A Stitch In Time

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I’m overdue talking about the amazing time I had on my spinning retreat, so you are going to hear about that rather than Rheinbeck today. 

The spinning retreat is held by the Moon Spinners every autumn at Shrine Mont in Shennendoah Valley, VA.  I was lucky enough to be invited to attend this year, so I worked in my office until lunch time on Wednesday the 11th and came home, packed up the car and drove down to Shrine Mont where I was afforded one of the most lovely views and drives possible this time of year.  It is a stunningly beautiful place that felt like home the moment I walked in.  And the food!  Oh!  Exquisite!  While I wouldn’t describe it as “low fat” or “healthy” per se, it was fabulous!  Wonderful vegetables, fresh and flavorful, grits to swoon over apple pie that was scrumptious, fried chicken and meatloaf to remember, and oh so much more.  Seriously, if you left any meal hungry it was your own fault. 

I did some hiking and took a lot of photos.  Here are some of the best ones from the areas around and in Shrine Mont.

Isn’t it a lovely place?  I felt so peaceful and calm there.  It was as if the world simply didn’t matter anymore with all of its problems and issues.  And the company of more than 20 other spinners was something that warmed my heart and my soul.  There were amazingly talented women at the retreat and I am so lucky to have been among them.  LeeAnn, one of the ladies in attendance made gorgeous crocheted and stuffed animals, here are a couple of her creations.


The German Pinscher was created completely during the retreat!  Design and all based on photos of Karen’s dogs.  It was amazing to see that kind of talent and creativity.  VERY inspiring.

So much was accomplished by all of these ladies, and such a sweet spirit and fun attitude that pervaded the group.  I am so fortunate to have been included with these wonderful women. 

So, what did I accomplish you might ask? I spun 15 ounces of fiber!  And plied 12oz!  The one item I did not ply while at the retreat is the autumn colord yarn, which is 3.7oz.  That I navajo plied at Deb’s house over the Rheinbeck weekend.  Not only did I do all that spinning, but I also knit a pair of baby socks for my friend J’s baby to be, due in December.  Which by the way is the secret knitting project i was working on for a few weeks. A set for the baby to be.

I can hardly believe what a fun and wonderful experience I had at the retreat and I am so grateful to have been invited.  Next up, Rheinbeck!

Ok, to all of you out there with me as a square on their blogger bingo card for Rheinbeck, here’s a photo of my head, and the hat I will be wearing.  The button will be on the backl of the hat.

I’m on my way to go see Deb, and tomorrow we are going to go up to Rheinbeck together!  I’m so excited

When I get home I will talk about my Retreat.

Well, I have a lot to talk about.  I’ve been a tad bit swamped at my day job, but in a good way.  Things have settled somewhat which makes me happy.  Butr first, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Monica!  Monica is from Australia and she was my secret Roving Swap buddy!  And BOY OH BOY am I a lucky girl.  And wowie does she ever have me pegged!  She Handpainted me some Merino roving in my absolute favorite colors!  I mean lime green, purple, magenta, blues and teals all in one roving?  HEAVEN!  Ok, I guess I should stop extolling the virtues of something you haven’t been able to see yet.    SO, here are 2 photos that don’t do it justice at all.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

Now, what Have I been up to lately?  Well, I did a lot of spinning for the Summer Spinning Challenge and here it all is grouped together with the exception of one in progress cotton/wool on the Louet in the 2nd photo.

That’s Aussie Bond, Pansy, Red Onion Skin dyed Merino, and Merino/silk/acrylic for another Streakers Shrug for my MIL.  All told, well over a pound.

I’ve been knitting too!
Here’s the Stole I’ve been working on.

I’ve also been knitting a super secret project that I can’t disclose until after the end of the month.  I have a deadline and I need to get crackin.  3 parts, one is done. 

So, all in all, life is grand.  I’m getting ready to go on a spinning retreat to Shrine Mont and I cannot wait.  I leave tomorrow afternoon at about noon and I will be home sometime on Sunday.  Look for lots of mountain photos as well as spinning progress on things I haven’t worked on ever before.  (Rovings I don’t think you all have seen yet…)

Ok, I’d best get to bed so i can get a fresh start at work and then go and play!  I’m not sure if I will have web access or not so see you next week!

