Another Reason to Love Fall

I think Fall is my favorite season, for many reasons.
• wearing cozy sweaters and scarves again
• making (and eating) Concord grape pie
• looking at the colorful leaves that rustle when you walk through them
• smelling burning pumpkin and fireplaces

And now I can add The Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck to the list.

This was my first time there. And it was wonderful and overwhelming at the same time. I drove up the morning of the first day, picking up my friend Johanna on the way there. This was Johanna’s 11th year. She’s a spinner and knitter and lives just over the river from Rhinebeck. Day 1 was a wonderfully decadent day. I think it was the first time in over seven years since Johanna and I have spent the day together without children. We got to browse, talk, and even finish all of our sentences.

I resisted buying too much. I came home with a few knitting notions and only two kinds of yarn. The Baby Twist will be for a sweater for my husband. It is so soft. This yarn came from the booth of Johanna’s friend, David Stensland of Red Maple Sportswear Co. The merino/silk yarn from Maple Creek Farm will be for a Clapotis for me. And that’s all of the yarn! Are you impressed by my restraint?

A women was working on a pair of twined socks, and the technique was so cool I had her show me how. Basically you’re knitting from two strands, alternating every other stitch, and twisting the strands after every stitch. This technique makes a really thick fabric and I like the way it breaks up the colorway.

Day 2 was with kids and it was a much different experience. The weather had turned colder too. We started off the day watching the pumpkin chucking contest. Bill was inspired to use this as the subject of his quiz the next day.

Child’s Broom/Childs’ Broom? Liam liked the sheep. Sheepman scared a one-year old.

Here’s the big parenting mistake of the day. All day the kids asked to go on the big slide. We said we would do it on the way out. Here’s what we found when we got to it. Needless to say, they were devastated.

But we ended the day with some rolling down hills. The slide was forgotten, thankfully.

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