On the Road to Rhinebeck

I’d been thinking about going to Rhinebeck since the first time I heard about it at my Knit ‘n Stitch group. My daughter jumped right on the bandwagon with me and we decided to do it. Even the cats were excited about it and couldn’t wait for me to print out the directions…



Well, I just knew we had to go. After all, I've been hearing about RHINEBECK for the past year and how wonderful, exhilarating, glorious, and every other adjective you can think of to describe it, so on Saturday, my little girl and I set out for our adventure.

I'd heard there would be petting zoo stuff and Halloween stuff and other things to keep her interest (someone promised her that if we went to see the Llamas, one would spit on her and she was very excited and looking forward to that!) so I knew she would not be bored awestruck by the whole thing, but would possibly hopefully enjoy the day with me.

So, we got on the road and we saw this:



and I was so happy with the scenery and the prospect of getting there reasonably early, that I started to do this:




But recently having to deal with a speeding ticket caused me to be more cautious and I brought my speed back down.

Then, we got here…



and I knew we were only about ½ mile away from the main gate, but look what we had to deal with next (insert HUGE sigh here):



and it took us about ½ hour to go ½ mile… talk about frustration, knowing that all that glorious yarn that was just screaming my name could potentially be gone by the time I got into the fairgrounds and parked.

But when we got inside, I could not believe how crowded absoultely beautiful it was there and I just had to take another picture just to show you:



So we walked around a bit and my kiddo went into the haunted house (no less than six times, mind you) and had a blast while I sat freezing my ass off waiting outside for her like a good mom!

I ran into some of my knitting buds in the middle of the day and was awed by the things they bought, but I didn’t yet see anything that absolutely screamed out for me to take it home, so I kept giving it a fair shot… and then I spotted this at The Fold (thanks, Toni!):



This was a second choice for me, but by the time I got to Rhinebeck, 2 ½ hours after it opened, ALL the Socks That Rock, with the exception of two very questionably colored skeins, WERE GONE!

So, I continued ambling around and decided on this:



to make a couch blankie for myself.

All in all, the trip was lovely, the scenery was beautiful, we had a nice time and it wore my daughter out. I spent the 2 ½ hour drive home singing the score of Rent at the top of my lungs while my daughter did this:



Would I go again? I don’t know. I found it overwhelming, way too many people (though, as a class of people, I truly do love other knitters) and not enough in the “new and exciting” department. I’d have to give it some thought. But those who know me know that I do anything to feed my yarn addiction, so would I go again? Probably, if I’m honest with myself.