Madrona 2018: The Recap

Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat is a weekend that I look forward to every year. I think it first crossed my radar when we were still living in Kansas - the Yarn Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) blogged about it each year, and I thought that maybe one day I'd be good enough to go. We moved out to Stanwood in late 2012, and I went to Madrona for the first time in 2016. I was really surprised at how approachable many of the classes were and how wide a range of skill/experience levels were covered, and I started encouraging people to go. Last year I went with a friend. 

This year... well... let me show you a photo of us arriving at the hotel. (A deluxe double room at the Hotel Murano comfortably fits four adults, their bags upon arrival, and three full-sized spinning wheels. It starts getting crowded after everyone makes the first pass through the Madrona marketplace.) 

Our roommate group this year covers all craft areas, but our classes were all focused on spinning and weaving. Among the four of us, we took Designing Your Own Woven Bands (John Mullarkey), Spinning Notebook (Kate Larson), Gradient Spinning (also Kate Larson), Spinning for Norwegian Bandweaving (also also Kate Larson), Spinning for Weaving (Judith MacKenzie), Spinning Paper (also Judith MacKenzie), and Spinning Linsey-Woolsey (also also Judith MacKenzie). In talking with everyone over meals, drinks, and leisurely walks in frigid, windy weather, we were all really pleased with all of our classes. There was quite a bit of overlap, and I think we'll be comparing notes and touching base constantly over the next few months. 

Classes with Judith are always amazing and slightly more free-form than I anticipate, but here are some of the major takeaways: 

• If you're planning to weave with your handspun, don't wash it first! (Seriously.) (No, seriously. There's an amazing difference.) 
• If you can pull your handspun taut and make it twang three times without it breaking, it's definitely strong enough to use as warp. 
• Best paper to spin? Sewing patterns, which are made from abaca paper. (Thrift shop, 25-75 cents per envelope. Home decor patterns are GOLD because they have such big patterns.) 
• You can dye sewing pattern paper by painting it with the same dye that you would use to paint silk scarves. 
• If you want to test a paper for spinning potential, try ripping it along both the length and width of the paper. If one side rips readily and the other one only rips with great difficulty? Good candidate for spinning. If both sides rip easily? It probably won't spin well. 
• It's really easy to grow flax. And really easy to process it from the stalks for spinning (except it's messy and stinks, because you want to make the flax stalks rot away from the fiber - but it IS easy).
• Flax - wool - silk blends are heavenly. 20% flax is about the maximum you'll want for easy handspinning and use. Carding the blends into rolags is a bit of a process, but it's worth it. 

Here's a small gallery of what life at Madrona looked like: 

No post on Madrona would be complete without a bit on the marketplace, but that shall have to wait until later in the shop weekend! Keep your eyes peeled for another post tomorrow or Monday. Until then - stay dry and warm, and happy crafting!