Looking over my pictures, and seeing everyone else's, I realized how few I took, especially of PEOPLE. Geez. I suck.
Rhinebeck, for me, was all about the people. Sure, I got some nice fiber (yup, nice fiber!), ate some darned good food, even tried a wheel. But it was spending time with, as Carole says, my people, that really made the weekend. From spending time with Anne and her two friends, running into people randomly and at the Blogger meetup, and hanging out with scads of knitbloggers at Winebeck, it was simply fabulous to meet people face to face, have conversations in real time, and get and give hugs.
I stayed with Anne and her friends Becky and Annette, at a house they had rented for the long weekend. They were so friendly and welcoming! I arrived on Thursday and we chilled and unwound with dinner and some spinning.
The house was secluded and spacious, with plenty of space for wheels and fiber. We spun in the living room the first night:
but moved to the dining area the second night because of better lighting:
It was fabulous.
Day one (Friday) we headed to CIA for lunch at Escoffier, their French restaurant. We had a wonderful time. Good food (student cooks), loved our servers (also students), and a great view:
That's right, we could see them preparing our food, performing their dance. And it was a performance. When they brought our dishes, they were covered. Two servers removed the four covers simultaneously -- the reveal -- oooooh.
Of course, we had to take photos of our food:
(damned tourists)
and our desserts, which were oh, so yummy:
We rolled out of there, quite satisfied:
Becky, Annette, Anne and me
On the way to the bathroom Anne pointed out this guy in the cafe wearing a skirt and knitting. It turned out to be SweaterProject guy (we left without saying hi but saw him at the Blogger Meetup the next day). We shoulda known it'd be a blogger there for Rhinebeck.
From there it was on to the Morehouse Farm Merino shop:
Their yarn is sooooo sooooft.
There was a sales area, and if you know anything about me, you know... I couldn't... resist... a bahhhhgain.
Thing is, I had a budget for Rhinebeck. For the whole weekend, even for things bought outside, strictly speaking, Rhinebeck. A budget that I had proposed to Scott, and which he had accepted, followedy by, "but not a penny more!" And being more the spinner than knitter (or, having enough yarn to last my lifetime and not really needing any more), I really wanted to focus on fiber rather than yarn. But. A sale. Which amounted to almost half off.
It took a long time to decide, and I think I did a good job.
Here's our combined haul:
Impressive, eh?
Guess how much is mine? :)