I love the fair.  For me, it's a reminder to get out, enjoy the beautiful weather, have some fun, indulge in deep fried EVERYTHING, and to visit and even learn a bit about animals.  Over the weekend I joined my housemates on an adventure to the Sacramento County Fair - a few hours from San Francisco, it was a beautiful drive and arriving at the fair meant encountering the familiar sounds and smells of the fair!  As a child the fair meant the midway - rides and games and prizes.  

I don't know if I have seen this before - these big bubbles have kids in them.. zipped up for a few minutes of "walking on water" - it looked like so much fun!!  We stopped and watched them for a few minutes.. then on to more serious business.  There's sheep at the fair, right?  That means there's probably shearing.. and where there's shearing there's probably .... say it with me...

Fleece! (HOORAY!!)  - John and I ventured into the exhibit hal and looked over the small-ish selection - it's nothing like the CA Wool and Fiber Festival, but still there was a nice variety of fibers represented.  In the end, I selected a black medium corriedale ram lamb's fleece.  It doesn't have a ton of debris in it, and the tips are a touch sunburned but it's not tender (according to the scorecard).  Good uniformity and staple length of 4-1/2 - 5-1/2".

It's also a blue ribbon winner and the reserve champion.

What will it become?  Hopefully yarn.  I'm not going to give it an exact purpose yet... but my intention is to spin knitting or weaving yarn (2 or 3 ply) that can be worked up into something useful.  Weaving would give me more material, I think... but first thing's first.. it's gotta get cleaned.

John bought another blue ribbon winner... a Dorset cross fleece from a ewe that has no sunburned tips.  The scorecard on his says it's slightly yellow (and it is but not as much as shows in this photo).  The staple length is around 4".

We spent much of this weekend watching videos about spinning and fiber preparation while spinning different fibers.  I think we're both excited about cleaning our fleeces and perhaps this coming weekend will bring the time needed to try this for the very first time.  

I don't know if he has specific plans for his fleece - my guess is he's like me... hopeful it'll become something beautiful but resigned to the fact that we've never done this before.  BUT... the thing that gets me through these starts to new adventures is this:  Folks have processed fleeces for thousands of years... and everyone had to start somewhere.  So... that's where we are.

What I did notice about this fair that was different from the others I've seen is that it has a tiny showing for fiber arts.  A few quilts, a few handspun skeins of yarn... a decent amount of photography.. but overall it was a small representation of the talent in that area.  I hope it's a fluke and that the fair will work more to show more pieces in coming years. 

OK Back to the animals.  We went to the barns and checked out all the different critters... We saw cute bunnies... this little lop eared one was tooo adorable!

...and this guy has a fun hairdo!  (and you know me.. I was wondering if I could spin his fur!)

of course we saw sweet sheeps... there was an auction going on in the building while were there.. the selling of sheep for market and butchering always makes me a bit sad but I realize that it's how the business keeps moving... and moving the line along helps to produce more beautiful variations and new stock.  It's just the nature of the business.  This one happens to be a fleecie sheepie!

I also think it's amazing that we can turn the fibers that grow out of a SHEEP (and other animals and plants too) and work them until they produce string or yarn and then weave, knit, crochet or even just felt them to produce fabric that's soft, beautiful and sturdy.  

While checking out all the different animals, we came upon these cute little babies! - I had to take a quick video to show.  (the horse to the left never moved... it must be some strange miniature breed that sleeps with its eyes open!)

What else did we see?  Chickens... we also saw chickens!! ..and ducks...and a petting zoo... and old tractors... and a beekeeper's exhibit... there's so much to see and learn at the fair... from the exhibits to the shows... it's a great day out and worth the time invested with friends and family.

My Woolee Winder arrived last week and I've been spinning CONSTANTLY. I had one bobbin (2oz) of BFL/Silk 80/20 spun up from the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat.  Once the winder came, I spun the second 2oz up and navajo plied each of them.  I managed to spin and ply the third bobbin as well.  I have 2oz left of this amazing fiber "Lunar Dance" (which I bough at A Touch of Twist) and I'll have fun spinning it up as well the same way.  At first I thought I would ply two singles together since the colors were a bit different but then decided that a navajo ply (3ply) would be better.  I'm happy with my decision... now.  what should I make?

