Back from Delavan!

Well, I can see that none of you did your homework. Bad, bad blog readers!

Oh, its okay. I was too busy knitting to mind.

The Heartland Knitting retreat was great fun, and Dee did an amazing job putting it all together for us. Given that she didn’t get much personal gain out of it (well, beyond getting to spend a weekend with us awesome knitters), it was an amazing feat.

I managed to leave the house without:

• A stuffed animal.
• My cell phone.
• A camera.
• My toothbrush.

I swear, I shouldn’t be allowed out of the house. So, I have no pictures from the actual retreat, although Dee put hers up in her gallery.

Annie Modesitt taught two classes - Wire Knitting and Combination Knitting. Wire knitting was a lot of fun, and after I finished my necklace, I made a bracelet as well. The bracelet is just an i-cord with beads every row.

Combination knitting was interesting, and she also taught how to cable without a cable needle. I had already figured out my own way of cabling without a cable needle that works well with the way I knit. Mainly, I rearrange the stitches on the needles in the way I want them, and then knit across. Annie slips the first stitches, and then knits the second set, and then rearranges. Her method really works well when doing combination knitting since the stitches are mounted differently. My method was impossible to use with combination knitting, because I couldn’t get my needle into the second set of stitches while the first stitches were still on the left needle.

We also learned about Bohus Knitting from Jan Kimmet of Kimmet Croft Fibers. I bought this hat kit from her - the little swatch was what we did in class.

The picture on the box is faded out - it isn’t actually green. The swatch colors are right. Fairy Hare yarns are so amazingly nice.

I also bought the yarn kit to make the Sugar Plum Pullover from Handknit Holidays : Knitting Year-Round for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Winter Solstice. It was only 105 dollars for the 44.5 inch size. She doesn’t have the kit up on her website, but if you call or email, I’m sure she could send folks more information.

Toni of The Fold taught us all how to spin. Much hilarity resulted. Did you all know I totally suck at spinning? Well, it was my first time. It was still lots of fun, and I bought some Socks That Rock and Mountain Colors Mountain Goat sock yarn from her.

The Mountain Goat was in Pine Tree (I think), and of course I’ve spaced out the Socks That Rock name. But its still totally gorgeous.

There was also a swap table. I brought a totally sucky cone of mystery silk yarn I bought on eBay. In exchange, I got a zillion balls of this!

It’s DK weight, and a great green color. She got it out of a basement for free.

Another good thing about the retreat is that I got tons of knitting in. There was lots of sitting in comfy chairs, watching the snow fall, and talking and talking. So, Aimee’s sweater is now done! Well, it needs blocked, and the Curling Issue needs to be dealt with. The bottom is stockinette - but there is no curling in the picture. How they accomplished this, I am not sure, but I shall prevail against the sweater.

It’s also not all crooked - its just how I laid it out.

That’s it, although I meant to take a picture of the ball of yarn I managed to spin. It’s truly hilarious looking.