Best Quote I Heard All Day
I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.--Woody Allen

We did an awful lot of laughing yesterday at Rhinebeck. But nobody drank any milk. We did, however, eat a lot of fried pickles. Don't ask.

Mably we should have. I'll let Ted and Lars explain that on their blogs.

O Frabjous Day!
The weather couldn't have been better. A perfect autumn day in upstate New York. Are you ready for all the pictures and the narrative?

Get a cup of coffee. Here we go.

So being the anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive German that I am, I got to the fairgrounds at 9 a.m., only to discover that they weren't opening the gates until 10. No matter. I sat on a damp fence and knit.

That rail to the right was quite moist. As were my pants, after sitting there knitting for 45 minutes.

The plan was to meet at the concession stands at 10. Kathy, Selma and Lisa were there first, with Lars and Ted right behind them.

From left: Lisa, Lars, Selma, Kathy, and Ted

Getting the Wolverinas and associates to shut up and stand still for one large picture is impossible. So I had to make do with this:

Foreground from left: Thaddeus, Ted, Kathy. Background: Fredda and Selma with backs to camera, Joe, Lisa with face hidden

Before we started shopping seriously, Joe pulled out his Celestine shawl.

I feel pretty, oh so pretty

It's quite gorgeous and the picture in no way does justice to the color, which is sublime.

You absolutely cannot shop as a group of ten or more. So Joe, Thaddeus and I took off for a couple of places that Joe and I wanted to visit--Brooks Farm and Skaska, to be precise. The rest split up in groups of twos: Lars and Ted, Kathy and Selma, Carol and Lisa. Despite the lack of cell phone signal for some of us, we figured that we'd find each other in our travels.

Not really. For some reason, the only person Joe and I kept running into consistently was Stephanie.

For some weird reason, we kept running into Steph and Juno constantly while looking for Lars and Ted. Did we find Lars and Ted? No. Perhaps the Canadian god of lost friends was playing a mean joke on us.

I was sure when I went to the ladies' room that Stephanie would be in the stall next to mine.

I probably just missed her.

So onward we trudged, as the crowds started to amass and Joe started to whine about how this is absolutely the last time he's going to Rhinebeck. Please. He lies. Yeah, it was crowded but I still love going.

I bought very little, for me. Besides the inarguable fact that I have more yarn and fiber than could be used in any given lifetime, I really wanted to buy some silk to replace the lovely stuff I bought last year at Rhinebeck, spun and then terminally tangled when it fell from the swift.

Remember that?

So here's what I bought:

The top two bags are silk roving. The best buy was the ball of laceweight from Skaska at $29 for 1400 yards. Can't beat that. And then there are the two quint skeins of laceweight merino from Morehouse, one of which is shown at left. I saw an absolutely incredible woven twill shawl there and that's what I'll use these two skeins for.

And then there was the Russian embroidered pin from Skaska that I couldn't resist. Quite folklorique, I thought.

Anyway, back to the Rhinebeck Ramble. The weather was so glorious and the leaves were at peak color. I had to take this picture of Thaddeus, Joe's partner, standing under a maple.

I've never made it a secret that I adore Thaddeus and I'm not alone, that's for sure.

Around 2, we managed to find a picnic table that was relatively empty and some of us parked our tired asses down. I had the Joy and gave a spinning demo for those interested. More on that in the next entry because various people raised some interesting questions that are worth answering for everyone.

And then there was Fredda Peritz. You know Fredda. She runs The Knitting Vault, where you should go to buy patterns and Lucy Neatby's new DVDs, Knitting Essentials 1 and 2 (Lucy Neatby publishes patterns there too, if you need some kind of knitting goodness certification).

Have you ever met someone for the first time and known immediately that the person was just wonderful? I've had that experience quite a few times, fortunately, and Fredda is the latest. (Fredda, when I get good at PhotoShop, I promise us both that I will give us each primo chin lifts. I swear.)

Besides meeting Fredda for the first time, I also met Ted for the first time, even though we correspond regularly and talk on the phone every so often. But that wasn't really meeting him, if you know what I mean. He's my bestest Canadian boy. And then, on top of all these first meetings, I met Lee Ann of Fuzzy Logic fame, someone whose blog I read regularly and who I've been very much wanting to meet. Here's the two fine Canadians admiring Ted's Orenburg shawl purchase.

But this is a much better picture of Lee Ann, with head intact, thank God.

And while I'm publishing pictures of people that may or may not embarrass them, here's one of Lisa and my other Sissyboo, Carol. (Karen, you must meet Carol. You were separated at birth, hence her honorary SB title.)

Gads, this has run on and on already. One last picture and then I promise you, I'm done. One nice one of Lars, Ted and Fredda.

I do want to say, before I finish this Rhinebeck entry, that I greatly enjoyed meeting all the readers who came up to me for Rhinebeck Bingo, including those lurkers. Listen, lurkers. You're more than welcome to write whatever in the Comments. Don't be afraid.

Finally, Lars, Ted and I took a trip to Morehouse, as witnessed by my purchase shown above. The place was a madhouse, since there was to be a "Knitting Stars" book signing with Melanie Falick, Amy Singer, Debbie Stoller and someone else whose name escapes me at the moment. Since the three of us had no particular interest in buying these authors' books, we made our purchases and escaped back to the Kingston Holiday Inn, where we met up with Carol and her friend Jim. It was off to a diner for dinner and then the 100+ mile drive home for me.

I'm beat today. But let me tell you, it was a very, very rare and handy day and one that I wouldn't miss for the world.

But Ted, darling, please don't tell my mother that I have a New Jersey accent. She'd be so disappointed.