So the retreat. I left early Wednesday morning and picked up my passenger, Peggy. We were traveling with (different) Peggy and Rebecca. Our first stop was Bainbridge. We had brunch at the Streamliner Diner and visited Churchmouse. I also got to pick up my most favorite travel coffee mug that I left at the Bead Garden the last time I visited Bainbridge.
Next we traveled to Port Gamble to visit Heidi Parra's exquisite shop, The Artful Ewe. Located in the old fire house, the shop is filled with hand-dyed yarns, hand-spun yarns, spinning fiber, spinning wheels and just about everything else fibery you could want to see and feel.
I fell particularly hard for a handspun skein of cashmere. I believe I stood, squishing it in my hands, for a good five minutes. Heavenly. But since I have more spinning fiber than I will ever spin I left with only one purchase.
It's one of Heidi's "Batts of Beast." The label says, "may contain any or all of the following fibers: alpaca, angora, baby camel, cashmere, silk, mohair, blue face leicester and merino wool." That's some good stuff. This one is terribly soft and pretty. Sadly only two ounces.
Next stop a new shop in Port Hadlock called the Textile Arts Company. They had only been open for 8 days when we visited. The space is HUGE with lots of room to sit and relax. Then we headed to Port Townsend for a late light lunch. We slipped out of town just before the Halloween parade began and pulled into Fort Worden.
The retreat is entirely unstructured. There are no classes. It is simply a chance to spend several days with other knitters. I brought my wheel and got lots of spinning done. I'm nearly finished with all my class samples. I completed my swatch hat the first night and jumped into the sweater. After casting on a few times (don't ask) I started the ribbing. I realized soon that this sweater, Am Kamin, will require more thought and planning than I could pull together in a giant room full of people. I set it aside and instead worked on my Crystalline Lattice sock. I found the free pattern just before leaving on the trip and I'm knitting them in my own handspun! The yarn has been sitting in my stash for well over a year. These are my first handspun socks and they are turning out great.
One afternoon I headed to the bathroom. As I lowered my pants I heard a *plop!*.
Yup, that's my room key. Fell out of my back pocket and straight into the toilet. Fortunately I had a spare plastic bag and was able to fish it out without actually touching toilet water. Ick!
So, other than having to reach into a toilet, I had a great weekend!
I'm going to try to photograph all my new yarns tomorrow including my incredible door prize which you'll have to wait to hear about.
