Rhinebeck and back

The weather this year at Rhinebeck was cold and rainy. While I'm glad it wasn't snow, (which lingered in the weather reports...) it was still kind of raw outside. Here's a brief summary of my adventures.

I left Virginia with my mom on Saturday and I drove us up to visit some of my relatives. We had a fun early supper with yummy food and lots of in-laws in Westchester County. (my brother-in-law and his wife, her parents, my husband's aunt and uncle...it was a crowd!) Then in the dark, we made our way the last hour to a hotel near Poughkeepsie. While it was adequate, I can't soundly recommend the place we stayed, so it shall remain nameless...

Bright and early on Sunday, we made our way to Rhinebeck. While the leaves were bright, they weren't quite as stunning as I've seen in other years. My mom suggested that the fall leaves might look nicer if it weren't raining quite so hard. (a good point.)

I went straight over to the authors' book signing area and had a wonderful two hours there. It was so nice to hear that people were enjoying both of my books! I took photos before anyone arrived, so it isn't exactly representative of what it looked like. (Plus, I'm not in the photos!)

I did have to keep my signing pen in my pocket so that it would stay warm enough to work when folks wanted their books signed. As well, I wore a hat, scarf, coat, and even mittens for portions of the book signing..it was indoors, but the temperature was brisk! I also got a chance to visit with some other writers for a moment or two, which was fun.

Towards the end of my book signing time, my father-in-law came by to say hello. We had a family lunch together while listening to some young fiddlers perform. They were super!

After that, I had just an hour or two to wander around. I got to see my friend Annmarie at the Year of the Fleece exhibit. She was showing off the scarf that her elementary school students knit! She is a teacher, and her students learned to knit and made a scarf for this! She was so proud!

I also visited some of the animals, including the Leicester Longwool sheep. They were the featured breed at the festival this year, and I have admired the breed for years. Long ago, Colonial Williamsburg had one of the first flocks I knew of, and they kindly would sell me a pound or two to spin up. This is such a lustrous and beautifully strong wool..I still love it. Also, the sheep themselves are just peaceful souls...the area where they nestled in their bedding was a quiet respite in the midst of the fair's rainy hustle and bustle!

Towards 2:30 pm, it was time to head back, as it was a 6 hour drive to my parents' house in Virginia. My mother shared her shopping adventures with me as I drove back through the rainy afternoon and evening. It was a whirlwind trip.

Today, I'm pretty tired! I will be catching two planes back to Winnipeg tonight, and I'm looking forward to going home. I miss my dogs, my professor, and my own bed! That said, I hear our heat isn't working in Winnipeg, so I imagine things may be a bit nippy there until that is fixed...

If I missed you at Rhinebeck, I'm sorry! All in all, I think I was only there for 5 hours. Whew, what a weekend...

the day after

There are no photos for this post. Remarkably, it turns out that when I drive to Indianapolis for a photoshoot (4 hours of driving each way in about 28 hours), I don't have time to take a single photo! My conclusions:

1) It was awesome to listen to the inauguration events on the radio during the drive. Better than being out in the cold in DC, and for me, better than watching TV. I like imagining it all, although I did look to see the inaugural outfits online later. (fashion junkie, can't help myself!) Also, I tend to cry over these huge events, so it was good I was driving. I kept myself pulled together...no sniffling and tearing up! It's unsafe! I am so excited by all the potential for change with our historic, intelligent, new president!

2) I got to see two sunrises--one in Kentucky on my way to Indiana, and I saw the tail end of a sunrise while leaving Indiana. The big expanse of the midwestern sky in winter is a beautiful thing.

3) It turns out that the only differences between doing a photoshoot with the professor and with the lovely professionals at my publisher's are small ones...
a) the professionals all have a good style sense, so I am not stuck styling each shot on my own
b) the publisher employs a lot of gorgeous and smart people to use as models
c) it's a social event, with food, hot drinks, and even jokes
d) there wasn't one argument, which I thought came along with the photoshoots?! (only with one's life partner, apparently...)
e)The best part was how reassuring it all was. Complete strangers complimented me on these projects I've been designing in isolation for months. That was a surprise. I didn't expect that, but it was worth the drive to hear. Folks in Indianapolis are just nice. Thanks for saying nice things about the knitting!

While in the car, I realized I hadn't answered several questions that commenters have asked on the blog.

Mary G, my professor bought me the silk birthday yarn as a gift, but after doing a bit of research, I understand that it comes from "rustyseller1" on ebay. His ebay shop is Silk Yarn Collection.

In the darning post I did, I had a lot of comments. Who knew folks felt so strongly about darning? I don't own a darning "egg" or "mushroom". I've never needed one, although I think they're very cool! If you use a darning egg, do you darn with one hand? Please explain?

Deb mentioned that she wears out the heels of her socks. The best solution for this is to rip out the old heel (carefully) and reknit the heel. This is called a peasant or after-thought heel. I learned about this from Anna Zilboorg's fabulous paperback book,Simply Socks, which I think is a reprint of the hard cover Fancy Feet. Since both of these books are out of print, I'd recommend checking out online sources for "peasant heel" or "afterthought heel." It's a bit tricky the first time, but after you've mastered it, you can make yourself brand new heels in no time!

On my drive, I saw a lot of trucks. Our country is so dependent on fossil fuels to supply us with everything in our stores...from caskets (I saw a coffin truck!) to milk. It seems to me that one (very small) step towards sustainability, responsibility, and even, well, sacrifice...might be darning socks instead of buying new? What else is a step in the right direction, in your opinion?

Psst: Jodi, if you're reading this, leave a comment! It turns out I have a lot of secret readers out there. Say hey, ok?