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.

Posted by Stephanie at November 18, 2009 5:07 PM