More on Rhinebeck: The people I lerve

I never quite know how to describe spending time at a fiber festival. I come home with my brain humming from all I've experienced. It seemed to me that this year's festival may have been slightly less crowded than last year, but there were more male knitters (a very good thing) and definitely a developing sense of community among knitters that showed itself at the festival. In addition to Blogger Bingo, which as I said last year, is a brilliant way for people to break the ice with each other and form real-world connections derived from internet ones, there were tons of people walking around with Ravelry buttons, which provided another way for people to connect. For me, this year was definitely about the people -- seeing many of the knitters with whom I've developed friendships (and meeting some in person for the first time) and getting to spend some time with them surrounded by the accoutrements of the craft we so love.

So today's virtual Rhinebeck tour is devoted to the people.

I left Saturday morning, and picked up Jim (Traveling Companion No. 1 -- an amazing knitter with an encyclopaedic knowledge of film, and he's single, fellas....) at 5 a.m. sharp, then Laura (Traveling Companion No. 2 -- she's also coauthor on the book and an incredibly talented designer/knitter/photographer) by 5:15 a.m. This is what it looked like when we stopped for gas about 45 minutes later, somewhere in New Jersey:

We made great time (isn't there a Seinfeld about that?) although the paparazzi managed to grab this incriminating photo of Laura and Jim leaving a Dunkin' Donuts in the wee hours:

We were able to check into our hotel and leave our bags (i.e., more room for fiber in car) and still make it to the festival just about when it opened.

Jim and Laura are about the best traveling companions one could ask for. They are extremely well-mannered and do all sorts of considerate things like navigate, open cans of diet soda for the driver so she doesn't crash the car, chip in for gas, bring tasty snacks, and provide interesting and frequently hilarious conversation so the driver doesn't fall asleep. Plus, they have great dirt provide acerbic running social commentary on the nature of the human condition as reflected by people of our common acquaintance.

First stop was seeing Dr. Mel and David.

If you Mel's blog, you'll know he made this kilt for himself



and if you read the comments to Mel's blog, you'll know that I threatened to bring along one of those supermarket grabbers so's I could confirm once and for all what, if anything, he was wearing (or not) under the kilt. (It's a matter of journalistic integrity, you see.) (Plus Rabbitch made me do it.)


Boxers. Damn. I have to say that after seeing Mel, and another really attractive man with killer socks, wearing kilts, I have a renewed admiration for men who have good legs, know they have good legs, and aren't afraid to show the world their legs. Such men are hot indeed.

Also at Mel's booth was Mar, and she was wearing her famed Campanula sweater, which was perfect for the warm weather with its short sleeves and lacy pattern. (Sadly, it was a bit too warm for anything wool.)

I really like this photograph of her, because to me, it captures both her crusty exterior (note mischievous twinkle in eyes) and her soft interior. She's a big cream puff, that Mar.

I also saw Fredda, who was knitting this lovely scarf in Black Bunny Fibers sock yarn:




This is Joe's Koigu Cross-Stitch pattern, which is available for download at Fredda's cool site, The Knitting Vault. It looks wonderful in a single colorway of Black Bunny (the sample in the pattern itself calls for two colors of Koigu, I think, but one colorway of BBF does just fine, IMHO).

I also got hugs from several of my favorite male knitters, like Joe and Ted, in this photo, along with Ted's lovely (and adorable) friend David (far left)



and Lars showed up, although sadly I did not manage to get a photo of his handsome Canadian visage. For Lars, who used his periscope-like sneaky camera to take pictures of hairy males and their asses, I took this photo:

An ass trifecta. (I'm always thinking of you, my friend.)

I was thrilled to see Véronik again, and apparently, I haven't frightened her into a restraining order yet, for she seemed quite happy to pal around with me at the festival. We had a mini-Stitches reunion with lovely Mindy

and I got to see Kathy and Selma all too briefly. I somehow missed my pal hyphenated Carol, which made me sad. I know I met a lot of other folks (like Blogless Former Antitrust Lawyer Democrat Lady from Texas, who made my day by telling me she reads my blog) and I don't want to bore you all by just listing the names. I'm too lazy to link everyone, but most of the folks I just mentioned are in my sidebar.

Okay, I've got to go for now, but I've got plenty more photos to share this week. Suffice it to say that a good time was had by all. (Except poor Kristin Nicholas, who had to listen to some crazy lady complain about errors in a pattern KRISTEN DIDN'T EVEN DESIGN!)