Knitting Retreat 2015!!!

Well... I know it's been about a TRILLION years since I've posted anything so I thought I'd re-enter the ol' blog with a post about last week's Knitting Retreat!

My MIL and I are members of the San Diego North County Knitting Guild (SDNCKG!) and twice a year the guild has a knitting retreat!  (In January and in May!)

This year, the May retreat was held at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Palos Verdes and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!

The view of LA from the hill was amazing, especially at night with all of the twinkling lights 

(and the peaceful quiet!)

Check in was Monday at noonish and lunch was served at 12:30p.

I sat with Lisa and Freddie at lunch and they made me laugh soooo hard!  They were such funny gals!

After lunch, everyone settled in at our knitting room... 

And we all contributed 'a few' bottles of wine for the group, for the week...   

:)

I sat next to a wonderful spinner and knitter who had brought her super cute Pocket Wheel and throughout the week spun her own eucalyptus-dyed yarn!

This little wheel is sooooooo cute and I WANT ONE!!!!

We knit all night and Lisa brought her guitar which was so lovely to hear and we all found it very relaxing!  (I'm sure the wine helped too...)

;-)

Tuesday morning we woke up early, went for a walk and came back and did some yoga!

Had some breakfast... 

And then took a little field trip to the local yarn shops!

Our first stop was Maddie Made It and we all LOVED this sweet little shop!  The owner is super friendly and it is a bright and happy store! 

The MEGA skein!!!!

Our second stop was Concepts in Yarn and they were having a SALE!

We got back from our field trip just in time for lunch and then we went back to the knitting room for a power knitting session!

One of the guild members brought her Knitting Machine for us to see how it works and what it's like!

After dinner, we knit all night and List played more beautiful music for us 

(and we drank MORE wine!)  :)

Liz taught an Origami Felted Slipper class and the slippers were so cute!

Wednesday morning we went for a nice long hike after breakfast in the Portuguese Bend Reserve.

It was such a beautiful day out and the views from the reserve are amazing!!!  We could see a little bit of Catalina and a few lonely sail boats out in the ocean!

We got back from our hike just in time to shower and have lunch...

and then after lunch, on to another power knitting session!

My MIL brought her Celtic Dance Stole to share from a mystery KAL hosted by one of the guild members!

 Look at those gorgeous cables!!! (You know I love my cables!)  :)

There are peacocks everywhere in Palos Verdes and the camera does not even begin to capture the beauty of their coloring!

They are very sweet and just like to pass on through... 

Though they do like to make a lot of noise at about 2 in the morning!

The ladies that work at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center were working on a Prayer Quilt and the pattern is the stained glass in the chapel of the retreat center!

Check out was at 10am Thursday morning and we had one last final breakfast together. 

The last two men standing!

I had a great time on this retreat and it was just the getaway that I needed!

Knitting, wine, talking and being outdoors!

What's not to like!  Though... it is amazing how very little knitting gets done on a knitting retreat!

;-)

Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist!!!

Yay!!!!

My first pair of Fish Lips Kiss heel socks are done!!!!

To say that I have been on a heel obsession lately is an understatement!

Ever since two years ago when I had the crazy idea to make Christmas socks for EVERYONE, I have been wanting to find my Holy Grail of heels!

I've done the slip 1, knit 1 heel and then I tried the Afterthought heel (which I didn't dislike, but I didn't LOVE) and now this heel!

So far, I'm loving it!

I know there are a billion and one heels out there and I'd like to try them all!

Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato heel, the OMG heel (as in OMG, please make it stop!)

:)

I have really come to love making socks and I want my own Vanilla perfect pattern 

that I can do on auto-pilot!

So far, I think this is it!

Will do more heels and report back!

:)

See that ladder down the front (on the above pic)?  It really bums me out!  I worked these on 4 dpns and I think I need to put all front (top of foot) stitches on one needle...

Also note in above picture... those toes are different!  I can't decide which I like better... a shorter toe or a longer toe (smaller bind off or longer bind off).  Something new to obsess about!

:)

No holes in that little corner!

Pattern: My own Vanilla socks 

Needles: DPNS US size 0

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd in Doheny colorway!

:)

Sporty Stripe Cardi by Meaghan Schmaltz

Pattern: Sporty Stripe Cardi by Meaghan Schmaltz

Yarn: Ewe Ewe Yarns Ewe So Sporty in Vanilla, Charcoal and Aquamarine

Needles: US Size 3

Modifications: None

Yay!  My very own Sporty Stripe Card is done!!!  And I love it!

I bought this yarn at Unwind in Burbank on the first day of the 2014 LA Yarn Crawl and I couldn't wait to power through this one!

It fits sooooo well and this pattern was sooooo easy!

I'd never made anything "Top-Down" before so I was excited to try it and I love it!

I love that you can try it on as you go so you can adjust to your body!

It's quite customizable in that way.

I also love that -  the way this pattern is written, everything is done all at the same time... so we you bind off, you are quite literally done!

No seams to sew.  Just ends to weave in!

AND! I love a pattern that is clear and concise!  All the text fits on one page! I love a good pattern!

(Did I mention I love this pattern!)

:)

My bottom edge ended up being quite curly so I might pick up along the bottom and add some kind of row that will uncurl that bottom a bit.  But I like that the sleeve edges are curly!  I think it's cute.

Here's the original at Unwind in Burbank during the 2014 LA Yarn Crawl.  It was love at first sight!

These sleeves were soooo easy and I just kept trying it on until I liked the length!

#@$&%(!_)*!&#$!!!!!!!!  Almost to the end of that sleeve and my needle broke!!!  

I'm really happy with this sweater and I will wear it with everything!!!!

You know I love my stripes!

:)

Diadem Shawl by Ruth Greenwald

Pattern: Diadem by Ruth Greenwald

Yarn: ColorShift Color Bridge in Turquoise to Bright Yellow

Needles US Size 4

Yay!!!  My Diadem is done!  This was part of a workshop at my LYS and I loved it for the COLOR!!!

This yarn is just beautiful and I wish you could see how everyone's turned out!

(My MIL's is down below!)

There were about 5 of us in the class and we really had fun with all this color!

Did I tell you how much I love the color orange?

It is just about my favorite color!  (A blue-orange, to be exact!  Like a Rothko orange!)

So I chose this yarn colorway based on that one color!

This yarn is really nice to work with and I like that it has a bit of stretch to it! 

As a group, we all agreed that we did not want any leftover yarn so we worked the charts until each color was done!

As a result, our Diadems are longer than the original pattern, and I like that!

(I like a longer shawl)

I finished this project at my Knitting Retreat and here are some pre-blocked pictures!

I love the scent of this Soak Celebration!  It's a very clean scent!

Here are two pictures of my MIL's... She also finished hers at the knitting retreat!

I love the way her's turned out and I think it looks like Fall!  

(or Fall leaves... or something that reminds me of Fall!)

:)

Pre-blocked!