Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Even before 2013 began, I knew April was going to be a busy month. STITCHES South and Unwind are just two weeks apart. I didn't get to teach at STITCHES South, but I did get to teach at Unwind. And I am very glad I did. Contents of Unwind Goodie Bag. Everyone got this. Unwind is a knitting retreat weekend in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Nancy Shroyer of Nancy's Knit Knacks and Sue Homewood are the organizers. The theory is that many knitting shows are big and busy. This is all fine, but sometimes you just want a quieter experience. You want to come back from the weekend rested and rejuvenated. You want to make new friends rather than just hang out with the friends you have. Unwind is exactly that sort of weekend. It is a smaller gathering in a little resort town way up in the mountains. The views on the drive up are spectacular. The town has delightful shops, including the yarn shop Unwound, and delicious restaurants, including an ice cream shop with fudge and candy appl...

I am very fortunate that there are several weekends I look forward to each year. One of them is, of course, STITCHES South. The older I get, the more I know the calendar lies, because it can't be possible we've just finished the fifth STITCHES South. I signed up for Almost the Works. I've done The Works once, and while I love taking classes, that is a lot of classes even for me to soak up in one weekend. I'm finding that Almost the Works is the right pace for me. This STITCHES got off to a bit of a bumpy start for the organizers, as some of the nice XRX people were stuck in Sioux Falls SD due to a late-season snow! I know everyone was very grateful to arrive in Atlanta, and not just to see proof that spring does exist. Rick Mondragon was one of those delayed, so Laura Bryant gave the Opening Day talk instead. This did not bother me at all, as I had immediately acquired her new book Artful Color, Mindful Knits . Those of you who have many hand-painted yarns in your...