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October 18, 2005

Rhine. Beck.

So. Sleepy. and So. Happy.

I'll start from the beginning. Anne Marie and I left Athens at 9:00, bright and early, to catch our 12:50 plane. We kept exclaiming about how great our timing was, right up until it was 12:30 and we looked at the departures screen to check our flight. DELAYED THREE HOURS. Gah!

Luckily, crossword puzzles and Clapotis kept us busy until the plane left. Our little Airtran plane had free XM satellite radio (how cool!) so Anne Marie and I had a dance party at our seats, complete with cans of beer and dancing. Cramped dancing. Our seatmate LOVED us. Hee.

Off the plane, onto the train! Here's Anne Marie knitting on the train:

This was the first of many, many dishcloths.

The train turned out to be super fun, although we didn't know we could bring beers until after we left the station. Information for next time, clearly. We also met some friendly New Yorkers who wanted to know all about the knitting...they laughed when we said that we'd come up from Georgia for a Sheep and Wool Festival. (And actually, AM and I got that a lot this weekend...you came from WHERE? for THIS? Even from the knitters! It made me giggle.)

Finally the train arrived at Poughkeepsie! yayayayay! And who was there to meet us at the train station? Frecklegirl and Casey!

Eating dinner at last.

They are seriously the cutest things ever. I could NOT go to sleep that night... it felt like Christmas Eve. The next morning there was a trip to IHOP and the Big Lug met us there! Jen is hilarious and just as pretty in person as in her pictures. And also she has a really good costume for Halloween.

On to the Festival! We walked into the fairgrounds, and seriously, a big ray of sunshine came through the clouds and shone upon us. And there was much rejoicing. Dude. It was biblical.

You need to know that this bear is the softest alpaca I have ever touched.

I wuv you, teddy bear.

And this yumminess called to me. But I resisted -- I already had some sweater yarn in my bag:

Yarny. Goodness.

The bloggers were EVERYWHERE. (And you will know them by their Clapotis(es)(ii?).) It was fun to run into people and accost them while walking through the festival (hi Alison! hi Kim!)
I got to meet the Divine Miss Em, who is vivacious and funny and stylish and fabulous. But then, I knew that from her blog:

I love this woman.

I was so distracted by the yarny wonders and the pretty people that I did the following: 1. Left my credit card at the Morehouse Farms booth, AFTER the woman working the booth caught me rubbing a shawl kit on my face. I'm sure she thought I was insane. 2. Left my bag of yarn purchases SITTING ON THE TABLE where we were eating lunch. Just left it sitting there. HELLO. What is wrong with me? It took me a minute to realize that it was gone, and then I freaked out and almost started crying. Luckily the lovely ladies I ate with checked the bag and found my receipt and grabbed it for me. THANK YOU. After that, I tied all my bags of yarn to my pants. Because I'm classy like that.

Highlights of the rest of the weekend included:

1. Knitting in the room with the girls.

Knitting and beer DO mix.

2. Finishing my Clapotis, even though there was doubt that I could accomplish it with the TEENY TINY ball of yarn I was working through. Here's Jen worrying for me:

But it's so tiny!

3. Actually getting to wear my Clapotis because it was freakin' windy and cold on Sunday.

That's Frecklegirl's coat. But my Clappy.

4. Seeing the schmoos in the 4-H barns.

Hello, adorable alpaca schmoo.

4. And, of course, fun times with Anne Marie.

Edited to add: You can see the rest of my pictures here. Of course there was drinking of beer, taking of jacuzzis, and purchasing of Gas-X. (And let me tell you, I got a little ridiculed for that, but EVERYONE in our room took one at least once this weekend. Gas-X rules. I just took one.)

And finally, my guilty confession of the weekend: I bought a drop spindle. And I've been spinning. Just a little.

I suck at it. But I kinda like it.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! It's good to be home.

Posted by carrie at 06:23 PM | Comments (45)