I guess I’ll just start with the first few days! I’m pretty sure when Royal Caribbean agreed to sign on 89 knitters for a cruise – we were not what they were expecting. By the end of the cruise we were pretty famous. “Oh – you’re one of the knitters! – Oh, look honey… she’s knitting!” I suppose it’s odd enough to run across one person knitting in public… but in groups of 30 or more!? At times we felt like zoo exhibits! We were recognized all over the ship.
It was heaven to get up in the morning, know all you were expected to do was knit, meet fun new knitters… wearing all spectrums of knitted garb, and gushing over whatever you may be wearing, knit some more, maybe take a knitting class, eat, go yarn shopping, eat, maybe take in a show, and then knit until the wee hours of the evening. All the while with people in the background cooking your meals, cleaning your room, and catering to your every whim. It was sweet, to say the least!
Some of our classes were taught by Erin, who also hand-dyed one of the sock yarns in our goodie bag. I just love Erin – Here’s Erin posing with Kaity, and the sock she knit with the yarn from our goodie bag, in the “Seasick” colorway!
Another teacher was Eunny – who is a hoot! That girl is smart, funny, very unassuming, and can eat anyone under the table! She also sings a mean karaoke I hear, although I’m sorry to say I didn’t stay up long enough the first night to see that. She was at our dinner table every night and it was fun to get to know her and pick her brain.
And, that’s just the first day…. as we sailed to San Francisco. (And, I’m happy to saw I was never seasick – with the miracles of modern medicine!) Here we are going under the Golden Gate Bridge (at 6:00 AM, mind you). It was totally worth getting up early for this view. We had wonderful weather in San Francisco, very clear, which was such a treat for those who had never been there before.
After we docked, we got on a tour bus and headed for Marin Fiber Arts. About 80 knitters packed themselves into this little store! Actually, it was so crowded, most everyone made a few quick purchases, then walked around and had some lunch, sat around and knit, and then made 3 or 4 more trips back into the store to see what we missed the first time….
or pick up something we just noticed someone else had bought and we had to have. Here I am with Kaity and my Mom, and our friend Jacquie, and the damage…. one store :o) Yes – those are more goodie bags, which we quickly filled with our purchases!
Nice bag, eh? There’s also some Trekking Natura in there, two skeins of Pastimes soy silk from their Music collection in the 8-track colorway, one gorgeous skein of Claudia’s Handpainted 100% silk (to die for!!!) in the Blue Terra Cotta colorway, and a couple of skeins of Nature’s Palette sock yarn.
Not bad for the first two days!
Next post, more yarn shopping, more new friends, beautiful Victoria Canada, and some knitting progress and FO’s!
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