re view

once again i’d like to thank kristin nicholas and tara, from sixth&spring books, for their generous participation in last week’s blog interview and book giveaway. the lucky winner of colors by kristin is: jane L!

thank you everyone for participating!

the knitter’s review retreat i attended this weekend was loads of fun and a great teaching experience. as you can see, each participant received a delicious goodie bag filled with treats from the lovely event sponsors.

immediately after breakfast on saturday morning, we kicked off the day with a huge group photo outdoors. then it was on to our respective classes. i taught my “sweater fitness” class, where participants learned how to use measurements and fabric information to choose the correct sweater size, tips and tricks on using the pattern as a knitting tool, and making pattern adjustments for better fit. our class was very full and very eager to participate, which always makes for a lively few hours together—i had a great class and i hope they did, too (i think they did!). i’d love to say i got a good photo of everyone, but the room was dark and the pictures didn’t turn out so well.

after class, we grabbed some lunch, and then it was on to the market where four of us worked the briar rose booth for a few hours amidst a buzzing crowd of avid yarn fans.

chris and i were extremely lucky to have the expert help of clara’s cousin kathy and aunt judy at the sales table, which left us available to help knitters in choosing yarn and patterns (because, well, choosing among chris’s many incredible yarns and colors can be an experience that requires help).

it was a very polite (and fun!) feeding frenzy for most of the afternoon and much of the booth stock was well depleted by the end of the day (the yarn that was left, however, will be added to the online shop this week for those at home who are waiting for more).

susan, karen, and janet from the kitchener waterloo guild in ontario found a few skeins of yarn to take home (along with some patterns). i love the photo below where susan seems to be warily taking in some serious justification by karen for her purchases

karen, you don’t need to explain to us why you “need” that yarn!
it was my good fortune to spend time with this lovely trio of women—i’ll be visiting them in june for the kitchener-waterloo adjudicated knitting show and teaching at karen’s shop, shall we knit?, while i’m there. they are a ton of fun and always smiling—i can’t wait to spend more time with them.

and—omg—looks who’s buying my pattern and some of chris’s sea pearl yarn to knit it; that’s ann budd, editor and author of several well-known knitting books, including the knitter’s handy book of patterns, an all-time favorite.

we had a few chances throughout the weekend to share a brew and a barrel of laughs with this wonderful lady and i hope there is a lot more of that in my future; she is one of the warmest, most good-humored people in the business.

speaking of warm and good-humored, there’s clara, with barbara parry of foxfire fibers, sneaking a hit of cormo fumes in a not-so-private moment—oh well, that’s an example of how wool fumes can break down one’s inhibitions and good sense.

karen grover (right), was there from maine representing her gorgeous string theory yarns. that’s jane on the left, who designed the beautiful wrap she’s wearing, which appears in clara’s book, from karen’s yarn.

i finally got to have a chat with jennifer, from spirit trail fiberworks, and discovered she is the sweetest person; as beautiful a spirit as her fibers and yarns would have you think.

and wow, has her selection of incredible wooly wonders expanded over the last few years—row upon row of drool-inducing yarns, bags of fiber, and beautiful samples filled her booth.

pam and a friend (i’m SO sorry i don’t remember your name!) from storey publishing were about all day on saturday—storey generously opened their doors that afternoon to retreat participants for a tour at their facility and treated each guest to a book. i was not able to attend because our booth was so busy, but perhaps another time.

across the way, kathryn alexander’s booth of incredible multi-colored knitting wonders was hopping busy as well—adorable hat and sock kits being snatched up for christmas gift knitting as fast as knitters could manage it.

to our left, clara signed copies of her new release, the knitter’s book of wool and entertained her fans with a constant stream of dry, witty humor (we just love clara!).

melanie falick was also on hand signing books, including the beautiful, newly-released reversible knits book, by lynne barr. melanie is a long-time dear friend and it was my great pleasure to be reunited with her during this weekend. it’s been ages since we had a chance to meet and talk and so good to have some time to do both this weekend.

once everyone was shopped out for the day, it was time to relax and enjoy and evening of socializing, knitting, dinner, and more socializing. melanie gave a presentation early in the evening about her career in book publishing and the many beautiful books she has written, edited, and is currently working on.

i worked on a larger cornrow mitten while she spoke, and got my hat all the way to the point where i need to switch to DPNs to finish. i had to put that aside til i have a moment to search for the needles (i thought i packed them, but i don’t see them on the surface of any of my bags and i’ve been too lazy to dig deeper. heh.).

the late evening was devoted to a good talk with chris over a local brew and chatting with other retreat participants. that’s connie and jayme there—i got into a conversation with them very late on saturday night that resulted in continuous cracking up over nothing; maybe just to hear connie laugh one more time (she has a great laugh, totally infectious). i think the blurriness in the photo was all on my end by that point—sorry ladies.

sunday morning, we all gathered sleepily for “new beginnings” and knitting church (well, okay, they all look chipper and busy; it was just me that was sleepy and bleary).

the reverand clara presided over the congregation—we all cast on a new project specifically just for ourselves to celebrate and were blessed accordingly.

my choice was my second holidazed sock; i even got a few inches of it completed during the service. after that, the retreat broke up, everyone going their separate ways.

chris and i headed back to albany with sheila january in the afternoon, where i met up with david back at my mom’s.

i actually got lots of knitting done over the weekend, but it’s too early in the day now to have good light to take pictures of everything. i finished my fire sock (above, working on the toe), a holidazed sock, most of the cornrows set, and got some work done on my henley, too.

we all had a good dinner and then settled in for dinner and some knitting—look at her go on that afghan.

and now she’s letting me know it’s time to stop working so we can go out. so i better get to it; i’m not even going to proofread today, so excuse me in advance for typos!