Blink

This last week of my life is proof that time flies when you’re having fun.  I’ve been busy, but in the very best ways, and so many interesting things and people have happened.

Here’s a list of 10 things I did this week.

1. I got to see and work with my friends Debbi and Stephen, even though they live really far away.

2. Besides taking really bad selfies, we went on a hike.


3. Nancy Bush came to work at the retreat, and one evening over a glass of wine, Debbi asked her what was in a big box she’d brought.

The answer was amazing.

Almost a hundred hand knits from Estonia. Mittens, socks, shawls (oh the shawls.)  She’d brought them to sell at our little retreat marketplace, and Judith, Debbi, Stephen and I are not ashamed to tell you that we did a little Christmas shopping out of that stack before any of it even saw the market.


Nobody appreciates a hand knit like another knitter.  They were beautiful.

4. I taught lace to what was quite possibly the nicest group of knitters ever assembled. The retreat had a gorgeous vibe I think.  Supportive, engaged… We really made the world the way it would be if knitters were in charge.

(That’s a little ball of  Colrain Lace.  Webs sent it along for the students in my class to use, nice yarn!) 

5. At the marketplace I got to see a great new yarn company.  It was their third day of selling stuff.

Local Color Fiber Studio is on Bainbridge Island, where they gather their natural dye stuff and create beautiful yarn. Their yarn is from sustainable farms or "upcycled" sweaters. Mark my words, they’re going to go far. Lovely things. (Right now they only have a FB page, and a little yarn, but it’s all charming.)

6. The market in general really flipped me out. We had local vendors from the community (Finnriver Farm and Cidery, HansenCrafts, Jennie Watkins fleeces and roving, Taylored Fibers, Wild Sage Teas) and it was a fun opportunity to show off one of the reasons I like that area so much.  In the evening, the retreaters brought out their wares, and it was crazy to see all the amazing things that they made.  There were letterpress notepads, hand dyed yarns, stitch markers, bags… it was pretty impressive. I loved it, and I can’t wait to do it again.

7. I got an email from my mum (she’s travelling abroad) and she said her internet was  "a bummer" and "truly sucked."  I’m still laughing. Anybody else agree she’s totally got the hang of her ipad?

8. I knit a ton, but the thing I made is drying so you can’t see it till tomorrow.

9.  One of our amazing retreaters, Leslie, brought this amazing Charkha (she made it, btw.)
She very generously let us try it if we wanted to.  I wanted to. I’d forgotten how much fun they are to spin on.

10.  I took the ferry to Seattle, something I’ve never done before.

It was pretty neat, as was arriving home, as is being here.  More later. The ceiling fell in.*

*Technically the ceiling didn’t fall in, because that choice of words implies that it was the whole ceiling, and really it’s only a largish piece of the ceiling.  It was an accident related to the neighbours renovation, and they’re very nice people who are very sorry and are totally going to fix it, but I still have some things to do.