There's nothing like a knitting retreat to help you remember why you opened up a yarn shop. The people, the students, the teachers, the yarn; the amount of information at Madrona Fiber Arts retreat is absolutely astounding. This year, I was told from one organizer, that there were 700 students. This number doesn't include the amount of people that came only for the fiber market. 700!!!!
And if you're wondering where the retreat got its name, the Madrona tree grows on the Pacific Coast of the US and Canada. It's the symbol of the retreat and boy...the branches have grown many times from it's early beginnings. Here is a picture of the banquet room on Saturday night. There are just as many fiber arts enthusiasts behind me as you see in this picture which was taken from where I sat.
I took two classes this year, both on intarsia with Jane Slicer-Smith. I've taken workshops on intarsia with Kaffe Fassett and Sasha Kagan, and I really liked Jane's class as she explained her methods of design. Each teacher has their own way of looking at intarsia and I'm happy to take great things from each of them. You can expect an intarsia class taught here in the Fall. We'll start with something simple. I'll get my gears turning. Here are my swatches from class:
Every Saturday night at Madrona, there is a banquet with a lecturer, on an interesting topic. This year it was presented by Linda Cortright, publisher and editor of Wild Fibers Magazine. Linda is the representative of the United Nations mission to protect the world's natural fiber industry. The UN mission is called Keep The Fleece. Check the website for more information on natural fibers and to raise your awareness from where these fibers come. Linda told us of her adventures to New Zealand (merino wool) and Tibet (cashmere goats).
Here's a picture of us taking photos at dinner. From left to right Betsy McCarthy, Evelyn Clark, Mary, Charlene Schurch and April.
This year was my first year teaching at Madrona. I had a blast. The students were so sweet and a good time was had by all. I learned to weave too! Here is my first woven swatch thanks to Syne Mitchell, who brought her 8 harness loom with her and gave demonstrations all day on Saturday. She said I had good selvedges.
So, I'm completely hooked on weaving now. I'll be purchasing a Rigid Heddle Loom soon and I will set it up in the shop so you can all try it. If you read the newsletter, my interest in weaving sparked last summer when I had the opportunity to see some beautiful looms in a weaver's studio. A few of you have expressed interest. Let's see where this takes us.
to the first 40 yarn crawl registrants at Ice Cream Renaissance. 
