Knitapalooza '07

This weekend the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat was held in Tacoma. It was Knitting Meca! Knitting Luminaries from the Northwest and beyond were all there. It was fun, inspiring, creativity on steriods. But best of all it was friends reconnecting. This is my very good knitting buddy Naomi. Naomi is an awesome knitter! We met a couple of years ago at the Y Women's Wellness Weekend while we were both knitting. Knitters tend to gravitate to each other in public. It was great to reconnect with her. She has also become my mentor on my newest knitting project so she won't be getting rid of me anytime soon.



Speaking of friends, this was our table at the banquet on Saturday night. Marilyn, Pat, Jewel, Mary and I were joined by some very cool Seattle knitters. We enjoyed sharing the evening with Christy, Daniel, Sarah, Zola, and Jenn. I met Daniel when he manned the Knitting 911 table and helped me out with my new project. He is patient, very knowledgable, and even though this project is the most intimidating thing I have ever attempted, I had a great time knitting the afternoon away with Daniel.




Meet my new project. I spotted it in a Vogue Knitting magazine a couple of years ago. I am finally brave enough to tackle it. Wish me luck. Actually luck has already smiled down on me. Naomi knitted it when it first hit the newsstand and has promised to hold my hand through it. My goal is to be wearing it at next year's Winter Retreat.



I took two amazing classes. The first was a medley of hats with Kristin Spurkland. Kristin teaches out of one of my favorite yarn stores in Portlnad, Knit Purl. Knit Purl hosts Stitch and Sip (that's a knitting froup that meets every Thursday night along with a generous supply of champagne). I had no idea that while I was upstairs sipping champagne that Kristin was teaching in their basement classroom onThursday nights. This is the hat that I was making in her class, almost done!





The second was with Leigh Radford. Leigh also lives and teaches in Portland (look out Katie, I may have to move into your neighborhood). Leigh Radford is one of the most creative knitters on the planet and she makes me want to knit 24/7 (I may just have to quit my job). This was a color exercise that we did in class. The other really cool project is now felting in my washer. If it turns out, I will share the before and after pix after it dries.