November 19, 2009
Problem Solving
Yesterday, I cast off those pretty socks, smirked for a bit and then realized that for the first time in a long time... I didn't have another pair of socks on the go - or not here anyway. (If I was home I would have had another few choices, as I have the basket of abandoned sock projects that I can rifle.) Luckily for me I'm travelling with Tina - who usually has a fair bit of sock yarn on her, but before I decided to break into her car and look for a little skein of something pretty, we noticed that the fridges level of beer was getting perilously low, and we decided to go to town. Town here is Port Hadlock, or at least that's the closest town with a grocery store, so we struck out in the wind and rain in search of replacement beer. We found the store with no trouble, and on our way back to the car we saw it. A yarn store. Dinah's Yarn Shop, to be precise, and like moths to a flame, we were in.
One cozy hour later, after seeing many charming things, and getting a special demo of the very cool Hansen Crafts MiniSpinner (They're local) we staggered out of there, with rather more wool than we came in with, and a plan. Both Tina and I cast on for a swirl scarf with Jojoland Melody yarn, and spent the evening exploring all of the ways that it is possible to screw up the pattern. At one point I actually went to Ravelry to make sure that someone else had ever finished one, since it seemed impossible for either of us to make it correctly through one swirl. (This trip to Rav was devastating. Not only have lots of people finished this, most of them did the shawl rather than the scarf. Obviously it's me. I'm trying not to take it too hard.) 
This is, after several hours of knitting, all I've got (please pardon the photo. I had to take it in poor light because it's still raining) - and I'm light years ahead of Tina, who had to start over an extra time because she accidentally took my yarn out of the bag and started with that, and I made her give it back, even though she was underway. (What can I say. It was my yarn.) I'm getting the better of if tonight. I can feel it.
In other news: 
Another Port Ludlow employee knitting. (This is Dana, and I've just showed her how to purl.) It's really all over but the crying for them.
November 18, 2009
Weekend Report
The little retreat is over here at Port Ludlow, and it was simply wonderful. The only thing I could have wished for was better weather, since it has been rainy and windy, enough so that the wind kept some knitters up at night, so fierce was the noise. It's also fierce enough that Tina and I have waged a constant war with the wind to keep it from throwing our deck chairs into the sea, and they're heavy metal chairs, not the plastic ones that are just toys to the wind. It's windy enough that it stopped some ferries and closed or badly slowed bridges (adding an element of excitement to travel plans for many knitters.) and stormy enough that almost the entire community had no power day before yesterday. (That passed pretty quickly.) On the upside, the grey windy rain also created a cozy atmosphere, hard to beat for a lot of fibre people, as we all gathered together in the warm hotel, knitting, spinning and dyeing. 
This whole hotel was booked out by knitters, and I think we were a source of non-stop entertainment to the staff, who have responded in a way I'd never dreamed of. Since the last time we filled the place full, most of the staff has taken up knitting. (In fact, of the four desk clerks, one showed us her scarf in progress when we arrived, another bought a spinning wheel from Morgaine on Saturday, the third already knew how to knit, and Tina and I have a date with the fourth tonight - already a crocheter, to complete the set. If you're checking into Port Ludlow, there's a knitter there to greet you.) 
(Morgaine holds court.)
Tina taught a little dyeing and a lot of colour, I taught a lot of history, tools, books and lever knitting, and further to our belief that all knitters should have at least a working knowledge of spinning to help them really understand yarn - we (with a lot of help from Morgaine) taught spinning all over the place. 
(That's my class - right before they inexplicably all went to the bar and brought back drinks. Wonder what that means?) 
(Steve shows off his socks at show and tell)
I'm always surprised at these things how much knitting there is around without there being much knitting being done by me. There's very little knitting while teaching - or rather, there's a lot but it's all swatches and such... and in the evenings we're talking and organizing, and then there's nothing left of a day except to fall over and sleep. Still, even puttering away a little at a time I finished these pretty socks. 
STR mediumweight in Blue Lagoon (a colour that's not up yet but will be soon, or so Tina tells me. I'm not the boss of her yarn, just the thief who steals yarn from her desk before its time.) 
Pattern is Holidazed, by Anne Hanson, a pattern I really love. It's easy to memorize, unisex, and since it's knit with mediumweight (seems to me like a light dk weight) on 2.5mm needles the socks in size small are only 48 stitches around. They fly.
It was a grand time, I have new socks, and I can't wait to do it again. The students were a blast, the staff was a blast, and even the fact that another impending storm (a big one) is going to pin me down and delay my travel home until Saturday can't take the happy off me. I'm going to cozy up by the fire in a new pair of socks, watch the big storm come over the sea (maybe lash the chairs down with some yarn) and hunker down with a good porter (rather fond of the local Deschutes) until it lets up. 
I think I'll knit.
November 13, 2009
Happenings
1. I am at Port Ludlow, and the knitters arrive today. I'm pretty excited about that. 
2. I admit that at least part of the fun comes from the staff at the resort trying to act like a whole hotel full of knitters is absolutely normal and they aren't flipped by it at all. It's charming.
3. There is not a single room in this hotel rented to anyone but a knitter.
4. It's like the world of my dreams.
5. I can't wait until the store is open to the public on Saturday afternoon and even more knitters come.
6. It is not often that we outnumber them this way.
7. I can't wait to see how they feel about the spinners.
8. I was so excited on the plane that I prematurely ended a sock. Now it's too short and I have to rip it back. 
(Yarn, STR mediumweight, colour is a trial run of "blue Lagoon", which isn't for sale yet but will be Nov. 28th.) pattern "Holidazed" by Anne Hanson.)
9. I hear that's a common problem that happens to all knitters sooner or later and I shouldn't feel badly about it.
November 11, 2009
Telegram from an Airport
Finished Nutkins last night so I could wear them on the plane going to Port Ludlow. Stop. 
They are as sparkly as I hoped. Starry yarn very much so. Stop.
2% silver does not bother metal detectors at Airport. They didn't make me stop. Stop. 
Mirrored cables, and changed toes. Otherwise, knit as instructed. Have more sparkly yarn in suitcase, as I'm worried that I can't stop. Stop. 
Was knitting socks on plane when seatmate remarked that I seem to knit all the time. He said "you look like you never stop".
I said nothing.
Stop.
