The Rhinebeck 500

I'm puttering around, getting things sorted before I head to the train station, and then north to Montreal for the next leg of my adventure. I woke up early, which gives me a few minutes to finish up a post about Saturday: Day One of Rhinebeck Madness. (Fittingly, my first ever Rhinebeck post is also my 500th post! Woo!)

There is no possible way I could capture the essence of Rhinebeck in words. Also, as it was my first time, there was waaaayyy too much to absorb and process! Happily, I was surrounded by awesome people to help me get my bearings. Some folks I met at Sock Summit last year, like Girl Unravelled, who not only helped me get my sea legs, but also some Bugga! yarn...NOM! And Glenna C, who totally rocked her Rhinebeck sweater, finished at the very last minute. Annie, my hostess, was indulgent and enabling, and her very, very funny friends broke me. (By which I mean, had me laughing so hard I almost peed myself. Literally!) There were also lots of other fantastic people that I met...which is the true magic of Rhinebeck. So. Much. Fun! (Also, So. Much. Yarn!) (Oh! And maple cotton candy!)

But there's no way I could possibly tell all the stories, or even most of them! So here are some pics that I hope give an idea of what Saturday was like.


The antici.....pation....builds in the early-morning line-up:


Once we finally got in, one of the first people I ran into was a woman who had also knit Red Oak - as far as we can tell, we were #1 and #2 to knit the new pattern...and she's a Canuck, too! Cool! (This is possibly one of the least flattering pics of me ever, but we had just escaped the madness of the Sanguine Gryphon booth...

There was hot cider, and lamb stew, and excellent company:

Handknits and Ravellers galore, at the lunchtime Ravelry meet-up:

There were walkie-talkies:

Sheeps:

Alpacas:

Lllamas:

And after a break for dinner, there were back seats on the school bus, like one of the cool kids:

And the Ravelry party, with a bonfire and cupcakes and a photobooth, and some pretty nice pumpkin ale:

And then another bus ride back to the car, so we could drive back to the hotel & try to fall asleep...though we were so wired, it took awhile!