The Whole World In a Weekend

Another Rhinebeck has come and gone . . .  What a wild weekend it was!  The weather was exquisite, and the crowds were enormous.  Someone asked me how it was and I replied that it was exhilarating and exhausting. I returned home on Monday, after breakfast with Barb at the Eveready Diner in Hyde Park, during which we recapped the show and squared away plans for the Fiber Festival of New England on November 5 & 6.  I was still tired on Tuesday.

We saw so many of our friends and customers -- it really felt as if we saw the whole world in a weekend.  One long-time customer brought me 2 yards of beautiful wool.  We heard about births and deaths and divorce, surgeries and celebrations, illnesses and ingenuity.  It was a whole year of life encapsulated in these two special days that happen the third weekend of October every year.  

What's New and Exciting?

The rainy, gray days that Hurricane Matthew has provided for the last week or so are not very exciting, but the upcoming New York State Sheep and Wool Festival is!  We are counting down the days -- only 11 more -- and working hard to bring our favorite customers even more folk art, ornaments, rug hooking and needle punch supplies, out-of-print books, buttons, baubles and embellishments -- the list goes on!  We hope to see you there.  We are in Building A, Booth 28, as we have been for the last dozen years!  

I was contacted by Artsy recently -- they somehow discovered that I love the work of George Nakashima --and asked me to add them to my list of interesting blogs over there in the sidebar.  So I have done just that.  It's a great resource for people interested in learning about and collecting art, so go take a look! Maybe I'll find a Nakashima table I can afford.  Not.

Barb and I had a lovely weekend at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival.  We had two days of jewel-like weather -- brilliant blue skies, sunshine, and crisp air.  I was surprised and pleased to see my Instagram friend, Marilu (@518frenchgirl).  She's a doll, and I can't wait to see how she hooks up my Outstanding in Her Field pattern!  (Follow her on Instagram if you don't already.)

Tammy of Wing and a Prayer Farm

I was extraordinarily pleased to meet another Instagramer I follow:  Tammy of Wing and a Prayer Farm (#wingandaprayerfarm).   I found her through Charlotte Lyons of House Wren Studio, who hosts crafting weekends with her friend Meleen up in Vermont (Meleen and Charlotte's Vermont Getaway).  Tammy's farm is nearby, and the crafters take field trips there to do natural dyeing and to visit the sheep and alpaca and dogs and a miniature donkey named Bilbo among other things.  Tammy shears and spins and nurses lambs and dyes and bakes amazing pies -- sometimes on a live feed.  She's pretty much the Wonder Woman of fiber farm life.  She hosted a natural dye workshop recently that I would have loved to attend.  And -- the cherry on the cake --  Tammy is a gifted writer.  Visit her blog at: Wing and a Prayer Farm.

We ended the weekend with a visit to our friend Martha who lives on a farm in the Adirondack Park.  She raises sheep, chicken, turkeys, and pigs.  We were treated to a delicious dinner of pork cooked with apples and her own maple syrup, and roasted vegetables from her garden.  Martha sent us away with our very own pints of syrup -- a gift worth its weight in gold!

Martha's Farm

Our other big news is: Barb and I will be vending at Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week in August 2017.  Sauder is one of the premiere rug shows in the country, and we are honored to have been invited.  I'm going to teach a class, too!  More on this soon.  For now, it's back to the drawing board -- I need to make up some new patterns for Rhinebeck!