All good things....

Well, I missed the morning of Day 2 (Thursday) at "The Mill".

While all of the other RA's were having breakfast and then on the bus, I was already down in the local Health Centre waiting for a 10:15 appointment!  I recognized the symptoms and knew that I had a UTI!  Not the thing to ignore at any time, but especially troubling when on vacation....so I had been at the Clinic when it opened at 8:00 am and had secured an appointment.  Everything went well and I was in a Taxi with medication in hand, on my way to the mill....I arrived just before lunch was served!  Yes, excellent timing! :) (Sorry if this is too much information for you ha ha ha!)

Unfortunately, I MISSED the discussion about yarns....how Rowan chooses them, why they discontinue yarns, what they have in the pipeline for future seasons...yes, new yarns are chosen maybe 2 years in advance?  It takes that long for the whole process of identifying a need, developing a yarn, deciding on shades, having it produced, getting it out to the core group of designers who create those new yarn dedicated design booklets that appear each season in addition to the big Rowan Magazine!

This is why "new" yarns have dedicated design booklets...to really showcase new yarns, and established yarns are used in the Magazines!  Makes sense when you think about it right?

POOH!  I was sorry to have missed this discussion.  Now here I was, medication in hand so things were getting better....but I was tired (plane trip, travel to Holmfirth, all of the excitement of meeting my fellow RAs and everyone at the Mill, not feeling quite up to par without knowing why, the night before at the Rowan hosted dinner I was subdued....then during the night...no sleep and confirmation of my "problem"....so I have to say, I wasn't at my best.

Anyway, after lunch....we had a great presentation by The Marie Wallin, on how the magazine stories are decided on....a theme is chosen, images reflecting the feel of the theme are sourced, and a design brief goes out to the designers!

Guess what.....

our very own Rowan Ambassador Design Brief!

I can tell you...I may not have been feeling that great...but I am pretty sure I wasn't the only one who experienced a great lurch of the stomach!  Oh my goodness....our opportunity to submit an original garment design to Rowan!

So just think about it....presentation by Marie, handing out the design briefs, basket of yarns for us to dive into....oh, and yes, you must be ready to present your design concept to Kate Buller at 3:00 on Friday afternoon! (that is less than 24 hours!)

You could have heard a knitting needle drop!  Stunned Silence I'd say :) But, true to form....15 minutes later, yarns were being chosen...needles were clicking....sketches were being drawn...heads were down and conversation was subdued.

Sarah gave us some tips...

Martin was dazzling us with his shirts and his design knowledge!  Here he is with Cindi and Linda!

Martin, Sarah and Lisa (as in Storey, Hatton and Richardson) were circling the room, helping with decisions, calculations and pesky details.  Thursday night we went out to dinner with the Rowan gang...this had been pre-arranged or otherwise I think you might have found everyone spending the evening knitting away on swatches!

Friday morning...our last day....on the bus....finish up those swatches and your design specs.

Finally the time came for us to place our designs on the presentation table!  This is serious business....

 Well, I can tell you, the STRESS OF IT ALL!  laughing hysterically at the memory of it even now!!!

All that was left to do was to have some cake and a glass of champagne! (or two!)

Yes, Rowan knows how to do things right!

It was tough to say our good byes to everyone at Rowan, they had made us so welcome and had given us possibly THE BEST visit I could ever have imagined!  Thank you again for everything!

It was hard to say good bye to the RA's that were leaving that night....after a big group hug....we just had to let go!  A few of us were staying over to leave on Saturday!

Friday night in Holmfirth - the bar in the hotel was full to bursting....obviously "The Tour" had arrived! My friend and fellow knitter had travelled up to Holmfirth and joined the group for dinner and conversation.  It was sad to say goodbye....we didn't know if we would meet up the next morning...

so after a light breakfast on Saturday morning

avoiding the cycles and cyclists everywhere!

we (my friend and I) enjoyed a bit of retail therapy at "Up Country"
don't you just love this heart bunting that decorates the change room?

(you'll see what I bought in an upcoming design photo shoot!)

I was staying on in the UK for a week of vacation with my friend...and I hadn't brought any knitting with me!  Well, I had...but it needed a shade of Felted Tweed that I couldn't get at Up Country....

Amazing how sometimes things just are meant to be...because an idea was coming together.....two balls of Rowan Finest yarn were in my goodie bag from Rowan....my friend let me rummage in her leftovers bin and I found this lovely ball of Kidsilk Haze.  Don't they look lovely together.

Hmmm.....still thinking.....almost there.....

Off to the seaside where my idea really came together...more about that next time!

'til then...Happy Knitting!

Anne

on my needles?
a secret project...
in Rowan Felted Tweed!
shhhhh!

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Anne

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