I Guess I'm a Social Knitter

Oh my, I did go to the 2 1/2 day knitting retreat about which I posted last week. It went from last Friday-Sunday. And then, come Wednesday, a knitting friend had 3 of us over for fondue, a fun craft and knitting. And then that evening my roommate from the retreat had a coupon for one night in a nearby resort so she came and invited a few knitting friends to her room to Knit. So I've had some good knitting time with great company this past week. I really should get some housework done. But I digress.

Hard at work on Fair Isle hats. And on
a smart phone.

Early stage of my Ojo de Dios Shawl.

A brief summary of the knitting retreat would go as follows: there were 2 classes, one that I taught on my Fair Isle hats and another taught by a great knitter doing the Ojo de Dios Shawl.

Learning new skills.

It is an awesome shawl with a unique triangle pattern. I started it and have 5.5 triangles out of the required 17 knitted already. (You should really go to the link above for it and see how great it is.) There were two other sessions, one on chart reading and another informative session by a pattern designer. You know, like those great patterns we see in Vogue Knitting or Love of Knitting, well she designs some of those patterns. It is quite a process.

On the last day of the retreat we went to the local yarn shop that put on the retreat. We all got door prizes (various knitting bags with goodies inside) and had a presentation of the "art knits" done by the owner. She is a musician and she is an artist. And her palate is yarn. She makes fabulous shawls using super chunky and novelty yarns. She is quite an inspiration.

Look at all that luscious yarn. 

We had continental breakfasts provided by the inn in which we stayed and lunches were provided and catered in as part of the registration fee. Dinners were on our own and we were given 3 hours to rustle up food. That gave us plenty of time to get a jump start for the evening open knitting. We talked and knitted and snacked and talked some more. I only knew one of the ladies ahead of time, my roomie, so I made new friends with several others there. It was quite a time!

Karla, my friend and weekend roommate.

A peek at one of the tables during evening
open knitting. That's my sock in the foreground.

For the door prize I received when my name was drawn, I got a great knitting bag, a ball of multi-colored Cotone and a Vogue Knitting magazine.

So, of course I had to buy coordinating yarns to make something pretty with the free ball. So here's what I bought. With it I plan to make a narrow summer scarf to wear with a pretty shirt or dress.

I had taken, oh, maybe ten projects to work on. What I actually worked on was my Ojo de Dios Shawl for class, the fair isle hat I started for demonstrating during my class, the sock I've been working on and I started a Gallatin Shawl. I'm using Cascade Yarn's Sunseeker. 

My Fair Isle for demonstration purposes.
It is Basic Norwegian Star.

Gallatin Scarf

And I can't quit describing the Knitting Retreat without showing a photo or two of the fun things I purchased. 

Now, onto Wednesday and fondue day, we had yummy cheese and chocolate fondues, with amazing things to dip, provided by each one of us. The craft was cute litte peat pots that my friend had lightly spray painted and then we embellished with all kinds of jewels, trim, vintage buttons, and various other niceties. When the food and crafts were put away, we pulled out the ol' knitting bags.

And the evening at the resort was mostly just spent eating other goodies, dips, chips, and cookies. And knitting! And talking. Alot.

So I guess I'm a social knitter.

What fiber fun have you been having?