Yesterday was long.  I got up at 6am (having gotten home from Texas at 7pm the night before) and went back to the airport.  After flying to Detroit, I flew on to Pellston, MI–the cutest little airport I ever saw!  It has one baggage claim, complete with (sadly) stuffed dead animals-a mountain lion and three bear cubs.

Baggage Claim, Pellston, Michigan

I boarded a shuttle that drove me to the dock of the ferry that would take me to the island. Then I took the ferry ride across…

One of the Shepler ferries used to transport to the island

We passed the Mackinaw Bridge…

Approaching Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel in the distance.

The Grand Hotel

Once on land again, I was taken to the Hotel by horse drawn taxi.  The town itself is darling with over 10 fudge shops on the island.  Here’s my taxi…(no cars are allowed on the island)

and a closeup of the Hotel…

Here’s my room–frou-frou but darling!

We had high tea and champagne first thing, and dinner soon thereafter…

Everywhere I look there are wonderful antiques and unique furnishings, such as this settee:

Note the geranium carpeting.  Geraniums are everywhere as well as on the stationary, the scent of the soaps, stenciled on furniture.

A children’s set of antique chairs…

One of the many Parlours

The famous Wrap Around Porch, supposedly one of the largest in the world…

My class was such fun.  We were a small intimate group and the students worked so hard!

Here are their wonderful Fair Isle Cardigans:

Now the workshop is over and I am leaving the island tomorrow.  What a wonderful experience this has been!  I hope TKGA plans another retreat here someday.  Don’t miss it!

A Vermont Country Road

I have written before about the wonderful weekend retreats held by Margaret Klein Wilson, gifted dyer of Mostly Merino.  There is nothing better than a getaway in a gorgeous part of the world (Southern Vermont), eating delicious, local food, knitting with warm and open people who share your love of fiber, and working on a fun project!  I am excited to look forward to August when we will once again hold two sessions of knitting retreats.  If you are interested in coming, register soon (by April 14), as the groups are kept small for a more intimate feel to the retreat.

Kelly feeds us well

Margaret says…

The retreats are held at the Dutton Farmhouse, a Landmark Trust Property in Dummerston, Vermont.  (www.landmarktrustusa.org) This magnificent rural setting, overlooking the orchards of Scott Farm and the neighboring hills, is a perfect place to settle into your knitting in good company.  We knit with a passion, feast on cuisine that is mostly locally grown, and enjoy each other’s company, knitting wisdom and the sublime setting in equal measure. Both retreats make time and space for each knitter to address their knitting practice with humor and good intention.  We have fun!

The Dutton Farmhouse

The workshop registration is limited to 14 to insure each knitter has plenty of one-to-one time to work with Beth.  The workshop schedule of three days sets a leisurely pace and reflects Beth’s generous teaching style.  There is time to take a walk down country roads and enjoy local views, eat and shop at the local Farmer’s Market, visit the Green Mountain Spinnery and enjoy the eclectic town of Brattleboro. As one retreatant puts it, “Three days in Vermont, feels more like a week away.”

MOSTLY MERINO

Two Summer Knitting Retreats

With Beth Brown-Reinsel

  August 16^th – 19th, 2012

August 23^rd – 26^th, 2012

About the Classes:  SESSION I

Thursday, late afternoon, August 16th

through Sunday, August 19^th

Sequencing: Taking Color Into Your Own Hands – Friday

Fair Isle Tam:  Saturday

 Color Twined Fingerless Mitts:  Sunday

We begin this weekend with a Welcoming dinner on Thursday evening. Friday finds us in nearby Brattleboro to explore how color works in a 3 hour “sequencing” class at the River Gallery School, followed by time to explore  eclectic Brattleboro, tour a local Spinnery  and enjoy tea and the view from the lawn of the Dutton Farmhouse. Then we settle into our space for two days of  Tam and Mitt workshops with Beth.

