Settle in, folks!

I'm back from San Juan Island, and let me tell you, it was incredible. What a week! But first, for anyone who's wondering about my last post, the person of whom I was talking and I worked everything out with no hard feelings. When she first found out about the post, she didn't realize who I was (since I haven't seen her since college and my last name has changed since then), so she was understandably upset about a stranger seemingly talking smack about her on the internet. Anyway, lesson learned!

Now, back to the workshop. I told you a couple of the folks who were there in my earlier post (there was very spotty internet access at the lodge, and I didn't have much time for blogging anyway), and there were several more there who are planning to do exciting things. Most of it is stuff I can't really talk about (because then I'd have to kill you, which would go against my pacifist nature), and in fact one person's mere presence at the lodge is top secret. It's too bad, because she has some other non-secret stuff that she's doing that I'd really love to share with you, but that will have to wait until I can figure out a way to talk about her without revealing that she was there.

A little recap, for those of you who are just tuning in. This retreat of which I speak is called the Visionary Retreat for Self-Publishing Knit Designers and it's led by self-publishing genius Cat Bordhi (her self-published book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles continues to sell like hotcakes, along with her two books on Moebius Knitting and some upcoming gems that will be released over the next couple years). Basically, we learn about self-publishing, present our book ideas and brainstorm as a group about how we can make each idea the very best it can be. This year there were 10 new participants and six returnees, and let me tell you, it was exhausting doing all that thinking! Introvert that I am, it is especially exhausting for me to deal with groups of people I don't know well, particularly when I need to contribute useful ideas during group discussions. I survived, and hopefully made an insightful comment or two. I will say that this was such a wonderful group, it was much easier for me to participate to the extent that I did. Knitters are so awesome!

Since this blog has been all text lately (and I wouldn't blame half of you for unsubscribing - hopefully the moving of the sock-a-month talk to its own blog will make this one a little bit more interesting), here are some pictures! First up, our trip to the local alpaca farm, Krystal Acres. As Cat describes it, if Martha Stewart was going to operate an alpaca farm, it would be like this one. Lakes all over the property, and tons of adorable little alpacas dotting hillsides for as far as the eye could see.



Here's Sydney with her new friends:



That's Chris de Longpre from Knitting at Knoon over on the left. Go check out the video tutorials on her website - she has the world's most soothing voice!

The alpacas really liked the kids, and would all watch them wherever they went. It was pretty funny. Here they are watching over Owen (he's running down the path towards us).



Here's a little nursing in public going on!



Here they are watching Owen run down the path away from us.



So cute! The lodge that we stayed at is called Lakedale, and it's lovely. Here is the front porch of our 2-bedroom cabin:



And here's our view out the front - that's a little finger of lake coming over in our direction (we were right at the end of it).



The water is a little hard to see because of the reflection of the trees, but it's there. We had ducks swim by throughout the day and honking geese flying over every morning. There was also a flock (is that the right term?) of Trumpeter Swans on the lake - they really do sound like trumpets!

I didn't get any pictures of the outside of the big lodge (you can see it on their website), but here's my one shot of our little work area.



That is Sydney talking to Margaret Fisher, knit instructor extraordinaire (you can take her classes this spring at either Stitches West or Camp Stitches, and if you have the chance, I'd highly recommend it!). She is just a lovely person.

Here is a very bad shot of the view of the lake from the lodge deck:



It was so peaceful to be able to gaze out the window at the ducks on the lake, or watch the rain drift through off and on. It is really a beautiful spot.

Well, that's probably enough retreat talk for now - I'll probably be talking about this for weeks, so be warned. Now it's time to go spend some time with the family, since I barely saw them all week (thank goodness my mother-in-law came with us to help with the kids, or the results of Bill alone in that cabin with them all week could've been disastrous).

For those of you who have sent in your sign-ups for SAM3, I promise I haven't forgotten you! Once I can get my head back out of the clouds, I'll get to work with Karen and Stariel and get all of you signed up. We've also got some great vendor deals for SAM3ers, which will be posted on the SAM3 blog ASAP. Also, the KAL for the Lacy Cabled Scoop is gearing up, and I'll be posting over on the KAL blog about my design process/inspiration and also my progress if I decide to take on knitting along (I'm still on the fence about that one - I really want to, but it's hard to take the time to knit something for fun these days!)

Whew!