Yarn Tasting, Needle Flicking, & A Great Weekend At The Graves

I spent a great weekend at Graves Mountain Lodge with a group ladies belonging to the River City Knitting Guild; what fun it was. We arrived at the lodge for an early breakfast on Saturday morning, followed by a few hours of free knitting time. It's only fair to say, we didn't get a lots of knitting accomplished because it was so great to be with friends sharing chatter and giggles. Our quarters for the outing were set high on the side of the mountain with a breath taking view below. PHOTO Everything was so green and lush from the recent rains and the apple trees were in full blossom, what beauty to behold. It was a warm and beautiful day and so many of us spent our time on the long front porches in our rocking chairs knitting while others chose to sit inside away from the many bumble bees that were taking flight. I actually enjoy watching the bees since there was so much nature food available and they were not interested in people. PHOTO I understand the importance of bumble bee pollination since we, the people, have more or less destroyed the honey bees with our chemicals and poisons. I love knowing I have bees and worms and even some bugs in my gardens. I also have birds, lots of them, and rabbits and an occasional deer; all are good things to my way of thinking.

Saturday noon, only four hours after our big and heavy breakfast, we were tracking down the mountain for lunch and another home-cooked meal ending with apple cobbler à la mode - yum –yum. We then had to make an effort to get back up the mountain to our lodging and work-room. I was totally exhausted and wobbled into a chair and didn't move for a couple of hours. During the afternoon many of us participated in a short workshop on Intarsia Knitting offered by Pat Kirkland from The Yarn Barn in Andersonville, VA (http://www.yarnbarn.com/about.htm). Pat brought lots and lots of goodies with her from her shop including a ton of gorgeous sweaters and jackets she has knitted. Pat designs patterns for the larger woman so anyone needing a large size like 2,3,4 X, this is a place you should be able to find something you will just love. Pat brought yarn (loads of all lines of Nora) and patterns, books, and needles and best of all, her knowledge of knitting. There was also a few other vendors with everything from wonderful lotion and skin care to handmade soaps, unusual jewelry, and stitch markers.
Again there was free time for knitting so most of us brought the rocking chairs from our rooms out on the porch and rocked, knitted and sipped a glass of wine or some other spirit until dinner time. At the bottom of the mountain flows the Rose River and up the opposite side of the mountain are beautiful farms with lots of cattle and apple orchids; I could have sat there the entire day and evening giving up lunch and dinner just to enjoy the fresh air and beauty of a warm spring day in the mountains.

DH and I have hiked the Rose River trails before in our younger days and we've hiked the Old Rag Mountain in this area several times.

After another big meal on Saturday night, all us women put on our jimmies and met in the common room reserved for us for a pajama party. We knitted as we got to know one another better. There was loads of food (I didn't touch it after all the food I'd already eaten throughout the day) and drink. I had another glass of wine and went to bed leaving my roommate at the party. DH and I had tickets for the opera on Friday night and it was near mid-night time we drove home from the city. I had everything packed and ready to go but still had to get up at five o'clock to get to the lodge in time for breakfast. Sleep was ever so good Saturday night.

After breakfast on Sunday morning the weather begin to turn cold. We went back to our building to have a Yarn Tasting. Doesn't it look yummy? The yarn was from MFYS and Sharon did a fantastic job of presenting it. There were silks, linens, and cottons, yarns made from milk products, corn, bamboo, and from shrimp and crab shells. Sharon was introducing us to Spring and Green (Organic) yarns. Isn't it amazing what things are sometimes made of?
After lunch it was time to travel home. I think everyone had a wonderful time although most of us didn't accomplish much knitting. We learned to put names and faces together and made new friends. We relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of nature's surroundings and everyone forgot about their diets. How often will you find twenty-five women together at one time and every one of them has forgotten the word 'diet'? But – I bet all twenty-five of us haven't had it to far away from our minds today, I haven't.