Wow. Just wow.

I don't even know what to say about Rhinebeck. It was crazy, insane, intense, amazing. We had some mishaps and changes in plans, and unfortunately the streets of Rhinebeck are not paved in gold... but we had a great time.

Once arriving in New York, we drove to my friend Tina's home, Tiny House. Can I just say, Tina and her husband Stephen are the super-bestest hosts EVER. Sometimes you meet people on the internet and develop an online friendship, exchange packages in the mail, and invite yourself to sleep on their couch for a weekend, and you have some trepidation about it, you know? Well, Tina was everything I could hope for and more. It was amazing how much we had in common. My only regret is that we didn't have nearly enough time to hang out and just talk. I wish we were closer to each other! I see more New England trips in my future...

Leah, Tina, Lisa

We got to paw through all of Tina's yarn and fiber for the Bittersweet Woolery booth, and got to put dibs on some goodies! It was amazing to see all the colors on Tina's different bases. She is truly a talented artist, and knows how to do the greens. Wow!

Before

Her booth looked great, and was completely ravaged by the Rhinebeck shoppers. It was amazing to see yarn and fiber go home with happy customers.

After!

Leah, me, Tina, Lisa

Of course, we did our best to bring home lots of yarn ourselves. We even stood in the Sanguine Gryphon line for 45 minutes to get some of her yarn! 

We did not look this happy after it started raining, however.

 More pictures of general happy funtimes:

Maple sugar cotton candy, not wool.

I'm a little excited. In my special overpowering way.

YAAARRRNNN!!!!!

French fries from a doggie dish. Yesssss.

It was a really amazing time to be among knitters and not be odd or unusual. To notice knitwear, to compliment people, and to meet old and new friends. I had a distinctly joyful moment when Jessica "StripedSocks" introduced herself to me. What a fun moment, to be recognized in the crowd and connect. Thanks for saying hi, Jessica! Also great to see Kristy and her gorgeous shawl, and meet her husband. Fantastic knitwear! (and my apologies for hollering your name across the whole damned fairgrounds. I was a wee bit excited!) So many cool people, so awesome.

Unfortunately....
We had some serious travel snafus Sunday night/Monday morning and had to cut our time at Tiny House short in order to be prepared for hardcore airport gate negotiations at 7am on Monday. From there it just sort of went 6 kinds of pissy. I don't want to get into all the bullshit in great detail, but there was: a lack of real food (WHAT? No Brie?!? said Leah), side trips to Greenwich, CT, Lisa getting bumped off the flight and then getting back on when a pitiful old lady got bumped, mid-air reunions, dragging my exhausted carcass around O'Hare, annoying everyone on the flight within hearing distance, and so on. The worst part of the trip, fo' sho'.

Final verdict: It was totally worth it, and I won't be doing it that way again. 2 full days of travel with 2 days of hardcore festivalling just is unreasonable. Next time, 5-6 days would be much more reasonable. And I can check Rhinebeck off my crazy knitter bucket list!

Oh yeah, the haul of yarn we got? Oh, that will require a separate post, baby.