Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Knitting a Book

On the final day of the retreat, Rae made a little Freudian slip and said she was "knitting a book". I thought that was such a lovely little turn of phrase! As I was laying awake last night, cursing the barista who must've given me regular instead of decaf, I was trying to think of what else I needed to say about last week and "knitting a book" was the phrase that kept popping into my head. That's really what we're all doing, isn't it?

Cat has a workshop page on her website, and I noticed that she is doing a couple of "floating retreats" where knitters will get up in the morning and hang out on the interisland ferry all day. In 2008, she's going to be joined by Lucy Neatby! That really is tempting. The ferries are so gorgeous (and a great place to knit while you're not busy gawking at the scenery).



Check out those mountains! We figure the big one is Mt. Baker, and they're so much more majestic in person. Here are a couple shots of Friday Harbor as we're pulling away:





And here are Owen & I, enjoying the breeze (okay, not really - it was COLD!):



The kids' favorite part of the ride (besides the video games with steering wheels) were the snacks from the vending machine. Mmmm, M&Ms!



There are a couple of other projects that I'm allowed to say a little bit about - Carol Breitner (the genius behind those tiny little sock earrings) is writing a great book on socks that fit. She's going to have socks well beyond the usual size range of Women's M and has a very cool trick for custom fitting your socks and making the most of your yarn.

Erica & Michael, who were returning attendees, are going to be starting up a podcast called The Wayward Knitters, and it promises to be not-to-be-missed. They are a husband-and-wife duo of mad knitters (as in, they've got mad skillz) who infuse their life with the fiber arts. They've also recently started homeschooling their two younger kiddos, who were also visitors at the retreat and just delightful, and I will be particularly interested in hearing about how they use the fiber arts in an educational fashion. I'll let you know when they get their first episode up!

Everyone else is still in the incubation phase with their ideas, but I just want to say how great it was to meet y'all - new attendees Barb, Leslie (who's also in Portland!), Cookie, Rae, Carol, Margaret, Pieter, Chris, and the one-who-shall-remain-nameless. And thank you so much to the returning attendees for all your amazing help - Jennifer, Darlene (who also wowed us with her spindle skills), Karen, Erica and Michael, and the incredible lace goddess, Myrna Stahman. And of course, our fearless leader Cat, and the other self-publishing expert who lives on the island, bead artist Robin Atkins, who shared her experiences of publishing with someone else (Interweave) as well as on her own. Thank you all!!!

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