Back from the knitting retreat. It was fantastic!
The Grand View Lodge is situated in the White Mountains. We arrived at night, but when we woke up, I'll be damned if there weren't mountains right in the back yard! Snow-topped and everything. I had to grab my camera and do a little stomping around in the new snow. Northern NH is just gorgeous, and this little area was no exception.
The down stairs of this lodge used to have a general store in the front and a dining room/eatery in the back, with rooms upstairs. Today the front room and a good percentage of the back is a yarn store, with some chairs squeezed in to facilitate comfy knitting. In fact, the yarn store has the feel of a stash that went out of control and had to be converted into a source of income. So we all dropped our stuff off in our respective double rooms and headed downstairs to commence our knitting weekend.
I'm not one for sitting at a table to knit, so I found a rocking chair with a wool fleece spread over it. That was pretty much "my spot" for the weekend. You tend to see more on the far edge of the room :) I got some all right pictures of going ons. I mean, its not like we were tumbling or doing much of anything that require precision photography, but I tend to be an inconspicuous photographer, so I get people at their best (i.e., when they're not pretending)
The inn is run by a woman named Vivian. She's a very knowledgeable woman with a great personality. Laurie, a wonderful woman, was helping her for the weekend. The group of knitters was half the ManchVegas Knitters and half a guild from near-by Chester. Ten of us in all, knitting, eating, talking. What a great way to make new friends!
Ok, back to the natural progression of things. I found my seat (great seat. I now know what I'd do with a fleece. And a rocking chair. I'd combine them. And sit on them to knit. Jo Anne, a superstar who runs a small yarn shop in Chester, said she knew just where to find me such a fleece) Everyone else went poking through the store, but I was a woman on a mission. I sat down and knit. And knit. And knit. Laurie brought out cups, hot water, and tea. Hot tea, friends, and knitting. To take a break, I poked around the store a bit. Like any good knitting store, the Grand View has many things to touch, admire, even smell... So many yarns are knit up into samples. So many patterns are already done up for you to hold up and wonder at. But I had a mission. I was to be a gold medalist.
I sat down and I knit. At 12, I went to bed. At 8, I got up, ate a wonderful breakfast, and knit. Ok, the short of it is, the shawl is finished to my specifications. I will someday make another, and it could have been better, but its finished, and I have joy :) Its really quite beautiful. I wish I had taken more progression pics, but with a circular shawl, you don't really get a whole lot to look at. "Yep, the bundle is bigger!" Next Olympics, I will let those who love me have something to say in my choice of projects. I will not, however, pick something idiotically easy. I will be challenged, but not driven to insanity.
So, the shawl is done, I can pretend to live a normal life. I cast on a replica of the wonderfully easy Tumnus scarf. I think I was spot-on with the 1x1 rib. And its being made in Nashua yarns, with is just so great to work with.
And Once the shawl was done and blocking (Saturday night) I did some shopping in earnest. I selected a beautiful, woven basket. I placed in this basket three skeins of Manos in a ruby/garnet/cherry color way. I also got some yarn and a pattern for Hana, who's next project is to be a hat. I think my favorite thing (and I get a giddy feeling when I think about it) is a baby aran kit for Kadin. I'm tempted to cast on a 2t or a 3t. I could live with him growing into it, I'd die if it were already too small. I got some other things, but those are my favorites.
I have just been made aware that as of last night, when I finished, the Yarn Harlot had not. Come on, Steph! You can do it! You have to do it! ...you're my hero... *sniff* Everyone think happy thoughts for the Harlot!
On the table of the knitting room at the Grand View is a bell. A big bell. A school-yard recess bell. A bell you just want to grab hold of and ring like hell. And you can (within reason) Every time you have to rip something back, you have to ring the bell. To err is human, to rip out- divine. I don't really know the story behind the bell, Viv never went into it, but I know clanging a bell really accentuates the swearing! Luckily, I didn't have to ring it myself. I tend to tink more than rip.
So this afternoon we packed up, finalized our purchases, knit a bit more (for good measure) and headed home, relaxed, happy, with a ton of knitting done, and each of us with a small bell with the name of the Grand View on one side, and the credo "To err is human, to rip out-divine" on the other.
We will be doing this again.
cross-posted to my regular journal. Pics forthcoming.
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