Here's some of it at least.  I have unearthed the Craft Yarn Council's Certified Instructors Program from the depths of the studio - Level 1 is about 2/3 done and I just have swatches to knit and a some paperwork to complete.  Over the weekend I was able to complete 3 of the swatches in addition to everything else I did and I will continue to press on.  

The swatches aren't difficult... they just take time and some real paying-attention when it comes to execution.  These will be blocked, labeled, and included in the entire package.  There'll be more about that later.

Justine emailed me over a year ago asking if I might be able to re-size the Corydon sweater (Knitters K106) to fit a child.  I explained to her that once a pattern is sold to a magazine or book, the contract dictates what the designer can do.  In this case, I contacted Knitter's Magazine to find out how we could answer and Rick suggested we re-size it as a kid's pattern and use it in an upcoming issue.  What fun!  So... a year later, Knitter's Magazine issue K111 has some classic patterns re-sized and re-styled to fit little ones.  The model they used for my "Corydon Jr." is adorable!  Since it was released I sent an update email to the Justine and she's very excited about the result.  She tells me she's going to let her boys choose the colors for their sweaters and commented "should be an interesting result!" -  I am looking forward to photos!

The Fiber to Scarf Exchange began a year ago at the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat.  After seeing the fun reveal at last year's event, and having just purchased my first wheel, I signed up, eager to have a project to work on and a way to connect myself to the retreat during the year.

The exchange works like this:  Folks who are interested sign up and send fiber and a small amount of money to cover postage/etc. to the organizer.  Once all the participants have submitted their fiber goodies, they're assigned a number by a person not involved in the exchange.  Then, each fiber is shipped off to someone else!

I signed up, mailed out fiber I purchased from Briar Rose, one of the generous retreat sponsors, and waited for my assignment.

I received a package with a large amount of 70/30 Alpaca/Corriedale blend selected by the mystery guy in early August, 2012, and it got stored away.  For a long time.  Part of the reason it sat was the fault of (at the time) my unorganized studio.  Having recently moved I was still sorting out what I wanted the space to be and that caused me to keep the project on hold.

Finally I decided to just dive in.  After all, there was a lot of this fiber and certainly enough to mess up if that were to happen.... so I weighed out a bit and tried spinning it.  (and it was HEAVEN!) - The fiber was lovely and apart from a bit of vegetable matter, spun right into a light dk weight 2-ply yarn quite easily.  The preparation was real, true roving - light, airy strips of fiber.

The spinning was the easy part.  I had a little sample I was happy with and that lived on my Sidekick and as I spun (worsted short draw) I'd audit my work and check to see if it was about the same thickness.  Once I was comfortable and had a bobbin of 2-ply natural yarn completed, I spun up, I realized that I didn't want to make the scarf all this color.

This fiber was simply BEGGING to be dyed... so I went to my studio and found a combination of brown, grey, green and caramel that made me smile.  I dyed about 4 ounces of this fiber, split into two pieces and held side by side.  Those rovings were each spun as singles then plied together.

Once the fiber was all spun up, I hand wound it into balls.  There's just something about working with handspun that makes me want to avoid the ball winder.  Hand winding it allowed me to inspect the yarn and see how even (or not!) it was through the skein. 

I did some math to determine how large of a scarf I wanted to make and verified that I had enough of the warp yarn.  (I could always spin more weft if needed but it'd be a shame to work so hard to end up with a short scarf!)

Time to warp the loom.  Early one bright morning I found myself direct warping, carefully counting off the number of warps needed for the scarf.

It takes a while to warp a loom.  Getting all the yarns in the right heddles, double (and triple!) checking to make sure nothing is out of place.  It's the prep work that makes for a beautiful finish.  Once that was done, it was time to weave!

