Since my pit thread is in danger of unpitting itself from all the freeflowing goodwill, I thought I’d start this one to share all the reports!
This was my first year visiting Rhinebeck AKA The New York State Sheep & Wool Festival.
My big splurge was 10 skeins of baby Alpaca direct from the NY-based mill, “A Touch of Twist.” It is soooo huggably soft and a good value at $12.95 for 335 yds (sportweight). I will be using it to make this gorgeous Icelandic sweater. I also bought some porcelain buttons from Melissa Jean designs and an Addi Swing ergonomic crochet hook from some random stall whose name I don’t remember. I was tempted by a book on wet felting but decided I don’t need another hobby right now.
I toured some of the sheep barns but my friend started getting overwhelmed by the sheepy smell so we stepped away for a bit and never managed to return because we got distracted by all the wonderful things. I wanted to watch some of the sheep judging, and the frisbee dog competition… neither actually happened.
For non-yarn items I bought some salami in the food vendor’s building, maple sugar candy, and kettle corn.
Took the Taconic up from NYC and it was basically perfect once past Whitestone. No problem with traffic or parking at any point near the fairgrounds. Apparently the Thruway and the Kingston bridge was an absolute nightmare.
My daughter went as part of her Girl Scout troop - she came back saying we didn’t give her enough money; she bought a stuffed animal (a llama) but also wanted to buy some yarn. She said it was great…
She doesn’t knit - heck, I didn’t even know she was going to a knitting-related event until after she came back. I just knew it was a GS outing. I would love to see her get into knitting - she has a personality well-suited to that level of detail and focus…
Running off to meeting so will post at more length later but just had to say OMG OMG OMG the “Make It with Wool” state finalists fashion show was absolutely spectacular. One of the winners was TEN (!!) years old and can sew rings around me!
Anybody watch the Sheep to Shawl competition on Sunday? How was it?
Molto bummed that they did not do sheepdog herding trials this year, I looooove that event.
Great car shows in the warmer months. I was always surprised how much more rednecked folks looked than they do at car shows in Iowa. Then again, they had pre-1950 stock classes, which are rare here.
You may be out of luck from here on in; somebody from one of the canine frisbee demos told me that they’ve stopped doing the herding trials at Sheep ‘n’ Wool.
The website for the 2011 festival still lists them, but I was there all day Saturday and didn’t see hide or hair of any working sheepdogs or shepherds. Rats.
Yes, the sheepdog trials were cancelled this year (possibly because the ground was too wet, but I’m not sure), and cancelled last year as well. The closest I got to a sheepdog was a man carrying a Border Collie puppy, which was a level of cuteness that nearly caused a squee stampede. Luckily, the crowd was distracted by some [del]tribbles[/del] Angora bunnies before anything got out of hand.
I’d like to hear more about the fashion show, and, if you have any pictures kimstu I’d like to see them. I only went on saturday so I also missed the sheep-to-shawl competition. Maybe next year I should go sunday…
I can recommend the Hudson Valley Wine & Food Festival, which is usually in September (for 2012 it’s September 8 and 9); as well as the Crafts at Rhinebeck (twice yearly). I think I’ve been to both twice (I’ve never actually done the County Fair).
I can attest to the Kingston bridge nightmare. It was stop & go over the whole bridge with the police at the other end directing festival attendees off the road to park and be shuttled in a school bus. Apparently a lot of the parking at the fairgrounds was still too wet from all of the rain in recent weeks.
I enjoyed it a lot but had decided not to buy yarn unless I knew what I was going to do with it. I have too many projects languishing already.
I saw the Yarn Harlot! I was too late for her book-signing because of traffic (and the fact that I got lost), but I did see her enjoying the festival.
I went through the barn that was full of llamas and alpacas and a few goats. That was fun.
All in all–I want to go back next year if I can go with a friend and examine things more closely. It was very very crowded so kind of hard to browse without knocking someone over. And very hard to ask the vendors questions.
Thanks HA, I wish the Sheep and Wool website had been more up-to-date with their information. Similarly, the website’s “Make It with Wool” fashion show photos are from last year’s show, and I didn’t take any photos myself, I’m afraid, so I don’t know if I can help you see what this year’s winners looked like. Damn that was some fine wool tailoring, though.
