I'm home from Madrona. I went on Wednesday to set up the Fiber Gallery booth in the market. On Thursday I worked the booth. I thought I would hate it. I thought I would feel trapped in the market while there was a party going on in the other room. Instead it was wonderful. I saw everyone because everyone goes through the market. On Friday I took an all-day spinning class with Janel Laidman. I learned a bit and it was a pleasure to spend the day spinning the beautiful BFL from Chameleon Colorworks. On Saturday I took an all-day "Aran Sweaters from the Top-Down" class with Beth Brown-Reinsel. I finally feel inspired to knit Celtic Dreams after buying the pattern a year ago. I bought enough Black Water Abbey in Grey Sea(?) for it. Beth is a great teacher. She is skillful and knowledgeable with a very easy way about her. Today I took a half-day class with Lucy Neatby called "Double Knitting for the Addicted". Lucy is an outstanding teacher. I took her buttonhole class in June at TNNA and would absolutely take classes from her again. I learned a lot in her classes. Today in three hours we learned how to make a vertical pocket using double knitting as well as how to knit a double-faced fabric with completely different designs on each side. It's fiddly and tedious but very cool. I can't say that I'll be doing a ton of double knitting in the future but I feel much more comfortable with it now.
The best part of Madrona is seeing everyone. Every time I looked up or turned a corner I saw someone I know. It's a very happy place.
I took a shockingly poor number of photos (like four). I'll post something later to prove at least that I was there.