Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Where To Begin

I'm back from Knitting Camp, tired but happy. It was a very rich experience, and I'm still sort of processing it all, but here's the start of a report/set of reflections.

The drive up was perfectly lovely (and that's saying a lot, coming from anxious driver me). In choosing a route my two priorities were "stay off the interstate" and "avoid The Dells at all costs." This put me on secondary state highways lined with Chicory, Monarda and Queen Ann's Lace, Rudbeckia and Daisy Fleabane at the height of green and flourishing summer.

I arrived late afternoon, feeling shy, and slightly worried about what my roommate might be like. Passed some knitters in the lobby and went up to a still empty room and hung out there for a while, then gathered my courage and went down to join the knitters. The group had grown a little, and of course they were all very nice. When we went in for dinner, I spotted Heather and Katie from the Sow's Ear and headed for their reassuringly familiar faces. It turned out that Steph, my roommate was in that group, and she's an absolute peach: friendly, enthusiastic, easy to talk to - couldn't have asked for a better companion.

After dinner we went over to the classroom and, oh my, it was lined with tables



covered with knitted originals by Elizabeth Zimmerman (and Meg Swansen and Joyce Williams). It was rather stunning.





I was most touched by these.


Note to AnniePazoo: that's the pattern I used for Katie's little blue baby sweater.

2 comments:

Jen said...

Your show and tell was impressive--so glad you brought more than one item to share! It was lovely to meet you.

YarnThrower said...

I bet that knitting camp was an awesome experience! I've always thought about going, though timing just hasn't been right yet...but maybe in a few years. I'm sure I recognize many of the garments in your photos from Elizabeth Zimmerman's books -- I bet it was awe inspiring to see them up close and in person!