In a previous post I described the knitting retreat I’m leading at Woolman Hill Nov. 4–6. (You can download a flyer with registration form there.)
I don’t have a very firm plan yet, but it will probably go something like this:
Friday evening:
- collecting ourselves in the present with some silence
- invite people to take out their knitting (if they haven’t already)
- introduce myself and the retreat center, outline my plan for the weekend
- ask each person to tell us what they like to be called and share one thing they hope for from the weekend (I’ll encourage people to go slowly around the circle, giving space between each person’s speaking to really hear what they share. This is pretty standard Quaker technique, and I expect to encourage it throughout the weekend unless it turns out not to sit well with the participants. I will have some discernment time after the session to consider any adjustments to the schedule based on people’s hopes.)
Saturday morning session 1 (optional, 1/2 hour, no knitting):
- brief introduction to Quaker worship<
- Quaker worship
Saturday morning session 2 (knitting and conversation):
- as we knit, go around the cirlcle and tell what we’re working on
- break
- show and tell our resources, ask for help on any knitting problems we’re trying to solve
Saturday afternoon session (knitting in silence):
- ask people to knit together in silence for a period of time (I’ll need to get a feel for how people feel about silence in order to decide how long. 1/2 hour to an hour.)
- break
- discussion about what it was like to knit together in silence (probably encourage them not to knit; perhaps split them into small groups)
Free time Saturday afternoon
Saturday evening (sharing our knitting):
- ask people to reflect and share on what about knitting is (or isn’t) spiritual for them
- break
- ?? encourage people to seek out one or two others they’d like to talk with and move chairs into small groups
- ?? closing silence or epilogue (prepared reflection, maybe a song)