(Almost).  The next step is to wind bobbins of weft yarn in preparation for weaving.  I do this using an antique bobbin winder that came with my antique sock knitting machine.  I began with 3 (but I think I ended up using 5 bobbins before the scarf was complete). 

The 2/2 twill pattern, by the way, is from the Handweaver's Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon.  My warp is 20 WPI and I used a 10 dent heddle.

When it was time to weave I started by evening out the spacing on my warp using a waste yarn.  Then I begin weaving my pattern, following the pedal sequence in the warping diagram:  1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3... over and over.

(there's lots of pedaling when ya' weave) - and just like knitting, it's VERY important to finish a row (sequence) before you stop.  this was a pretty simple pattern... I imagine it takes a while to find your place in a more complex one!

Once a few rows have been completed, it's time to hemstitch.  This is a way to secure the fabric at the start and end of the piece and it's a simple technique once you understand the order of movements.  The same thing happens at the end of the work.

By the way, I LOVE my golden needle.  It's one of my favorite knitting tools and anyone who is curious about a good tool for finishing, I highly recommend this type of needle!

The actual weaving isn't time consuming... it takes some concentration to keep the edges straight.  Since I'm somewhat new to weaving I am certainly still learning.  My favorite tip so far is the use of floating selvedges.  Basically, these are additional yarn warp threads that are on the ends of your fabric and are used to keep the edges straight.  For this project, everything seemed to be going fine until one side started getting wavy.  I wasn't sure what was wrong (at first I thought it was just tension problems) and then saw yarns hanging off the side of my weaving and realized that my some of the yarns in my warp had broken! (eeek!!!)

(no photos of the bad broken warps!!) - instead, here's a closeup of the pattern.

After a quick meltdown I stopped, loosened my warp a bit, and carefully tied on a new warp to the broken one and re-attached it and tightened it up nice and even.  That worked great for a while and I felt a bit proud, then a different one broke.  EEEEEK!.  No problem.  I just fixed it again. 

The moral to THAT story is this: (and someone correct me if I'm wrong or you have a better solution) - when working with a handspun warp or a fiber that might be a bit more fragile than ideal, the floating selvedges could be made using a stronger thread.

If I was to do this over I'd use some sort of strong thread in the selvedge of the scarf.  In the end, though, I think it's a respectable scarf.  I cut it off my loom, used my cute little fringe twister to make fringe (which, by the way, took around 2 hours!), then I soaked the entire piece in wool wash, spun it out, and hung it up to dry.  Then, it came time to attach my label, fold it up, and pack it away in my suitcase to gift it to whoever it is that I made it for.

Would I do this again?  In a heartbeat.  During the retreat we do a show-and-tell where the exchange items are shared with everyone.  I didn't take photos of that part, nor did I photograph the scarf on its new owner, but feeling this experience go full circle - starting a year ago when I watched the giving of finished handspun scarves and ending with my presenting my very own creation to another creative guy - was rewarding.

It was a fun project, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, especially since it's the very first time I've spun fiber into yarn for a specific project.  It's frustrating to not be specific about what I'm doing from time to time, but keeping projects secret is one cure of being a designer.  As you can see, I've been working (off and on!) on this for a year... and I couldn't say a thing!  For those on Ravelry, the final project can be viewed (and "loved") with THIS LINK.

With that in mind, I decided that I need to work on more projects than just the ones for publication.  I'm hoping in the next blog post (which should be more frequent as well!) I'll talk about some of my current knitting.  That post will talk more about my first ever trip to New York City and some other highlights about the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat.

As promised, here's the second blog post about the 2012 Men's Spring Knitting Retreat.  We're traveling a bit back in time to before the retreat, where I'll talk about two different outings; Trumpet Hill yarns and Battenkill Fibers. 

Immediately after arriving in Albany, NY, Aaron and I headed over to Trumpet Hill Yarns; an adorable shop that is one of his favorite spots for knitting and spinning.  We walked in to find Celeste and the gang all sitting in a knit/spin group, happily talking about the events of the day as the weather suddenly turned from cloudy to rainy.  It was the only time it really rained during the trip and we all felt safe, knowing that if something happened the yarn shop has plenty of fiber, yarn, patterns and supplies to keep us satisfied until help arrived!

