One of the fun things about coming to Fresno is the Sheeper Than Therapy knitting guild that I joined. These gals know their knitting and like to learn – a lot. Now they meet at the church I’m serving:

and it’s even more convenient for me.

This past weekend we went to St. Anthony’s Retreat Center in Three Rivers (just outside Sequoia National Park) for a weekend of fiber fun, wine, community sharing and delicious meals.

There was knitter swag waiting for in our rooms – notions, cute scissors, a project bag and a yarn container and so much more.

We had an outside teacher, the marvelous Michele Lee Bernstein (aka pdxknitterati) who flew in from Portland to join us.

Michele worked really hard – she taught four classes over the three days – and hung out with us for the social times as well. She is a lot of fun! Her patterns are simple with a cool twist – so there is something to learn along the way.

First we worked on Log Cabin squares as our appetizer class. They looked pretty good all together!

Then we were challenged by a class to make Braided Wristers with various incarnation of Latvian braids. I picked some pretty bright colors for mine, but so many were really interesting.

Then we worked on a project of a poncho called the Tilt Shift Wrap (and one that shorter folks can wear!) with a cool stitch in the middle:

And finally she taught us some basic photography lessons and a few apps that are helpful, including a Layout app for smartphones that I love:

Michele’s patterns are definitely worth checking out, and check her her most recent adventure of meeting “The Boss” who actually called her “a dangerous woman”!

Saturday evening we did gift exchange game. I am always fretting about what to bring – is it enough? The right thing? Ack the worry of it all. Luckily, this time I brought something that was “stolen” so it there was at least one person who wanted it. I came away with some Wollmeise yarn and a few more notions (!):

Consider this foreshadowing, as I am off to Europe and will be in a city where there is a Wollmeise store! Woo-hoo!

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