Had. To. Have.

My birthday falls on/near the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival every year.  So, it makes for a nice treat for me to go and buy yarn-y, fiber-y birthday presents!  We went down to Kingston (near Rhinebeck, where the festival is held at the Duchess County Fairgrounds) last Saturday afternoon and stayed overnight.  A simply gorgeous view from our hotel room:

love, Love, LOVE this time of year!

We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Never been.  REALLY like the ribs and pulled pork. Our waiter informed us there will be one coming to our area.... Mmmmmm.  Then we went to Shop Rite and got a birthday cake:

Chocolate strawberry short cake.   Mmmmmmmm.   And no, that is not all we ate in case you were wondering.  We are dessert fiends  (I married into, and have hence assumed the tradition of, the Cassidy second dessert --- have a dessert, wait a while, then have another.  Sometimes three.) --- there was a little we couldn't finish.  Can you tell that it really is a small cake?

The next morning we got up early to go to breakfast and then the festival.  Here is the only picture we took there:

Ha!  And that was when we were leaving.  In case this picture doesn't accurately portray --- there were A LOT of people there.  And it was the second day of the festival - there were apparently a lot more there the previous day.  It was a gorgeous day and we had a nice time browsing the vendors and watching the pumpkin chuckin' contest  - area high schools compete to make a trebuche that will throw a pumpkin and other items the farthest.    (Spell check will not tell me how to spell trebuche - it offered Bucharest as an option.  You know what one is, right?  It's a medieval thing with a weight on one end and a slingshot thing on the other.)  At any rate....   we, of course, also ate yummy festival food.  Fried artichokes, wonderfully crispy on the outside but warm and soft on the inside pretzel, and a chocolate/peanut butter cookie bar.  We didn't go overboard this year.  I can't believe I didn't even bring home kettle corn.  It could have been my second dessert for, like, a week.

I did make two purchases.  My first purchase was a total impulse oh-my-gosh-i-have-to-have-this-since-it-is-so-cute purchase:

A Soakbox! (SoakBox Gift Set (Soakbox Celebration - Clark Cable) ) It is a skein of Lorna's Laces sport weight yarn and a fingerless mitt pattern, with matching nail polish (!!), lotion and Soak woolwash.  I just had to have it.  When I tried to add it all up to see if it was worth it ($50), I think it was.  But to be honest I didn't try all that hard to figure it out because i had. to. have. it.  Mine was the Clark Cable box which refers to the mitt pattern.  I actually really liked the pattern in the teal box - there were 5 color sets in all (I think) - and the woman at the booth said that pattern for that was also in the KnitSimple Holiday issue, so that sealed the deal for me.

That's my mitt-in-progress.  The mitts in the magazine are more of a teal - not blue like this picture shows. And the model is wearing the teal nail polish that comes in the kit.  Which is why I didn't get that kit.  Loved the yarn color but not the nail polish.  Blech.  Stay tuned for the picture of me wearing my finished mitts (washed in the wool wash) with my matching nail polish, on my lotioned hands! (You can click up there to be linked to Amazon to buy the set.)

The other thing I bought?...

Fifteen hundred and some odd yards of off-white worsted weight yarn.  To make an aran cardigan - the kind with different cable and other patterns.  Something similar to this:

Something that looks very classic, and will be so warm and cozy.  Now I just have to choose a pattern.  That could take years.

Want another picture of Mandy and Phoebe?

No, it isn't the same picture as before.  They lay this exact way all. the. time.  So cute.  And for something different, here is Mandy enjoying this beautiful, balmy fall day: