A Community Of Knitters

I am just now finding time to catch my breath after my four days away this week. I was at the Knitting Pipeline Georgia Retreat from Sunday to Wednesday with nearly 50 knitters from across the country, plus, one knitter/designer from London.

My non-knitting friends are always a little puzzled about these retreats. "Who goes to these retreats? What do you do? Why would you want to spend several days just knitting?" I am never able to fully explain how wonderful these days are.

Of course, we knitted for days. It IS a knitting retreat, after all. But it is so much more than just knitting. This particular retreat is held in a wildlife area with little-to-no way to connect to the internet. The cell phone service is almost non-existent. There are no televisions. So it is truly a time away, a time apart from regular life. There are no formal classes at this retreat. But if you have a knitting question, there are knitters with answers.

Knitters came from Colorado, Maine, Wyoming, Montana, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, South Carolina, Virginia and I'm sure other states I can't remember. There were early bird knitters and night owl knitters. There were knitters in their 30s and knitters in their 70s.

There were nurses and photographers and government workers and an engineer and an attorney and an office manager and a massage therapist. There were knitters who are world travelers and knitters who stay close to home. There were married knitters and single knitters. There were loud knitters and quiet knitters. There were vegetarians and meat eaters. There were those who love technology and those who prefer pencil and paper. There were knitters who ring handbells and knitters who play piano.

There were hikers and bikers and birders and writers. One knitter won a triathlon just before she came. There were city knitters and country knitters. There were knitters who came back to meet old friends and knitters who arrived for their first retreat not knowing a soul. Everyone was truly welcome here.

The knitting brings everyone together, but it's the diversity within the group of knitters that creates such a rich community of women. Thank you, Knitting Pipeline, for making this happen.