German Knitting Championship 2007

ATTENTION ALL KNITTERS! Look at this! Talk about being able to knit like the wind, plus they can look away and keep up the beat! I wonder what would happen if I tried to knit with such speed.....lots of knots?

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE IN THE BIG APPLE!

Happy 40th, ARLENE!
Bently, Jenna, and I surprised Arlene with a trip to New York City for her 40th birthday!

All she knew was that she was going "somewhere" for 4 days, was told to pack warm clothes, and that was it. Bently told her she was going to NYC the day before they left! They flew into Laguardia, took a cab to The Hilton Midtown, and I was sitting in the lobby waiting for them. She thought that it was the 3 of them going "somewhere" and that it was a shame that I wouldn't be spending her birthday with her. Tee Hee Hee! Little did she know this was all planned months ago. I'll put more pictures up tomorrow but for now here are a few:

A birthday toast!


Arl and Jen shopping at FAO Schwartz


Jenna the Snow Angel


Arl, Bent & Jen in front of our hotel. There's nothing like Manhattan at night.


Arl & Jen skating at Rockefeller Center


Jenna ordered a "Yahoo". Ya see how technology has taken over?


We ate our faces off at The Carnegie Deli. Now THIS is matzo ball soup!


Myself and Jen (the other Jen) at The Rainbow Room



Jenna packed a mean snowball for a Florida kid!

Knitters & The Mountain Meet!

This is the view from the deck at The Mountain in North Carolina where I spent 3 glorious days. The Atlanta Knitting Guild plans this trip every year and space is at a premium, as there are only 50 spots available. This 3 day weekend was: wonderful, beautiful, outstanding, hilarious, restful, non-stressful, etc. etc. etc.
I rode there with Claudia and on the way up we stopped at Sharon Grist's home for some of her homemade soup. Every year she opens her home to the knitters going to the retreat. Unbelievable. She had 6 different pots of soup, all delicious, and a very homey atmosphere. The weather was just beautiful when we got there on Friday and we were able to get in some knitting out on the deck before it got too cool. Look at that view!

From left to right: Brett, Lou, Stuart, Steve, Doug, and Rob.
These guys are such a fun and talented bunch. I wish I had 10% of their knitting skills and creativity.

Claudia working on her argyle socks. She makes stranding look so easy. I have enough trouble keeping track of a single strand.

Joni, our tour director, with fellow knitter.


Delicious sheep cake that Linda baked. I'm glad I got a picture of most of it before it was inhaled.

Look at THIS! A CAT afghan knitted by Joni. She brought several of these to curl up under. Do you believe the work in this? I love the knitted cats, and if you look closely you'll even see some knitted mice in there, along the border. Now I know why Joni is known as the intarsia queen.

This was a great weekend get-away. I'll be staying put for another month and then I'll be off to Florida the end of March to see my kids, Grandkid, Grandcats, and Granddogs.