Sequencing: This method of “painting” was devised at the River Gallery School in Brattleboro, as a way for both beginner and experienced art makers to break down impediments to creative energy. Imagine yourself with a  palette tray of many colors of paint, latex gloves and permission to play. Knitters being artmakers of another kind, this 3-hour class is your time to loosen up and explore your sense of color. “Color is strongly related to our emotions and when we are able to experience it tactilely, our relationship to it (and to the qualities we associate with it) is intensified. Color becomes alive and more apparent to our awareness. We begin to develop a direct feeling for what it means to each of us.” From Making is Knowing: An Approach to Creativity in Art Making, by Ric Campman and Lydia Thompson, 2004.

Fair Isle Tam

FAIR ISLE TAM: (6 Hours) This Fair Isle class is for knitters who would like to venture into two-color knitting and tam construction. A small tam comprised of ribbing, a border pattern area, and the wheel area will be knitted on double points or a circular needle, in four colors, although never more than two in a round. Techniques included in the workshop: knitting with a color in each hand, weaving yarns to reduce snagging, reading tam charts, knitting traditional peerie, border, and wheel patterns, and shaping and finishing of the tam. The class will end with a discussion of alternate ribbing treatments and designing your own tam.

Color-Twined Fingerless Mitts

COLOR TWINED FINGERLESS MITTS: (6 Hours) Students will learn color techniques of tvåändsstickning, or twined knitting, a technique developed in Sweden in the 1600s, which creates a denser, warmer fabric structure than stranded knitting.  By knitting one of a pair of Fingerless Mittens, the student will gain knowledge and experience in the basics of twined knitting, while advancing to the three main two-color techniques: working with two and three yarns for color, and a modified intarsia technique as well as yarn management, twined knitting, twined purling, herringbone braid, and reading twined knitting charts.

Class Registration The weekend fee of $475 includes all instruction and comprehensive handouts, Thursday evening welcoming dinner, Friday breakfast and afternoon tea,  Saturday  & Sunday continental breakfast & lunches.  Local organic produce will be incorporated into all menus.

A deposit of $125 will hold your spot in the class.  The balance of the class fee  — $350 — is due before May 16th; $375 thereafter. Refunds of deposits and/or the entire class fee will be given only if another person takes the place of the knitter canceling. To reserve, write or call: merino@together.net 802.254.7436 (Paypal/Checks/MC/Visa)

Housing:  Two twin bedded and one queen bed rooms are still available at the Dutton Farmhouse ($85/night) and are booked through me. Also, I will be working on a room rate at the  local Quality Inn for this weekend. Other nearby  (within 10 min. &  miles) options include:

The Hampton Inn   802.254.5700

Holiday Inn Express   802.257.2400   www.brattleboroexpress.com

The following hotels are locally owned and close by:

The Latchis  802.254.6300 www.latchis.com  (downtown Brattleboro)

Colonial Motel & Spa  800.239.0032 www.colonialmotelspa.com

ABOUT THE CLASSES:  SESSION II

Thursday, late afternoon, August 23rd

through Sunday, August 26^th

The Dutton Farmhouse

Introduction to Fana Cardigan: Friday

Design  & Begin Your Own Fana Cardigan:  Sat. & Sunday

The Norwegian Fana Cardigan Sampler

The Norwegian Fana Cardigan, 18 hours

Level: Intermediate to advanced 

The classic details and traditional construction of the Norwegian Fana Cardigan sweaters will be taught in this three-day workshop through the knitting of a small sweater and segues into designing and beginning your own Fana cardigan. Techniques to be learned include circularly knitted body and sleeves, square and drop shoulder armholes, cut-and-sew armholes and front, knitted self-facings, button bands, and 2-color star, band, and checkerboard patterns.

The Norwegian Fana Cardigan

Class Registration  The weekend fee of $475 includes all instruction and comprehensive handouts, Thursday evening welcoming dinner, and 3 days of sumptuous continental breakfast & lunches with a localvore emphasis.

