Knitting in a Winter Wonderland

Have you been wondering where I've been? I've been absent from the blog for a couple weeks for a good reason: last weekend I attended the Knitajourney Mid-winter Retreat in Duluth, Minnesota. I know, I know, I can hear you already: "Minnesota in the winter? Are you crazy?" But I love Minnesota in all seasons. I spent 18 years and many Christmases and vacations of my life there, and in many ways I still consider it home. As a result, going there in the winter isn't as awful as it sounds.

That being said, it was pretty darn cold, and there was a lot of snow! This is the view from the second floor of the retreat house.

But the truth is that when you spend time in a cozy and beautiful house with a group of knitting friends, the cold doesn't really matter. This is our wonderful retreat house:

Here is the room I stayed in, and what I found next to my bed:

We ate very well:

Some of us went on a walk along the creek in the snow.

We went on a yarn crawl to two area yarn stores. One of them, Playing With Yarn, had more yarn per square foot than just about any yarn store I've ever been in. It also had a spectacular view of Lake Superior.

Mostly, what we did was knit and talk and enjoy the warmth of the fire and of our friendship.

Many thanks to Susan, Alison, Betsy, Laurie, Ceci, Ellen, Lisa and Lisa. You made the weekend perfect. Let's do it again next year!