This shop is a must-see for anyone visiting the area - it's full of friendly, knowledgeable fiber-enablers; full of creative ideas and, if you're not careful, you'll end up with a new project (or a new spinning wheel!)

Thursday morning we ventured off to Battenkill Fibers; a custom carding and spinning mill in Greenwich, NY.  They welcomed about 30 guys from the retreat in our pre-retreat outing, and took time to show us some of the processes involved in transforming fleece and fiber into yarn.  They had a number of projects in the works and we were all in awe as we went from step to step learning how much work goes into making yarn.  Here are a few random photos from the visit to the mill.

I made some short videos to share with you some of the steps for turning fiber into yarn.  First, we learned a bit about how a fleece gets skirted (this video).  Then, we watched how they clean the fibers, and many different steps (and machines!) it takes to turn fleece into yarn. 

This machine takes the fiber and "flicks" it open.  I apologize; I didn't take notes on the different machine names or their "technical" responsibilities... but if you ever visit Battenkill Fiber Mill, they'll certainly explain it all to you! 

The next video shows the fiber flying through that little hole in the wall into a room that's exclusively to catch the fiber as it floats to the ground.  The operator of this machine sweeps the fibers up from that room and they go into a carding machine from there.  (Yes, a few of us thought of just sitting in that room to experience the "rain of fiber!")

Once the fiber is cleaned, carded, and drafted out, it goes into the pin drafting machine.  This machine makes the roving even and prepares it for spinning.  (I am SO glad I don't have to clean these machines!)

From there, the fiber is spun into singles on a GIANT machine, and then plied on ANOTHER machine... then, the plied yarn is skeined into hanks.  There's so much work that goes into creating yarn that many of us don't think about.  Even commercial yarn has been hand worked by many talented people.  Here's one last video showing the process of making hanks of yarns, talking about the plying machine and then the skeining machine:

The tour was a bit overwhelming.  So many machines, and questions that could be asked.  By the time I had asked one question, 5 more had popped into my head.  I have a new appreciation for fiber and the artists who make it for us at the mills after visiting Battenkill!  Of course, I knew it was an involved process before but WOW.  This was a real treat to get to tour a mill and learn and share more about the processes.

(I told you lots of work goes into preparing fiber!) -- OK.  now that the fiber is all ready to go, remember I wanted to create a 2-ply yarn that would have sections of color.  I didn't want to make yarn with long color changes (like Noro) - but more mottled looking "barber poled" yarn.  To accomplish this, I decided to tear off a bit of each ball of fiber and use them in a random order as I spun.  I'd work bits 1-7, then stop and tear a piece off of each ball again, put the pieces in the bag and randomly select them.  As I got one bobbin nearly full, I began the second, repeating the process.  As I got close to the end of the balls, I unwound the remaining fiber, and looking at the longest remaining length of fiber decided I could do about 5 more repeats.  I broke that piece into 5 sections, then evenly divided the other pieces and added them to the last repeats.  If a ball only had enough fiber for 2 or 3 more repeats, I only added it to 2 of the remaining repeats.  Once those final rounds were divided, I kept them separate and then randomly spun them onto the bobbin.  At the very end, I went back to the first bobbin to try to evenly distribute the singles.

As I ply the two singles together, inevitably there will be one bobbin that has more on it than the other.  When I asked Ted Myatt what to do when this happens, he taught me a trick to use all your singles.  With the singles still attached to the plied yarn, secure the shorter single.

Using a distaff, create a center-pull ball with the remaining fiber.  Once that's completed, join the end of the longer single with the end of the shorter single (either by spit splicing or tying a knot). 

Remove the wound fiber from the distaff and (this part works best with a friend!) continue to slowly ply the yarn while attempting to keep the ball of fiber from tangling up. 

After you are done plying, you'll end up with a loop at the end, connecting the two plies.  Tie a small knot here and you're done!  Look: no wasted singles!

