I spent this past weekend at a fiber retreat in La Grange. As a result of communing with such a diverse group of wonderful, productive, intelligent and talented bunch of women… my knitters’ block has been kicked to the curb. 

I frogged the squares meant for the Barn Rasiing Quilt I talked about last month and warped my Schacht randomly with different colorways. This is really only my third attempt at weaving and was shy about trotting my sloppy warp out in front of so many accomplished real weavers, but realized it was also the only way to learn from them. Everyone was so kind and encouraging, offering tips, like tying on with smaller bundles to create a smaller gap at the beginning, and using wider paper at top to keep tension and stitches even. I’ll also point out that none of this advice was dispensed while I was frustrated, but when I’d gained momentum and confidence.  kindness.

No need to adjust your monitor…this is a particularly electric section of the scarf.

Look I a made fabric!

When making decisions on what projects to start on the retreat, I pulled out this beautiful ginormous skein of Miss Babs Yowza! What a Skein! in Merlot that I bought during The Hill Country Yarn Crawl in 2010, yes 2010. While searching for project ideas for said yarn I saw this simple and fun shawl that was just recently published here. Serendipity.

I am loving both this yarn and the knitting. Win Win.

Each year at the fiber retreat there is a challenge. Last year each participant received a large amount of mystery fiber to spin then weave, knit, crochet or felt into whatever pleased them. This shawl was spun and knit by one of the women who was so amazingly generous to gift it to me when I mentioned how much I loved it. I resisted at first, but when she explained she was just going to ship it up north to family, and unlikely they’d love it as much as I do… well,  I gladly accepted. Cannot wait to wear this, and cannot wait for the next retreat.