Rhinebeck

Rhinebeck- a small village in Dutchess County, New York. Settled by the Dutch in 1686, Rhinebeck was visited by George Washington in 1796, was known for the fine quality of its woodworking through the 19th century, as well as being the site of Chelsea Clinton's wedding ceremony earlier this year at the former estate of John Jacob Astor IV. The village has a number of colonial and Gothic-revival era homes and inns, some of which I got to catch a glimpse of as I was there last weekend for the best reason to haul buns up to Dutchess County- The New York Sheep & Wool Festival.

I tagged along to the festival with my brother-in-law and his wife last weekend, and despite the several hours spent in the car, it was well worth it. The yarn! The sheep! The cider donuts!

There was so much to see, I actually missed an entire section of the animals. I did get to pet several types of sheep, including the very curly fellow (miss? not really sure...) to the right. I looked at the llamas, but they all seemed kind of surly. But the alpacas, oh the alpacas, they were my favorite. I am convinced that if I ever own a home with enough land, I want to raise alpacas. And learn to spin the fiber from their coats into amazing yarn, of course. I watched a livestock judging of one of the breeds (which is where I happened to meet my curly friend), and the process actually took a lot longer than I would have anticipated (I think it was about an hour to get through one breed from start to finish), which is how I completely missed the angora rabbits, which I was kind of sad about. I hear they look like furry footstools.

But let's face it, people go to Rhinebeck for the yarn shopping. Most of the time, you're stuck with what you can find at the local yarn store, which can sometimes be pricey, or the local craft store, which is generally a disappointment in terms of quality. Yes, you can buy yarn on the internet, but knitting is such a tactile art, you really want to be able to feel the stuff if you can. As I tried to explain to Anthony upon my return, I feel that I exercised amazing restraint in my purchasing. The pile to the left is truly all the yarn I bought, and 4 of the 5 skeins there were on sale. The 2 brown skeins are handspun alpaca, the small purple is yarn made from recycled sari material mixed with wool (those were from Fessler Spinning & Weaving,) and the green is some lovely alpaca laceweight from Spirit Trail Fiberworks (which is where I would buy lots yarn if I was rich- really amazing, high end materials.) The only thing I paid full price for is the larger purple skein, for which the above picture really does no justice. It is superwash wool fingering weight in a tonal dyed smoky plum, with enough yardage for me to make a sweater, by Sliver Moon Farm Fiber Arts, look them up.