After all of this is done, The yarn is wound off of the bobbin (did you know you should stand about 10 feet from the wheel when hanking up the yarn?  It's another tip I learned during the retreat - standing a bit away from the bobbin allows for some room for the twist energy to distribute itself along the length; it's the same reasoning for putting your lazy kate far away from the wheel when plying).  Tie the yarn up, give it a good soak and let it hang dry.  I ended up with 2 HUGE hanks of hand spun yarn from my 6oz of fiber!  I haven't decided what this yarn will be yet.  For now, I'm going to let it be a reminder of the retreat.

That's about it for Part 2 of the MSKR12 retreat review.  I love writing blog posts about the event because it gives me time to relive the experience.  One note on my packing:  I had to check my bag because of my wheel but I wanted to share with you how cute and snuggly my Sidekick fit into the luggage!  The fiber I got during the retreat acted as extra padding and there was enough room for my clothes, knitting, etc. as well.  I'm looking forward to the next time I am able to take my wheel on an adventure!

The 2012 Men's Spring Knitting Retreat is over and it's difficult (as it is always difficult!) to put into words how amazing the experience was.  This year, 41 attendees made up the group, and we reconnected at the amazing Easton Mountain Retreat Center.  It's a calm space where everyone is encouraged to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature while being surrounded by creative people.  Recaps of these retreats end up being L-O-N-G and photo-heavy posts so I decided to attempt to divide it into 2 parts.  Welcome to part one: a retreat review and ramblings about the "official" parts of the weekend.

This year, I flew from San Francisco, CA to Albany, NY and met up with Aaron Bush.  The retreat actually began Thursday afternoon, so we're going to fast forward past the "pre-show" and begin there.

Driving to Easton Mountain is refreshing.  It's back roads that go from striped and paved to simply paved... to gravel... to narrow and what a city-person might think should be only one-way.  Returning to Easton for the retreat is a bit like coming "home".  It's walking into the large gathering room and hearing people call my name.  It's not having a chance to put my bag down before there's a group of guys waiting to give me a hug; excited and happy that we are about to share this experience.  Returning to a Men's Knitting Retreat is seeing familiar faces, recognizing people that I may have never met, but recognize through their blogs, twitter feeds, and facebook posts, and they feel like old friends.  It's re-uniting with people who, through fiber, have become a big part of my life.

Arriving at Easton, we are greeted with Easton Mountain (in the background of the video below).  The Center used to be a ski lodge and now it's just a beautiful space to retreat and relax.  The sounds of nature are so different from those I hear waking up in San Francisco!  I thought making a short video of walking down the driveway to the lake might help you understand how amazing and magical this place is.

...and here's a listen at the birds singing one morning during the retreat.  It really was a "change of pace" that allowed us to all decompress, relax and recharge.

During the retreat, we usually go on one field trip.  This time, it was to Ewetopia Farm in Whitehall, NY.  The drive through the beautiful country could have been outing enough, but turning into the driveway of Chris and Max Crossman was a true treat.  Chris had set up a small shop with a selection of fibers and yarns for us to peruse, featuring her Cotswold sheep locks!   It wasn't long before I started to explore the immediate area, taking photo after photo of this idyllic place!  Here are a few of my favorites:

We met one of the Rams and he was in LOVE with us because we all took turns scratching him on his back where he can't reach.  (That's Farmer Max holding the lead to this sweet animal.)  His fleece is beautiful and from what Chris said she is going to continue breeding him to hopefully get some more of his coat characteristics in the flock.  I remember last time I was at the MSKR we visited Alpacas of Easton, and the owner was talking about phenotype and genotype and it made me smile since that was what had just been discussed in my Biology course.  Years later, it wasn't a fluke.  That same talk was being given at this sheep farm!  Lesson here:  If you want to be a success at raising fiber flocks, chances are you'll need to have a good understanding of these topics.

