KKQ - the 10th year!

10 year cake. BTW...really good!

Ten years! We started out with 26 knitters in 2006. This year...106 knitters and quilters! Not too shabby for a retreat I wasn't sure would get off of the ground.

Group shot...not everyone. Who knew knitters and quilters were so camera shy?

I wish I could show you wonderful pictures of the retreat, but I was so busy, there was just no time to pull out a camera.

Actually, there were a few moments that I got it together enough to capture....

Tower of Textiles ready to be blessed at Sunday service.

2015 KKQ badge...reversed colors for 10th year.

The rest you will just have to image for yourself...

A room full of people, knitting and talking, patiently waiting for the welcome speech (made by me) to be over so the retreat could begin.

The Kanuga Dining Hall ringing with birthday wishes (complete with harmony)....on three different occasions.

Evenings filled with knitters around big stone fireplaces.

Evenings filled with quilters happily sewing away in brightly lit Gooch Main.

Gorgeous quilts spread out at the Show and Mingle...and I mean gorgeous!

Gorgeous sweaters, shawls, and hats worn by knitters as they walked around the Kanuga campus.

Beautiful services filled with images of cloth and yarn.

Quiet moments of concentration over a new technique to be learned.

Joyous sounds of ah-ha moments...and the laughter of new and old friendships.

I could go on...but you get the picture.

Kanuga tells me they have a capacity of 400.  We're already planning for next year. Wish you'd join us...I think there'll be room. ;)

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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.

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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.

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Foggy Day Dreaming

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Criosanna: a tale of a transatlantic cardigan

Ok, people, I've finally done it now. I have finally reformatted Criosanna to my template and released it to Ravelry.

This sweater was designed in 2009 and presented to Jamieson & Smith for use in their pattern collections. There were some issues with the written pattern (hey, I was new!) and the garment was mailed back to me to fix. When things were sorted out, it was returned across the Atlantic.

After a bit, J&S emailed to ask permission to send the pattern (and the sweater) to a leading British knitting magazine. Boy, howdy!

Time went by...and I never heard from the magazine.

By now it was 2011 and my husband and I were in Shetland for the Tall Ships race. While visiting J&S, I asked about the sweater. Apparently, the magazine was going through a reorganization and communications were a bit spotty. The J&S sales manager suggested I try to contact the editor myself....maybe I would have better luck.

On our return to the states, I did just that. The new editor was familiar with the sweater...which apparently was sitting in her office with no identification tags. She wanted to use it for the new magazine. Boy...hmmmm...ok.

Time went by...and I never heard anything else from the magazine...

...until another editor emailed.

It seems the reorganized magazine didn't make it...and another publisher had bought them out. This new editor had inherited the sweater in the transition...and wanted it for the August 2012 edition. hmmmmm...ok.

Criosanna appeared in the August issue of Knitwise in 2012. Woo-hoo!

After the designated exclusivity time, the rights were returned to me...and in May of 2013...so was the sweater!

Now things get crazy on this end....that same month we moved to North Carolina. September 2013, we purchased a new home. October 2013, we closed on our old house in Atlanta.

So...finally...a little over a year later...I have gotten my act together to reformat Criosanna to my pattern template...and here it is!

Whew! It has been a long ride...but done...and done.

Varian

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Adventurous

I have been thinking lately about change...and what it takes to bring about change

...and those thoughts have led me down side roads of having courage...and being adventurous.

...and off to the seemingly non sequitur of knitting. (Fair warning: most of my thoughts come back around to knitting in some way or fashion.)


Merriam-Webster defines “adventurous” as “not afraid to do new and dangerous or exciting things” “disposed to seek adventure or to cope with the new and unknown” “being innovative”.

When it comes to knitting …is this you?  Are you adventurous? Do you love a good challenge?

Ok, I totally understand that no one can be intrepid on every project. There has got to be some mindless knitting. Right? Some soothing projects where you don’t have to think too much…

…but what about those times when you are sick of the mindless projects? When you are just kinda bored with the same ol’ same ol’? When you want to use your brain?

What is your challenge of choice? Do you move from simple scarves and hats to sweaters? Or do you go for patterns with different techniques…

cables…

lace…

or my passion, stranded work?

Whatever adventure you choose…completing the challenge can be rewarding. That sweet feeling of triumph at knowing you have stretched your abilities and created something new… or different than what was previously on your needles.

Like all triumphs, it’s kinda of addictive…which is why you will venture out again, my friend. You know you will.

It’s a good thing…being an adventurous knitter.

Varian

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Adalour...a new design.

Some time ago, Karen and Valerie of Mountain Meadow Wool handed me four skeins of their wonderful Wyoming Series Cody yarn in four colors....Charcoal, Silver, Teal, and Tesa Orange. And just so you will know....Cody is a 2-ply sport weight yarn which comes in 200 yd, 50g skeins.

Because this yarn is so soft and therefore perfect for being next to the skin, Karen, Valerie and I discussed the possibility of a largish cowl. The outcome I'm calling Adalour...for no other reason than I liked the sound of the name.

When it was finished, my husband and I went walked up to a nearby vineyard...ok, we kinda snuck up to the vineyard...early one morning and shot some photos. (Can I just say right now...I really hate being the model...but until I can find someone who will work for the cheap...I guess I am it.)

Adalour Cowl

...and while we are on the subject of largish cowls, they can be a bit difficult to wear, especially the stranded versions. If you just put them on without any styling, you get something like this...

...where the 'B' side out shines the 'A' side with all of the patterning.

Here's where the glorious shawl pin comes in...

allowing you to gather up the 'A' side for better viewing and keep the back of your neck warm.
The pin is from Jul Designs....if you are interested.

Another option that works as well is the dpn...which is actually kinda perfect for knitters.

So there you have it...new pattern...and a bit of large cowl styling.

I'm heading back to my needles...how 'bout you?

Varian

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