UK Knit Camp

I'll confess straight up that I failed miserably at taking photos of this event; I have virtually nothing to show you. There are no photos to share of the beautiful surroundings. No photos from any of my classes. And (virtually) no photos of other antics. A massive photo fail.

Which is a shame, as the students were absolutely fabulous. Total stars, all of them. And I would love to be able to share a photo or two for their benefit. Despite some serious sleep deprivation (3 hrs sleep on the first night isn't the best way to start a week of teaching) it was the willing and the interest and the skill and the sheer motivation of my students that kept me going. They came, they learnt & they enjoyed. Thank you, each and every one, for taking part.

The don't call such events 'Camp' without good reason. We ate, slept, learnt and partied together. And that makes for a intense week. Fun but intense. And it makes hiding and being quiet pretty difficult, so I gave up on that and decided to enjoy myself.

This photo of the pub quiz on tuesday night is robbed from Stolen Stitches and it shows us all having fun:

Go Team Twilight! We Won! And thank you for letting me gatecrash, I really enjoyed myself :) And if anyone still doesn't know the answer to the question in the first round - I've 129 published patterns to date.

As well as meeting amazing knitters I was able to meet some amazing fellow tutors too. I met Lucy Neatby, Deb Robson, Nancy Merchant, Mary-Jane Mucklestone and Norah Gaughan for the first time, all of whom were as wonderful as you would expect. It was lovely to catch up with Jared Flood, Annie Modesitt, Liz Lovick and Donna Druchunas again. Quality time was spent with Carol Feller, and we spent many an after hour chatting with Marleen, Jon & Roy, Pat & Steve of Woolly Thoughts and Ann Kingstone.

For me, personally, the highlight was the Luminary Panel. To sit amongst so many highly respected members of our industry was a real honour; so much so that it made me feel rather nervous. I wish someone had made a recording of this, as I'd love to listen again to what everyone had to say.

To say it was a busy week would be a bit of an understatement. Indeed, recovering from the week and attempting to put my head back together is the reason why it's taken me so long to blog about it. So much happened, so much fun was had, and it's still all sinking in.

The weekend saw the marketplace and end of teaching for me. My stand came together pretty well, considering how little display material was to be found in my suitcase (thanks to Jon for lending me those sheets & Doug for the shelving unit :)

My books were being sold through the organisers shop (they sold out of TWT thursday morning and ordered in emergency restocks which pretty much sold by the end of saturday!) As there was nothing to be sold directly from my stall I figured I'd set it up for folks to come try out different Hats, have some fun, and if they were willing, let me take their photo for the 'how to wear a Hat and pick one that suits you' project that I've been talking about of late.

Admittedly, I didn't give much warning about this and a few people disappeared rather sharpish when the camera came out, yet we made a good start to the project. There'll be more to follow later but here's a taster:

I need to redit this photo but you get the idea, yes? I'm aiming for simple shots so that the Hat and face are seen clearly. Thanks go to everyone who was kind enough to let me take their photo. And to Liz, Alice & Nic for helping me out on my stand, and of course to Freyalyn for being a wonderful marketplace neighbour!