Rhinebeck, and Wednesday Nights

This is a pretty amazing fall we're having here, I have to say. Sunny every day, everything smells like pumpkins, I haven't had to bike in my rain pants once yet, and every night when I come home all I want to do is make aromatic vegetable soups and fresh bread. In fact, my sourdough starter that I've been nurturing towards health since June of this year finally took off a couple weeks ago and I just can't get enough.

However, there's something truly different about fall on the east coast, which is where I was last weekend, frolicking in upstate New York with two of my best friends at Rhinebeck. Now I grew up in Seattle, so I certainly can't betray my loyalty to Washington apples, but I have to say, we just don't take cider doughnuts as seriously as they do out there, and appley goodness is definitely a theme of any brisk, sun-dappled fall day. I was stoked to be in a climate where I actually had to wear the hoodie gloves that I had just cranked out on the drive up, and fall was definitely in the air.

Coffee by the river in Poughkeepsie

Hollis fondling 700 yards of something pretty

Dory knitting a fabulous knee sock out of a Yarnia bamboo/wool blend (it really is fabulous--I am not a sock knitter but after I finish up the leg warmers I'm working on, she may have me converted)

Me picking out cones of yarn for you all at my favorite distributor's warehouse, which just happened to be in the neighborhood...I clearly am as gleeful about swimming in a warehouse of cones as most others are at digging their fist into a bag of roving

It wasn't until I lived in Montreal for four years that I realized, oh, this is what people mean when they say the leaves change colors. It's a whole different ballgame. This is us after a long day of admiring handspun yarn and petting sheep, before heading out to the Ravelry party at the Elks Lodge.

Drivin' back to the city. Dory's gaze is unsettlingly far from the actual road.

And now, back in Portland, our attention is turning to fun fall activities at Yarnia, the first of which will be starting up next week! Beginning November 5, we'll be starting up our Wednesday Knit & Crochet Nights here at the store. Bring your projects, bring your friends, bring your pattern questions!

Our first K&C Night, next Wednesday, will be a wine and cheese, and it will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Come on by and knit with us, meet some new people and find out what they're working on, and get ideas for holiday projects and gifts!

During the K&C Nights we'll have pre-made yarn and accessories available for sale, but custom winding of cones will not be available after 5:30. Any and all skill levels welcome -- hope to see you there!