What a day!

Oh my goodness, how much fun did I have on my 50th birthday today! 

It started early, and my first gift was on my bed when I got out of the shower, from Tam. It was a skein of pretty green Socks that Rock yarn, and the book It's Not Easy Being Green. Cool gifts, thanks Tam!

Rhinebeck was fabulous.... SO much to see, and about a gazillion people all sharing the same fun. I loved watching all the beautiful handknits walking by. That was really fun. 

I  got to meet Jane today. We've known each other only online for several years now, and finally meeting her in person and spending time with her was wonderful. It was not awkward in the least, and we really had fun. We spent some time going through a few vendor barns and then split up again, making plans to meet for dinner later. 

Tam and I continued on and bought some goodies. There was some fiber (chocolate-colored alpaca roving, beautiful autumn colored roving, black alpaca yarn and some beautiful autumn colored yarn... I wanted my fiber purchases to remind me of the beautiful landscape of the changing colors on the mountains near Rhinebeck, hence the 2 purchases of autumn colors!) and I bought a number of other fun items. The PERFECT button for my sweater (no, it did NOT get finished, but I'm still plugging away) I really could have used that sweater today. It was a bit chilly, especially when the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up a bit. I got a few Christmas gifts for Diane (neener neener, Diane!). I bought a beautiful handmade lucet.   

There were a few other purchases, and I may get a few more things tomorrow. But I enjoyed the experience so much. Seeing all the animals, all the various vendors, and like I said before, just the wide variety of handknits on everyone from infants and toddlers, as well as women and men of all ages.  

We watched the Frisbee-catching dogs, we watched the sheep-herding dogs. We wanted to hug all the alpacas, and laughed at the long bottom teeth on the llamas (I had never noticed that trait before). 

Mid-afternoon I looked at Tam and said "stick a fork in me, I am DONE!" I was so exhausted. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, my back hurt. So we joined the other hundreds of people who seemed to have had the same thought at the same moment, and slowly made our way back to the hotel. 

I iced my back, then got in the bath to soak for a while, and rejuvenated myself. We rested a bit, and then Jane and her cousin came and met us and we went out to dinner. We ended up at Ship To Shore and had a really good dinner, but mostly a really great conversation. 

Oh, and there was the matter of the BEAUTIFUL green scarf knit for me by the lovely Jane. It's Kid Silk Haze. So soft, so light, yet warm. I just love it. Thanks again Jane!

The plan originally was to go to the Ravelry party in Red Hook after dinner, but we talked for hours and ended up missing it. Oh well, I was very happy to have spent the time with Jane to get to know her a little better. Jane's cousin Gail was great to be with too. Such a nice time.

Tomorrow morning we'll get up a little slower and arrive at Rhinebeck a little later. We'll revisit some of the places we took notes to go back and look again, or decide on (or against) some things we couldn't decide on today. I don't know if it will be more or less crowded (or the same) but I'm hoping maybe a little less crowded. There were a heck of a lot of people there today. I mean... seriously, a boat load of people. 

But...what fun it was~

Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who made this day very special for me!

Pictures tomorrow or when I get home.