The Power of a Locally Made Rhinebeck Sweater

“Every sweater [knit with local yarn] would directly support a farmer raising sheep, a shearer collecting the wool, and the scouring, carding, spinning, and dyeing operations that turn raw fleece into yarn. It would move through mills, local yarn shops, and indie dyers—keeping dollars circulating in our communities and ensuring that these skills and businesses remain strong for the next generation.”
—Mary Jeanne Packer, co-founder of the Huson Valley Textile Project

While October 2026 may seem far away, it’s not too early to begin thinking about your next Rhinebeck Sweater. At this year’s New York Sheep and Wool Festival (NYSW)—known in the fiber community as “Rhinebeck” because of the event’s proximity to the town of Rhinebeck—the Hudson Valley Textile Project (HVTP) introduced a new program called Rhinebeck Sweaters for Good, designed to encourage knitters to use local yarns for their 2026 festival sweaters.

Abby Henderson, HVTP’s outreach and education specialist, says, “This initiative really came together in the couple of weeks leading up to the event. As we were planning for our booth, we kept thinking about everything that makes Rhinebeck special—the excitement, the creativity, and of course, the tradition of the Rhinebeck Sweater. That got us wondering: What if more of those sweaters were made from local yarn? What if 100 were? Or 500? The more we imagined it, the more it felt like something that could make a real difference for our regional fiber businesses.”

The organization made Rhinebeck Sweaters for Good the cornerstone of their booth, featuring pins, stickers, a big banner—and a catchy logo. At the October 2025 event, they gathered over 400 pledges from folks excited to commit to using local yarns for their 2026 garments, and HVTP co-founder Mary Jeanne Packer has high hopes for viral numbers going forward. “By the time we get to the 2026 Sheep and Wool Festival, I’d love to see over 5,000 sweaters made with locally sourced and processed fibers! That would be about 10,000 pounds of yarn coming from over 4,000 sheep.”

More than 400 people signed the pledge to use local yarn for their 2026 Rhinebeck sweater during the 2025 event.

Mary Jeanne points out that knitters can buy their yarn direct from farms, mills, and dyers that are members of the HVTP, or from their LYS—more and more shops are carrying and promoting locally milled yarn. “The Sweaters for Good project involves and benefits the entire supply chain, from farmers to knitters and crocheters. Participants can show their support for the family-owned small businesses and non-profits that make up the local yarn supply chain by taking the pledge and getting ready to cast on for next year’s Rhinebeck Sweater now.”

The Backstory

The Rhinebeck Sweater tradition has been around for years, and sweater-spotting has long been a NYSW activity. Even the idea of using local and small-batch yarns is not a new concept. In 2013 Ysolda Teague published a book called The Rhinebeck Sweater which is a compilation of 12 festival-worthy patterns by knitting designers including Ysolda herself, Gudrun Johnston, and Mary Jane Mucklestone. In a Knitters’ Review post about the book, yarn guru Clara Parkes wrote, “Whereas the rest of the world may not always understand the significance of a brand-new sweater, at Rhinebeck you’re guaranteed an appreciative audience. Such an appreciative audience, in fact, that a tradition of knitting a special Rhinebeck sweater has evolved. For weeks leading up to the event, people post pictures of their works in progress. It’s a race to the finish line, and many a Rhinebeck sweater has been blocked on hotel beds the night before.” Using local fiber was a theme in the book—each design used a yarn sold at the event, and Clara even wrote a chapter called “On Stashing, Snacking, and the Merits of Local Yarn.”

In the years since 2013, the Rhinebeck Sweater has become a phenomenon written about in mainstream media platforms from the New York Times to Women’s Wear Daily and has moved beyond a focus on using local fiber. Big name designers often partner with yarn companies large and small to design the garment that hopes to become the “It Sweater” of the year. HVTP’s new program urges knitters to choose locally produced yarns, no matter what design they choose to make, thus creating more awareness of the expanding fiber resources in the northeast. Michael Seelbach, owner of Upland Fiber Company, notes, “New York Sheep & Wool is the Super Bowl of yarn festivals, with many knitters making a Rhinebeck Sweater specifically for the event every year. To remind folks that they could be supporting local vendors, farms, and mills with their choice of yarns is fantastic, and as a company who produces yarn in New York State and is also a member of the HVTP, we’re thrilled to help spread the word.”

Morehouse Merino showcases their Rhinebeck Sweater pick, a Shetland Handspun design made from yarn grown right on their Hudson Valley farm.

What’s the Spin?

While HVTP realized that they were getting too late a start to give folks enough time to make their 2025 projects with locally produced yarn, they knew the idea was a winner and it was perfect timing to plant the seed for Rhinebeck 2026 sweater knitting. Abby sent out a newsletter to members explaining the concept, and things took off from there. Member Ann Senter says, “Abby’s newsletter piece was catalyst to the campaign. She described the impact of even a quarter of our email recipients making their sweaters with local wool. I think we all immediately recognized a great idea and terrific logo—it supports the HVTP mission, is easily actionable, and takes advantage of the already growing interest in both natural fibers and sourcing purchases locally.”

Abby adds, “It began through the magic of Instagram. We shared one post about the idea and immediately saw a huge wave of excitement—people were commenting, tagging friends, sharing it everywhere. We knew we’d struck a chord. From there, we reached out to our HVTP network, and everyone jumped in. Members donated to cover printing costs for banners, buttons, and stickers, and we created printable signs for vendors selling local yarn. The community buy-in was incredible. The only reason it came together so fast was because everyone believed in it right away.”

Sign Me Up!

It’s a perfect time to join in, even if you have no idea what sweater you’ll be knitting yet; knitters can make a pledge through the HVTP website. Abby says, “Once you take the pledge, you’ll get updates throughout the year. We’d also love for people to share the idea with their knitting groups and local yarn shops. This is a community-driven effort, and it grows every time someone new joins the movement.”

And they emphasize that the knit-local effort is not limited to the Hudson Valley region—the HVTV would love to see Sweaters for Good grow nationally. Ann Senter explains, “We’ve been asked what we mean by ‘local.’ While the HVTP mission is promoting natural fiber economy across Northeast region, we encourage everyone everywhere to be curious about what they are buying and consider regionally produced products. Like the farm-to-table movement, we are raising awareness about the benefits to local economies—wherever you live, consider the source of yarn you use. If you are in Montana, please buy yarn that comes from wool produced in your community!”

Abby Henderson articulates HVTP’s vision for the fruits of their efforts at Rhinebeck. “We’d love to see a big local sweater meetup on the hill. I can just picture a whole crowd of knitters showing off their sweaters made from local yarn—it would be such a full-circle moment. And beyond the festival, we hope to hear from our network that they’re seeing an uptick in local yarn sales, that yarn brands are reaching out wanting to shift toward using our beautiful Northeast-grown wool instead of imported fiber, and that when we walk into a neighborhood knitting night, we’ll hear people chatting about their favorite local yarns.”

Resources

• Hudson Valley Textile Project

• New York Sheep and Wool Festival

• On the heels of the Rhinebeck Sweaters for Good campaign, HVTP heard from knitters and designers who are eager to work with local yarns—but need an easier way to find them.

  Check out the resulting Hudson Valley Textile Project Local Yarn Guide, which shows at a glance wools that are grown, milled, and dyed in the Northeast.