A deposit of $125 will hold your spot in the class. Balance of class fee –$350 — is due before May 20th; $375 thereafter. Refunds of deposits and/or the entire class fee will be given only if another person takes the place of the knitter canceling. To reserve, write or call: merino@together.net 802.254.7436 (Paypal/Checks/MC/Visa)

Housing: The following options are within 10 minutes and 5 miiles of the workshop location. I will be working on a room rate at the Quality Inn for this weekend.

The Hampton Inn   802.254.5700

Holiday Inn Express   802.257.2400   www.brattleboroexpress.com

The following hotels are locally owned and close by:

The Latchis  802.254.6300 www.latchis.com (downtown Brattleboro)

Colonial Motel & Spa  800.239.0032 www.colonialmotelspa.com

Latvian Fingerless Mitts

If you are interested in this pattern, you can buy it now!  You have two options.  #1: Email me and I will send you a PayPal invoice for $6.25.  Once paid, I will email you the PDF.  #2: Go directly to PayPal (whether you have an account with them or not) and click on “Send Money” and follow the directions.  Paypal will let me know you paid and then I will email you the PDF.

Next month I hope to have two more patterns available: my Spring Latvian Fingerless Mitts from the class of the same name, and an Aran cardigan from the top down.  Meanwhile, I am also working hard at developing a couple new classes, and making plans for the new year.  It’s a busy time, but I want to get a bunch done before I start flying again every other weekend or so.  Something New: I will hold a few contests here on this blog and give away some knitting books by different authors over the next few months.

Thanks for hanging in there, everyone, while I took my hiatus from the blog over the fall and early winter.  I am grateful for your kind comments regarding the loss of my sister, which was a huge part of the bummer that was 2011.  And now for this year… I just KNOW it will be a wonderful year!  Stay tuned!

Many animals were washed away in the floods.  Crops were submerged.  If they survived, they had to be destroyed anyway because of contamination.  Foundations washed away underneath houses (one a block away from me) causing collapse.  My son saw an enormous propane tank bobbing down the Brook-that-had-become-a-river.

This video shows the street just a few hundred yards from my apartment:

There are many other videos on YouTube showing the terrible effects of the storm and flooding.

If you would like to help Vermont, you can donate money so that people can have food. So many crops have been lost and many people here were already marginalized before the flooding.  Both the Vermont Food Bank and Vermont Public Radio have been raising money for flood victims with little overhead, which means more of the money goes to relief efforts.

I want to thank all of you who emailed me with your concern over my safety during the storm.  It was so touching and meant a great deal to me.  I am fine as is my apartment in Brattleboro, and my kids who are in Vermont are fine as well.

I was teaching at Stitches Midwest when it hit Vermont on Sunday, August 28.  My flight home was cancelled, and I happened to run into my friend Paul who, together with his partner Kristy, owns Shalimar Yarns, wonderful hand-dyed yarns (available through Webs).  Paul offered me a ride to Maryland where he lives, not far from my family.  It was a grueling ride, about 15 hours altogether, with a break in Cleveland, but I was grateful!

I was planning to fly to Maryland later that week, anyway, to help move my dear sister L. from her apartment to an apartment closer to daily support.  She has been struggling with cancer for a year now, and it is time for hospice.  When I look at her wasting away, it is so heartbreaking I can hardly bear it.  I have been unable to work or write much which is why my blog posts have been few and far between for awhile now.

While it was great to be with all my siblings and both parents, it was a heavy time for us all.  It is probably the last time we all are together.  Now I am more acutely aware of how we all suffer.  Meeting a crabby person in a store or on the street, I think, “Who knows what anguish this person is feeling?  Who knows what is going on in his or her life right now to bring up this behavior?”  It helps me to be more compassionate and understanding of all people.

