End of Summer, Teaching Season Opens (& Stitches?!)

We were able to get away for a 2-day escape up to Voyageur National Park over my birthday.  And, may I just say, I was OVERWHELMED with the lovely birthday wishes on my facebook page.  Thank you, everyone!

We took advantage of one of those Groupons earlier this year, and thus we had a pretty amazing mini-vacation for a bargain.

We stayed at the Northern Lights Resort, which was lovely.  My only complaint is that they begin mowing, clipping and blowing at SEVEN A.M. on Saturday with a vengeance, so don’t expect to sleep in or anything…

Below is a gallery of some of the highlights of our few days away, plus rubber ducks at the MN State fair and a brief outdoor shot of our indoor cat (he escaped, then sat on the fence and posed for a few minutes before capture…)

For me the absolute BEST part of the adventure were the ‘hydro-bikes’ (made in Minneapolis!) that were available at the resort!  I was able to get my bike ride in AND get out on the lake (although it took a lot more pedaling to go 10 feet than it takes to go 100 yds on a street bike)  It was a BLAST and it made me so happy!

We took one family water trip with Atticus in the canoe.  He jumped out.  He’s a swimming doggie, but Hannah was fearless in how quickly she jumped in and directed him over to my hydrobike where he rested until we got back to the dock.

We all switched places, we realized that what Atticus wanted was to be with me, so I rode in the canoe and paddled while Hannah took over the bike and we were all fine on the trip over to a mini-island for some fishing, and the trip back.

Fish – we caught none.  I’m sad about it, but not bereft.  I really wanted to get a walleye, or at least a bass, but no such luck.

Fall Work Start

I’m immersed in some designing, and I’m writing my first grant proposal.  More on that if / when I hear anything, but it’s certainly an experience to try to put my thoughts into “grant speak”  (B.S.-ing 101 was a class I’m afraid I did miserably in during grad school…)

I have some submission deadlines coming up quickly and a full slate of teaching engagements over the next few weeks

• I’ll be in Boston/Rhode Island this weekend,
  •  speaking at the Common Cod Guild in Cambridge, MA;
  •  teaching at Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI on Saturday;
  •  lecturing at Fiber Lab in Middletown RI on Sunday.
• My own Modeknit MN Lakeside Retreat is Sept 23-25
• I’ve just agreed to teach a short class at a private retreat in MN in October
• November is the Interweave Knits Knitting Lab in San Mateo, CA. (I’m so excited about this I just keep jumping up and down when I think about it!)
• In December I’m off to Arkansas for the Fiber Arts Extravaganza, and it promises to be an AMAZING adventure!
• In January I’ll be down in Orlando for the Knit or Knot Guild (this trip coincides with Max’s birthday, so we may try to make a family trip of it…)

I have all of these dates up at my “upcoming engagements” page,  but perhaps the most unexpected news is that I’ve agreed to teach at Stitches West in February.

I’ve never taught at Stitches – the timing never worked out, and when I did apply I didn’t get accepted.  Once I read the rules involved in teaching at one of these events I got a little skittish and didn’t apply again.

But I’ve been asked by so many folks, “When will you teach at Stitches?” so when I was approached by Benjamin Levisay from XRX (I love making Facebook friends & meeting them in real life!) I realized that it would be unfair to judge without participating from a teaching point of view.

So for those of you Stitches attendees who’ve wanted to take a class with me, I’ll be teaching 3 in Santa Clara in late February!

Yay for warm weather teaching in the midst of MN Winter!