My niece, gamer girl and very funny person, told me “Have fun at Sheep Con!” when I was leaving for Rhinebeck, and it stuck. Totally Sheep Con. A little over the top, but in good way. People displaying cosplay -like knitwear. People wearing sheep headbands. People pretending to be sheep. (Go look at the pictures on Gale’s post. She actually took some!)
Sorry to report that this Rhinebeck report isn’t much of one, as I saw very little of the actually NYSWF. I’ll link to some more useful pages. Here’s mostly what I saw:
Fortunately, that view shifted regularly, and I got to meet some people in real life that I’ve only encountered on-line. Sadly, no photos. The super-talented and funny Natalie Servant.A fellow friend of Jean’s Knitting, Hi Carol!!
My fellow Drop Dead Easy Knits authors Gale and Kirsten and I had the good fortune to share a table with the Mason Dixon Knitting emporium. I never got to do more that say hello and smile occasionally, as Ann and Kay were swamped from the word go, as they deserved to be.
I made kiss noises at Carol Sucolski and her new book across the aisle, and discovered later that there were others there I would have loved to meet and go all fan girl for, but I couldn’t see them. I did get to meet Norah Gaughan, but by then her book was sold out. I felt honored to be in the same place as those knitters. The line to pay for books went right by our table, so we got to see lots of wonderful knitwear, and chat with people from all over. I talked to at least six people from Atlanta, for real. I guess there is no Sheep Con down south.
By the time I got out of the book barn on Saturday, I had missed both the Knitty meet-up and the Ravelry meet up. Instead, I flopped down on the grass in the sun, with my head on someone’s bag of fleece, and watched the world go by for a while. The food lines were nuts. I just walked till I saw a booth with a small line and bought what they had. Recommendation for future visits if you lack stand on line stamina – bring food and fill in with the good stuff, like apple crisp and cider donuts.
One highlight was meeting the other half of the TwinSet – TwinSet Jan. TwinSet Ellen is the technical editor of Drop Dead Easy Knits. (The most fun I have ever had with a tech editor!) They were kind enough to interview us for an upcoming podcast.
Not complaining, it was great, but really crowded. Veterans said it was not as crowded as last year. Very glad I wasn’t there last year, then. T
The view crossing the Hudson as I drove back (empty-handed) to my sister’s in New Jersey for family action. Stay tuned!
Yarnerinas 
Too many people!! Eeeeeek!! 🙂
Sheep cosplay. Ok then.
Sheep Con! So true! I hope you come back another ear and can enjoy a more leisurely weeknd, that was A LOT of excitement in the book barn.
PS hit send too soon. Another YEAR we will have a leisurely Rhinebeck weekend. But it is kinda fun having a new book….
Hi Mary Lou,
I was so happy to meet you at Rhinebeck, and was delighted by your shoutout as a Friend of Jean. Then with Kay and Ann from Mason Dixon Knitting right next to you and your colleagues–I felt as if I’d hit the high point of the day before I’d even started! It was only our second time at Rhinebeck, but we learned last year to get there early, and bring our own food!
As I told you, the second copy of Drop Dead Easy was for the friend who had introduced me to Jean’s Knitting last year. She was thrilled with the book, especially the inscription, and plans to start with the Idlewild socks.
I did get a couple of photos, which I will try to e-mail to you. Hope we may meet again someday!
Thanks, Carol. So happy you friend liked the book.
Hi Mary Lou,
She just posted about it! You can find her at nancymccarroll@blogspot.com.
Twinset Ellen! I nominated her for some kind of Good Neighbor award on Channel 4/WCCO a few years ago when she started a community project called Warm Heads Not Hot Heads. The political scene had started to get way too nasty, and she proposed knitting hats and sending them to senators and congressional representative with a letter asking for cooler heads (hah!) to prevail. I knit 10 (8 reps and 2 senators). And she won $500 and got to be on WCCO’s 5pm news!