December got off to great start when I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Susan Crawford Festive Retreat in the Lake District. What a wonderfully heady combination of knitting, the incredible landscape of the Lakes, the poetry of William Wordsworth, the journals of Dorothy Wordsworth and the joy of making new friends while sharing the experience.

The first evening as we arrived the sitting room quickly became the hub of getting to know you chat, mutual knitwear admiration and knitting club. 

The focus of our first day full was our festive knitting project; a cute fingerless mitten project into which Susan had packed a surprising amount of techniques for us to learn through practice and repetition, the best way to make them stick in my view.

I think there was something new in there even for the most seasoned mitten knitters. We had the full day of knitting, and we all made significant progress on our mittens and certainly enough to keep us motivated.

In the evening Susan talked to us about her design journey from the early days of the first Stitch in Time through to The Vintage Shetland Project which I think is a remarkable piece of work in it’s combination of designs and historical research, through Evolution and Echoes, A Stitch in Time 3; the colourwork edition, to her current projects. 

We lived so close to the Lake district for many years so it’s very familiar, but despite this it seems to me that you don’t have to be away from the Lake District for very long for it to strike you just how beautiful it is all over again. 

Maybe it’s the changing of the seasons or the intensity of the colours, or jus how different it is to where we are now, I’m not sure, but goodness it is pretty breathtaking. 

The vibrant green of a mossy wall, the burnt umber of the bracken, and the diversity of lichen added to slate paths and buildings, the rise of mountains, and the water that seems to reflect a special light on it all, even on the grayest of days.

On day 2 I went for an after-breakfast walk with another retreater; the idea being to walk away from Grasmere but the path led us back anyway.
I think perhaps Sam Read booksellers was exerting its pull as we found ourselves in the village with our turn back to Thorney How and our retreat venue, opposite the shop. So we swung by and I was able to pick up a copy of Esther Rutter’s ‘All Before Me’, just as I’d hoped.

Then it was back to Thorney How where Charlie, the dyer behind Assa Marra Wool Studio, had a dyeing workshop set up for us.

This was my first time dyeing with this type of acid dye. I’ve used natural dyes a lot, as readers of the blog will know, and used synthetic food dyes in the past which I’ve also blogged about, but this was new to me and was a lot of fun. I was quite cautious with my colours, although I think I used every colour available and this is reflected in my skein which is quite subtle, although colourful at the same time. We dyed on the Lock sock base, one of my absolute favourites, so I think I’ll retreat into knitting this into a pair of socks for myself over the holidays.

The afternoon was spent knitting on our mittens, planning new projects and shopping the pop up shop.

Then after dinner Charlie, told us all about her recent trek across the Sahara desert in aid of breast cancer awareness charity Coppafeel illustrated with some amazing pictures of a very different landscape.

Another wonderful packed but restorative and inspiring day, after which I took to bed with my new book and read perhaps a little later than I should have!

Unfortunately our Festive Retreat had to come to and end and the third and final day of our retreat really was the most perfect ending. After more knitting in the morning, Susan took us through the various finishing techniques we’d be using and answered all our colourwork questions with demonstrations and explanations. It was a good deep dive into the whys and wherefores of colourwork knitting.

In the afternoon we walked down the hill and through Grasmere to Town End and the home of the Wordsworth Trust . We started with an afternoon tea lunch at the Trust cafe and my goodness they did us proud, the staff couldn’t have been friendlier, or more helpful, and their attention to our different dietary needs was exceptional. 

The main reason we were there was to visit Dove Cottage by candlelight. I hadn’t visited Dove Cottage before so the was a particular treat. The cottage was beautifully dressed for Christmas.

Throughout the house was wonderfully presented and gave a real insight into the lives of William and Dorothy Wordsworth and the growing family of William and Mary. The extracts from Dorothy’s journals were particularly effective in this respect.

I loved the kitchen and pantry area and did wonder where one would find an hour to beat gingerbread?

However, Grasmere is famous for its Gingerbread, although it probably a bit darker than this recipe would make and so perhaps more to Dorothy’s liking, but maybe this is worth a try?

The reference to drying the flour and sugar before use is evidence of how damp such cottages were with their dirt and slate floors. The rags rugs that feature throughout the house would have provided welcome amelioration of this cold dampness. Our visit took place on a chilly mizzly wet day so it was hard not to think of this.

Rag rugging has long been a traditional Lakeland craft and was the subject of a recent exhibition in Carlisle so it was nice to see them featured in the cottage, including some showing evidence of wear.

Our visit was capped with seasonal readings from Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals accompanied by mulled wine in front of the fire.

Again the staff were so informative and generous with their time and insights into not only the lives of William, Dorothy, but also into life in the Lakes at that time and the impact of their literary works.

Dove Cottage has been a museum and place to remember the Wordsworths from 1891 and it was interesting to hear how custodians of the works of Wordsworth were committed to them being available where they were created from such an early date.

I often think of museums, archives and such memorialisation, beyond that associated with institutions or professional bodies, as being quite a modern practice, this showed me otherwise.

Our final evening was spent quizzing, being tested on our knitting, film and musical knowledge, (or lack thereof!) and photographing our mittens.

As much as I enjoyed all the activities from the retreat, and I really did, I think what was truly special was spending time with a group of women who started as strangers and who so quickly became friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful end to the year, perhaps not a festive retreat, but at least a festive rest and opportunity to slow down and focus on something that completely absorbs you and brings you joy.

All the best and Happy Knitting,

Tess xxx