How I Spent My Summer Vacation

It's been a whirlwind of a week and I didn't remember at first that it was Friday when I woke up, which I guess is a good thing. My boss is off today, and as I finished up a project yesterday, I'm hoping that means a quiet work day for me. We are also having some blissfully cool weather this morning, so I am looking forward to a much more comfortable run today.

As promised, today's post is all about last week's trip to the TwinSet Summer Retreat. This was my first time attending the event, so I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I was pretty sure I would enjoy it. My only experience at a knitting retreat before this was at SSK, a much bigger event. This one was much smaller, with only about 40 attendees, and much less structured -- there were no classes or workshops or special activities, which meant it was much more focused on talking to people and having time to sit and knit. I think that made it especially good for Mo's first retreat; she would have been completely overwhelmed at SSK! But this was a good first retreat for her, and she was warmly welcomed.

The only real "event" of the retreat was Thursday night's Swap Melee. This was a sort of white elephant exchange: Each participant brought a wrapped gift and drew a ticket with a number at random. The person with the first number picked a gift and opened it. The next person could either pick a new gift to open or steal the item the first person opened, and so on. An item could only be stolen three times and then it was off the table. The items were only supposed to be about $20-25 in value, but some people went way over that. I didn't really care what I ended up with, though I didn't necessarily want to bring home more yarn, and given how many packages contained multiple skeins, I was pretty successful. I had a later number, and I ended up stealing a gift for the third time, which meant I got to keep it without risk of its being stolen.

This contraption is an Amish-style swift; in the white box is a ball winder. Now, I already have a swift (umbrella style) and winder, but I know they won't last forever, and I like the idea of having a backup. They were packaged in a large cardboard box, so I didn't realize at first that there was a skein of yarn in there, too, but it's a skein that looks like it'll be good for gift socks or a hat, so it'll get used.

Mo ended up keeping the package she opened, which ended up being something pretty perfect for her:

It was basically a kit with everything she would need for a project -- a skein of yarn, stitch markers, a row counter, scissors, a pen, a notebooks, stitch stoppers, and a yarn ball cozy -- plus a sweet little ceramic plate and a sticker that says "I'd rather be knitting."

We also came home with goodie bags, which I didn't expect:

Everything came stuffed in that bag on the right, which is actually a two-bottle wine cooler (Mo got a tote bag instead). Inside was two skeins of Sueño, an extensive DPN set, a set of Knit Blockers, scissors, darning needles, and an insulated cup. The wooden thing with all the holes is a DPN holder hand made by Jan's husband, who is a woodworker. Mo ended up with yarn in her colors:

The swap was the only organized event that everyone really participated in. On Friday evening, there was a chance for attendees to show off things they made, and there was a round of knitting-themed charades on Saturday evening. Many attendees chose to visit area yarn shops during the day on Saturday, which we, of course, skipped, but we did choose to go out to dinner that evening; the retreat center where the event was held provided all meals, but the food was pretty bad. That ended up being more dramatic than we anticipated because there was a sudden thunderstorm and the power went out, so we had a dinner of shared salads by the light of a window.

All in all, it was a successful and enjoyable retreat. I sold more than 20 skeins of handspun yarn -- much more than I was anticipating or even hoping for! -- and we both got a lot of crafting done and made some new friends. And I proved to myself that I can drive a long distance without too much stress. Mo has already said that we have to go back next year, and I think we've both decided that more mother/daughter road trips are in our future.

Mo left with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and nephew this morning for a quick trip up to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they're meeting my cousin and his son (a rising high school senior) from Chicago to visit the University of Michigan. That means the Mister and I will have a child-free weekend, though we don't have anything planned except dinner out tonight. I'm hoping I can get some laundry and cleaning done today so that it can be a relaxing weekend for me and I can make up for all the time I spent behind the wheel last week and couldn't knit.

Have a good one, friends!