Dubose 2012

HANDS ON COLOR: A SPINNING RETREAT

June 1-3 (June 4 optional) 2012

Have a special project you want to spin and knit or crochet? This year, Hands on Color is “pick your own project,” a true retreat where you can spin your own special yarns for your individual project and take advantage of Lynne’s expert guidance throughout the weekend. If you don’t want to work on a project, you can just come and join us for a weekend of spinning and relaxation. In addition, we’ll have a bonus day, Monday, for a bit more spinning, friendship, and project work.

We’ll start with a wine and cheese snacking dinner on Friday. On Saturday, midmorning, Lynne will lecture on how to plan for a project, from spinning the right amount of yarn to thoughts on pattern ideas and more. On Saturday afternoon, Sunday, and Monday (if you choose), you’ll be able to work on that special project, with expert help from Lynne on an individual basis as you need it, and with lots of sharing of ideas with others at the retreat. Come with your project pattern and materials or buy some beautiful colors at our market.  You may want to chose one of Lynne’s patterns, available on Ravelry, or bring your own. Work at your own pace throughout the weekend, taking advantage of the quiet walks and good food Dubose offers. Where else would you find such a wonderful mix of fiber, friends and hours of project time just for you?

For those of you who haven’t come to Dubose, we have a wonderfully large workroom, the Upper Room, to play in. There is room to spread out, so feel free to bring what you need. Know that the workroom is up a flight of stairs; so just don’t bring what you don’t want to haul up there. Those of you, who have a hard time carrying your wheel upstairs, know that we will help you carry your wheel.

Room and Board

The Dubose offers comfortable, clean and reasonable lodgings, meals, and plenty of space to meet and work. We’ll be staying in Bishops Hall, a motel style building. Rooms are either single or double occupancy, double beds with private bath. Local workshop participants may chose to come to class only, or class with meals (see meals package below). Those who are traveling from a distance and prefer more sumptuous accommodations are welcome to stay at any of the other motels or B and B’s on the mountain and just join us for class and meals. We just need to know by May 1, 2012 whether you will be staying or eating with us at Dubose.

Our classroom is on the second floor. The classroom is huge and well lit and we’ll be able to easily accommodate up to 30 people and their wheels. There is no elevator but there will be plenty of help to get your wheel up to the classroom Friday afternoon and back down at the end of the retreat. Motel rooms are on first and second floor walk-up levels. We’re sorry everything isn’t ground floor as this workshop is not handicap accessible, so apologies in that regard.

The classroom is convenient to lodgings and restrooms and there is plenty of parking and convenient drop-off for lodgings and class. Weather should be nice then and there are many nooks both inside and outside where we can retire to knit or just relax. Dubose has a swimming pool, but it is unheated. Sometimes it’s warm enough to swim by mid May. We’re not promising a warm pool, but you never know.

Workshop participants should plan on arriving Friday evening, June 1. We’ll have wine, cheese and other noshes to graze upon, open market and a casual spin-in on Friday night beginning at 7:30 p.m. If you don’t think the wine and cheese event will be substantial enough, there are other dinner options in Monteagle, from McDonalds to High Point, including 2 good barbeque restaurants and great local pizza/Italian at Papa Ron’s.

The retreat starts at 9 AM Saturday and Sunday mornings and goes till 4 PM with an hour break for lunch. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions, as the kitchen is happy to accommodate. Participants who would like meals must purchase entire package. Options for food on the mountain are expanding somewhat, but it’s really nice to have the option to eat at Dubose.

Deadline

Deadline for Registration is May 1, 2012.  A non-refundable deposit of $25 is required upon registration. Balance of class fees is due two weeks prior to class, May 18.  Those of you who wish to pay by credit card may do so through PayPal ahead of time. I will send you an invoice upon request.

We’ll follow up with reminders of what to bring and other information on Sewanee and Monteagle. If you would like to register, or have any questions, please contact:

Lynne 

or her assistant:

Jan Quarles

Bertie and the Purler

I learned a new word this week thanks to Bertie Wooster, P.G. Wodehouse’s famous character of Bertie and Jeeves fame. I just had to reread Code of the Woosters again, considered by many to be one of the all time greatest comic novels. As Bertie would say, “and it did not disappoint.” It’s a veritable Gordian knot of plot twists and it shakes me loose of all encumbering baggage. Good medicine.
In C of the W, Bertram is a guest at Totleigh Towers, country estate of Sir Watkyn Bassett, father to “God’s Daisy Chains” Madeline Bassett, betrothed of newt fancier Gussie Fink Nottle. The betrothal is in jeopardy, along with another upcoming union between Stiffy Bing and Stinker Pinker and Bertram has gone to save the day. But Sir Watkyn suspects Bertie of intentions to purloin his newly (but unjustly acquired) antique silver cow creamer. Sir Watkin turns the thumb screws on Bertie to the degree that Bertram reflects:
Life at Totleigh Towers had hardened me, blunting the gentler emotions, and I derived nothing but gratification from the news that Constable Oats had been meeting with accidents. Only one thing could have pleased me more -- if I had been informed that Sir Watkyn Basset had trodden on the soap and come a purler in the bath tub.

And here’s the word.
purler
noun Brit. informal
A headlong fall: the horse went a purler at the last fence.
ORIGIN nid 19th cent: from dialect purl ‘upset, overturn’.

Of course, the image of Sir Watkyn possibly coming a purler is so incredibly delightful because he’s really asked for it and one can’t help but fall into the soup with the possibilities. But purler?
Remind you of something? It’s even spelled like the purl stitch.
I did a web search to try and find more about the word, but the origin is murky at best, it being a colloquial expression. So if anyone has any light to shed here, please come forth. I did find that Aussies consider a purler to be something mighty fine, but that is about all I could really find.
Meanwhile, when I overturn a knit stitch to make a purl, I will be thinking about Sir Watkyn slipping on the soap and falling oh so ingloriously headfirst into his bubble bath in his dressing gown and doing a slippery, blubbery somersault in the drink. And since everything always comes out well in the end of a PG Wodehouse, I can be confident that no injuries will be sustained, only the sublime indignities so justly deserved.