Knitting with the Boys - Men's Spring Knitting Retreat

Horbert here.

I, again, stowed away to attend the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat with The Creator. I'm telling you all, it was good fun. There is something said for being around men and knitting. You see, we sit, we knit, we stand, we knit, we sleep and dream of knitting. It appears that those fingers need to rest a bit. I could go on but frankly, if you are a boy and knit, make one of these retreats a priority on your vacation list. The learning, camaraderie, and awe of 40 to 50 men knitting is awesome!

I need to say, I found this all very relaxing. Who wouldn't love sitting on the deck looking out over this lovely pond. I think I missed the spinning class The Creator attended because I was mesmerized by the beauty. 



I attended a few classes with The Creator. See, I'm learning cables from Mike. (That's a rav link by the way.) He had some wonderful handouts that made things simple. I like simple. Especially, since I have the brain size of a q-tip. But, The Creator didn't even need a cable needle to make these great cables.



Look at us all there watching and learning. See all those sample swatches. Mike used these to help us along and show what is possible with the cables. I even got to roll around in said swatches but The Creator had censored that photo of me. He said there were too many photos out there of men frolicking and one went national and all. Of course, The Creator doesn't have Twitter so it is probably for the best.



Oh, speaking of some fiber related stuff. I did get to roll around in some yarn The Creator ordered from the UK. A very kind British Gentleman packed it across the pond and delivered it.



This is Blue Face Leicester. I just had to roll around in it. I know, the photo is a bit risque. But, if you have fiber this great, you should roll around in it. I don't think The Creator agrees. He's afraid I may felt it.

Oh, and here are Mike and Ted. They are spinning. I'm not quite sure why they are doing this in the middle of the cabling class, but they they are making some fantastic yarn on those spindles.



One day, at Yarn Camp!, we went to visit Foster Sheep Farm. This isn't a flattering picture of me. But, I'm here and I got to see some wonderful little animals.



Me and this little creature were playing hide and seek. I really wanted to sit on it's head and take a ride, but The Creator forbade me from doing anything of the sorts.



I think it had to do with her. She looked a bit over-protective of said youngin':


She didn't seem to like me standing there to get a photo of us. Really, I'm a great friend of the sheeps! The Creator wanted to buy some of these sheeps to send to his Mama. However, I don't think he could have put them on the plane in his luggage.(A side note, in the middle of the cable class, his mama called. She bought a llama named Barney. Maybe I can ride on the top of his head. He is black, I hear.)



He bought fleeces instead. The Creator did pack one bag to take a fleece back, but not two. Another kind gentleman, Ray, boxed them up and shipped them to The Creator. Both fleeces sit in Manny's room where they waiting for The Creator to do something with them. They smell all sheepy and such. I haven't spent alot of time in there because of it.

One of the other highlights was listening to a radio program that Joe, Ted, and Mike were a part of. You can listen in here: CLICK ME!

The Creator had a fantastic time there at the retreat. I would be wrong not to mention the generosity of some of the retreat sponsors: Skacel for donating some sock yarn. The Creator has a lovely color. I don't know if he will make socks, but he should. Karin and her group are fantastic supporters of the Men's retreats.  Nomad Press - Deb donated a lovely book on socks. (HINT to The Creator... SOCKS ARE IN!). Indigodragonfly yarns also donated a lovely black and white skein of delicious yarn. And Puff the Magic Rabbit had this fantastic green and blue fiber that The Creator really coveted. He is awaiting the arrival of some blue and purple stuff to start his spinning. I can't believe the generosity of all these sponsors. They donate a good deal of fiber and notions for these retreats.

I will find some pictures of these fibers and get them uploaded. I have to g-rate them first. You know, I can't be rolling around in fiber and being all obscene. I don't want to have to resign my post here at the Manny Quinn blog because of inappropriateness. Although, if that will get my name out there, I could make it big as an aspiring fiber writer. I mean, it is scandalous. I must ponder this thought.

Yarn Crawl #2

Horbert here.

As most of you know, The Creator loves his fiber. The YarnGirls are going to be the death of me when I follow them around from store to store. You see, I fell. I was splayed all out on the concrete at one of the best yarn shops in Colorado. But, I'll get to that in a moment.

It was a hot sunny day in May when we all decided to pile in a car, The Creator's car and trundle off to Fort Collins to check out the shops up there. We met at Kunjani where I ate a Cinnamon Roll and had a lovely hot chia tea.



Then, MO came in and presented The Creator with this yummy fiber. See... doesn't it look yummy... there's silk and cashmere in there, just so you know....



