Rhinebeck Recap 2014

View with my morning coffee. Ahhhh.

Oh, Rhinebeck. What to write about Rhinebeck!

I had a fantastic time this year. I road tripped it with a couple of friends and we stayed in a near-impossibly charming 1800s farmhouse in Red Hook. The drive down the I-87 made me, yet again, want to live in the Hudson Valley.

As this was my third Rhinebeck, I had a better idea of how the weekend unfolds itself. The layout of the fairgrounds is familiar now; certain vendors are generally in the same places year-to-year. You know that there's that tent with the DELICIOUS cheese from Sprout Creek right outside the barns with sheep and llamas and alpacas and booths full of small farms and dyers selling their hard-to-get yarns.

I returned to two such booths this year, and that's where I spent the bulk of my cash. Maple Creek Farms, which is nowhere to be found online (I've tried!), was filled with layers and layers of unwound hanks draped down in cascades of fibrey rainbows.

Oasis Farm had, yet again, fantastically soft and unbelievably inexpensive angora for sale. I restrained myself to one hank (220 yards). Bonnet, anyone?

I had the famous apple cider doughnuts (next year I'm buying a dozen and bringing them home with me!!), enjoyed the alpaca parade on numerous occasions, and had the distinct pleasure of watching the Leaping Llama competition. Yes, leaping llamas.

Wandering the Rhinebeck roads with Kate.

I was able to meet up with and run in to a few American friends!  And of course, I missed out on crossing paths with others. We'll have to plan better for 2015.

Wearing The Rhinebeck Sweater.

Soon to come will be my (now traditional) video recap. In it,  I'll be including in it a show and tell of my purchases, as well as some tips and advice gleaned from these three years of Rhinebeck attendance.