Knitting Musclemom

Madrona (suite et fin, as we say in French)

Well, I am back home and recovering from Madrona. I edited the last post I wrote, because I made some unnecessary remarks in it. I only realized that the next day, when it finally dawned on me that the fact I had been freezing for the last 48 hours had nothing to do with the temperature in the hotel (which was fine), but was due to the fact I was running a fever. The trip home on Monday was a relief, because Colin pampered me as soon as I got home and I have been resting and getting better.

So I got my 15 minutes of knitting fame as the "anonymous woman" the Yarn Harlot wrote about in the P.S. of her post dated February 17th. It was very funny to read it and recognize myself in it. I did indeed see her and recognize her (despite what some people thought), but I thought, after four days at Madrona and the fact we had to get up at the uncivilized time of 5:00 a.m. to get to the airport and catch the plane to Toronto, she wanted some peace and quiet. If she wanted to talk, she would, and if she preferred to be left alone, that was fine. Anyway, I am shy myself and I wouldn't dream of going up to her and speaking to her; the irony is that I would not have hesitated to talk to her if she had been a total unknown and I had seen her knitting; fear of rejection, I suppose...

My last class with Cat Bordhi on Sunday was, as usual, a blast. She is a woman full of talent and totally bursting with creativity, and she has no ego. The day flew by and I said good-bye to her, definitely hoping to see her this summer at the Sock Summit, which is taking place in Portland in August. I took photos, but they did not come out too well, this is the least bad of them:

 

I saw her talking and hugging a beautiful woman who looked vaguely familiar, in the hallway just before class started. I asked if that was Sivia Harding and she did confirm it was indeed her. And there I am, knitting one of her patterns. The photos I have seen of her don't do her justice; she is much better-looking in reality.

I have downloaded photos from my little Sony camera, so here are some from Ruth Sorensen's class:

 

And the little sample I knitted during her class:

   

These are from Vivian Hoxbro's Domino Knitting Class (Vivian is in the middle):

 

 

Here I am modelling one of her creations (we were all wearing one of her garments and group photos were taken, but the photographer forgot to take one with my camera):

 

And here is a photo taken of Betsy Hershberg during Thursday's class:

And two of the samples I knitted (out of focus):

 

Speaking of Betsy -- I usually assume only a handful of people read this blog, so imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail today from Betsy, who was given a copy of my previous blog post by one of her students. She wrote a very kind e-mail in response to the comments I made, and the least I can do is to post part of her e-mail here (I did tell her I would):

I am so sorry that you found your experience in my class less satisfying than you had hoped for. It is always my desire to provide a wealth of information along with a fun experience in my classes and clearly this class was less than that for you. It was clear early on that you are quite an accomplished knitter and I wasn't sure whether you were being quiet because you were so focused (and quickly successful) or if the pace was causing you frustration. Now I know! I appreciate your understanding that the diverse skill level of students in the class had something to do with this problem. As for your other issues:

 

1) I take full responsibility and apologize for the "type and paste" problems in the handout - won't bore you with the reasons for them as in the end they are my fault. 

 

2) As for not being on top of my game, that too must be true but you should know that I was trying to push through an oncoming bout of flu, a poor decision that landed me in the ER of the Tacoma General Hospital all day on Saturday on IV fluids and meds and a scary high fever. But having looked forward to my first trip to Madrona for so long, I just didn't want to disappoint anyone. Hopefully, this is not a decision I'll ever have to make again, especially so far from home!

 

3) Lastly, I usually do bring in samples of my work that illustrate the use of the techniques we learned and can only blame my feverish brain on the oversight. I wish you had asked for them for I most certainly would have gotten them between sessions.

 

Bottom line, I value my student's experience in my classes and I'm sorry that yours was a "less than you expected" one. I appreciate and value all feedback and hope always to use it to the benefit of future classes. And if the opportunity arises, I hope you will give me another chance to provide you with a "more than you expected" experience. It would be my pleasure to see you in class again.

 

I was very touched she actually bothered to write to me and I really appreciated her detailed and comprehensive response. I think this is makes a great teacher -- to be able to receive criticism and to respond constructively. Needless to say, I will take a class with her again in the future.

Stalking the knitting stars

Over the last few years, I have attended quite a lot of knitting classes in Canada and the U.S. When I used to be in university, I loved studying and I could have been an eternal student if the realities of having to earn a living had not interfered with my plans.

I have transferred this love of learning to knitting classes, hence my assiduous attendance to a whole range of class settings, be it huge venues like Stitches, tiny ones like Gone Stitchin' and medium ones, like the Knitter's Frolic classes. I have of course progressed and my taste became more refined and demanding over the years, but of all types of settings, Madrona is the one I like best. It's small enough that you don't feel too lost in a crowd, but it's large enough that it attracts the heavy-weights in the knitting kingdom. I'm talking Cat Bordhi, Lucy Neatby, Nancy Bush, Evelyn Clark, and the like. The hotel, on top of that, is really comfortable and quiet (at least, it has been for me so far).

