Rhinebeck report

in
 

When the New York Sheep & Wool festival rolls around every October we are reminded -  it all starts with the sheep.  Or alpaca.  Or llama.  Or goat. Or angora bunny.  Or yak.  Or quivut!  Sadly, I really can't tell the difference between a llama and an alpaca.  And I wouldn't know a quivut if it rang my doorbell.  But without these animals and their beautiful fleece - we'd have to knit with baking twine. 

The New York Sheep & Wool is a county fair for all of us fiber freaks, no matter what your interest and where it falls in the process.  I met shepherds, spinners, dyers, designers, publishers, and knitters. One of the funniest things I saw (and failed to photograph) was the fleece to shawl competition.  Five teams carding, spinning, and knitting as fast as they could to make an entire shawl by the day's end.   I spent most of my time at the festival with the lovely Pom Pom Quarterly in the publishing section, but right next door were three 50 yd long tables piled with 100 bags of fleece for judging.  Each bag held what seemed like an entire animal - save for the skeleton.  Grass and all.  I pet many a fine fleece - and they were all so different! Some of them are surprisingly oily!  While I am truly fascinated by the transformation of fleece to wool -  it turns out, I'm completely satisfied buying other people's yarns.  My one purchase of the festival was a gorgeous golden skein of hand dyed yarn from Jill Draper. It's like a ray of sunshine - and makes me so happy every time I look at it.  

What a magnificent weekend.   The weather was a mash-up of fall and winter - as the leaves were falling, there were snow flurries.  I have a recurring daydream of living up there some day.  I have always been drawn to those mountains.  When my husband and I lived in Brooklyn, the Catskills and later the town of Hudson, were an exotic rural escape. In fact, my husband proposed to me at Auberge de Quatre Saison,  a charming little French B&B in Shandaken, many years ago.  There is an undeniable romantic spirit  and authenticity in the Hudson Valley.  Some day...  For now, I'll have to be satisfied with my dreams.