Rhinebeck Loot

At long last I am finally ready to show you what I got at Rhinebeck!

Here's the loot!



Rovings:
1. 2 braids (one merino silk and one corriedale)from the Sheep Shack at Mountain View Farms (no website that I could find)

2. Corriedale roving from Grafton Fibers

3. Alpaca mittens (These were my first purcahse as soon as I walked in the first barn - it was cold!)

4. Merino Silk lace weight from A Touch of Twist

5. Majacraft bobbins and 2 cones of cotton thread. This was my deal of the day! I was so excited to find two bobbins for a STEAL! They still have yarn on them too - hehe. The lady selling these was trying to clean out her supply of random things and I saw an amazing deal on a Lendrum speedy flier. Larissa ended up getting it for her new wheel for over half off retail price! I was just happy to find bobbins for half price and she threw in the cotton yarn for free!

6. A Rhinebeck long sleeve t-shirt

7. A Silk scarf

8. 1 skein of green merino yarn - from Shepherds Mill Farm - maybe for a Koolhaas hat?

9. A Silk cap - I have never tried spinning from a silk hanky or silk cap. I got this to try out the technique.

10. 5 different colors of fingering weight yarn from Shelridge Farms - for Fiddlehead mittens

11. 8 skeins of oatmeal merino yarn from Shepherds Mill Farm - for a sweater to be determined.

12. This gorgeous hand sewn Needle case!



It holds both circular and DPNs - wow!



13. I also was lucky enough to get the signature of Ann and Kay of Mason Dixon fame.


They have the coolest stamps of their pictures too!



14. I also got 2 signed copies of

Steaphanie Pearl McPhee's latest NY Times Best Seller! (one for me and one for Sarah)




And finally the most important thing we did at Rhinebeck was handout these buttons...



Jolene's yarn shop - Cloverhill - is going online!! Now all of you that don't live in Maryland can get the same awesome yarn that I can. Her shop will be open for business starting in November, but you can sign up to receive news and information now!

Baby Love

I whipped up a few baby onsies for my friend Lisa's baby shower this weekend...



There were definitely a hit! I highly recommend making these for a quick and inexpensive handmade gift!

All you need is:
- Onesies
- Cute baby appropriate fabric
- Iron-on tear away stabalizer like Pellon Wonder Under Fusible Web



Directions:
1. Cut out your fabric




2. Cut out your stabilizer to the same shape as your fabric. I usually cut this a bit smaller than the fabric - otherwise the sticky stuff will get on your iron... ask me how I know this :)



3. With the paper side of stabilizer down and fusible side up - place your fabric face up and iron them together.



4. Peel off the paper backing - leaving the sticky fusible part attached to your fabric.





5. Place the fabric with the sticky stablizer on the onsie and iron it down. This helps keep the fabric from shifting when you sew on the decorative border.



6. Pick a complimentory thread, and using a zigzag stitch, sew around the border of the fabric. Make sure you catch at least one side of the zigzag stitch in the fabric. Be careful to sew only on the front of the onsie! (It's easy to accidentally catch the other side!)




7. Once you make it all the way around, backstitch for a few stitches to secure and then trim the excess thread on the inside and outside of the onsie.



And you're done!



I'm sure a baby near you will love their new outfit!!

Vanderbilt built a mansion

When you make the turn into the driveway towards Vanderbilt mansion - this is the view you are greeted with. It's like you are entering heaven!



The leaves were just glowing with golden and orange light.







The backyard had these amazing views of the Hudson River. Across the way was an equally gorgeous mansion. Anyone know what this one is?



I wouldn't mind having a backyard like this!






The house itself was massive! I love the collumns and wrought iron details.


The details aren't appreciated until you get up close and personal...




It was such a gorgeous day - we layed in the grass in the front yard for a while just soaking in the sunshine.














When we headed to the parking lot to leave - one more shiny object caught my eye - a vintage jaguar. I just love how the leaves reflected in the glossy black paint.


If you ever have a chance to visit this place I highly recommend it!

Rhinebeck Rocks!

Last weekend was Rhinebeck! It was the first year that I actually got to go! Jolene, Larissa and Jackie and I headed up for the festivities.

Now don't get me wrong - I love the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival - but this place was magical. Just look at the setting!




The leaves were all changing to golden, orangey, and red balls of fire. It was just amazing.

Once we got over our initial awe and wonder of the place - we soon fell into the rhythm of the festival. Barns and tents of fiber and yarn were everywhere! I did buy some stuff, but I managed to be somewhat restrained... I think! More on what I got in a later post.

Meeting people was definitely the best part of this trip! We went to both Ravelry meetups during the day and also ran into people just walking around the festival. It was a great chance to meet some of the people face to face that I only know from blogland!



I was especially excited to see the awesome sweaters and knitwear on parade around the grounds. There were some amazing things! Click on the mosaic above to get some closer views of the sweaters!


Then there was the sheep and alpaca and llamas!! I love those wooly guys!



One of the missions for the trip was to get some fleeces for Cloverhill. We bought a variety of beauties and then took them to get processed at Zeilinger's.




On Sunday - we went to the authors tent to buy some books. I got the new Mason Dixon book! Here's the lovely Ann and Kay - with a bonus Amy!



I also got the new Yarn Harlot book, but even before we saw her at the book signing - we ran into her in the festival. Everyone knows Stephanie loves babies and she remembered Joe from the book signing we went to this summer!



Besides yarn and fiber...


there was an assortment of felted cuties like these Gnomies...



and there was food! Fresh Apples and sheep cheese and local wine were everywhere!



Can you believe there were still flowers in bloom everywhere too!







A big thank you needs to go out to my girls Larissa and Jolene and Jackie for an awesome weekend! (Jackie didn't join us the second day - so she missed out on these photos)



And we can't forget Joey!



More pictures and stories coming soon - I'll show you the gorgeous Vanderbilt Mansion that we stopped at... stay tuned!