I realize that I have been conspicuously absent for about a month or so.  I have no excuses other than the fact that life was busy.  If you ask any number of my friends, Anne, J, Vee, Vicki, Shelley, P, L, and S you will probably get the response of “I haven’t talked to her since well a while ago anyway.“  Yes, I’ve been somewhat unavailable lately.  Things have settled down a little bit finally though.  Yay!

Of course, that being said I should also note that I haven’t been doing much in the way of knitting.  I’ve done some spinning though.  I am working on a top secret knitting project though that has a rather strict deadline.  We’ll see if I can pull it out or not.  You won’t see anything on here about it for a while though.

I’ve been reading lots of people’s answers to the 10 Knitterly things meme, and while I haven’t been tagged per se, I thought I would distract you from the lack of photos with my answers to said meme.

1. I have a hard time starting a project.  Deciding what I want to knit and what I want to use to knit it is easy.  Actually starting is a challenge for me.  I also have this issue when I start a new piece of a sweater.  For some reason, that initial cast on is a challenge for me.  Case in point.  I have the back of SIv done, but no other part of it is even on my needles.  Why?  No reason other than that whole starting weirdness of mine.

2. I’m VERY picky about lace.  What I mean is really that I am hard to please.  I look at almost every shawl pattern and see a part of it that I don’t like. I’ve knit 3 lace shawls to date, and 2 were Charlotte’s web shawls in different colorways.  My first lace shawl was the Gatsby shawl and I LOVED it.  I loved everything about it.  In fact, I may re-knit it so I can have one for me.  (I gave the original to my mother in law because I love her very much and knew she would appreciate it.)  I might do it out of my handspun…

3. Knitting is very much about color for me.  It’s not that fiber and texture are unimportant, but it is the color that will make or break a project for me.  If I don’t love it, the knitting will be slow and painful.  But, things like fair isle and charlotte’s web shawls go really fast for me because of the variety.

4. I love metal knitting needles to almost the exclusion of all else.  Addi’s and now Knit Picks are my favorites.  I also sometimes use Susan Bates double points for socks, but I also really like Bryspun double points.  Wood needles?  Not my favorites at all.

5. I’m a fairly tight knitter.  This doesn’t bother me much at all, but it surprises a lot of other people when they see what size needles I use for things.

6. Because of the whole tight knitter thing guage is ALWAYS a challenge for me to get.  Except when I use my own handspun.  Oddly enough, I get perfect guage both row and stitch when I use my handspun.  Sometimes even with the same needle size in the pattern.  I’m not sure why this is as I don’t do anything different per se except for the using my own handspun part.  It’s very odd and I’m forever smiling about it.  It makes me laugh.

7. I enjoy knitting socks but I am worried that they won’t fit me properly.  (I had one pair not fit me and gave them away now I am forever worried about it.)  This is fairly irrational I realize, but it still worries me and keeps me from knitting socks for anyone else. 

8.  Charity knitting is not something I am likely to do much of.  It’s simply not in my personal make up to do.  I do donate my time and money to many charities, but knitting is too special to me.  I have enough difficulty giving my knitting away as gifts.  It doesn’t happen often, and I try to be very careful about the recipients.  Perhaps this makes me selfish, but it is what it is. 

9. I will try anything knitting or craft related without a second thought if I like it.  Case in point, my 2nd knitting project after the “learning scarf” was an intarsia bag.  I didn’t realize that this was supposed to be “difficult”.  I just did it because I liked it.  My 3rd project?  Socks.  My first sweater with sleeves was a Philosopher’s Wool Sweater which had both fair isle and steeks.  I loved working on it and I hope to do more fair isle sweaters with my own handspun. 

10.  I do not like knitting with bulky yarns and/or larger diameter needles.  About a US size 9 is as big as I care to use normally.  Since I am short, big chunky knits tend to look pretty bad on me so I just don’t make them.  I think they are wonderful on others and I envy the ability to crank out a project quickly.

Pictures are forthcoming.  Honest.