Alrighty, this is getting ridiculous.  We were gone just over 48 hours, you’d think I could tell you all about this in less than half a dozen posts.

When we last spoke, we were pulling away from the Schaefer yarn outlet.  After such an experience, we needed something restorative.  We headed over to Finger Lakes Distilling.  We’ve been going there since they opened and their products have just gotten better.  We supplemented the basement supplies and set out for lunch.

Somehow, no one quite knows how, Finger Lakes Fibers just happened to be between where we parked and the restaurant.  It seemed foolish not to pop in for just a moment.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this:

It’s hard to see it in the photo (the ink on the label wasn’t super dark), but that’s Embonpoint, one of my very very early patterns!  It was just laying there, all casual like, on top of a basket of Nichole yarn.  I made a little squeak (spotting ‘my’ knitting in the wild never fails to delight), snapped a picture, and then promptly trotted off to the counter to buy that lovely red skein over on the far left of the picture. It’s mine, you can’t have it.

The yarn monster thus fully sated, we headed down the street to Roosterfish Brewing for lunch.  Possibly a beer too.  Now Roosterfish just happens to be conveniently located near Lakewood Vineyards, another old favorite.  It would have been rude not to stop by.  Then it was over to Bully Hill (not at all conveniently located, but too long-standing a tradition to ignore).  All together, it was rather a long day, so we retired to the hotel for a restorative nap.  We rounded off the evening with dinner at the Bandwagon Brewpub in Ithaca.  (See me being all efficient there and just breezing over the yarn-deficient parts of the trip with great speed?)

The next morning saw breakfast with some dear friends, a stop at the Ithaca farmer’s market to snag a bit more cider (from Eve’s Cidery), 12 pounds of honey, and a necklace/earrings made of rocks (rocks I tell you…damn cool).  Then we were on the road and heading to Hemlock.  Why Hemlock?  Because that’s where the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival is of course.  This whole trip came together at the last minute, and when I realized the festival was the same weekend, it seemed like far too much of a coincidence to pass up.  We stopped on the way for lunch, and then spent a lovely two hours wandering around among the sheep and goats and llamas and other furry critters.

Go ahead.  You try and resist that face.  I dare you.  Somehow, I actually managed not to buy any yarn or fiber.  Shocking I know.  I’ll blame my unwarranted self restraint on the resolution not to buy any more fiber until I get a spinning wheel.

As the fair closed, we headed back home to make up with the kittens and try and soothe their outrage at having been left alone for two whole nights.  With luck, they’ll be talking to us again any day now.