I have been to the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival (a.k.a. NYS S&W) a few times since my first visit back in 2017, but this was my first time working at Rhinebeck. No, I didn’t get paid to whisper to the sheep how pretty they were while gently scratching their cheeks. (The dream!)

I was fortunate to be a small part of the inaugural RBK gosadi House. In case you haven’t heard, Michele of Stitch & Hustle has started a new venture with gosadi, a platform for knitwear and crochet designers. To spread the word of gosadi and to support a few valuable alpha testers and friends of gosadi for their Rhinebeck visits, gosadi hosted a house for the long weekend. (“Sprawling estate” would be a more accurate description but I digress.)  It was so exciting to be around professionals who had come to be a part of the event in a deeper way than as an attendee.

The houseguest list included Stephanie of Asylum Fibers, Kristin of KraeO, Jessie of Jessie at Home, Lauren of Mother of Purl, Beth of Fig and Filament and inTandem zine, Jessica of Snickerdoodle Knits, Julie of ACCROchet, and Leah of I Play With Fiber.

Team ‘Making It All Happen’ for gosadi were Hilary (gosadi Co-Founder / owner Nina Chicago) and Sam (gosadi Marketing & Designer Relations / owner Bobble Club House) and me, Abbey.

Let me just say this was a far cry from my usual Rhinebeck experience! I usually do a little planning beforehand, which mostly consists of looking at the vendors on line and doing whatever I can to keep one day available to attend the festival. I prefer the free-and-easy approach to a day out. The gosadi weekend was definitely more than that!

After months of preparation, there was a full four-day weekend ahead of me. Staying in an estate with meals catered by a private chef, an in-house movie night in the screening room on our arrival day, attending three separate fiber events followed by a house stitch night on Friday capped by two days at arguably the biggest fiber event in the country all while talking to people about gosadi. And a fashion show. IN THE RAIN. How’s that for really doing it up at RBK?

This was NEXT LEVEL Rhinebeck!

Of course it was a relief to be so close to the fairgrounds. I live somewhat close to Rhinebeck and the drive isn’t difficult for me but part of what makes NYS S&W so beloved is the location.  Autumn in the Hudson Valley is legendary (and popular) for a reason. The area is very busy this time of year with people coming from all around to enjoy the foliage and various outdoor activities before winter sets in for the Northeast.

 But the biggest enjoyment of being in the house for me was being able to talk through each day with people who also attended. It made each day so much more enjoyable. Our fiber hobbies can be solitary at times, and that is often why we love them. Taking some time to be a part of the larger community was a very welcome change for me.

In addition, this was the first time I attended any of the ‘run up’ or what I would call satellite events: Indie Untangled - Rhinebeck, Wool & Folk, and CAKEpalooza. Many people think these events, along with New York State Sheep & Wool Festival, are all one event. They are not!

 The New York State Sheep & Wool Festival event’s website states: “NYS Sheep and Wool Festival started out as breed ewe sale by the local shepherds around 1980.” The Festival is a very full event with a variety of activities and displays. There is an extensive amount of information available on the Festival’s website so I urge you to check it out if you are interested in attending in the future. Or even if you’ve attended in the past!

 Satellite events grew out of the desire for a greater number of vendors to access the large number of people visiting Rhinebeck for the NYS S&W Festival and for those attendees to connect with vendors that cannot, for whatever reason, vend at NYS S&W. The four events are independent of each other and have separate locations, vendors, and admission fees.

After arriving and settling in Thursday, the first stop for Friday was Indie Untangled – Rhinebeck. The event is actually in Saugerties, a short drive across the river from Rhinebeck. Rainy weekends have been the norm this year for the region and the trend continued so ponchos and boots were packed. Indie Untangled is the OG of satellite events, celebrating 10 years this 2023 season. The location is not directly in town, which made me feel more comfortable about slowly driving around to find the entrance to the parking lot.

 Upon arrival at the check in table, we were greeted and set on our way quickly and efficiently. The vendor buildings were chilly with their open sides but I stayed dry and was relieved to have so much fresh air in a situation that can feel claustrophobic. It was so great to see some of our gosadi house sponsors at the event! I said hello to Knit Coffee and got some hugs from RMR Yarn Co. (who I met at Stitch Up Chicago this year). It was a cloudy day so there were some dim spots in the buildings but I thought it was a great show.

Our second stop of the day was Wool & Folk. This event was held in Catskill, NY and boasted over 100 vendors that were indoors and outdoors. That’s a big show! This was the event’s third year. I will admit to having some FOMO when seeing the event on line in previous years. It always looked like such a social, relaxed, celebratory time so I was excited to attend in person.

 Sidebar: I always feel left out when someone says “I’m sure you’ve all heard of (fill in the blank) so I’m not going to go into it.” There’s a good chance you haven’t heard anything about (fill in the blank)! How rude!

That being said, I am going to avoid running through a play by play of my experience and simply say Wool & Folk was a deeply unpleasant event to attend. It was disorganized and blatantly unsafe.  My main thought in person and afterwards was that Wool & Folk felt like greed. It felt like every single person there as a vendor or attendee was exploited for money and reputation. There was no heart to the event other than the glances of disbelieve exchanged among attendees and vendors trying to make the best out of the utter worst.

I was able to visit some vendors that I was excited to see. Of course the wonderful KraeO lit up her booth, as did Marian of Marianated Yarns. If you have seen anything on line about the event, you probably are aware that more than a few vendors ended up losing money from vending at the event. Go here for a full list of vendors with links compiled by Jeroen of @boymeetsyarn.

