Last Look at Rhinebeck

(I love this logo, lifted from a souvenir tote bag I brought home.)

I had a few more pictures that I had to share with you.  Since I still have my Rhinebeck virus and its companion sinus infection, I really haven’t said ‘goodbye’ yet.  Part of Rhinebeck is still with me!  (That’s not even mentioning the yarn that followed me home.)

I told you about the beautiful train ride up and back along the Hudson River, but here’s some more visuality:

Starting at Grand Central Terminal, which totally made me feel as though I was in a movie.  I didn’t mind gawking like a tourist.

(Actually, I started feeling like I was in a movie before that, when I awoke as the plane was descending into LaGuardia, and looked out the window I had been sleeping against to see the frickin’ Statue of Liberty in the morning sunshine!  I think my jaw dropped open.  I haven’t been to New York as such, just flown through it a couple times, and one of those times, I was little.  Lady Liberty was gorgeous, and fairly moving.)

Down into the hot depths of the tunnels, and onto the correct train, leaving the rooftops of New York City behind,

and on up the beautiful Hudson Valley.

(As always, click to embiggen as desired, especially if these geologic formations fascinate you the way they do me.)

The end of the Metro North line was the very cool Poughkeepsie Station, which of course was no Grand Central Terminal but was very cool.

At Rhinebeck, I showed you some of the wonderful fiber people earlier:

but there were also four-legged fiber ‘people’.  Some of them were very cute.

Camelids above (llama and alpaca) and their ovine distant relatives below.

Some of the fiber-bearers even did things:  jumped

or just watched from the audience.

There were non-fiber-bearing animals too:

I did find that kangaroos should not be photographed with a flash unless you want a photoillustration for a possessed demon ‘roo:

The incredible fall colors greeted you at every turn:

And where there weren’t fall colors, there were flowers.

The area around Rhinebeck was gorgeous too.  Below is the countryside around Red Hook; Red Hook was where the Ravelry party was, and the outskirts were where my Sock Camp friends were staying and had their chili party.

Just the drive out and back from where we stayed in Hyde Park was a gorgeous prelude and coda both days.  (Luckily, Lisa was driving, so I didn’t have to risk life and limb to take photos.  Much appreciated.)

You know, I was also going to show you some of the yarn that followed me home.  But since that yarn is not AT Rhinebeck any more (and this post is extremely long already…..) I think I’ll save that for another day.

Last Look At Rhinebeck (for this year):

Sunday Morning Moon.

U is for Un-imaginary Friends

The kind who came out of my computer to play at Rhinebeck!  Naturally, said friends and acquaintances were never all in one place at one time, so I get to cheat again with a montage:

Definitely click to embiggen!  (May take a while to load, though….)

First, my roommate extraordinaire and chauffeuse, Lisa.  She happened to mention on Ravelry that she was going to Rhinebeck and was just in the process of getting a room, just as I had decided to go.  (I co-moderate her group on Rav, so we knew each other a bit and knew we had some things in common.)  I put shyness aside and boldly asked if she would mind a roommate.  I’m so glad I did!  After a missed connection involving a dead cell phone and a wandering Starbucks (did you know there are ten Starbucks within three blocks of Grand Central Terminal?) we finally rendezvous’d in Hyde Park where our room was.  In the picture, she’s holding my and her Socks that Rock acquisitions as we’re in The Fold‘s line waiting to pay (mostly mine, truth to tell, though I think making a sweater from the heavyweight STR was her suggestion, really!)  A cozy armful of STR!  She looks happy to hold it!  And longer arms help to hold more, we decided.

Next across, CeCe found me in that line, and how she knew I’d be there when I didn’t know myself, is a mystery!  The woman just KNOWS.  That beautiful baby bump was too little to see, pretty much just numbers on a piece of paper, back when I met CeCe in April at BMFA Sock Camp.  I love seeing her so happy in this pregnancy and getting closer to a December delivery, even though she was taking a break from a very difficult situation and even though, of course, she’s in the part of pregnancy where nothing is comfortable any more.  We had our first Rhinebeck Artichokes together and decided that the line was totally worth it.  Even though CeCe could only be there Saturday, and not all of that, we kept running into each other all over Rhinebeck that day.  This was one of the nicest hugs I had all weekend.