In addition to the sheep, the Crossman's have a few horses and some adorable dogs!  These two were beyond sweet.  Leddie (on the left) is a bit of a guard dog and a BIG dog at that.  She's standing on the road that leads to the farm's sugar shack!  The other doggie was a fat old sweetie and just wanted its belly rubbed!  (Click any of the smaller photos to enlarge them).

See?  I haven't even begun to talk about spinning or the workshops.... trying to explain what the retreat is like is a difficult process.  It's seriously something that simply must be experienced.  There were a number of workshops, and I was able to participate in two: learning how to spin (with Aaron Bush), and knitting and purling backwards (with Matthew Hesson-McInnis).  The spinning workshop helped me continue to hone my skills as I learn more and more about my Sidekick wheel.  Aaron was a gentle teacher, helping the guys wrangle fiber and spin it into yarn.  I was able to offer a little guidance to my neighbors, and I think that at least one participant decided to purchase a wheel by the time he had returned home!  Knitting and purling backwards with Matthew was more of a focused exercise.  His instructional style is suprisingly gentle; asking the students to follow a few simple steps to really understand what happens when a stitch is made.  With a little practice, we were all doing it!  (Slowly, but we WERE doing it!)  The technique will come in handy for ribbing or stockinette almost immediately.  All it'll take is a bit of work to get faster at it but will be well worth it.

Probably the biggest treat to attending these retreats is sitting outside, knitting, spinning, crocheting, and talking with new (and old) friends about ideas, experiences, techniques and, life in general.  The world often gets in the way and we don't find time to take care of ourselves; these few recharging days allows for just that.  It's rewarding, relaxing and inspirational to be at a Men's Knitting Retreat.

We have a tag sale during the retreat where we offer special fibers, books, magazines and finished objects for sale to the other attendees.  It's a chance for us to donate a percentage of the sale to a scholarship fund which helps some guys attend who otherwise couldn't.  This year, Bill Jones from San Francisco hand-knit this AMAZING teddy bear and we put it out for silent auction.  John Wise was the high bidder and the envied one who got to take this sweet bear home!  (If you enlarge the photo, you can see the intarsia around the eyes and inside the ears where Bill used subtle color changes to highlight these spots.)  Bill said that he plans to make one of these bears for each of the retreats.

A visit to this part of the country would simply not be complete without a visit to the Ice Cream Man!  They have been in business for nearly two decades and I can't imagine a trip to this area without visiting and getting a couple scoops of their amazing hand-crafted ice cream.  We also got ice cream from the Ice Cream Man for movie night - where we all gather and knit/spin/weave/crochet our way through a movie (or two!)

...speaking of eating, the food at Easton is certainly worth mentioning.  It's healthy, thoughtfully prepared, and, quite frankly, delicious.  They are considerate of dietary needs and I never went without a full tummy while visiting.  There's no soft drinks, so it was also a great opportunity to stop drinking so much Diet Coke!  

Gosh.  There's so much to talk about - and even if I wrote 100 pages about the few days we were together, I'd still be leaving a lot out.  Once more: It's impossible to express what this retreat means.  It is an amazing experience and for those men who might want to find out what it's like to attend one of these retreats, there are a few coming up!  Visit the Men's Knitting Retreat website to learn more.

I'll be writing more in a few days; sharing about the excursions before the retreat including our visit to one of Aaron's favorite yarn shops and a fantastic local mill.

What can I say that hasn't already been said?  The Men's Knitting Retreats are a MUST for guys who are enthralled with all things fiber.  I am proud to say this was my second trip to Easton, NY to the Spring MKR, and once again, it was overwhelming, inspiring, and empowering!

There were 44 men in attendance this year - about half of the attendees were returning members... and the only thing I might regret out of the entire trip was the inability to get to see and spend enough time with each person.  I think of these retreats a lot like I do of going on vacation - I often pick one spot, and sit down and really REALLY try to get to know it - that way, when I am back in the real world, I am left with a strong understanding of at least one aspect... this makes for good memories, but there's always the tiny corner of the mind that wonders what other things were around that were missed!

