Aftermath: Part 1

I've got blog fodder for several days here, people, so today's post will be all about the day Kate-the-Enabler and I spent at the Sheep and Wool Festival rather than on what we actually BOUGHT. That'll be for next time. Yeah, I know, I'm evil. Deal with it :)

After a delicious night of uninterrupted sleep (something we're both in a position to appreciate right now), we had a colossal breakfast and made our way to the Fairgrounds. I was briefly shaken when I met Christine(?), toting the same fabulous ClutterBags market bag that I was, but I managed to keep it together.

Undeterred by my doppelgänger, we made our way bravely onwards. We were on a mission, people. Codename: Briar Rose Fibers.

By this time the Fairgrounds had only been open for about 45 minutes, and the booth was PACKED. I won't go into details now, but suffice it to say that when I arrived at the register I revised my plan of "only paying for my purchases with cash" ('cause, you know, then I would have had nothing left). Kate ALSO bought yarn for 2 projects. I was very proud of her.

After that initial shock, we wandered around for a while. We looked at yarn. We petted the animals. I may have made a few more purchases. Kate bonded with a rabbit and seriously considered whether or not it would constitute an acceptable pet for a 3 and almost 1 year old.

I successfully restrained myself from buying the cutest darned little felted gnomes you ever saw in your life.

They were just adorable!!!

And besides, I had sock yarn to buy. Oh right, I wasn't going to buy sock yarn at Rhinebeck. Oh well, so much for THAT resolution!

By this point it was midday and we were a little shell-shocked, so we decided to retreat to the car and just sit and knit and regroup for a while (it was cold out there!). I ripped out all 1 and a half inches of the sock I had in progress and immediately cast on for a new pair, and Kate worked on Gale.

When we went back in, we bumped into none other than the lovely and talented Ann Hanson herself. And guess what? She was wearing Cluaranach, just like me. We were twins!

Kate got her to touch her Gale (wow, that sounded a bit dirtier than I thought it would...)

We even scored an invite to the "cool knitters" party being hosted by Chris from Briar Rose (more on that later). All in all, I'd say this was a Festival highlight. She was delightful, as was her lovely and fabulously fashionable friend Kim (I loved her coat).

After making our second trip of the day at the Shelridge Farm booth (OK, Kate's second, my first), we ran into Michelle from The Sweet Sheep.

And by now, we had had enough. We headed back to the car and made our way to the Eveready Diner, and restaurant I had heard about on one of my new fave shows, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.
Yeah, we came, we peed, we left. The place was just too damn crowded! Besides, we had a party to go to.
The party was fun, and surreal in the sense that, as Kate put it, "All these people think knitwear is pretty darn cool". And there were a LOT of people. Like Alison!!!

And guess what???? I won a prize! And not just any prize. A Knitspot prize!!!!


Friggin' awesome. We left the party with the firm intent of going to the afore-mentioned Briar Rose Party, where we suspected the knitterati were all gathered. But honestly? It was late, so late that we would have been crashing said party as opposed to attending. Besides, we were beat.

All in all, a great day. My only regret is that we never managed to hook up with Robyn!!!

Happy Knitting Everyone!