More About Madrona

This is most of the yarn I bought - Koigu premium merino

In addition to the great Bohus class, I went to a mentor session with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and also to a couple of evening events. Here's a quick recap:

• Charity Knit-In: Very moving presentations by Stephanie about Knitters Without Borders (which has raised over $300K for Doctors Without Borders) and by Diane Formoso from Caring for Kids. It was interesting to hear about these two organizations at the same time--the needs of the local community and the global community are totally different in some ways, but there are ways to contribute to both that are really pretty easy.
• Fiona Ellis gave a talk on the Knitters Muse, which featured slides showing different designs and what inspires her. She featured some of the designs from her new book, Inspired Cable Knits, which looks very good. Yoga mat bag featuring a tree pose cable? Awesome!
• Mentor session with Stephanie: I wasn't really sure what to expect, but this was great. There were about 12 people, there was a good assortment of questions about specific knitting techniques. We talked about set in sleeves, a basic sock formula, different kinds of needles, knitting math, and a bunch of stuff that I've temporarily forgotten but that I'm sure will emerge from my work-addled brain at exactly the right moment.

In addition to the scheduled events, I spent a little time (and do-rey-mi) at the marketplace. I didn't go too crazy, but I did pick up the 4 skeins of Koigu pictured above, in many shades of brown. I also bought one skein of Socks that Rock in Farmhouse from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The BMFA booth was incredible, but since I've signed up for the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club I held back a little.

Overall, I really enjoyed Madrona. I think that it would be more fun if I knew a lot of other knitters at the fest, but pretty much everyone was friendly--it's not that hard to strike up a conversation with a knitter! Which reminds me--I need to finish a cool, complicated something or another to wear to the next knitting event I attend. I've been knitting for 15 years, but it's been a long time since I finished anything impressive for myself. Time to get cracking on that Print O' The Wave shawl I put away before Sock Wars started!