Fiber College, completely volunteer driven, is held from September 8 through 11 of this year, and  transcends the narrow focus of one craft or art modality. (It is always held the weekend after Labor Day.)  The website of this happening heralds it as “A Grand Gathering of Fiber Artists and Students on the Coast of Maine” with the telling subtitle of “Educating Creative  Expression”.  The breadth of classes offered is so delicious.  From silk painting to doll making, knitting and spindling to paper spinning, weaving, photography, crochet, needle felting, rug hooking, silk-screening, dyeing, embroidery, needle tatting, and more, there is a class for everyone.

Fiber College takes place on Penobscot Bay in Maine, at the Searsport Shores Ocean Campground. There are trails, gardens, and beaches to explore during your non-class time.  You can camp there or stay at a B&B nearby.  Check out the options for accommodations here. There will be vendors (from small farms and talented artists) to peruse that have been chosen for their unique wares, as well as scheduled demonstrations of all types every hour from Thursday to Sunday, ranging from furniture upholstery to knitting with wire and more.

I am looking forward to the community of Fiber College, taking advantage of meeting new friends who share my love of fiber arts.  Every evening there will be events to support the feeling of community.  Mary Jane Mucklestone, known for her wonderful Fair Isle garment designs, is the Artist In Residence this year.

I will be teaching my beloved gansey class, Traditional Gansey Techniques, on Thursday, September 8 and Twined Textured Fingerless Mitts on Friday, September 9.

Traditional Gansey Techniques Project

Twined Textured Fingerless Mitts class project

I hope to see you there!!!!

Next up in the blog tour are:

Tuesday July 26 Mary Jane Mucklestone   http://maryjanemucklestone.com/

Wednesday July 27 Amy Herzog   http://www.amyherzogdesigns.com/blog/

Thursday July 28 Ellen Mason  http://odacier.blogspot.com/

Friday July 29 Gale Zucker   http://ezisus.blogspot.com/

The entrance to the Black Sheep Gathering

My dear friend Lois Olund picked me up from the airport in Portland and took me to her farm near Corvallis, where she raises the largest flock of Wensleydale sheep in North America.  Those of you who remember the mail-order days of Knitting Traditions will also remember the incredible Wensleydale yarns I imported from England.  It is an exceptional fiber, strong, lustrous, and luscious!  Lois showed me the flock and her carding equipment.  She prepares the fibers and dyes them too, as well as selling fleeces.  I can’t wait to have the time to spin this wondrous stuff Lois gave me!  Check out her website!

Wensleydale fiber: Bellwether Wool Company

When I wasn’t teaching I wandered the vendor hall and found silkworms!

Walking the vendor floor

I also ran into Michelle of Toots LeBlanc, who has luscious z-plied yarns, which are great for twined knitting as well as regular knitting!

Toots Le Blanc

Then I found Lois, happily spinning away…

Black Sheep Gathering: Bellwether Wool Company

Donna, in the video, was referring to Judith MacKenzie, the famous spinner/teacher who judged the spinning competition.

I was lucky to be able to spend time with my friends Joan Schrouder, Janel Laidman, and JC Briar, as well as Y’vonne Cutright, all talented knitting designers and teachers.  I am especially glad I got to spend time with Lois, since we hadn’t seen each other in over thirty years.  Where has the time gone?

Lois and Beth

www.AmyDetjen.com

If you are in the dark as to who Amy is, know that she LOVES purple and is always wearing it (and even has a purple motorcycle!) and is usually teaching with or helping Meg Swansen (Elizabeth Zimmermann’s daughter) at Schoolhouse Press.

Amy was one of the instructors at Knitters Connection, along with Sarah Peasley, Lorilee Beltman, Candace Eisner-Strick, Nicky Epstein, Debra Lee, Mary Beth Temple to name a few! JC Briar was also teaching…check out her new book Charts Made Simple!  It is so concise and clearly written.

On Saturday, the 30th annual Gay Pride Parade of Columbus was held.  It went by the Convention Center during the lunch break so I got to see most of it.  As I was walking across the street to go into the Convention Center, people were lined up on both sides waiting for the parade.

