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In the second week of January 2006, I attended the 5-day "Visionary Retreat: Self-Publishing for Knit Designers" given by Cat Bordhi, author and publisher of Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles (2001, now in its eighth printing), A Treasury of Magical Knitting (2004), and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting (2005), and author of the novel Treasure Forest (Namaste Publishing, 2003). I first heard about this retreat from our Spindlicity editor Janel, when she signed up for what turned out to be the last spot. I got the first spot on the waiting list. Unfortunately for Janel, but luckily for me, her work schedule heated up to the extent that she just couldn't go. I was sad for Janel, but for myself, I was elated! The retreat was held at St. Andrew's Monastery in Valyermo, California, a few miles outside of Palmdale, in the high desert foothills of the Sierra. This monastery supports itself by hosting retreats year-round, and with its line of ceramic ornaments, including a huge catalog of ceramic angels depicting every imaginable occupation and activity. Among the participants were: Kaci Kyler Hays of Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Scappoose, Oregon. Kaci is working on a series of whimsical designs for knitters of various skill levels. Emily Krag of the Charlottesville, Virginia Krag family who bought the Denise Interchangeable™ Knitting Needle company three years ago. Emily is writing a history of the development of the Denise kit, and intertwining it with a history of her family. She also gave each of us a Denise kit! I've had a Boye® NeedleMaster™ since 1983, so I never bought the Denise kit. I've been using it now, though, and I wish I'd bought it years ago! We all told Emily that she needs to get a Denise kit made in pink. We asked her if Denise would be adding a metric-sized kit. She said they'd love to in response to the many requests, but it's an involved and lengthy process, and there are no plans yet; maybe sometime in the future. She also mentioned that the metric measurements of each needle size can be found on the insert that comes with the kit, as well as on their website, http://www.knitdenise.com/. Lorna Miser, creator of Lorna's Laces yarns (though she sold the company a few years ago), now a designer and teacher who lives in Somerset, California. She's working on several book ideas. Elizabeth Seward of Van Nuys, California, who taught knitting in Waldorf Schools for many years. Elizabeth is writing a book about teaching children how to knit. Elizabeth assisted Cat in this retreat, offering us thought-provoking opening exercises each day, and coordinating our activities with the abbey, where she is an oblate. There were more people in attendance and more amazing book projects in the works than I was able to discuss. With such a stellar lineup of knitting celebrities, I had imposter dreams on Monday night. 
While we all knitted, Cat began by giving us an overview of the self-publishing process, including: Identifying your market; writing your book to suit your market; working with a book designer and photographer; choosing a printer; calculating your cover price; getting an ISBN number and bar code; promotion (including getting reviewed); selling to distributors; setting policies about selling individual books or small lots; revising and reprinting. Of course, we also talked about the writing process, the tools needed, the unique requirements of knitting books (such as charts), and consistent pattern-writing. All these subjects were revisited again and again during the course of the week, in the context of our individual projects. Each author's presentation triggered new ideas for my own project, and hearing about the difficulties each is facing, and the group's suggestions for overcoming them, helped allay some of my anxieties, and encouraged me in ways I hadn't even realized I needed encouragement. Many of the participants had samples, or at least photos, of the knitting that will appear in their books. We all got to fondle and marvel at some magnificent sweaters, shawls, gloves, and bags of every description. How lucky I felt to be able to see in person what most people will only see in books! And how awed I was in the presence of such a rich gathering of design talent. Aside from the invaluable discussions on practical issues, a theme arose in the course of discussing each participant's project: the ineffable meaning of knitting to each of us, and the ways in which we can use our knitting to convey meaning. It's no secret by now that we knitters are onto something powerful, whose depths have only just begun to be explored. Some of the books that promise to come out of this retreat will excavate meaning in knitting beyond anything you've yet imagined. My own idea, a book on fixing knitting mistakes expanding on workshops I've been giving, was well received, and I got a lot of suggestions to think about. I wasn't even entirely sure it was a viable idea before the retreat. Now I know that it is, and that I can do this. Cat also told us a little about her work in progress, a pair of books about socks. One is about "new sock architecture," socks structured in non-traditional ways. During the retreat she was working on an innovative sock design for the Vogue Knitting "By Invitation" series that will go to print a few months before her anticipated book publication date. The other book is about socks based on various types of traditional tribal footwear. We saw some samples of her experiments, as well as samples of some of her published moebius-based designs. With so many participants and so much material to cover, we had very little down time during the week. We met beginning at 8:30 or 9 in the morning, took short breaks for lunch and dinner, and went until as late as 10 pm. I came home late Friday afternoon and crashed for 12 hours straight. The inspiration and empowerment I took with me from this retreat is impossible to describe; I will simply have to demonstrate it to you, by putting one foot in front of the other, on a path whose direction I can now somewhat see, until my knitting book is a reality.
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