Knitting Retreat

After a particularly busy week at work, I was rewarded with a knitting retreat. The knitting guild had a few extra spots open for their yearly retreat and I was fortunate enough to get one. Despite leaving work a little early to beat the traffic, I ended up stuck in it. The pokey trip down to the retreat site meant I missed the first cocktail hour, but I made it in time for dinner. Which was good because the meals were one of the many high points of the weekend.

The dining room was divided into "Knitters" and "Survivors" as we were sharing the site with a cancer survivor group. I found it especially amusing how they identified our tables.

The site we retreated to was absolutely amazing. We were at the Whispering Pine Conference Center. The location has an interesting history.

From what I hear, the property was a model for Camp David and was frequented by President Eisenhower when it was owned by W. Alton Jones. A lot of the furniture and decorations were donated along with the buildings and the land to the University of Rhode Island, which has preserved the land and the site for various uses.

Here some knitters from the group are enjoying the Saturday evening cocktail hour.

My room was in Laurel Lodge: site of the Saturday evening knitting pajama party.

Most of the time we knitted in Nettles where there was a huge fireplace as well as a four season porch. Both of which were excellent knitting locations, but my favorite was the couch by the fire. Hours ticked by while I was on that comfy couch being warmed by the fire.

They fed us so well that we had to stop knitting, get off the couches and go for a walk to make room for the next delicious meal.

Luckily, Saturday wasn't too chilly. The walk was brisk and sunny.

I got quite a bit of knitting done but since most of it is going to be gifted, I'll just give a little peak:

In addition to the eating and knitting, I got a chance to talk to many fascinating and kind women. A few of the people who had gone on the New Mexico trip were there. It was great to have more time with them. There were also a lot of new people that I got a chance to talk to and knit with. I think I remarked more than once during the weekend that knitting has provided me with many opportunities to meet people and see interesting places. Most people probably wouldn't think that a potentially solitary activity could provide so much reason to gather and be a part of a community. For me, it does.