Before the parade

I watched from behind a huge window in the Convention Center so didn’t take any photos.  : (  But the best part was the young man in 5″ heels.  He was so graceful. Imagine not only standing upright in them, which I cannot do, but walking the length of the parade in those shoes!  He has my utmost admiration!  It was a lot of fun to watch, but my classes were even more fun.

Here is testimony to the great skill of my students in my Latvian Fingerless Mitts class:

What a great job my students did! Aren't they beautiful mitts?

I look forward to next year.  I will hopefully be teaching there again!

Jeni\’s Splendid Ice Cream!

Monday was a quiet day on the show floor as many people had already gone home.  But it was a good time to be there because one could spend more time talking with others. Etiquette dictates that you don’t schmooze with the business owner when a potential sale is happening in the booth.

Everyone was really tired that last day and the vendors still had to pack up.  I remember from my exhibiting days at Stitches how exhausting that is!  After all the glitz and pagentry is over, it is a lot of hard work packing up to go home.  And the hall is quiet and empty once more.

The empty hall...

Now I had a day to rest before Knitters Connection started!

Every hour or so, I went back to the Up North booth to make sure I was available to speak with anyone who wanted to connect with me.  At one point, I ran into Ragnhei∂ur Eiriksdottir, also known as Ragga, who is from Iceland and has created a DVD on knitting lopapeysa, what we know here in the US as Lopi sweaters.

Me, Ragga, and Barb in the Up North booth at TNNA

Ragga gave me a copy of her DVD, which I was thrilled to receive!

Ragga's DVD

She is also conducting many knitting tours through Iceland.  One that is upcoming is with Franklin Habit and will be in October, 2011 during the annual music festival in Reykjavik!  That will be a lot of fun!  Then Ragga hinted that she would love to build a tour with me as the teacher.  I LOVE Iceland and hope that this tour will materialize.  You’ll hear all about it on this blog if it comes to be!

Across the way, a booth called The Dolly-Mamas piqued my interest.  Lisa and Darlene have created patterns for all sorts of KuKu dolls and work with Connect Africa in Uganda to help knitters there make money to fund schools and other needed projects.  The dolls “are multicultural, knitted, felted dolls that are available as kits, patterns and finished dolls. Each KuKu Doll has its own name and personality and when you make one, you put a little touch of yourself in it as well.”

Darlene and Lisa

You can order many of these kits from this page on their website.

These needle gauges caught my eye at the Puffin & Company booth.  They are made of laser cut Alder and size needles from US 0 to 17.  There are different styles, but you can order this one here.

Needle Gauge Heart

Later in the day, I discovered a booth representing The Imperial Stock Ranch.  This Oregon ranch has been operating since 1871 and is credited with the development of the Columbia breed of sheep.  This family raises beef and lamb, and produces breed specific wool yarns and garments with sustainability in mind. Here is a small photo of one of their yarns.

Columbia 2-Ply Yarn

And speaking of breed-specific yarns…I had dinner with Deb Robson of Nomad Press and former editor of Spin-Off Magazine.

Deb Robson

We had a good time catching up and she told me about her new four pound baby The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook which she co-wrote with Carol Ekarius.

This 448 page book is the most comprehensive yet describing the fleece and information about more than 200 fiber animals.  This is an editorial description from Storey Publishing:

“This one-of-a-kind photographic encyclopedia features more than 200 animals and the fibers they produce. It covers almost every sheep breed in the world — from the longwool breeds of the United Kingdom to the Tasmanian merino, the Navajo churro, the northern European Faroese, and dozens and dozens more. It also includes goats, camelids (such as alpacas, llamas, and vicunas), bison, horses, musk oxen, rabbits, and even dogs. Each entry includes photographs of the featured animal; samples of its raw fleece, its cleaned fleece, and yarn spun from the fleece; and samples of the yarn knit and woven. You’ll find everything you want to know about each animal and its fiber, including the fiber’s color, density, strength, and staple length, and recommendations for processing and using it. This is the essential reference no fiber-lover can be without.”

