Knitting In Public

Last weekend I managed to escape daily life and head off to a ‘quilting’ retreat. No, I don’t really quilt (although I have some material that is headed in that direction, one day). The retreat center is set up for quilting: lots of lights, tables to set up your sewing machine, irons & ironing boards, etc. But that doesn’t mean you have to quilt:

This is Shelley & Jody (oops - hope her name isn’t spelled Jodi….) I have been on this kind of retreat with Shelley before, but this time I had a chance to meet her daughter.

Jody was painting Christmas figurines. Shelley did some quilting (the only one who did!) but also did some knitting.

Diane & Courtney did some scrapbooking. Diane was putting photos in albums, and we convinced her she should consider getting into scrapbooking! Courtney shared her supplies and gave Diane some quick pointers. I’ve been on these retreats with both Courtney and Diane as well (Diane was the one who invited me). We have a lot of fun, chat, and snack half the night.

Courtney has a new reason to scrapbook:

Her new baby, Addison. What a cutie! Addison was able to visit us for a few hours. Such a happy baby!

This retreat center was a new place for us. We all decided this was much nicer than the place we’ve been to before - better beds, quieter, cleaner, nicer setup. It is a bit more expensive, but was worth it. We had the place to ourselves, but we’re not sure if it would be as nice if we had to share with another group.

Diane and I were up until 2:30 a.m. Reminds me of the ‘old days’ - except that I can’t recover from those late nights as easily as I used to! Despite that, I didn’t get as much knitting done as I’d like. Perhaps I’m just a slooow knitter. 

I’ll post progress photos tomorrow, but here’s a teaser: the swatches I made for the Hanami stole that will (hopefully) be a Christmas gift for my sister.

Jaggerspun Zephyr wool-silk, Curry color. Top swatch is size 3 needles, bottom is size 4. The bottom swatch I used the beaded cast on and did most of the ruffle edging called for on the other end of the stole. Totally unimpressed. I think I’m going to use some kind of beaded cast off instead.

Beaded edge close-up. Still not entirely convinced I like these beads with this yarn. I go back and forth on it. They match up pretty well, depending on the angle at which you view them. I know I’m a matchy-matchy kind of person - either it should be the same color, or it should be wildly different. This was the best match for the yarn, though. Perhaps I will like it better in the completed stole.

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