Knitting retreat

Last night I came home from the best weekend of the year. It was already the sixth Kierot puikot (Wonky needles) retreat. The fifth one I've participated in. I recommend knitting retreats to everyone, they're just the best. I usually go on atleast three retreats every year. Even my phone's autocorrect thinks retreat junkie is a word.

The best weekend of the year was held in Iisalmi, northern Finland, at Haapaniemi ranch. There was way too much good food, lovely company and sooo many bad jokes to keep me giggling for the next few weeks. We had a sauna, a massage therapist, yarn lottery and a pop quiz. There were also two yarn shops so there were plenty of temptations.

This time I didn't have any FOs ready for photographing but I got to take pics for my friend. In the pic below, her knits are held by this scary statue that frightened me every time I ran to the sauna.

I had amazing luck in the yarn lottery and got be one of the first people to pick out my prize. As I'm a firm lover of uncolors, I picked Hedgehog Fibres Sock in the lovely pinkish gray colorway Ghost.

The Wonky needles retreat always offers some classes as well. This year you could take part in a lace knitting class and a sock blank class. The pics below show, which one I chose.

There were so many hopefuls that our teacher ended up having atleast three classes so that everyone had a chance to take part. Sock blanks are dyed the same way as yarn. The fun is seeing how differently the colors blend once you unravel the blank and knit socks from it.

I dyed my first blank into this crazy colorful speckle thingy. I just kept splashing colors on the blank until it was full.

Others had much more artistic approaches. As I watched them, I wanted to dye another blank, this time a bit more organized. I painted this grey grid on the blank and filled the empty space with purple dots. I'm a bit annoyed that the grey color didn't go through to the other side which is quite white but you never know how fun it will look once the grey, purple and white mix as it's knitted. I started knitting the first speckle blank right away once I got home from the retreat last night.

Thank you friends for the bestest of weekends.