This is my second year in Madrona. Of course, as a total unknown, I don't expect a lot of recognition from any of the instructors, even if sometimes, this is the third or fourth class I have taken with them. After all, they see hundreds of students every year, so why would they remember me? I don't like to go up to them, saying "I took a class from you 6 months ago", and get this blank stare from them, and their polite response of "Oh, that's nice". I did once, silly me, and I felt like a right fool when the instructor in question looked at me, with slight alarm in her eyes, and tried to get away as fast as possible from me. Yeah, I might be a stalker after all... you never know.

I like taking classes with instructors to see their teaching style, especially the ones people rave about, to see exactly what it is people are raving about. I took a class with Lucy Neatby for that purpose last year, and boy, I was not disappointed; she is vivacious, energetic, charming, a bundle of energy full of knowledge. Go to her classes if you have the opportunity, people, you will not waste your time and your money. Sometimes, I will even take a class although I already know the technique, such as Vivian Hoxbro's Domino Knitting class. I have read the book, heck I even knitted an entire sweater in mitered squares using her technique :

 

But I wanted to hear "de vive voix" the expert talking about it, and sure enough, I did learn some very valuable tips and finer points about the technique. She saw I already understood the method and she very generously gave me something else to experiment on, which I truly appreciated, even though I was perfectly prepared to follow the class she taught. She is an entertaining person and she had a ton of garments we all ended up trying on and modelling (sorry, photos are on my little Sony camera and I am very smart because I forgot to bring the cable connecting it to my laptop, so they will have to wait until next time).

Betsy Hershberg (Bead Knitting on the Edge) is another one I wanted to see. She was definitely not at the top of her form (and I guess the fact she called in sick today may indicate why), she had an unfortunate group of students that was way too mixed -- some of which could not read the handout in front of them. "How many stitches do I cast on?" "23 stitches". "And I am supposed to do garter stitch?" "No, it's in stockinette, read your handout". "But am I supposed to string the beads first?" "Yes, it's on your handout, read it". "And now, what do I do?" "Follow the instructions on your handout". And so on. I was ready, about 20 minutes into the class (and this was an all-day class) to jump over the table and personally strangle the small bunch of people who were reading-instructions-challenged. Her written instructions were fine, but there were a few copy-and-past mistakes towards the end that messed up the people who were ahead (yes, I was part of them, and yes, I know I am supposed to wait but I had no other knitting to do and help me cope, so I went ahead), and she had very, very few samples to show. Now, any good instructor brings a ton of stuff with them. Even Vivian Hoxbro and Ruth Sorensen, who had to travel from far-away lands to teach here had a LOT of samples with them, so the distance to be travelled and the constriction of luggage limits are obviously not a deterrent to them. While it was an okay class, and I did learn useful techniques, I found the day very slow.

Ruth Sorensen was another deal altogether. I probably came to the class with false expectations (the class is called "Designing with Self-Striping Yarns"), as I thought she would talk about tricks and tips regarding the process itself. In fact, we were to choose a motif to knit with Kauni yarn and knit a sample with it. It was more of a knitting get-together than a structured class. I found the little aside she did with some of us on using Microsoft Excel to do charts the most useful part of the day. She is a charming person and I really like her, but I did not really get much instruction. But then again, it may just have been false expectations on my part. Still, when you are paying around $120 U.S. for a class, you do expect to be taught something for the largest part of the day, not sit around and chat.

I have photos on all these classes that I will post upon my return -- tomorrow, I take a class with Cat Bordhi. She is a well-known quantity, as I spent 3 days with her in June at Camp Stitches, learning everything I ever wanted to know about Hybrid Sock Architecture. She is a lovely person and I have learnt a lot from her in every class I have taken.

Here are some photos of Cat Bordhi's talk in this word-heavy post:

 

She sollicited Tina (Blue Moon Fiber Arts) and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's help in a very silly sketch:

 

It was actually quite funny, in her interpretation of the origins of knitting:

 

Yes, Stephanie is indeed eating wool and finding not very tasty (which is why, according to Cat, it got used for knitting and clothing instead):

 

I did not go to the banquet, I wanted a quiet evening tonight. But look what was waiting for me in my hotel room when I got back from class today:

 

Isn't that lovely? Colin was supposed to join me in Madrona on Thursday evening, but because of our moody 16-year old daughter in full existential crisis and for reasons too long to mention, he had to cancel his plans at the last minute and stayed in Toronto. So he had these three cute (and delicious) chocolates delivered to my room today. I have been with him nearly 25 years and he still manages to surprise me (in a good way!)