Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat was a blast. Definitely worth going to. Just image an entire inn, taken over by the fiber addicted for 4 days. Add classes, food, and fiber vendors. What more could an addict ask for? I roomed with 3 other gals (2 from my old guild up in Ballard). So I went to bed talking about fibers. I woke up to fibers. I spent the entire day doing fiber activities. While not in class, I was able mingle with other like minded individuals for meals or just plain hanging around the lobby or fireplace, knitting and chatting. I learned just as much outside of the classroom as I did in the classes. Special thanks to Sarah Hauschka of The Magic Loop to teach me the fine art of using a single circular needle for sock making. My previous attempts were “eh” — not enough to convince me that it was something that I wanted to try again. But she shared some of her wisdom (the 32″ needle I used was too short for me, but the 40″ was much better — I feel like Golidlocks), and taught me the figure 8 cast on for toe-up socks. Mainly, it was to let go of the fear of a sloppy beginning. Leave it sloppy on purpose so that you can see your cast on stitches easily when it comes time to tighten them up.
Coming home and back to work was difficult. After being immersed with fiber activities for 24 hours a day to going back to the daily grind at the office. Ugh. And a house that needed unpacking. Double-ugh.
But I did squeeze in some knitting time yesterday. It was our quarterly off-site “fun” afternoon at work. Rather than partaking in the activity, I sat around to kabitzed with fellow workers and knitted the second magic loop sock. Unfortunately, I didn’t increase enough (56 instead of 64) and already turned the heel before I got home to compare it against the first sock. I’m now back at the toe region. Sigh. I was hoping to finish it for this weekend — Stitches West.
I’ll try to post pictures sometime this weekend of last weekend and this. But we are moving at the office too, as well as migrating to a new server. So things might get a little hairy.
Have a great weekend!
And who did I find watching me with eagle eyes while I was setting up? I have no idea how she got up there, and how long she was there, but l’il EliSpot was keeping a very close tabs on all the activity.
With the game on as background noise, I set myself to dyeing and spinning up some rovings that I dyed with KoolAid last summer. And it didn’t take long for EliSpot decided that she needed a rest from all the activity. She found the perfect nesting spot in my spinning basket.
And these are what I made with the yarn that I spun during the game. I got the idea from an article that I read in an old SpinOff (Spring 2001). What a great way to use up bits of dye samples and leftover yarn. I spun the yarn at 11 wpi, and knitted them with US #2 needles (48 stitches). I used about 20-22 yards for 3″ cuffs. They are keeping my wrists nice and toasty, even as I type. I think this will do quite nicely when my carpel tunnel acts up.
I will leave you with these fingerless gloves. I was hoping to finish them in time for the company ski trip on Thursday, since they are such corporate colors. But that didn’t happen. I finished one glove on the bus ride up to Squaw Valley, and casted on the second one. But with all the goings on while we were at Squaw, I didn’t finish the second one until the bus ride back down the mountain. They are very soft and warm. I’ll probably leave them at the office to wear when the HVAC gets unbearable again.