Rather Predictably, a Post about Rhinebeck

NYS Sheep and Wool festival was a Magical Shopping Experience this year, as always. The weather was beautiful, the trees were ablaze with color, the company was excellent.

The fleece sale had some rather impressive selections:



Not all mine, of course. More on those later. It was refreshing to see other people fleece-crazed spinners haul off much more than that.



Also, anytime I think of telling regular everyday people that I go off on the weekends to paw through fleece, I'm pretty sure they get a mental image of this:


Therefore, it's best that I just stick with the story that I was "Upstate for the weekend with friends".

Perverse as it might be, lamb dishes abound and are delicious. The lamb chili is just what you need to take the chill off.



Afterward, the sheep give you disapproving stares, but I assure you, the guilt is totally worth it.


This was an Oxford sheep, which, incidentally, I find unspinnable, or at the very least, not a lot of fun to spin. Therefore, it's a meat breed. Guilt absolved.

This Lincoln Ewe was sweet as can be, and super-soft to boot:








I don't think I had ever seen karakul sheep in the flesh before, but as soon as I touched one, I was like, "Oh, it's a karakul".






Angora goats, reluctantly being shown. They were all like, "Don't judge me."







The yarns were beautiful-





These are gorgeous skeins of natural-dyed yarn from Hope Spinnery in Maine.

Best of all, it was great to catch up with friends.



They were good to have around- we talked each other out of several purchases, and yet somehow facilitated several more.


photo from KnithoudBrooklyn.

We all left a few dollars poorer, but richer in fiber. We are like bran in that way. It's really what makes the weekend great.

Oh, also: Uma Thurman was there, and she rear-ended someone coming out of the parking lot in her giant black SUV.


She was tall and willowy and very elegant looking, and not really handling the situation as I would have expected The Bride to (which is a good thing).