We all loaded up and headed out for an hour and a half drive to Fort Collins. First up on our list, Lambspun. The Creator found some lovely yarn in a cotton and enabled Ms. JP to purchase said yarn. I'm laying on that lovely purple-blue mess in the picture. The Creator also bought a skein. Then he found the same fiber that MO gave him earlier in the day. He purchased two more just so he would have enough to do what he wanted with it. The other stuff in the basket is MO's and the Yarn-Shop-Owner-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.



I wonder whose yarn that purple is. The shop was having a sale on the shop brand of yarns. So, we purchased some more because you know, at 30% off, who could resist.

After we loaded up the back of Dudley with our newly procured fiber purchases, we headed off the My Sister Knits. The location is very lovely. Just look:



Who wouldn't want to shop there. But, my friends, this is where I get a bit upset. You see, The Creator in all his fury, dropped me and left me on a cement slab. I'm still upset over this. How could he have lost me??? I'm his number one fan. Just ask Manny Q.



The Creator got all the way here before he noted I wasn't where I was supposed to be.



The girls rushed ahead of him into the shop to see all the yarn and goodies. The Creator came back and retrieved me from said cement slab. I had my photo taken with the ever so lovely garden angel. She is pretty. I think I may have a relationship with her.



And we walked into the store and found this sign.

Ok.. the picture is MIA. I'm sure I have it on the blue box. I'm going to have words with The Creator on this. Pictures need to go on one machine or the other. Period.

It's of the Men's Knitting Retreat that The Creator is helping Frank with. The Creator thanked the lady and the girls started squeeling with de-light as they found yummy yarn.

No, you have to see this. I took photos upon the discovery of yarn behind yarn.

They opened one door... and then OH IS THERE MORE???



Shut the front door there is more!!!! Hurry open that up!!! I want to see!!! They rushed and squeeled to open that door. This prompted someone to come upstairs to ask if we needed assistance. I was sure I needed to call a doctor or something because this was too much fiber.


Oh My goodness.... Look at that... COME HERE! YARN!


And they all come running...


Look... MO found bliss...


The Creator found a Road to China while up there...It's lovely stuff.


Julie at My Sister Knits is a lovely donor of the Men's Rocky Mountain Knitting Retreat. She donated 11 books to the retreat while we were there. I can't say how much of a lovely shop this is and how much fun we had in there looking at every thing.

These bags are all the proof of our fibery fun!


All that yarn fun made us hungry. So, we needed some fiber. One can never have too much fiber in their diet. So, we visited Your Daily Fiber. A quaint little shop with a good deal of local fiber.



Notice the bag are around the worsted weight of the Road To China. The Creator bought some cashmere here. That was it, really. I wouldn't let him buy any more yarn.

Then... because we were starving and the Kentucky Derby was on... we needed something to eat. We proceeded to get Stuft.


I tried to down this burger...


But The Creator had to help me. Actually, I found a Mint Julep.


So I soaked myself and rooted on #07 in the Kentucky Derby. He lost, but I had minty fresh breath.

We left the town of Fort Collins with our bags of fiber and a good day. We did stop downtown at the Fabric Bliss and the Fancy Tiger...

It was a grand day. I even had Pinkberry!

It's been a slow blogging month.

I must say, I am a bit irritated with That Creator again. For a month, he decided to leave no black or blue box in my room so that I may reach out to you peeps. I must let you all know has transpired. Now that Horbert is back from various fiber whoring, I have the full scoop on all these silly things. But first, lets talk about The Creator's knitting.

There seems to be an issue with that vest. It seems the dang thing comes up short. Just by a mere three inches. The Creator's partner lifts his arms and a belly shows. For some reasons, this unacceptable feature of said Basil Vest appears to be vexing The Creator. He asked the girls. He asked the boys. It appears he settled on a suggestion from some guy named Mike and some guy named Kirk to cast on the number of stitches and kitchner the pieces together. So, The Creator, while he was at that retreat thing, casted on stitches. He has gotten about an inch into it before he counted. It seems The Creator can't count. It's 40 stitches too big. You just can't fix that boys and girls. I'm sure he will rip it out.

Meanwhile, and I need to get Horbert to take a photo, The Creator has whipped out a hat for a boy. Said boy lives where The Creator's mama lives and he made it for said boy. This small hat may not fit a boy. It may not fit a girl. But this blue hat screams I'm a cute baby. I'm surprised The Creator didn't put it on his head and model it at the Wednesday night knitting. Again, the smallness of the hat may prevented such shenanigans. I should confirm that statement with Horbert.

The Creator hasn't worked on much else. I'm deathly afraid he has been busy with those silly work things. I didn't see him for an entire week. I felt lonely. 'NSync girl is still lost in some vat of fiber. Now that Horbert returned, I should arm him with some sturdy cotton rope to find "NSync girl. Sigh. It's lonely being plastic.