Fall Festival Fun- Rhinebeck and SAFF!

One thing I love most about the Fall is festival season!! The crunchy leaves, the crisp air and everyone wearing their best woolies! This year brought me back to my favorite hometown festival, SAFF, and was my first time at the all famed Rhinebeck!

I have to admit, I was quite excited to be teaching at Rhinebeck!! There are very few festivals who’s name brings as much anticipation as New York Sheep and Wool. Maybe it’s the leaves, or the maple syrup.. but Rhinebeck stands alone!

I admit, I had more fun than usual since I was back with my travel partner, Jackie Graff from DyeMama Woolworks and Swans Island. She picked me up at the airport and we had a bite to eat, and then we headed down to Rhinebeck. I was excited to wear my special sweaters- my Lopapeysa from Iceland, and my special handspun, natural dyed and hand knit Enchanted Mesa given to me by an amazing student in Norway.

I admit I didn’t see much of the actual festival, past the few buildings that were right next to the workshop building!! OOOH they were full of colorful woolies and yarns though!! I did get to have lunch one day under an amazing tree!!
My days were filled with amazing students in all my classes!! My students were excited to spin luscious hand dyed tops by KnittyandColor and FatCatKnits, and fun carded batts from 222Handspun!
Festivals are also the rare opportunity to see friends- since we all use workshops as reasons to get together! I even took my color blending students on a field trip to hear my friend Cirilia Rose talk about color and her new book!
Evenings were spent with Jackie, Abby, Beth, Jacey and Levi eating huge cuts of meat and other delicacies at the various amazing restaurants in Rhinebeck.
As far as seeing the festival, Jackie and I did manage to sneak a peek of the fleece show on Friday afternoon.. thus allowing me to grab a few amazing fleeces on Saturday morning! We also walked though the hipster llama barn on our way to workshops on Sunday. I made it home with enough time to do laundry, repack and load the trailer to head up the mountain for SAFF. I love SAFF because it’s Asheville and we all have a good time eating and hanging out, as well as it’s such a great festival! The booth looked really great this year. I had lots of long locks, and a wall full of batts and loads of yarns!! And I rolled out my NEW smooth carded prep- Fractal Ply packs which flew off the rack!!

I missed my friend Deb this year, who had to miss the SAFF fun because she had too much Taos fun, but we were joined by the amazing ladies of Kismet Fiber Works!! Angie and Steph dye beautiful colorways on super yummy bases- the hit of the show was for sure their 50/50 Baby Camel/Silk!!
Angie, Steph and I really enjoyed putting colorways together for customers!! Our yarns paired wonderfully!!
We are having lots of fun planning future collaborations.. We’ve started with an amazing hood and boot toppers that will soon have patterns available!!
I had wonderful classes each day!! Tailspinning, wild plying, layered plying and yarn couture! It was awesome to watch spinners of different abilities inspiring eachother. We were all inspired by Violet, the 9 year old master of spinning on wire.
Of course we ate well every night.. it’s Asheville!! We were excited to show Abby our favorite joints! We hit Universal Joint, Wicked Weed, Thirsty Monk and of course White Duck Taco. Ron and the gang from Buffalo Wool Co. joined us for White Duck and I think it will become an annual event. As is our yearly tradition, we spent Sunday night, after load out with our friends Otto and Joanne Strauch and the rowdy gang that joins us at Tupelo Honey. This year there was a new pork chop on the menu that Abby and I just had to have as a shared memory of the fun from the weekend before.
The next morning before heading down the mountain, Bryan and I went apple picking. Then we headed home with the sun at our backs.
I’m spending the days making apple pie and relaxing from a long show season!! I’ve still got a handful of spaces in my last workshop of the year- at WC Mercantile in Texas in a couple of weekends! I am also photo’ing yarns tomorrow for an etsy update sunday!