Third on the top row, me and Allison (kaydgirl on Ravelry) and Lisa, Knitting Physicians at the Ravelry meet-up Saturday.  I needed a hat like hers for warmth as well as identification factor.

Fourth, Heather (zuzusunshine on Ravelry, sorry, I know lots of these Ravelry folks by their Ravnames!) with cupcakes!  Hooray!

Last on the top row,the Very Longest Thread from Ravelry is made corporeal and visits Holiday Yarns’ booth, with the Tsock Tsarina and Pixisis from Ravelry.

Second row!  Two awesome Twisted scarves meet in one place! I was waiting in line for Franklin’s book signing (more on that in a moment), and I saw this gorgeous and very familiar scarf go by, which I had seen on line.  I really AM usually rather quiet and reserved — but I reached out and detained the scarfwearer as she passed by!  Turns out Mel had posted on the Twisted discussion board on Ravelry (yes, there’s a Ravelry theme here, got a problem with that?) that she was coming and she’d wear her scarf, after I’d mentioned mine, but since I left at the ungodly hour of 4 am on Friday (and had no internet access thereafter), I didn’t see her post.  But I sure saw her scarf!  It was fun to have a brief mutual Meg admiration society, there in barn 31, and her Fortune Flame scarf is AMAZING in person.  Believe me, the warmth of merino/silk was very welcome on this most chilly weekend, too!

Second, back at the Holiday Yarns booth (the former VanCalCar Acres: home of Flock Sock yarn and Tsock Tsarina kits and TsockFlock Sock Club), Stephanie Pearl-McPhee pays a call when I was there, here conversing with Lisa the Tsock Tsarina on the left, and Jennifer/Gwynivar, yarn maven, who is on extremely good terms with the FIber Fairy, not to mention being the mother of a talented young dyer as well.  The Yarn Harlot is also seen in the fourth photo, considering yarn and kit choices carefully, while in the center on the previous day (but in the same place) TheGeorg, who is The Tserf and also a peer (how’s that for a dichotomy?).  I’ll just leave it at that.  Last on the second row is me, Lisa the Tsock Tsarina and Jennifer/Gwynivar at the end of a long but productive (for them) and happy (for all) weekend.

Third row!  Still with me? First is a snapshot of Julia, one of the wonderful people behind the Twist Collective, an idea whose time has definitely come and which I am so glad to see.  (Direct from the designer for-purchase patterns, in a nutshell, along with pattern previews and a magazine.) I got a Twist button.  If you had a Twist project on or a pattern, you could get a measuring tape! : )  We were in the aforementioned artichoke line…. Second, back at Holiday Yarns (my hang-out place for much of the weekend), Lisa is demonstrating that there is INDEED something up her sleeve, though you can’t see it yet (I missed taking the picture of her investigating the inside of her shirt looking for it) — namely, a fluff of the lovely fiber she is drop-spinning, which she had stashed about her person.  Notice the lovely York and Lancaster fingerless mitts.  In the direct center, a party in the corridor outside Holiday Yarns, no doubt blocking traffic: starting at 9:00 and going clockwise, first Jesh who had the most gorgeous spindles for sale in the booth; Glenna who has a secret identity as the Yarn Pixie; um, someone I can totally not see; Pixisis again (different day, different outfit); Cyd, who took the train from Canada, and who has a Ravatar she drew herself, which looks more like her than most photographic or all other cartoon Ravatars I’ve ever seen (I recognized her instantly); and, back to the camera, Dan Brewergnome, who learned to spin with a spindle practically before my very eyes (already accomplished with a wheel, he was selling his Gnomespun from the Holiday booth also).  (Two skeins whispered my name….)  Lisa and Dan are spindling in harmony in the last pic on that row.  Too bad it’s cropped and you can’t see his kilt…  Finally, in the fourth spot is me and Franklin!  Franklin Habit‘s first (but not last!) book, “It Itches”, debuted at Rhinebeck.  I happily stood in line a bit, in most congenial company, to have my copy signed and say ‘hello’ to a fellow Midwesterner.  The book is hilarious.  Run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore and get a copy if you haven’t yet.

