Creativity and Connection: Hilary Cerbin's Unforgettable First Trip to Rhinebeck

In all my years of knitting, crocheting, and owning my own yarn shop, I had never made it to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival (often referred to in our industry simply as “Rhinebeck”) before. It sounded to me like a magical far-away place that I aspired to visit one day. As a co-founder of gosadi, that day came sooner than I expected, and suddenly, there I was at this amazing fall festival this year!

In anticipation of finally attending my first Rhinebeck, I held a Rhinebeck Sweater KAL at my shop in the weeks leading up to the festival. I not only needed to motivate myself to get mine done, but I loved inspiring others to make their special sweater, whether they were planning to attend or not. It worked out perfectly, and aside from maybe a few unwoven ends, my sweater was ready to debut at its first fiber festival.

As the gosadi warehouse manager (my basement), I was in possession of many things we needed for our gosadi Rhinebeck House and the festival itself. This included most of the swag provided by our incredible sponsors, as well as some household and promotional items. Flying with everything wasn’t an option, so I made plans to make the long drive from Chicago to New York on Wednesday so I could arrive fresh-faced to the gosadi House on Thursday and prepare for the weekend ahead. With a suspenseful audiobook all queued up to keep me engaged, I hit the road bright and early at 6am! With all of the changing leaves, the trip was absolutely beautiful.


Early Thursday afternoon, I joined the rest of the gosadi team to prep the gosadi house for the arrival of our Alpha designers. The gosadi house and everyone who stayed in it were SO AMAZING that you should read all about our experience in our upcoming Rhinebeck trip recap.

In addition to the actual New York State Sheep & Wool Festival are some smaller shows that take place on Friday, as many of you probably already know. I was so excited I had the opportunity to arrive early and visit  Indie Untangled, Wool & Folk, and Cakepalooza. 

They were all very different, and I crossed paths with many fiber friends at all three. As the industry knows, Wool & Folk was not a good experience this year, but I did get to meet with a couple of vendors, including  Becky of Clinton Hill Cashmere and Marian of Marianated yarns, one of our  gosadi house sponsors. We got to catch up with Amy from Knit Collage and I even got to run into one of my fave designers, Bristol Ivy and snag a quick pic.


Even though it rained nearly non-stop , it was a remarkable whirlwind of a day, meeting with so many vendors, designers and shoppers.

As an added bonus, I got to attend all of these shows with our Marketing Manager Samantha and Amazing-at-Everything Team Member Abbey! Best crew ever.

Just like that, it was Saturday and the first day of New York Sheep & Wool. Sam, Abbey and I all left the gosadi Rhinebeck House together to embark on our first festival day. Parking was in the grass just outside of the fairgrounds, but the organizers had that down to a science and it was super easy despite all of the traffic. It was a little muddy due to all the rain, so I’ve already made a note to bring better shoes next year. Live and learn!

One of the most memorable moments for me was right when we walked in because the first things we saw were kangaroos and lemurs! For a brief moment, I thought maybe we’d gone to the wrong festival (because… sheep…), but Abbey assured me that many families with kids attend and this was an attraction for them. Kangaroos and lemurs. I did NOT see that coming.


Continuing our walk through the fairgrounds, I saw so many food trucks, the tent and huge line for Sheep & Wool swag, some outdoor vendor tents on the pathways, amazing knitted and crocheted sweaters on everyone, talented authors signing books, barns full of vendors, pavilions filled with sheep and alpacas, and umbrellas everywhere because it was pouring rain again! Despite all the rain, I did hear attendees talk about how the previous year it was 80 and sunny, so I’ll take the rain any time over summer weather!


Another unforgettable moment for me was the auction, where items like wooden looms and spinning wheels were being sold. I find auctioneers hugely entertaining with their mile-a-minute chatter that I can never understand, and somehow they do this for hours. I always wonder if they are completely silent in their non-work life.

Naturally, we also had to check out all of the animals. It never ceases to amaze me how many breeds and colors of sheep there are. They are all so cute. Sheep were being herded, sheep were being sheared, sheep were just chilling, and sheep were just doing all of the other sheep things that sheep do. I loved seeing them all. 

And the alpacas! They also come in a beautiful array of colors, and none of us got spit on so I’ll call that a win. It was so peaceful to walk among all of these animals, almost like it was a bit of a break from the crowds of the other parts of the festival.

Later in the day on Saturday, it had emptied out due to the rain. I had heard that in previous years,  Saturday is significantly more crowded than Sunday, but we suspected that this year might be a bit different because the chances of rain in the forecast were slim to none on Sunday. Sure enough, we found that many people made a point of coming out on Sunday instead, and that made for a very lively second day of the festival!


I am so grateful that we had two days to explore everything because there were so many vendors to be seen, as well as sponsors to thank! We were able to speak with some of them on Saturday, but many of their booths were too crowded to get in. Sunday allowed for us to see the rest of them, and I was so happy to have that second opportunity. 

The barns and other buildings were filled with so many amazing yarns, fibers, wool, leather & wooden goods, creative packaging, stitch markers, and just so much more that I can’t even list it all. I somehow managed to spend a ridiculous amount of money with very little shopping time and my personal stash has exponentially increased.

Our team also had more time to visit with designers and shoppers on the fairgrounds outside on our second day. There were some absolutely astounding sweaters and other accessories worn by festival attendees. We ran into so many industry friends and met so many fabulous designers, knitters, and crocheters.

Check out our amazing gosadi team!


Both Samantha and Abbey have attended the New York Sheep & Wool Festival before, so they guided me through, had answers to all of my questions, and possibly prevented me from doing any embarrassing festival newbie stuff. I was so excited and definitely nerded out. But I wouldn’t have my first Rhinebeck experience go any other way!

I think I’ll attend again next year...with better shoes!

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