.
On a whole it was a great day and I look forward to going back next year.
I left my camera downstairs so I will post the photos I took in another post.
But here are a couple of shots I took of my new love with my camera phone.
No comments:
Post a Comment