EXTRAORDINARY

Use any positive superlative you can think of, and that would be an apt description of this year's Men's Spring Knitting Retreat.



Hung Over
Can you be hungover from joy?...okay...well, maybe it was all the chocolate. I got home last night at about 8:30, exhausted and hungry. I forced myself to put away as much stuff as I could in the hour I had before I had to get to bed. Suffice it to say, I'm still tired, but my mind keeps drifting back to the incredibly fun times we had at the retreat this year.

First of all, the guys were just incredible. 21 of last year's 32 guys repeated this year and having already fallen in love with each of them, it was fantastic getting to see them again. The 21 new guys were equally as incredible, and I was thrilled to be able to get to fall in love with all of them as well. This year we had guys from Canada, Mexico and Australia (hi Nanna!). We also had guys from California, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, North Carolina, Washington DC and of course closer states like Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

One of the most amazing aspects of the retreat is that each guy comes looking to make the event great for everyone. The spirit of generosity and caring for each other is what truly makes this event so incredible. It's indescribable how it feels when each and every participant takes full responsibility for making sure everyone enjoys themselves.

Here are some pictures...I'll post more in the days to come.


Here's me having just arrived at Easton Mountain...god, my car takes an awful photo!


The morning fog over Easton Mountain and the retreat center nestled in the woods awaiting the arrival of all the guys.


Here's the table of door prizes that were donated by some incredibly generous vendors.


Alan and Jeff checking out the swag.


All the give-away bags lined up and ready for the guys to arrive.

Current Knitting
I knit a lot this retreat. I was putting together the blocks for the afghan we were supposed to have donated to Easton Mountain.

Unfortunately, I totally messed up Kyle's awesome project. I thought I'd be able to get it all done, and I didn't. I really should have given over some of the knitting to others, but my planning totally sucked. What made it worse is that we couldn't even get pictures of the guys who contributed squares with the finished afghan.

Here are some of the amazing squares the guys contributed.



I'm still working on the unfinished afghan and we will send it to them once it's finished and pictures have been taken. The one saving grace of it all is that it will be a beautiful afghan when it's finished.