The Summer of Yarn (and More!)

Remember Woolapalooza? Remember the yarn I bought? Well, it apparently was not enough. Then again, is it ever? 

No. No, it is not. Bwaaahahahahaha! 

Anyhoo, there's an annual knitting retreat in Minnesota, and I have wanted to go for several years. Even with the pandemic that was 2020 (and beyond), 2021 was finally my year to attend the Zombie Knitpocolypse in Rochester, MN! Here's my "haul," my stash enhancement, my potential knitting (if you will) from the event:

I had met several of the Zombies online through Zoom since attending the all-virtual ZK2020 at Home, and it has been so much fun to make new yarn friends! During lockdown, I wasn't even seeing my local knitting group in person, and Zoom knitting was a balm to my crafting soul. As a bonus, my Cleveland-area soul was not the only one anxious for the ZK retreat!

Lauren messaged me from New York, and she asked if I'd like to ride in her car to ZK. I jumped at the chance, and we had epic road trips, both there and back! 

We were well-matched traveling companions, with similar bladder capacities, which means our longest drive-time on the way out looked like this:

Yep, it was pretty impressive! (Spoiler: on the trip back, we beat that time, with a cool 6:16!)

Once we got there, we were greeted by knitters everywhere, and they just kept coming! It was really good to see these faces in 3-D after all this time, and it is noteworthy that everyone had actual bodies (it's good to see your legs!) to go with those faces!

Knitting in the hotel lobby.

Cast on Party in the ballroom!

You may be wondering what a knitting retreat looks and sounds like, so I took a quick video on Friday night, right before our keynote speaker addressed the crowd:

So much happy chatter, and most of us were nonstop smiles!

There was a 5K run/walk/choose your own adventure, and I actually won 1st place! (Spoiler: I was nowhere near the fastest, but I did come closest to my predicted walk time, so I celebrated!)

There was a pajama party, with indoor s'mores, and I toasted my marshmallow to absolute perfection!

Don't forget the photo booth...

...and all the smiles with friends!

New foods to try...

...matching sweaters, in public even...

...and yarn to buy at the Market! Hmmm, which grey should I get, the light or the dark, to go with this rainbow??? (Spoiler: I got them both, 2 of each in fact!)

The last night was a little bittersweet, but Lauren and I had 10.5 hours in the car ahead of us, so I didn't stay up too late. The next day, we were off early, and we arrived at my house around dinner time. 

The cats were less than thrilled that they missed the adventure, but they are not good companions for a road trip. At least they got to meet my new friend, and snuggle up to her bag of yarn!

To sum up, if there's a hobby-related event you've been wanting to go to, GO! Even if you've never been, and even if you don't really know anyone there, give it a shot! At the very least, you will learn new things. At best, you'll meet a new friend and download Marco Polo so you can talk to her often. YOLO, man. You only live once.

Now that I've acquired all this yarn, I'll have to sign off and go knit something! (Spoiler: I have plans to knit many things! Wait, that's not a spoiler, that's just regular life, lol!)

I hope you have some refreshing thing planned for this long, holiday weekend (in the US), and I am so glad that you stopped by to check in today! 

May you always Knit in Good Health! (Even if you're a Zombie!)