Hi, Jan,
Our life is a bit topsy turvy right now. We are living in the basement because we’ve pretty much moved out of the top level while the floor is torn out and replaced. Both of us have had weekends away recently, and, well, it goes without saying that work hasn’t slowed down.
But right now I want to take a moment out of the craziness to relive last weekend, spent in the North Woods with a bunch of awesome knitters.
Lisa and I drove up together. We were nearly eaten by the world’s largest walleye. Luckily, he must have sensed our sympathy to all things Scandinavian (you can tell this from the way we dress) and spat us out.
We arrived at Camp Widgiwagan just in time for dinner (gourmet pizzas at a Y camp) and then settled in for a wonderful evening surrounded by yarn and knitters. It was so wonderful to just wander around the room looking at everyone’s work and all the great yarn that Sisu Designs, the sponsoring shop, brought to the retreat.
The yarn wasn’t the only colorful thing. The scenery was incredible., whether close up or from a distance.
There were colorways for sweaters every time you turned around. Isn’t that orange fungus insane?
Project show and tell was great, but I would overload the server if I showed it all. I did want to show the really nice shadow work in this scarf. Cool, eh? The rest can be found on my Flickr account, here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/17268800@N03/?saved=1
And here is a standout, even if it wasn’t knit. In the “It’s a Small World” category, the creator of this gorgeous thing, Anna, knew Lisa and my names from our dog sledding experience - she processed the forms for Outward Bound!
The last morning was magical with mist marching down the lake.
The project for the weekend was a Bohus-inspired cap. I didn’t make one - instead I kept working on my Bohus sweater (post to come). But didn’t all the others make some delightful caps?
On the way home Lisa and I checked out the Frank Lloyd Wright designed gas station in Cloquet. It wasn’t as fun as the walleye, but it was pretty neat.
I’m exhausted just recounting the fun. I hope you had a good week and have some time to rest this weekend.
Love,
Ellen
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I find it very fun to process forms and then act like I know people when I recognize their names. I did a bunch of stuff for New Student Week at school, and the already-nervous freshmen would become even more disoriented when I would hear their names and be like, “Ah, yes, Andrew Chambers. From Iowa, no?”
October 5th, 2008 at 12:34 am
It was a great weekend, Ellen. Thanks for capturing the spirit!
October 5th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Hi! The scarf looks lovely. Can you explain why this is called ’shadow work’? This is so interesting because my sister is into crafts also, at the moment she’s doing a lot of quilting. While I do a kind of personal growth work called Shadow Work, and I only learned recently that the same term was used in the craft world, but I’m having trouble finding a definition to what it means about knitting. When you see the scarf in person, is there a way that the shadows enhance the design, or the colors? Thanks for any clarity!
October 5th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
In response to Alyce, the scarf is an example of shadow knitting, a technique in which one manipulates color and the use of knit and purl stitches so that a pattern appears when viewed from certain angles and disappears when viewed from another. There is a good explanation of it on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_knitting) and the Fresh Isle Fibers site that lists lots of patterns, http://www.freshislefibers.com/Patterns/shadowknittinglinks.htm. There is an excellent book, too, called (no surprise) Shadow Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro, http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Knitting-Vivian-Hoxbro/dp/1931499411.
October 5th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
What a great weekend! I am very jealous. There is an outside chance I might get to a knitting retreat this coming weekend, but not sure if I can pull it off. A trip was (thankfully!) cancelled, so I have a teensy bit of breathing room.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:48 am
What a wonderful weekend — LOVE your quatrefoil! Lovely color & photo. Thanks for pointing it out. And looking ahead slightly, am drooling over your bee-autiful Rivendell socks & Forest Darkness, both of which I’m eyeing for future projects. I’ll be following your progress. They both look wonderful.
–Susette (unionpearl)