I am back from my retreat, dear readers! My back is sore from a lot of late-night floor knitting, but it was a wonderful experience and definitely an interesting and inspiring one. If you've ever thought of partaking in a knitting retreat, I highly recommend it. You learn so much, make new friends, share experiences, enjoy meals and the conversations, knit anywhere and everywhere, come back with your head spinning from jamming so much fun and learning into a handful of days and leave knowing that you want to come back. There are so many knitting retreats, and no matter where you are in the country, chances are there's one close to you. Henry David Thoreau said:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”
I definitely sucked the marrow of life at Unwind and am looking forward to next year.
One of my favorite things we did this year was pay a visit to Apple Hill Farm. The owner and operator, Lee, was in one of my classes, but she gave us a wonderful tour of her farm where we met alpaca, goats, angora goats, dogs, horses, Shetland ponies (squee!), a pig, donkeys, chickens and cats. Apple Hill Farm started in 2002 and is still a working alpaca farm, but they've opened their gates to the public and are now focusing on agri-tourism as their main focus. Their passion is creating an environment where their guests can develop a new and deeper connection with animals and the beautiful mountain they call home. Every animal on the farm and every crop in the garden is grown and maintained with a specific purpose. You felt nothing but mutual admiration between animal and owner while walking the property and the yarn from her own herd of alpaca was amazing. Lee has a lot of gumption and I enjoyed our time there! It reminded me of my first book, Knit Local, and the importance of buying local and loving the land we're lucky enough to be part of.
I'll be talking more about the science behind color psychology in another post soon, once I dig myself out from the laundry pile and get caught up.