Rhinebeck!

I had a wonderful time at Rhinebeck. For a change, I actually bought quite a bit of stuff. In the past I have bought a few high ticket items but this time it was a lot of lower-priced things. It definitely made the experience different. I had made a note of a few vendors that I wanted to visit but there were a couple of impulse buys.

As usual, I bought soap from Clove Valley Soapworks. They are local and I can buy their soap at a local farm but since I was at Rhinebeck, I decided to stock up. I only use their goat's milk soap now. It keeps my skin from getting too dry and the fragrances are mild but wonderfully pleasant.

I also had plans to buy buttons for my cabled cushion/pillow. I couldn't find matching large buttons but I found these two coordinating Fimo buttons and decided to go with an asymmetric look. I am pretty pleased with the result. I had envisioned large natural wood buttons but these fit the bill. The rest of my purchases (except for one I have not photographed) were all fiber. I did buy another orifice threader from Hansencrafts to use with the Tina. I prefer these to an orifice hook. But that is also something I'll have to photograph later. On to the fiber!

Each of the following is 4 oz. The first is some CVM (California Variegated Mutant)/silk dyed with lac and indigo by Handspun by Stefania. It isn't very clear in the photo but there are subtle mauve tones in it.
Next is a braid from Miss Babs. It is called Scarlet Ibis and is BFL.
In contrast to the brightly colored one above, I bought two more muted braids from Into the Whirled. I don't remember the details but you may be able to read the labels. The left one is Targhee.
Back to the brights, I bought two braids from Gale's Art. She had dyed the blue BFL I just finished spinning and I loved it. The bottom one is called Moldy Pumpkin! So very seasonal. It is a mix of dark and light BFL. I think the other one is called Scarab. Another customer in the booth recommended it as a good color.
I am dreaming of a handspun Log Cabin blanket so I bought a couple of gradient dyed rovings from Fiber Optic. I had bought a couple on sale from Corgi Hill Farm, one of which I am currently spinning. That is rather dull so I wanted a couple of bright ones to enliven the blanket. I think these fit the bill.
And last but not least, some green merino from Spinners Hill. I fell in love with the color. It is a mix of brights and darks.
I had to force fit all this into my fiber shelf. But fiber squishes, doesn't it? I guess I'm all set for the winter. I have bright colors to complement the dark outside.

I also took 2 classes. I took 'spinning the yarn you want' with Amy Tyler and 'getting more productive with your spindle' with Abby Franquemont. I loved both classes and learned a lot. Amy is very organized and taught us to mimic a yarn that was already spun. This was very complementary with the spinning retreat I went to following Rhinebeck. More on that next week. All in all, it was a wonderful fiber-filled, delectable and eye-opening week. There is so much I want to try and work on this winter.