sheep in the city

Buena Vista- part 2

I had to post the pictures that Michelle took of the 2 views we had at the Liar's Lodge where our knitting retreat was. (thanks Michelle...all my pictures from outside turned out a little too light or too dark, and yours were just right!)

View from the front:

View from the back:

It was so beautiful and relaxing. I highly recommend that everyone go on a knitting retreat at some point...it's just so cool to be surrounded by other creative people! Especially ones who are as obsessed as you are! We arrived Friday night, unpacked the car, settled in and had an amazing meal. (one of many over the weekend) Marilyn, of Black Water Abbey Yarns taught us a class on two color knitting using her Jean Purse kit. Some of us chose to put together our own colors, myself included, and it was interesting to watch how they all came together.

Mine, of course, is the pinkest one in the picture, on the left hand side:) I just loved the oranges and browns and the little bit of pink thrown in. I loved the colors so much in fact, I bought 3 skeins to make one of Marilyn's Mitered Square Tote Bags! (I'm using Chestnut, Rust, Sunset, and Pink Heather...it's going to be gorgeous!) We took a break from "class" and headed into town to the little local yarn shop, Serendipity.They just happened to be celebrating their 1st anniversary...and having a sale! Bonus! I managed to pick up a few things.

I picked up some Trekking XXL sock yarn, because I just can't get enough of this stuff, and a needlecase for my DPN's. The needlecase is from Ashland Sky and they specialize in "Knit Stick Sacks". I also received an early birthday gift from my mom, in the form of my dream bag! I have been coveting her Offhand Design bag for a while, and I've looked and looked at all the color options on their website...never quite deciding which color to choose. Well, now I have one of my very own! I love this bag.

You might be thinking, "Where's the pink? Where's the orange?" I decided to branch out a little and I love the chartruese green with the turquoise. It looks so retro...like it could have been the material that a little old lady upholstered her couch with in the 1960's. One of my favorite features is the way that it opens up. It has one of those metal "jaws" that stays open on it's own. So cool. These bags are a little pricey, but they are very well made and will last forever. It has tons of pockets inside...and I guess I could go on and on about it, but I won't! If you want to look at the other designs they make, check out Offhand Designs. The style of my bag is called the Zelda Tote.

Over the course of the weekend I was given two gifts, one from Judy, the hostess of this retreat. We all got to pick a wrapped package out of a bag...and look what I chose!! Yep! That's "Socks That Rock" in the Spring Fling colorway! My mom kept laughing at my face because I was so shocked...in a good way! Thanks again Judy!

And, as if that wasn't enough, Nachaele gifted me with some one of a kind Serendipity yarn as a thank you for inviting her on the retreat! Awww! Thanks Nachaele! The weekend continued on with lots of good food, lots of knitting, and for me, a lot of late nights and early mornings! I woke up at 6:00am each day! I immediately went downstairs to the great room and picked up my knitting. Before long we were all sitting around, drinking coffee and knitting in our pj's. What a great way to start the day! Sunday morning we had a quick class on cabling without a cable needle. I have to say, I think that I've finally got it. I've had people show me before, but this time the light went on and I understand it. Overall, the weekend was a great success, none of us wanted to leave...or maybe none of us wanted to face packing the car! Ha!

p.s...I finished my Charlotte!! I'm hoping to block it this weekend! Yippee!!

Posted by Stacey at April 5, 2006 07:48 AM