This past weekend I went with 3 friends from my knitting group up to Rhinebeck, NY to the NY Sheep and Wool festival. For those of you who aren’t knitters (seriously, are there any??), this weekend is kind of the holy grail for knitters and spinners. One of my friends referred to it as Burning Man for middle-aged women.

The festival takes place at the Dutchess County fairgrounds, which are gorgeous with fall foliage this time of year. There are vendors of all kinds – yarns, spinning wheels, spinning fibers, patterns, shearling slippers, handmade soaps, etc. There are also barns filled with livestock including sheep, goats, alpaca and llamas. There are plenty of kids from the various farms who exhibit their animals and hope to win ribbons. It was hard to say if the sheep or these kids were cuter. I was particularly smitten with this sweet girl, who is about my daughter’s age. She was very proud of her sheep, and admitted to me that she does miss her animals after she sells them. I also thought this sheep showed an enormous amount of personality.

Lisa and I are eating lunch from the artichoke guys.

We really lucked out with the weather. It was sunny and mild, so we could wear some light knitwear. I finished this melon-colored sweater about a week before the festival. The pattern is called Buttercup. What’s fun about this weekend is that you are surrounded by your people. The sheer quantity of gorgeous (and bizarre) knitwear was astounding. The sheer quantity (shear quantity?) of bad knitting puns we saw was also astounding. Our B & B was filled with knitters, which was fun. 

And before we left, we stopped by the farmer’s market in Rhinebeck to pick up a few more goodies. My friend Amy came away with this gorgeous (and enormous!) wooden serving board.

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