Knitting

Well, it is still only February, despite the mild, dry weather we’ve had over the last few weeks.  This is the one week that I have to travel – to Freeport for Spa – and snow is forecast for the rest of the week!  It’s gonna be a long ride through the mountains.

I’ve been busy winding skeins, dyeing yarn, printing patterns, etc and will be packing up and heading out Thurs. For those of you not familiar with Spa, it’s a “free-form” weekend of spinning, knitting, eating, drinking, shopping…..well, whatever you want to do in Freeport.  There’s a big vendor room and I’ll be there selling alpaca yarn all weekend. Hope to see some of you there!

Had a great time this weekend at Vermont Knit Camp’s winter event: Knitting within Walls.  Good food, nice weather for snowshoeing and lots of new fiber friends. And I got a lot of knitting done.

Seyon Lodge was a great place. The hosts were welcoming, the rooms clean and comfortable and the food was fabulous! If you ever want to quiet, inexpensive Vermont getaway, this is the place.  They also have a nice big space for meetings, conferences and other function downstairs. The bonus for me is that Seyon Lodge State Park is only about 20 minutes from home!

I’m off this afternoon to “Knitting within Walls”, the winter version of Vermont Knit Camp. It’s being held at Seyon Lodge in nearby Groton State Forest, so it’s just down the road a bit.  I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend of knitting, eating and visiting with fellow knitters/fiber enthusiasts.

I’ll be taking two knitting projects with me: my Shingle Creek Socks, I’m about a quarter the way through the second sock, and a special alpaca hat that’s a Valentine’s Day gift. I’ll bring my spinning wheel and snowshoes and, of course, won’t have nearly as much time to do all those things as I think I will!

It wouldn’t be winter without a head cold.  At least I should be feeling better by Christmas.  It’s very cold again today – 12 below this morning.  Thank goodness for semester break; Matt’s off school and is here to do chores this week.  I don’t even have to go out to the barn.  But that’s unusual for us.  We generally have to get out there and do what needs to be done no matter how we feel.

It feels like a good day to work on my knitting a bit. (That’s after I close out the books for the last two quarters – yes, I’m a little behind!) Since we produce our own alpaca yarn, I don’t often buy yarn.  But last winter at SPA I picked up a skein of hand painted merino sock yarn from The Woolen Rabbit. The image doesn’t do justice to the amazing colors of the yarn. I’m knitting myself a pair of socks using the Shingle Creek Trail Sock pattern from Wooly Wonka Fibers.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry.  I’m enjoying both the yarn and the pattern.