It's been a busy month. I've taught 4 weekends in a row, it's been wonderful. Three of the weekends were at retreats, every event different. It's really interesting to see how events are run. Each of these weekends began with a different focus and all were successful with happy knitters doing what they love to do.

At the beginning of the month I went to Wisconsin for the MidWest Masters Retreat run by the Yarns by Design store in Neenah, WI. It's been running for 10 years. Students at this event pick their classes and pay by the class. You can stay at the Holiday Inn if you wish or come in for your class. I met lots of wonderful knitters and spent time in the hospitality suite knitting between classes.

The second retreat was the YarnOver SleepOver Retreat which was an all inclusive weekend stay at the Fern Resort with your choice of 4 different 2 hour classes included. As one of the 10 organizers of this event, I have to say that this was a terrific weekend and teaching my classes was really fun. We'll be doing it again next April, same weekend, it's booked.

The last retreat was one I set up myself in Algoma Mills (half way between Sudbury, ON and Sault Ste.Marie, ON) on the north shore of Lake Huron. Two days of classes to knit a top down baby sweater. Two participants stayed at the Lake Lauzon Resort B&B. The local knitters came for the day. We've decided on next years dates, April 26 &27 at Lake Lauzon Resort where we'll be knitting socks in all their various forms.

And yesterday I taught at the Knitter's Frolic, a market day with classes, run by the Downtown Knit Collective, a knitting guild in Toronto, ON. Fun and all those yarn fumes, phew!

There is such a variety of events for knitters, it's endless.
-Deb

Training to Knit

 

It seems that it is possible to have too much knitting in my life. My elbows are really hurting from too much time at the needles. I do some exercises, hand stretching etc, when I knit but not very conscientiously and probably not until something hurts. I do want to continue knitting for many more years so I'm going to have to clean up my act and get on board with regular exercises. Here is an excellent post that I found with some hand exercises which I'm sure will help me and maybe you too. Hand and Shoulder Exercises for Knitters

I'm also sure that my posture when knitting is awful. I'm short, really short, so chairs for normal people don't fit me. This causes my back to curve too much when sitting and knitting for hours. So more pillows needed behind me when I'm sitting but also more exercises to strengthen my core (crunches, yuck) so that my back is supported.

Here's a post which I found really interesting from a knitter and personal trainer - yes, we could train to be knitters, knitting athletes?! Exercises for Knitters from FitKnitChick I find her first suggestion for 'taking breaks' the hardest one to do. But her idea of moving from couch to chair to another chair in the room when I know I'm going to be knitting for quite a while really interesting and one I'm going to try. So simple but I bet it's going to help. I didn't understand most of the training jargon but yoga and pilates classes probably take care of most of that. So here I go, off to sign up at the gym to train for knitting.
-Deb



Retreat season is not over yet. Do you live on the Sudbury ON - Sault Ste.Marie ON corridor? Next weekend, April 21&22, we are going to knit Top Down baby sweaters at the Lake Lauzon Resort. http://www.cabinfever.ca/knittersretreat_northern.html  We will be a small but mighty group clicking needles for that special little someone who will look fantastic in their finished cardigans.

 

Last weekend we had a fantastic group at our YarnOver SleepOver Retreat. What a great group of women knitters are!! We're already looking forward to our 2nd annual event.
-Deb

Here we are at the YarnOver SleepOver Retreat. Last night was our Friday evening get together.

We have a fine group of women here. Today they are all in various classes and very excited by what they are learning. It's great fun. Lots of needles are clicking.
-Deb

Home now from the MidWest Masters knitting retreat. It's always a great time to hang out with knitters. It even snowed so that I would feel at home, ha.

I have a couple of experiments going. One of them is working with the Saucon Fingering on a large needle. Oh my, does it ever feel nice. It's sock weight yarn but I'm knitting it on a 4.5mm/US7 needle.

It's going to be a drapey summer top which will need to be worn over a camisole. It will be cool to wear in the hot weather. Have you tried any of the light weight sweaters with sock weight yarn on larger needles?

Deb

Pat did a different pattern on the Chunky Mittlets.

I really like them.

A suggestion that was made to me was to take the YO that sits at the end of your double pointed needle and move it in one stitch. Terry pointed out that if you put the mittlet down and pick it up again you could loose the YO. It turns out the moving it one stitch in also makes the increase tighter.

I've incorporated it into the pattern. Sometimes it's the small details that make the difference in a pattern. Thanks Terry.
-Deb

I'm doing a class at the Spring MidWest Masters retreat based on the Need A Plus Cardigan? book so I borrowed the cover cardigan back from Christine to take with me.

And I'm so excited, it's BEEN WORN and not just once either but several times. I couldn't be more pleased. There is nothing worse that seeing something you knit for someone sitting in pristine condition because it's too good to wear! This sweater is no longer in pristine condition. Yay!

I started one for myself several months ago and put it aside but have picked it up again and although it's getting late, I might still get some wear out of it this spring (since it's not quite here yet). I'm going to use it to indicate the body shaping that can be done. The markers are in the waist decreases and now I'm starting the hip increases. The markers make it seem like it's going quicker.

-Deb