I put my photos on flickr as a slideshow - to save space in the post and to be sure to offer a "view" of the retreat to those who want to re-visit as well as those who might want to attend in the future. 

I am lucky to be strongly connected to 3 of the retreat attendees - Chuck, John and Kenny are my wonderful friends - my "fiber pals" - we are constantly in touch, emailing, texting and visiting each other... we are true friends and it's AMAZING to me that we get to share this passion of fiber (which is, admittedly, what brought us together!)  - During the retreat, we spent a lot of time together - and as usual, this time means so much. 

We all flew to Albany, NY the day before the retreat so that we could take a day trip to WEBS - in Northhampton, MA -

it's the MECCA for yarn junkies -- aisle after aisle of gorgeous yarn - we were greeted with smiles (and gift bags!), given a brief outline of the layout of the shop, and then sent off running through the aisles of gorgeous yarn!  We were shown the stock area, and even the (secret) packing and shipping area!  Everyone there was helpful, smart, and sensible with our money and ideas - I felt quite at home, and was thankful that we made the visit!  Now, when I go to www.yarn.com, I will think of my friends at webs and know who's packing my orders! -  I ended up with yarn for a sweater, and a pair of socks.  I wanted to buy a LOT more but had to restrain myself... after all, we were just beginning!!

After lunch, we headed to Norhhampton Wools - owned by Linda Daniels - she was a treat to meet, and was really interested in the Men's Knitting Retreats.  I spoke to her about a box I saw in her shop (there's actually 2 stores side by side!) and after a bit of coaxing, she allowed me to adopt it! - it's beautiful, amazing and HAND CARVED from South Africa! - I asked her if she had the possibility of getting more - if you would like to email her to express interest, do so HERE - and be sure to mention that I sent you!!

I LOVE this box (it's about 18" long x 8" deep x 5" high) - along with the memories and friendships created at the retreat, it's one of my prized posessions.  I don't know if there will ever be another box available, but I did hint to Linda that people will probably be beating her door down to buy them! - feel free to let her know if you want one (or two!) 

I will post later about what I was knitting at the retreat, and other patterns I plan to start... I could write all weekend and not have expressed all the fun and joy that results from these retreats!!

As far as the actual retreat, it was an incredible experience, and I look forward to the next time that I get to see all my fiber brothers - we are VERY lucky that Joe and Ted took the initiative to create such a nurturing and loving space - and through our repeated visits, the family is growing closer and closer; sharing knowledge, stories and love with their creative bretheren.

To those of you who just "wish" you could have attended - make the point to attend next year's retreat NOW - or go to the MFKR on the west coast - they are important to our creative development - and you'll be very glad you did. 

For those of you who want to my photos - here you go - (not in any particular order!) - 

So, in the end... more fun than we can put into words, or photos... it's a tradition (now) to share this time with friends... I know we just had the retreat - but I'm looking forward to next year's gathering again... who knows what we'll come up with for show and tell (my mind is already coming up with a knitalong!) - but one thing I do know - if it's possible, I'll be there!!! 

As far as knitting goes, I have been working like a madman on my Men's Knitting Retreat Sock!  (yes, we have our own sock pattern!) - beautifully designed from one of our supporters Marlowe Crawford (Marlowec on Ravlery) - the pattern should be available for purchase after the fall retreat.  I'm almost done with the first sock... see??  I really like the way the pattern moves across the foot... and this yarn?  you love this yarn? well, it's from one of our sponsors....and the yarn is called Fibernatura Yummy! - the needles were a gift from Joe (one of the organizers) and the main stitch marker was a gift from another attendee.... and believe it or not, I am enjoying the proces

We are a family - chosen - joined by our craft - united by our goals and supported by the creativity, enthusiasm and honesty of our brothers. Through our adventures, we learn, grow, and share our experiences with our communities, emphasizing the impact a few guys who knit have on the world.

Where do I begin?  I'm home - safe and sound - relishing in the afterglow of another amazing visit with my family of knitters (this time at Easton Mountain) --  Organized by Joe and Ted, Men's Knitting Retreats have been going on now for 2 years - I didn't go to the very first one, which was held in this same space... but this year I was lucky enough to be able to go.

