My Credit Card Got a Workout Part 1

So here's my full Rhinebeck recap. I don't even know where to begin. I'm sorely lacking in photos because my arms were full of fiber and fried artichokes for most of the day. I'll start at the beginning and finish at the end, but I have so much to tell it will be two posts long.

Friday
Friday night I loaded up the car with Dessie and a weekend bag full of clean clothes and some knitting projects and headed into Manhattan to pick up my best friend in the whole wide world, Mollie. Mollie is a newbie knitter and not yet prone to fiber induced insanity but I hoped this trip would make her a full blown addict. Mollie is a severe overpacker and this worried me because if there are too many bags of clothes then there will not be enough room for bags of fibery goodness.

We drove up to my fathers house in CT to drop off the dog for the weekend and to crash a bit closer to our final destination. We went to bed early knowing full well that we would be leaving as soon as possible to get where we needed to be. We had no plans to go to the festival on Saturday, too crowded and I get evil when I'm pushed around, so we figured we'd make a day trip of it.

Saturday
First stop was the back of the community my father's house is in to get pictures of the fall foliage.







I walked to the waters edge and saw this

It reminded me of the Kauni sweater I have been ignoring, I figured it was a sign and vowed this would not be a project I left in the pile.

We then headed out on the road stopping only to eat friendly's fried food and ice cream sundays.

Around 4PM we arrived at the hotel and checked into our room. Mollie had to do her hair, a process I soon found out that takes an hour plus, before we went out. I quickly grew bored so I broke out a spindle I had made and a batt that I purchased on etsy and spun to quiet my anticipation



We headed out and decided we would try to hit up the Headless Horseman before the Ravelry party. It was a very elaborate haunted house, 3 haunted houses actually and one hay ride that was ripe with clowns (I hate clowns) which caused me a panic attack. At one point I could have sworn that I was being hit on by a few demons, but brushed it off as silly fun, until one demon actually pulled me out of my group to "scare" (get my name) and if Mollie hadn't come back to get me I'm sure I would still be there right now.

After we were thoroughly frightened we loaded back into the car and headed to Riccardi's Hideaway for the Ravelry party. And when I say headed I mean we drove in the right direction, though it was the wrong direction, back tracked, figure out we were right the first time, turned around, stopped at a gas station or 3 for directions and got lost at least 4 more times. We got to the bar 10 minutes before the raffle in just enough time to grab a gin and tonic, and cold cheese burger and a winning ticket!!

That's me snuggling my new superwash merino roving from Spunky Eclectic in the Ravelry colorway.
There were lots of people at the party

That's Casey and Jess in the background. I met Amy from Spunky Eclectic, and promptly couldn't think of a thing to say, so a babbled for a moment and literally stopped talking! It was so awkward, I'm not good at meeting people.

I also met Necia, who I could talk to but mostly because she did the talking for the both of us. She is so outgoing it was hard to be shy. I saw the Yarn Harlot rocking her Kauni, but the New Yorker in me refused to let me introduce myself to a "celebrity" (us New Yorkers like to pretend with think celebrities are like regular people but we point to them when we are not looking and are probably as in awe as anyone else in the country, but as New Yorkers we must appear cool in all situations.)

Around 11:30 things calmed down a bit and Mollie and I headed back to our hotel to open the Riesling I had bought and drink and knit. We would go to bed early because Sunday would be the big day. We went to bed tipsy and dreamed of yarn and sheep, tomorrow we would go for broke. ....