Sunday, December 28, 2014

KKQ Preparation

Now that Christmas is over and 2015 is closing in on us, I am turning my attentions to a retreat that I coordinate in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

This January, participants at the Kanuga Knitting and Quilting retreat (KKQ) will meet at the Episcopal conference grounds near Hendersonville, North Carolina. Among those attending will be mothers and daughters, mothers and daughters-in-law, brothers and sisters, and good friends who for most of the year are separated by long distances. They come for the love of the mountains...and for the love of Kanuga. For opportunity to do something for themselves after a hectic holiday season...and to see friends they only see during this long weekend in January....but mostly they come for the company of friends who love to create with needles and yarn or fabric.




This January marks KKQ's tenth year...which seems remarkable to me. Yeah, I know we started in 2006 with 27 people and currently, we have over 100 participants registered...but the years have just gone by extremely fast.


At KKQ '15, there will be six knitting instructors and two quilting instructors...and each discipline offers something for all skill levels.

Most years I teach stranded/Fair Isle knitting. This year, I am giving a workshop on steeking. The project is a steeked cowl and includes instructions for a 3-color stranded version and a version with knit and purl stitches.




I call the class...No Alcohol Fortification Needed...since everyone seems to think you need to be heavily intoxicated to cut open a steek. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Anyway, the retreat is in a few weeks and I have spent the last few days putting my kits together for the class.



In less than three weeks, we will all meet again in front of the great stone fireplace at Kanuga for the tenth annual KKQ (January 15-19, 2015). Will you be there? It is not too late to join us this year...or maybe you would like to be part of the second decade of knitters and quilters at Kanuga in 2016. Hope so.


Brandon Knitting Designs - website
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Monday, December 8, 2014

How fog and clogged sinuses led to bodice tape and hot irons...

Here's a departure....



As you might have guessed from the last set of photos, it has been foggy up here on the peak. No...really. "Thick as pea soup" as they say. For days.

Add to the really coolness of the weather (did I mention I LOVE fog? I know... weird) ...anyway...adding to the fog, I have been down with some sort of crud. Congested sinuses, no energy, and coughing....oh, the coughing.

You'd think I 'd be knitting, right? Actually I haven't felt like too much knitting. What I have been doing is developing a guilty pleasure on youtube...and before you go off some deep end and think I have been watching "those kinds" of videos, let me just say I have become fascinated with 18th century dress. Again...I know...weird.

Maybe it started from the wedding episode of Outlander. I will admit to you guys...that instead of enjoying what you might expect people to enjoy in an after wedding episode, I was fascinated with how the costuming worked...all of those layers of petticoats and stays. Ok, maybe I did enjoy the other parts...maybe...a little ;)

Reining it in... and returning being sick in the fog. I found this video from LBCC Historical...


This is a reinactor who explains how to get dressed in the 18th century. The most fascinating part for me was the use of pins....instead of buttons or hooks. To close you bodice, just shove those straight pins through the cloth and into your stays...burying the pointy parts.

And when I finished with the two parts of this video, I moved on to 18th century hair. This video covers using an iron device that is heated in hot coals and then applied to the hair!


Can you say decongestant drug based obsession?

I will refrain from the other diversion I set off on...and get back to more pressing matters.


Brandon Knitting Designs - website
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Ravelry - varianbrandon
Twitter - @vbknits
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