A Week Behind!

I didn't post last Friday, because my daughter and I went to a knitting and spinning retreat.  It was the first annual "Into the Wool Fiber Retreat".  I thought about saving that post until next week, but I think I will go ahead and give my review of the retreat.

My daughter found out about the retreat last Summer, on the podcast "Just One More Row".  We were quick to sign up and place  our deposits.  Neither one of us had participated in what is basically a knitting/spinning sleep over!

We were greeted at the sign in on Friday afternoon, by the JOMR podcasters Dana and Brittany.  We both got a cool retreat bag full of a ton of stuff, including fiber to spin (from Hobbledehoy and Into the Whirled), yarn to knit (from Dyeabolical), soap to use, a cup to sip out of, and several free patterns and coupons for percentages off of other products.

There were nearly 90 participants at  the Into The Wool Fiber Retreat, and we were comfortably housed at the Lake Frances Retreat Center in Middle Tennessee, just outside of Crossville.  The Staff were wonderful and the food was very, very nice!  On top of all that Dana and Brittany, and their cohort Jess, brought snacks to tide us over when we had knit til the last drop!  Each and every participant got a door prize.  The way they did it was so much fun!  At every meal, they would show a door prize, and then draw the winners name out of a bag.  So as they were describing the item, (usually a really nice skein of yarn or maybe some roving, plus a tool or two),  you would be saying to yourself, call my name, call my name!  They did finally cal my name!  I got a skein of sock yarn (from Fishknits), and a notions bag and needle gauge thingy.

My colors and everything!

On Saturday afternoon, we held the first annual sock skein swap.  I brought two skeins that just didn't appeal to me, and I lucked out once again, with 2 lovely skeins of yarn (Madeline Tosh, Tosh sock, and  Gales Art), that will not be touching my feet, but might become a couple of scarves.  (One of them has cashmere in it!)

Then on Saturday afternoon there was a vendors market!  I came prepared to shop, but I was very clear with my list.  I wanted some sock yarn that wasn't Merino, I wanted a project bag, and I wanted some colorful fiber to spin that again, wasn't Merino.  (I have nothing against Merino, I just want to try something else!)

I ended up with a project bag, with a baseball theme, (go Braves!)  A skein of sock yarn with BFL and 2 braids of  roving,  from Daizie Knits in BFL, one has the addition of 15% nylon.  I plan to spin both braids into sock yarn.

There were classes held throughout the retreat, and several demos as well, but most of the time, it was all knit and spin all the time!  Saturday morning, I made my way early to the dining room, to find a half dozen knitters sipping coffee and merrily knitting along.  What a treat!  There were no meals to fix and absolutely no cleaning up either!  Most of the time, I was spinning on my antique spinning wheel, but I did get a bit done on a fingering weight cardigan, the Featherweight Cardigan , I am making for myself.  (The yarn recently spent 2 years in my closet as a shawl, until I figured out that while I love to knit shawls, I do not wear them! FROGGED!)  I am so pleased with how this cardigan is turning out,  I can't wait to finish it!

I had a wonderful time and I am going to be watching for the details of the second annual retreat to be held in the fall of 2015.  If you want I can let you all know when it rolls around!

Until next time, Happy spinning and weaving, Tina