We had so much fun, having 140 of you in for our Fall Fling last weekend! As usual, I forgot to take many pictures, but here is a little look into a few that I did manage to take. (Click on the photos to enlarge them. Especially on the cute dragon photos!)
We always start the weekend with a dessert reception on Thursday evening. (No pictures of the dessert goodies. Why didn’t I think of that? Julia Knitting Daughter took one! Added below.) This year we also added in a talk that evening from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee called “This is Your Brain on Knitting”. It left us all feeling pretty good about choosing knitting as a hobby (or way of life).
Friday and Saturday brings knitting, classes and shopping trips to Loopy! This year, our class instructors included Susan B. Anderson, Marly Bird, Ann Budd and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.
One of Susan’s classes was a Little Dragon Workshop. You’ll probably want to buy the pattern to make your own. They were all turning out so cute!
We love hosting the Flingers in the shop. They have fun seeing it in person and we have fun watching how much they enjoy wandering the aisles, finding new things that need to go home with them! After they check out, they hang out by the red couches and knit, while waiting for everyone to finish up and for the bus to come back to get them.
At each Fling, I find new patterns that I need to make. This year, I saw these Hitofude cardigans and put that pattern right on my “to make” list. (It was already in my favorites list on Ravelry, but seeing it in person moved it over to the active list. I especially liked seeing the longer version that Cindy was wearing.)
We did our group photo on Saturday afternoon. I’m not sure everyone remembers or makes it down to the lobby for the photo, but here is the shot of most of the group. After my husband took this photo, they all sang Happy Birthday to him, which was really nice. What a way to spend your birthday!
On Saturday night, we gave away door prizes (over 100 this year), which is always fun. We so appreciated the generosity of Dream in Color, Shibui, Cascade, Lorna’s Laces, Mrs. Crosby, Notions Marketing, Bryson, Shalimar, Fable Fibers, Baah! Yarns, Hunter Hammerstein, Spud and Chloe, Blue Sky Alpacas, Fairmont Fibers, Ann Budd, Universal Yarns, Westminster Fibers, Wollmeise, and George Sichterman Woodwork. There were a lot of lucky winners!
I wish I would have taken a picture of my great friends Sheryl (from here in Fort Collins) and Janice (from Iowa) who were there to help with all of the hotel details, while I traveled back and forth to the shop with the Fling shoppers. I couldn’t do the weekend without them! And of course the Loopy Elves, Knitting Daughter and Web Guy all put in extra time during the weekend as well. It takes a whole bunch of people to help it all run smoothly.
And one of my favorite friends, Claudia (the Wollmeise), was here from Germany again! I love having her visit for the Flings, and I know the Fling attendees really enjoy getting to meet the genius behind that gorgeous Wollmeise yarn. (No pictures, as Claudia is anti-photos. But she did let me take and post one a couple of years ago when she and Maria came to visit!) Claudia and Julie (from Juliespins – another creative dye genius Fling attendee) had a lot of fun talking “shop” during the Fling.
I saved three Fall Fling Goodie Bags to send out to three lucky contest winners. In the heavyweight canvas bag you’ll find a skein of Dream in Color’s Everlasting Sock, a skein of Shibui’s brand new Maai yarn, a skein of Cascade’s Luna, a Fling water bottle and nametag holder, a Lorna’s Laces post-it notepad and a Shalimar pen. (Yarn colors will vary.) Would you like to win one? Just leave a comment below and we will use the random number generator to choose the winners sometime next week! And would you like to participate in our next retreat? We will be putting our next one on in the spring of 2016. (We’ll flip flop between spring and fall retreats, every 18 months. We know some of you prefer one time of year over the other.) We’ll keep you posted on the details as it gets closer!
Sheri stillcatchinguponmissedsleep,butofcourseitwassoworthit!
I have got to win one. Fling me the winning number, please!
The Fling was great! Thanks for putting these on.
The Fling looks and sounds fabulous and the next best thing to being there would be to win a goodie bag!
Would LOVE to win one!
Sounds/reads like so much fun ….
If I win the lottery, will put away some funds for 2016!
Pictures look awesome, someday I hope to make it to a Loopy Fling!
Spring 2016? The littles will be big enough for me to go….
I wish I could make it to the retreat sometime, and I would love a chance to win one of the goodie bags.
The Fall Fling looks like a lot of fun.
Wishin’ I coulda been there.
That is such a great goodie bag! I would love to win one!
Fall fling looks like so much fun! Someday I’ll get there… 🙂
I really really need to win this! Love it! Would make me feel like I was there!
This looks so fun!
Someday I will get to a Fling! Hope to win a goody 🙂
Still sad I never got to go to a Fling when you were only three hours from me. I didn’t appreciate how good I had it. 🙂
Looks like a fabulous time was had by one and all!
Wish I could fling in Spring!
How fun! Thanks for the chance to win.
Fall Fling looks like it was so much fun! I only wished I lived close enough to visit.
Fall Fling looks like it was so much fun! I only wished I lived close enough to visit.
The Fling looks delightful. Congratulations on another successful event. Someday I hope to attend!
What a wonderful giveaway and thanks so much for sharing all the wonderful photos and stories.
Would love to win this awesome goody bag :))
Thanks for the chance to win a goodie bag. Hope I can visit the shop someday.
Would love to win a goody bag.
I wish I had been there for the Fling – maybe next year – it would be nice to win a goodie bag – thanks for the chance
I’d love to win!! Thanks
Those desserts look seriously delicious! All the more incentive to reserve time to be at the next fling…
Would LOVE to win one! <3 <3
It would be great to win a goodie bag.
I really want to come to a Fling! Winning the bag would help hold me over until I can get there 🙂
I hope I can make the next fling!!!
It looks like you had loads of fun. I’d love to win a goodie bag.
I hope to someday be able to make one of these events. They always look like so much fun!
Looks like it was so much fun! REALLY wish I could have been there. 🙂
this sounds like so much fun! I would love a chance to win a fall fling goodie bag!!! Thanks! pat
I’d love to be entered!
Fling sounds wonderful! Everyone looks so happy and excited to be with fellow yarn enthusiasts and awesome knitting folks. Winning a goodie bag would be a lovely taste of Fling Heaven! 😉
This always looks so fun.
I may have to try planning a vacation around fling sometime
i would love to win a goody bag and I really wish I could have been at the event. Looks like it was so much fun.
Sounds like so much fun! Hopefully I can make it some day. Thanks so much for the chance to win a goody bag.
I would really LOVE to wild a Fall Fling Goodie Bag!
Fall Fling looks like a great time and winning a goody bag would be awesome!
Looks like you all had so much fun. Wish I could have been there.
It sounds like it was a great time! I visiting the shop with my friend right before the fling and it was all abuzz with excitement! Thanks for the chance! ♡
Thank you for this generous give away – I would love to be one of the winners!
Looks like great fun.
It looks like it was a great time!
Thanks for the fling report! So nice to read about it and dream of one day attending.
What fun that must have been! I hope to make it to a Fling someday. Thanks for holding the giveaways.
Betsy in Sunny Seattle.