2011 Missouri Fiber Retreat

I am just back from the 10th Annual Missouri Fiber Retreat!

What an awesome weekend. I started going to this event in 2008. I missed 2009, but now it has become an annual event for me. I cannot speak highly enough about it. I have wonderful friends there that I met in late 2007 when I was lucky enough to take a 3-day workshop taught by Anne Field. The Retreat is about the only time I get to see most of them, and so I look forward to it every year. Last year, two of my friends, Tammy and Christa came and met me there - and now I think it will be an annual event for them, too! Tammy and Christa also happen to be my co-moderators in the Year of Stash Socks group on Ravelry! This is us just before heading home yesterday. We were tired but happy - it was such a great weekend!


I taught my very first knitting class this weekend! I have taught a lot of people how to knit, but never in a classroom setting where they paid money to actually have me teach them something :-D

I was nervous . . . There's my name and my class - I was also very excited about it and have spent the last months getting ready and creating a handout with the assistance of my friend, KniftyRed. It was well-received, although I think I might have a technical booboo on the turning the heel section. I'll be checking that out once I recover from the 7+ hour drive home yesterday :-)

My class went pretty well - and I learned SO MUCH. I learned as much as my students did. I hope that I will get the opportunity to teach this again. It was really fun!

I was a better shopper this year - and I only bought two skeins of yarn - some Brown Sheep so I could do a little felting project that I've been thinking about.

That's not to say, however, that I didn't come home with a carload of stuff . . . just not very much yarn this year :-D

Mostly books for weaving and patterns for knitting. And some DPNs that I need for the Moroccan Backpack project. There are a couple of things missing from the photo (it was late - I was sleepy). I got two DVDs that correspond to Deb Chandler's Learning to Weave book that I have. Yay! Oh, there's a potholder loom and some loops - but mostly I got the loops because apparently I'm going to need them when I learn to warp my loom.

Oh - you're wondering about that bag that says Louet Victoria, aren't you? Well, in that little bag (which is small enough and light enough to carry on a plane [HOT DOG!!!]) is my newest spinning wheel, the Louet Victoria. I got a fabulous deal on it from Janet Wray, of JWRAYCO, and so it came home with me. I'll be spinning on it very soon :-)

Another highlight of the weekend was being a guest on The Proverbial Knitter video podcast! It's a long episode, but if you were wondering what I actually look like and sound like, you can watch :-) It's episode 14, available on The Proverbial Knitter website or through iTunes.

Last, but most certainly not least - I spent a substantial amount of free time glued to CNN as the earthquake and tsunami unfolded in Japan. 8.9 is a massive quake, and the continuing aftershocks and the tsunami . . . well, the images on CNN are almost unbelievable. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone there - and it is my fervent hope that they will be able to cool the nuclear rods in the affected nuclear reactors . . . however, from what I'm seeing on CNN, it's not looking good.

The Presbyterian Church USA is often one of the first organizations on the ground in disaster zones. There are many organizations to which you can donate, should you so choose, including Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which is a member of actalliance, a multi-denomination alliance of churches and church-related organizations that work together in humanitarian assistance and development.

And now, it's time to figure out laundry and see about putting things away (something I'm not always great about after a trip) ;-)