*** warning: picture heavy post***

We couldn’t have asked for a better day to go to the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival!  The weather was amazingly warm, no rain, beautiful foliage and a slight breeze — PERFECTION!!!!  The jacket I wore ended up in my handbag for the entire day — that’s how perfect the weather was.

My friend “Sudi” and I took Amtrak to Rhinecliff NY with a short taxi ride (less than 5 mins) to the fairgrounds.  The sights, the smells, the yarn  — OMG!!!!!  It was a crafter’s heaven with major yarn overload.   There was much opportunity to get sidetracked by “oooo pretty”, but I’m proud to say that for the most part, I stayed on target and got what I went for — including fudge!  😀   I have to say though, this year, there seemed to be less vendors than last year.    Additionally, the selection although great, was mostly fingering weights, lace weights and sock yarn.  I had a tough time finding DK and aran weights, but I think I got some items that’ll do the job!

The yarn crafts community was amazing as usual.  Random people saying “hi”.  They came up to me to talk about my purchases and ask me about theirs.   I got more “newbie must know” spinning advice than I thought I needed.  I even met one crafter at the train station on our way back, who showed me her stuff and went through mine like we’ve known each other forever.  LOLOL!

Equally hysterical were the non-knitting men who came as “beasts of burden” to carry their significant other’s purchases.  It was hilarious to me to hear the comments — “yes dear, here’s the credit card”, “lets go do anything you want to do since this is your thing”, “let me carry that, that’s why I came … right?”, “no honey, you don’t need anymore yarn but you’re going to get that … right?” 😀

Yesterday at Rhinebeck, we came out in droves.  At times the crowd was super thick but I think for the most part, we all ended up with what we came for and a little of what we didn’t.  😀

So let me stop the blabbing and get to it — wanna see? 😛

I’m venturing into the world of spinning and asked the Rav community for some advice on what to get.  The general consensus seemed to be to get longer fiber with particular content that’ll be forgiving and accommodating to a new spinner.  I stopped by “Into The Whirled” where the owner and some spinners shopping there were amazing.  Rather than point me to her most expensive unspun fiber, she gave me tips on which was best for newbie spinners.  Once she pointed me in the right direction, others spinners came up to me with additional tips and techniques and shopping help.  For my soon to start spinning adventures, I got:

I also got:

Self Stripe Roving from Painted Spring Farm Alpaca  and an Ashford top-down spindle from another vendor.

Outside of spinning goodies, I got yarn for four of my five projects which to me is still a win!  I had to do some substitutions so I might have to do some project Math, but I think they’ll turn out alright.  I ended up with these:

Blue Moon Fiber Arts : Sport Weight in Pond Scum to be used for the Honey Cowl

Shepherd’s Wool: Worsted Weight in Orange to be used for the Garden View Shawlette

(I originally bought this yarn as a gift for a friend who’s birthday’s coming up but I changed my mind about that this morning. :P)

Angora Online: Sock Yarn Hand-dyed for the Cedar Leaf Shawlette  OR I might use

Lisa Souza’s: Hardtwist Sock Yarn in Coral

Blue Moon Fiber Arts: Sock Yarn in Boysenberry for my “Age of Brass & Steam” Shawlette

My only impulse yarn purchase was for my first adult sweater:

Shepherd’s Wool: Fine Worsted in Turquoise

Other than that, I’m determined not to let lace be the death of me so I got two ChiaoGoo lace circulars in sizes 2 & 3.   I also picked up some “Moth Away” herbs to keep those pesky critters out of my stash.  

I had my fan-girl moment when I met Edie Eckman and got a signed copy of her newest crochet book ” Connect The Shapes — Crochet Motifs”.

I’d say I did pretty well — I went out of pocket $48.00 for the sweater yarn but I shouldn’t complain since even with that purchase, I brought home $70.00 bucks in cash! 

Status: Mission Accomplished!!!