Our Iwannaknit ReTreat location was formerly a convent, which might explain the presence of a church attached to our convention building. The church portion of the building must be at least 100 years old, judging by these beautiful details. The smooth plaster finish on the ceiling was decoratively painted or stenciled. The size of the place made it hard to photograph the impact of the painting. We’ll have to settle for this detail of a ceiling rose around the fixture for a hanging light, and a portion of a painted arch.
The stained glass was painted in a style that reminds me of English churches. I think that the brilliant colors are the color of the glass; the heavy curves and straight lines are lead; and the black details, like cross-hatching, facial features, and curlicues are baked-on paint.
The second day of ReTreat, I taught the Garden of Design workshop, which has taken up so many blog posts in the last month. Cindy, Cathy, Liz, and Fern, the four brave souls who joined the class, spent the morning knitting their backgrounds on machines. I was ready for hand-knitters, but none took the class.
Cathy worked on a garden scene with lots of greenery behind a border of rocks. Most of her flowers will be added as buttons and beads. Fern combined a couple of photos with flowers from her own garden. She devised a way to knit irises. Unfortunately, it meant she had many ends to work in, and a lot of applique work to do.
Liz picked a Hawaiian scene, which had a few flowers in the foreground, but was dominated by a palm tree and a sunset over the ocean. Here is Liz’s piece, very near completion.
I hope to post photos of everyone’s finished piece after next year’s ReTreat. In fact, here’s a finished piece from last year’s similar class, where we knitted an underwater scene. It was made by Dianne B. who lives in the panhandle of Florida. I wish you could see the background better, because it is a subtle mix of colors that evoke a feeling of coral, pebbles, and seaweed going off into the distance.
We spent the evening at Lea-Ann’s store, Knitting Today, where I invested in a couple of pattern books, including Vogue’s Stitchionary 2, which is about cables. Can it possibly go further than the wonderful cable patterns collected in Barbara Walker’s Treasuries? Yes it can, and it does!
