The Magic of Maine

Magical. That is the best word I have to describe my experiences at Whitehead Light Station. Many of you know that I have been very fortunate to attend the knitting retreat there last year and again this year.

There is something about the island that truly touches my heart and soul. Maybe it’s the location or the serenity and quiet of the island. Whatever it is, I’m drawn to it and that combined with my passion for knitting, makes it my magical place. It’s such a perfect setting for a knitting retreat.

I arrived in Portland ME (from Portland OR) about 8:30 Thursday night. I was fortunate in the fact that Gigi, the island manager, was heading back to the island after visiting family. We then drove to Rockland ME, (a two hour drive) where Matt, our captain, met us at the dock. We had a brilliant full moon that evening which made for a spectacular ride out to the island.

Friday is the usual arrival day for the retreat, so I had most of the day to myself. That was pretty special and oh so relaxing. It was a pretty nice day with a few sprinkles in the afternoon.

About 2:30 that afternoon, the other knitters arrived. K returned from last year. It was great to see her again and get re-aquainted. The other two knitters were P and A, who are best friends that grew up together in New Hampshire. A now lives in Tucson, about 10 minutes from where my parents live! Go figure – very small world. Well, the four of us instantly hit it off and I think we actually started planning the studio/retreat we all want to build someday. 🙂

Saturday was a brilliant clear day and we spent a great deal of time “Adirondacking” on the front lawn.

I forgot to sunscreen my legs and fried my shins. They are now peeling :-(. We all settled in to the relaxing mode of the island. I believe that evening we had a thunderstorm. I didn’t catch any strikes on film, but it was quite a show.

Sunday was a bit cloudy, but that was perfect because we had the lovely Q come out to the island to teach us some new knitting tricks. S and her sister M also joined us for the day and we really enjoyed spending the day with them. I think that evening was our sunset cruise.

Then on Monday, we had our sunrise cruise. That was really cool as we started out socked in with fog. We traveled over to a neighboring island, Spruce Head Island I believe. It’s like the lobster boat parking lot.

Last year we ran across “Big Numbas”. Love that name! So of course it’s my favorite lobster boat. While out on our foggy sunrise cruise, out of the fog, right next to us, she appeared.

Tuesday was our last full day on the island and we were treated to an off-island excursion to Rockland for some yarn therapy. There are actually two yarn stores in that beautiful little town. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and came away with some great finds. I bought some beautiful sea glass blue angora yarn.

And of course the retreat wouldn’t be complete without “knitting lobstahs”! I have before and after photos. The plan is to make t-shirts and knitting bags with our knitting group name on them: The Wicked Cunnin’ Knittahs of WLS. I learned some new words while spending the week with the New Hampshah girls 🙂

And did I mention the incredible food?!! Fantastic! We loved the gluten-free spinach mushroom lasagne so much, we requested it for lunch the next day. And of course there was a happy hour every afternoon.

My magical place – I love you and hope to return again next year.

And we can’t forget Bandit, the island dog.

We had just about every type of weather over the five days and it was very appropriate that it was stormy and rainy the morning we left the island.

Happy knitting to you all and if you’re looking for a knitting retreat, this is the place!
Shellie