Fourth row — over half done! Lisa (LadyLungDoc), my roommate Lisa, that is, displaying the gift of knitted lungs presented to her at the Ravelry party Saturday night.  (She’s a pulmonologist/respirologist.)  Such a deal!  And her birthday was Sunday!  In token of which, when prizes were given out later at the Rav party, and no one had a birthday actually that day who was there, she was awarded an early birthday present of a sweater’s worth of yarn, courtesy of WEBS and Ravelry!  Next door to that is me and the third Significant Lisa I hung out with this weekend:  Lisa Knitnzu, who thinks I’m short.  (I pointed out that I am the height of the average American woman.  Just because I was hanging out with tall knitters all weekend!  Made them easy to find, I must admit…) As with CeCe, Lisa and I never said good-bye, because (after meeting early on, then hanging out in Franklin’s book-signing line, chatting) we saw each other about eleven times without trying, so there didn’t seem a point to it.  But suddenly, it was closing time…. Next to Lisa, you may recognize Ann and Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting, who gave a casual and enjoyable talk about how their blog and their books came to be, whilst wearing their handknits from the new book (and grateful for it too, in the chilly temps!) then signed their second book afterwards (yep!  I’m all autographed & stamped with that one too!).   Then, the series of five portraits following are from a chili party Saturday night — no standing in line in the cold waiting for the start of the Ravelry party for us! First, Carole (Carole NJ on Ravelry) invited Lisa (roommate) and I to what was a reunion of some of the BMFA Sock-Camp-Bus Sock Stars and whipped up a wonderful batch of ‘real’ and toned-down chili to warm everyone up.  (The alcohol didn’t hurt either. ) Carole made an awesome Twisted Ravelry scarf that she finished in time to wear Sunday.  And she gave me Sock Star m & m’s!  Thanks, Carole!  Continuing on with the portraits, Susan (misknits) (when I was linking Susan’s blog, I found to my surprise a picture including me from Sock Camp!  See the October 12 entry for the happy ice cream savorers), Joan (jmcmjoan) (blogless but by no means yarnless!), Alice (MissMalice aka socktopus of socktopus.co.uk! from whence she brought me some Malabrigo sock yarn in my favorite jewel tones without even knowing, wow!) and last but not least, organizer extraordinaire, Sam (samro) of KnitQuest and also frequent contributor to Lime & Violet’s Daily Chum.  She’s also someone who was nice enough to award me a second “I Love Your Blog” award recently.  (Since I already passed on the happiness once, I won’t do so again, but I feel loved!)  So, after warming up inside and out and putting on our long underwear (at least, I put on my fine merino footless tights that I wear at ballet, under my pants!), we all went to the Ravelry party, too late for goodie bags, but not too late for fun!  or Free Drinks!  Or the Raffle Prizes!  The last pictures is, of course, for those familiar with Ravelry, Mary-Heather, Jess, and Casey at the mic: awarding prizes.  I won a big bottle of Soak wool wash plus a bunch of little sample size Soaks in a variety of scents.  Awesome!

Some people I met are not photo-documented, either because I forgot, or the time didn’t seem right.  At Briar Rose, I saw and talked briefly to Anne Hanson, she of the amazing and lovely Knitspot designs (she told me to say hello if I saw her!), together with Kim and David.  I showed both Anne and Chris of Briar Rose my nascent reknitting of the Coulee Shawl (Ravelry link), being knit of addictive Briar Rose Glory Days Blue-Faced Leicester DK-weight yarn.  This yarn practically knits itself.  (I, however, have frogged the start I made, as I decided to start the shawl a different way.)   I also saw and said hello to Cara and Meli, who is if possible more beautiful in person than in photos.  Despite seeing Lucia every time & more that I saw Lisa (Knitnzu), I don’t have a picture of her, nor her charming and sage daughter who correctly suggested that I might find my missing Vintage leaf earring in my bag!  (if you biggify the mosaic, note that one earring is missing in the picture with CeCe, but I don’t know it yet…but there they both are in the Twisted scarf picture with Mel in the next row.  Whew!  That was after I scoured the floor of the first vendors’ area I was in….then turned my knitting bag inside out.) And not documented in the Holiday Party above are Mardi Nufflebutt and Kathe Knittingfiddler, as well as Marcy Habetrot, and I *know* I’m missing some other Ravelers who were visiting and whom I met.

And some people I really wanted to meet, I didn’t!  Wah!  Like Norma, Margene, and Sandy!

Well — I guess the prospect of meeting more Unimaginary friends is what will bring me back to Rhinebeck another time, eh?