 Friday’s third stop was CAKEpalooza. I had not heard of CAKEpalooza before this year. The event is held in the parking lot at Cake Wool Co Dye Studio in Saugerties, NY. It is the smallest of the three satellite events but that in no way is a bad thing. We attended relatively late in the day but were still given a warm welcome and a vendor map that had a hand-drawn style. The event is fully outdoors and there was a real camaraderie among the vendors. And I’d never pass up a chance to see Asylum Fibers in the (wooly) wild!

 Indie Untangled and CAKEpalooza are primarily shopping events. Your ticket is for a time slot, so you have a set amount of time to mill among the vendors and make your purchases. I did keep looking at my watch but I think that was due to the fact I was working to see everyone and knew I was on a schedule for the day. I didn’t feel I was going to run out of time at either event. Wool & Folk does bill itself as more of a fiber event than a shopping event, which I’d suspect is the justification for the higher ticket price than either of the other two satellite events.

 That being said, these satellite events are great places to learn about new-to-you indie dyers and local yarn shops, and to fill out the trip to Rhinebeck. Heads up it would be a good idea to keep track of favorite vendors for yourself without relying on internet access. (Lack of internet access is something else the Hudson Valley is known for, along with the fall foliage.) Indie Untangled’s website is very efficient. CAKEpalooza did not have a list of vendors on their website but with a map in hand you could make notes. Wool & Folk had vendor logos displayed on their website but no clickable links (and a little over a week after the event even those logos have been removed from the event website). You could look to Instagram for more information, but the fickleness of that platform is well-noted. It’s best to take photos of shop banners or grab business cards for yourself.

Saturday dawned with – more rain. In spite of that, we were ready to head out after breakfast for the Main Event. The NYS S&W Festival is a very well-organized event. Given that it is held on the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, there are all the facilities you would expect from that classification of venue: helpful staff and volunteers, plentiful bathrooms, paved pathways, First Aid facilities, and lots of places to sit for a bit. When your ticket is scanned, you are given a printed brochure with maps, vendor lists, and a schedule of events. (All for $15 day-of event tickets!)

I have only attended the festival on a Sunday. My first NYS S&W Saturday was the whirlwind I expected it to be. A big difference between Saturday and Sunday at NYS S&W are the meet-ups: Designers and local yarn shops host meet ups at different places on the fairgrounds throughout the day.  Think friendly knit/crochet wear flash mobs! I sat in on the Patty Lyons meet up and it was such a welcoming and happy crowd.

Another Saturday difference - there are a lot of Serious Shoppers who have the goal of snagging some of the show special yarns from different vendors and don’t want to risk them selling out. You may have seen sheep ear headbands on some attendees - those sold out before end of day Saturday this year. The maker came with over 300 headbands but it wasn’t enough for the crowd!

It’s easy to tell how important these events are for the vendors – so many make a large amount of their yearly profit from the show. I knew how sore my feet were by the end of each day so I can only imagine how the vendors felt.

 Seeing designers in person is SURREAL. For me, it is somewhere between seeing a TV star and your most fun classmate from high school that you’ve fallen out of touch with. For a second, you can’t place where you know them from and then it hits you! And they’re walking around enjoying the festival just like you! And they’re everywhere! I’d never really kept a look out for designers before but attending on the Saturday makes it much more likely to spot a designer.

 Along with taking in all the beautiful goods, I watched proud pups catch frisbees, serious sheepdogs herding some confused sheep, and bought coffee from a couple of young 4-H members. There are sheep-shearing demonstrations, animal showings, and breed discussions.  There is a photography competition and a knitting with chopsticks speed knitting competition (which I saw on Instagram that the designer Tina Tse won 5th place in!) I did miss one of my favorite parts of the festival, which is the llama parade.  But there’s always next year!

The real highlight of Rhinebeck is sharing the joy of creation with other people. And my favorite part of this year’s visit is the ‘Tell me about what you’re wearing to Rhinebeck’ interviews Sam and Hilary did for gosadi at NYS S&W. People really lit up when you asked them to talk about their creations. There was so much pride and joy on display I could feel it parting the clouds.

So much is made on social media of the shopping that it can feel like the fairgrounds is one big yarn mall. And if you don’t have oodles of money to spend, or the inclination to add to an overflowing stash, that there isn’t anything for you at Rhinebeck. I am here to say that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, the pressure to buy can be strong - I love a good RBK haul video as much as the next fiber enthusiast. There’s even a food building in the fairgrounds to tempt you with fudge, maple candy, tea, and hand-carved wooden spoons.

 But the vendors know no one has unlimited funds and they love for their work to be appreciated. I’ve never been glared at for walking out of a booth leaving nothing more than a ‘thank you.’ It seems to me many vendors use the show as an opportunity to be introduced to new customers for future purchases as much as selling something to them AT a festival.

On a related note, I know many vendors at NYS S&W are not to everyone’s tastes. For example, I cannot see myself picking up spinning any time soon. But did I overhear conversations where people say they started spinning after visiting NYS S&W and love it? I did. Do I see people on social media excited to knit with yarn they spun themselves? I do! The often repeated phrase “Don’t yuck someone else’s yum” does not just apply to food. Crocheters and knitters do not appreciate having our craft looked down upon by others so give yourself a check in before doing that to someone else.  Now I’ll climb down off my soapbox…

In conclusion, my boots are muddy, I have yarn specifically for a new sweater, and I have MANY new patterns in my favorite list on Ravelry. Working at Rhinebeck gave me a reason to see and really look at more things rather than allow myself to be overwhelmed by it all.