Set Sail: A Knitter’s Vacation

Well, here we are in November. The days are getting shorter and colder. Christmas is approaching and after that…yikes! Rather than dwell on the length, strength and breadth of our Canadian winters, I’ve been surfing the internet, flipping through virtual travel folders. I was pleasantly shocked to see how many travel agencies exist simply to cater to the “craft traveller” and amazed to find many vacations designed specifically for knitters!

CraftCruises (tag line: “Cruising with a purpose”) offers knitting cruises to South America, Asia, the Baltic and Canada aboard Holland America line. They offer on-board workshops and classes with instructors such as Ann Budd, Cat Bordhi and the world’s fastest knitter,  Hazel Tindall. Here’s one I’d love: the Fjords and Highlands. And they have ground tours too! On November 22, they’ll be off for a 7-day tour of Peru.

With Craft Tours, a knitter can explore the cradle of the craft with tours to Ireland, England and New Zealand. On the 6th of this month, intrepid knitters will be departing from NYC en route to Dublin where they’ll be met by tour guide and knitter extraordinaire, Carol Feller. A tour of the Emerald Isle ensues. This junket will set a girl back close to $4K US. That’s hefty for 9 days, I think.

Here are my favorites: the Stitchtopia 7-day tour to the Faroe Islands and the Icelandic Knitter with Helene Magnusson. Both focus on the lush green, romantic and little known northern islands where fibre is a way of life. I’m excited by the way the Scandinavian knitted motifs flit about across the water of the North Atlantic.

There’s something really lovely about knitting in places where knitted things are necessary, like here in Prince Edward County. Next weekend we’ll be gathering again at Jackson Falls for our annual retreat!