Friday Eye Candy from the Hudson Valley

The view from the Metro North train, coming up along the Hudson River exactly a week ago — en route to Rhinebeck.

Wow.  After a profound sleep deficit the night before (as in, precisely zero sleep) and then leaving home at 4 am and dozing on the flights and part of the train ride, I awoke to see this out the window — somewhere along the Hudson River.  Fall colors were at their peak, the sky was huge and gorgeous, the geologic formations and occasional architecture the train passed were fascinating.

On the way down, at least I was awake all the way: it was equally beautiful.

Sorry for the radio silence this week; it’s been a bit tough.  (Warning: Prolonged Whine ahead!) I thought my allergies were just kicking up a bit at Rhinebeck; I felt fine until I was traveling back home Monday (twelve hours door to door: rental car to taxi to train to bus to two plane flights with a long walk in between to taxi to home….) and feeling sicker and sicker as the day went on, with head and chest cold symptoms.  Then the next morning, I had to get up at (once again) 4 am to take my husband to the airport, to fly down to pack up his father (who has had recent health problems and now needs assisted living) and drive him up here where he will be living from now on.  Something about the virus/time change/whatever triggered a migraine too, and that led me to miss work Tuesday, because the combination of coughing and migraine made me feel as though I was actually in a Whac-A-Mole game, yes, as the Mole.  But I really couldn’t miss any more work; no one else can quite do what I do, and I’d already been gone.  So back I went Wednesday, dragging my tail, coughing into my elbow, using alcohol hand gel constantly and trying to stay away from people.  As well as being a (temporarily) single parent with all the usual evening activities plus some extra this week as the Gothlet had dress rehearsals for a city-wide choir performance.  Oh, this was an ill-timed virus.  And every night, I am waking up trying to turn my lungs inside out.  (At least, seriously, it’s me and not one of the kids.  I’d feel terrible if they were sick; we’d both be up all night; and I don’t know how I’d manage it if one of them were home sick right now.) This afternoon, I found out I also have a middle ear infection.  Not just for toddlers any more….

End o’Whine.

How about some good news?!  I don’t work tomorrow.  The only thing I have to do is take each girl to a dance class (I’m going to skip mine, seeing as I’m wobbly just walking down the hall, and my ear hurts when I bend over!), and take a package to the post office that I mailed last Thursday and they just delivered back to me yesterday for no apparent reason.  My husband just called from where they’ve stopped for the night (Peru, Illinois, if I heard right — granted, my hearing is questionable right now) and he will be back home tomorrow afternoon.  Tomorrow night, I will see the Gothlet perform, as one in a sea of small faces, but still, it will be fun (and they perform in concert with a very good college show choir).  I have definitively finished a blog-silence project that has been in the works since February, that I am looking forward to telling you about soon-ish.

And tonight, both children are accounted for and settled at the moment.  Which means I could go up and take a long, hot bath if I wanted (which is a rarity these days). High humidity and elevated body temperature are supposed to discourage viruses!  I have hot herbal tea by my side.  I have the books I brought back from Rhinebeck: all of which I’ve dipped into, none of which I’ve finished: the Yarn Harlot’s newest collection of essays, Franklin’s hilarious book, “It Itches”, and the latest Mason-Dixon compendium (the latter two signed at Rhinebeck!: I never caught Stephanie signing, though I saw her three times, once to talk to briefly). Sounds like a recipe for a pleasant evening.

So to finish on a high/Eye Candy note, let me show you the sugar maple that I saw and just had to take a photo of, the afternoon before I left for Rhinebeck (this is a block from my house, in front of my friend and colleague’s house):

And the sugar maple I saw two days later, over a thousand miles away at Rhinebeck:

The Sisterhood of the Sugar Maples, all across America.

Love it.

Signs of Rhinebeck

I went to Rhinebeck pretty much to see my innernet friends.  Which I did (almost all).  But it’ll take a while to get all their pictures together and linked.

In the meantime, here are Signs of Rhinebeck!

Saturday Sky at Rhinebeck

There was, hmm, a little more to see than just the sky, as beautiful as it was.

However, I seem to have come home with a New York virus as an additional souvenir, to accompany the yarn in my suitcase, so the details will need to wait a bit to be shared.

I promise, I did take lots of pictures, though!