MDK Knitting Getaway

I've always considered myself lucky to have a good circle of knitting friends. But I just got home from a weekend knitting event and realized that I've been mistaken for years. I don't have a circle of knitting friends.

Don't be sad. 

This weekend I figured out I have a SPIRAL of knitting friends. A spiral that is ever expanding, growing wider with each event. Or, maybe it's more like a ripple in a pond that keeps getting larger. This past weekend I spent a few days in middle Tennessee in a beautiful location, meeting people who love doing what I love to do. Doesn't get much better than that.

I took a single session photography class that was focused on learning to make better pictures of knitwear. But mostly I knitted and chatted. 

The conversations here certainly included talk about yarn (Where did you get that?) and patterns (What's the name of that one? Did you make modifications?) but there was more chat about family and what's it like in other parts of the country and ordinary concerns of life.

I heard conversations about which variety of hydrangea is easiest to grow. And there was "I love those shoes! Where did you find them?" Thanks to online shopping, I can buy the same shoes as the lady who lives in New England. And I might. They were cute. We discussed the differences of being a mother of boys versus being a mother of girls. Someone opened a can of worms when she asked, "Does your husband load the dishwasher when you're gone?"

And goodness, grandchildren stories are always fun. We also had a few laughs at the regional differences in our words. As in the classic Southern phrase "fixin' to go" that confuses folks who live somewhere else. (That simply means I'm leaving now...as soon as I finish talking...unless I sit back down to visit a little longer.)

There was hiking and bike riding and swimming on this spectacularly beautiful campus if you were so inclined. And the buffet meals served in this impressive dining hall were farm-to-table gourmet delicious. Every single meal. I have never starved to death at a retreat. But I have never been to one where the food was this good.

If you don't understand this whole knitting retreat thing, you are not alone. I spent one pleasant morning sitting beside a knitter from Canada who had arranged respite care for her husband so that she could come to this knitting weekend.

She told me that when she approached the customs officer at the airport to enter this country, he asked her to state her destination and her reason for going. She told him she was headed to Tennessee for a knitting retreat. He stopped what he was doing and looked up at her.

"A knitting retreat? What is that?"
"It's where knitters come to sit and knit. And visit."
"Seriously?" 

She nodded. He let out a big sigh, shook his head and stamped her passport.

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Check out Mason-Dixon Knitting (MDK) to learn more about the amazing ladies who put this weekend together. If you aren't a knitter, you will find other things of interest here—recommendations for old movies and TV shows to binge watch and books to read and music to listen to and places to visit. Their guest contributors have quite a way with words. You will read about technical knitting tips and you'll read about how to be kinder to yourself and how to be a good human. Take time to poke around their website. It's kind of awesome. 

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If you think this sounds like fun—except for the knitting, Shakerag Workshops offer week long courses in a variety of other art endeavors during the summer. You might find one that interests you.


PS....Here is the MDK girls blog about this weekend. They made better photos than I did. Take a look!