And We're Back!

Hello, friends, and happy Monday! I fully intended to post on Friday, but I decided it was more important to be present and enjoy the retreat than to sit at my laptop in my room. I will recount the retreat in more detail later this week when I have a little more time to do the experience justice, but for now suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time and arrived home happy but exhausted.

A real highlight of the trip (and totally independent from the retreat) was getting to meet up with Bonny, Dee, and Vera on Saturday morning:

We met up at an adorable coffeeshop in Easton, PA, in a former mansion that's been beautifully restored. I tried to look around and appreciate all the gorgeous details, but the company and conversation were too good. We spent a couple of hours knitting (Mo crocheted) and chatting, and I can tell you that these three women are just as lovely, if not more so, than they are on their blogs. It was too short of a visit, but I'm so glad that we were all able to meet up and hope we can do it again!

I worked on a sock WIP that morning, but for the rest of the weekend, I was pretty much monogamous with a project that I cast on Thursday evening and, as a result, have a lot of progress to show for it:

This is my second (new and improved!) Rift tee. In the swatch I shared last week, I'd used both size 8 (5 mm) and size 9 (5.5 mm) needles. I was closer to gauge with the larger needles, but I didn't really like the fabric I was getting; this is supposed to be a loose(ish) and relaxed garment, but on the 9's it just looked sloppy. So I'm going with the 8's again. My gauge is off (I'm getting 18 sts/4 in. rather than the called-for 16), but I did some math to figure out that I could knit the next size up and still get several inches of positive ease. Though I haven't tried on what I've knit so far, I can see from holding it up that it's going to be significantly bigger than my first attempt (which, incidentally, I am wearing in the photo above!) I also have more than 100 yards than the pattern specifies for the size I'm knitting, I'm adding length to the body so that this version isn't quite as cropped as my first one. I'm on my third of six balls of yarn, and last night when I put it away, the body was measuring 10.5 inches. I'd like to add at least a few more inches of length, but as I don't know exactly how much I'll need to complete the upper body, it's going to be a guessing game of how much yarn I can use. Fortunately it's a quick knit, so if I have to rip back and redo, it won't take too long.

It was a long weekend of many firsts. Obviously it was the first time I'd attended this retreat, and it was the first time Mo had attended any kind of retreat. It was also the first time I'd driven such a long distance, which was a big deal for me -- I don't particularly like driving, mainly because other drivers make me nervous. But thanks to Mo's company and GPS, I did it. I'm not in any rush to do it again, mind you, but I have a lot more confidence in my ability to do it should I need or want to. And it seems kind of appropriate that my odometer hit a nice even number upon our arrival at home:

This might seem like a low number for many of you, but keep in mind that I don't drive every day and when I do drive, it's often only a few miles at a time. In fact, it's a running joke in my family how low my car's mileage is -- so low that I can't remember the last time my car wasn't exempt from the state emissions test because I drive so little!

I have a pile of work waiting for me, so I'd better get to it. I will see you back here on Wednesday and will share a full wrap-up of the retreat on Friday. Have a good week and stay cool out there!