We also traded experiences about doing DVDs.  Deb’s was done through Interweave Press and is called Handspinning Rare Wools.  I look forward to owning my own copy of this DVD.

In a nutshell, I have devised a learning program that integrates my DVD chapters as lessons with some of my gansey patterns so that shop owners can teach the necessary skills within the context of a 10 to 12 week Knit Along.  I supply a syllabus and other supporting materials and I Skype in a couple times during the class.

Anyway, after I checked in with the Up North Fiber Art Supply booth, I went wandering and came across a vendor who was selling a new DVD featuring none other than Barbara G. Walker, author of all those incredible books full of knitting stitches (scroll partway down to the bottom of that web page to see her books)!  I asked a couple questions, and the vendor said, “Would you like to talk with Barbara?”  And there she was!  I felt a stupid expression creep onto my face and I was a goofy awe-struck knitter in Her Presence.  I got her autograph, but didn’t think to ask anyone to take a photograph of us together.  Fortunately, my friend JoLene Treace, designer extraordinaire wearing one of her lovely lace designs, was thinking more clearly and got a photo of herself and BGW.

JoLene Treace and Barbara G. Walker

The DVD is available from Stitch Heaven and is called (I think) StitchHeaven salutes Barbara G. Walker.  It is 3.5 hours long!

Here are some other things I saw on my wanderings around the show floor…

Knit Outta the Box offers some really interesting yarns.  One in particular is called Cotton Sifa and is 95% Turkish cotton, 5% silver.  Yes, silver.  It feels so cushy and I can’t wait to swatch it!  The yarn is almost braided.

Cotton Sifa yarn

I also stopped by the O-wool booth.  I love to use their yarn especially when I am knitting a baby gift, because all their yarns are organic.  They have six different yarns.  Here is one of them…

Legacy DK 100% certified organic merino wool

Next, I met the woman who invented Fix-a-Stitch.  This tool is really clever and she told me she thought it up when she was 12 years old.  Now in her 60′s, she is finally getting a patent on it.  If you visit her website, you will see videos on how to use the tool.  It comes in a package of 3 sizes.  You can see one of the videos below.

Fix-A-Stitch Instructional Video

Moving on, I came to the booth of the Fiber &Fabric Mania Travel Guide.  This book is compiled anew each year to list all the shops that carry yarn, quilting, needlepoint, weaving, spinning, and/or cross stitch/embroidery.  Mr. Merin, who helps his wife to put the book together generously gave me the new 2011-2012 edition.  You can get this book at your LYS or order it here.

I was excited to find a wool mill that makes WORSTED spun yarn! Stonehedge Fiber Mill in East Jordan, MI has lovely yarns! It is a full service mill that cards, spins, and skeins wool, alpaca, and other fibers.  I was impressed with the Shepherds Wool yarn they are now creating. The website shows their worsted weight, but I was told they are expanding the line to other weights.  I love worsted spun yarns because they tend to resist pilling and last longer than woolen spun yarns.

I passed the TKGA booth (The Knitting Guild Association) and saw Arenda Holiday there.  Arenda is very active in the guild, particularly the Master Knitters program,  and responsible for raising the bar for knitters everywhere.  If you see her knitting, you know what I mean.  Here is her design she calls Winter.  I think she said it was knitted at 12 stitches to the inch out of the same lovely silk wool yarn from RedFish Dyeworks that I used for my Sunnhordaland Set I blogged about several months ago.

Arenda in her cardigan Winter

After the show on Friday, I gathered my things to set up an exhibit of my litttle sweaters for the Teacher Meet and Greet.  That was fun, talking with all sorts of people–former students as well as yarn shop owners who had never heard of my work.

It was a full day and I slept very well that night!