Home again

I went home again. Not to the place where I was born (I still live in my hometown) but to that place in North Carolina called Kanuga. The people were different (new friends and old,) the weather was different (but still cold,) but the feelings (and the toast) were the same. It is a place where kairos, not chronos, determines the time (except for the bugle calls to meals.)

I was there for the 2012 Kanuga Knitting and Quilting Conference. We had the gift of being able to begin each day with Holy Eucharist and end each day with Evening Prayer/Compline. My daughter served as chaplain, and her homilies knit together the lessons for the day both with our journey through our knitting/quilting lives and with our own personal journey through life. What a blessing!

The technique I chose to learn was Fair Isle knitting. I have always been fascinated by the juxtaposition of colors and enjoy intarsia knitting. I had tried Fair Isle in the past, but my fingers kept getting in the way of each other! My instructor was an accomplished knitter/designer (and all-around wonderful person) who taught my fingers to work properly. Here is my completed project:

The pattern gave the option to keep knitting another motif and make a hat, but I wanted to make sure I finished it while there, so I settled with the headband. Obviously, I will wear it without the blocking pins!

When I was resting my brain, and after I finished the headband, I worked on my current prayer shawl. How appropriate!

The Homespun colorway is "Shaker."

Much of our learning came though sharing (knitting tips and lives) with each other as we sat around the fireplace after the classes. My daughter was intrigued with someone using a drop spindle, and in no time that spinner was showing her how to use it. She was a fast learner!

Leaving Kanuga is difficult. Leaving my daughter is difficult. Combine the two, and it is really difficult! Probably I will see her again this summer, but it will be another whole year before I get to Kanuga for KKQ 2013. In the meantime, I have the memories. For me, it is a bit like being in Narnia must be.