They're Really Mind Control Helmets
Me: "I wonder if I could knit a hat that looks like a collander?"
Lindsay: "I think that would be crochet, Mom."
I love it when they make string jokes.
The Jinks, They Were High
The Madrona Winter Retreat was everything we knitters and teachers could have hoped for: Challenging classes, Marketplace brimming with covetable delights, Fantastic teacher/author presentations, and a Talent Show that raised over $14,000.00 for charity.
My students kept me on my toes (you always do), including 5 steekmasters who finished their Thistle stoles in class. The other 20 are right on their heels, as the photos they are sending me attest. I am so proud of all of you. I made 10 new stranded coloworkers, which fact tickles me to death. And 16 of my new best friends workshopped ways to plan for the finishing of their next projects, before they even cast on. Those are going to be some Dead Sexy projects, too, my friends.
And in between times, well, it was Madrona:
A diabolically clever beastie waited till I stepped away from my thistle stole and used it to yarnbomb the life-size horse lamp in the hotel lounge. He's never looked better.
I got to sit next to the Hadron Collider of Knitting that is Amy Detjen, whose fabulous lavender nail polish and hair accessories were a perfect match to my thistles.
And Daniel Herrera used his luxurious beard to help Franklin Habit imagine what he would look like with hair.
You cannot make this stuff up.
If anybody needs me, I'll be taking a nap. For, like, a month.
A Little Something Before Takeoff
I'm leaving for the Madrona Winter Retreat tonight, which means packing, and more packing. And listmaking, and more packing. I could invade another country with fewer supplies than it takes to teach a knitting class. Bizarrely, I realized in the midst of my preparations that I have no knitting to take with me. I worked so hard to have all my projects buttoned up before Madrona that I actually did it, which means there's no knitting to do. Cue panicky fainting spell.
The Scotties had to revive me by first pushing loud-smelling bacon-flavored treats under my nose, then noisily crunching them.
Once restored, I did a stash-dive, which reminded me that I've been meaning to spend some quality time with this:
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Heavyweight, in "Vancouver Violet". It's been earmarked for a short springtime something-or-other ever since I got it, and I think it's finally time.
I picked this to make with it:
"Miette", by Andi Satterlund (CLICK HERE). It's got a lot of qualities I don't usually get to play with, such as:
1. Someone else's pattern (you mean I don't have to do all the math? YAY!)
2. Worked top-down
3. Heavier gauge than I usually work in
4. 3/4 sleeves
5. Bust darts. I think I've made bust darts before, but I can't remember when, so it must be time for a refresher.
6. Someone else's pattern (I know; it's worth saying again), so I can work on it while talking to other people, riding in a car, or otherwise using other parts of my brain to do things besides Sweater Math. Or as is more accurately my experience; Wrong Sweater Math. Pretty excited about it.
Now, as I launch into the whirlwind (or more accurately, Force of Nature) that is the Madrona Winter Retreat, I am fortified by the knowledge that no matter what else happens, at least I have something to knit.
Amazing how the timely administration of medicinal knitting can help get one off the ground.