(I decided to just link to a slideshow of my photos at the end of this post - so for those of you wanting photos... that's where they are!)

What can I tell you?  The moment we were picked up by Dave from Easton Mountain, we knew we were in for a treat - first we went to an amazing cafe - I think it was indian food - and while I don't remember the name, they made some really great bread!  This is where I saw Ted (I knew him from the MFKR'08) and met Joe and a bunch of other really fun guys... we took a slight detour to a yarnshop (in the rain!) and it was refreshing to actually feel rain.  After our short visit there, we went to The Ice Cream Man - and had one of what would be many treats from this yummy place...

Settling in at Easton Mountain, we found our rooms, and I was lucky to room with Chuck, John and Vince... we had 2 bunks each and the place was comfy... Chuck and John both handed me squares for Jason's blanket (see my last posting to find out more about it) - and by the end of the retreat, I had almost 30 squares from the guys - the response has been overwhelming - and I'll write about that soon -- as a sidenote, I need to receive your squares by May 30th- email me if you need to know anything else...thanks!

(back to our regularly scheduled posting:)

The food was really good - a bit more organic than I usually eat (people who know me know that I love Taco Bell!) - one night they served "Moroccan Tomato Soup" - I thought that the chef said "Rock & Tomato Soup!" - I told him that I could be supportive of the organic food and everything, but when they start putting rocks in the food I have to draw the line!  eek... (the soup was spicy and tasty) -

Meeting the boys (my brothers!) was great - I saw lots of friends I had been missing since the fall retreat at Point Bonita - including Kenny, Stephen and Ted... and got to meet some of the people I know online - including Chris, Ted and Peter!  There were 42 guys there so naming them would take a while... but every single one of them (seriously, every one!) was so fun, funny, charming, smart, witty, coy, entertaining, enthusiatic, supportive and nutty! 

We spent the days learning at workshops and took two field trips - one to visit the Alpacas of Easton - where Kate (our hostess) shared a brief and interesting explanation about the biology behind breeding alpaca... she did a demonstration on dyeing yarn using cake dyes, then we visited some of her flock (including "Mischeif") and then went to her shop... where we bought some yarn... had home made cookies and pink lemonade and met her 3 week old son!!  (wait a minute... she just had a baby 3 weeks ago and she's this amazing and energetic?!?!  We were impressed and honored by her hospitality!!!

We also went to another fiber farm and toured the owner's 18th century barn filled with looms, weaving and knitting yarns, and books!  She was really fun as well - we got to see her angora rabbits, ducks and chickens and even a few barn cats!  My favorite part of this trip, though, was the 15' tall lilac bush next to one of her barns!  - the scent was overwhelming and brought me back to spring as a young boy - and for some reason it really made me think of my Grandmother...

Anyway, we got a LOT of knitting done - I finished the back of a sweater... and helped Joe a little with the assembly of the blanket we made for Easton Mountian.  It didn't get quite finished, but it will be done soon... 3 needle bind off and crocheted edging (photos will be posted!)

There is so much to say... and the more I type the more I think of to talk about... favorite parts?  the little visits and conversations between friends - learning about these men I have known online for years... sitting under the tent in the rain midnight with Jason and Chuck - listening to the rain fall and talking about whatever we talked about... Enjoying the moment in time...

And now I just look forward to next year - to another visit with my pals - to the long plane flight full of knitting time (even layovers are welcomed when you're a knitter!) and getting to once again give every one of them a big hug!  If you can go, or are at all interested, be sure to go to the website and let them know... chances are the attendance will be limited to around the same 40 +/- and 21 of the 42 that attended this year were at the first year...

THANK YOU to Joe and Ted and everyone at Easton Mountain... to all the guys at the retreat who made it an amazing experience -- and to my sweet partner for taking care of my animals while I was gone and for letting me go.... it's experiences like the ones I had at Easton Mountain that make me proud to be a knitter...