Zauberwiese-meeting 2013

Last week I attended the Zauberwiese meeting in the Black Forest. Zauberwiese is an indie dyer from Germany. She is very talented and you can see that she has a feeling for color. I’ve learned to know the members of the Zauberwiese-Ravelry group as friendly, nice people. In the forum the members talked about this meeting. The meeting took place in Hornberg (Southern Germany) at the Castle Hotel. So, I thought, why not.

After a three-hour train ride through the scenic Black Forest I arrived in Hornberg. Thanks to a nice member who arrived half an hour earlier than me, she ordered the hotel taxi and I could ride with her. The Castle Hotel is located next to a ruined castle above the village of Hornberg. In 1100 was built on the castle rock bottom the first Hornberger castle. This was followed by wars, troops passages and looting that had caused damage to the castle. After the construction of the Black Forest Railway (1866 – 1873) brought a growing stream of holiday makers to Hornberg, was reopened in 1897 on the Castle Hill, on the walls of a former castle building, the grand castle hotel. To the basement of the hotel that later.

I cordially received as a novice of the group. I immediately felt comfortable. In the hotel there was provided a large meeting room. The table was quickly loaded with drinks, sweets, books and knitting projects. After the arrival of the Zauberwiese family an extra large table was organized. The table was decorated with plenty of Zauberwiese wool. Thanks to the generosity of the dyer she allowed each overnight guest one strand of BFL / Silk 600m (!) selected in the color of your choice. Of course, the participants aren’t only traveled back with the gift together! Sheer yarn petting one is intoxicated by colors and yarns. To some, the decision was difficult, which skein(s) could now take the train home together. My yield was typical: 3 strands BFL / silk in teal, each strand of sock yarn in a light green / blue and purple / blue. Since I wanted to try something new, I’ve offered the colorful skein asylum :-) new items of Zauberwiese are the Strickimicki postcards and magnets with funny sayings on it. Of course one or the other card followed me to my home.

So 20 knitting women occupied for four days a large conference room of a hotel. This sparked some reaction with the hotel guests and the staff of horror/ incomprehensibility/ fascination …

During my checkout an older gentleman asked me: “Have you here acquired new information for wool processing?” – Me: “No, we have met here to knit together.” – The gentlemen: “Was that a course for wool processing?” – Me: “No, we have met here to knit together.”

These and other questions arose in relation to our existence. When a colleague of our waiter accompanied him to the meeting room, his jaw dropped at the sight of so much knitting women that the mouth opening was no longer to close for five minutes. Later at the bar he wanted to get to the bottom of the knitting and signed up for the next day for an introduction to knitting. We would not expect it, but he really came over. So I gave a brief introduction to the cast-on and stockinette stitch. As a thank you we later got a tour through the ruins of the castle hotel, where among other medieval banquets are held. The cellar is huge. In between the rooms there’s an area with a rack and a coffin. Maybe for the hotel guests who don’t want to pay ;-)

All in all it was a great weekend with time for meet new people, knitting, chatting and laughing. I am glad that I have attended the meeting and I’m looking already forward to the next one in 2014!