Coupeville is on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, WA, in the picturesque Puget Sound. While attending the workshop, I stayed at the Coupeville Inn. The inn is on the low end of accommodations for retired or vacationing weavers, but I enjoyed it. The atmosphere felt like a laid-back Pacific Northwest hotel, and they allowed dogs. The biggest thing was that their breakfast was not what I expected. They provide a cold breakfast bar, so think toast, fruit, yogurt, bagels, instant oats, etc. It surprised me because whenever a place says they have breakfast, I assume it is bacon and eggs. I mean, it is America (Ha!). Even though they didn't have the traditional American fare, I ate plenty every morning and found out I love canned peaches for breakfast. Having brought my dog, I did lots of walks around town. My favorite was to the end of the pier, where there's a museum and, in the back, picnic tables to sit and enjoy the view of Oak Harbor, across the inlet, and Camano Island, in the distance. We also found a quaint path along the water line. From the Town Park Pavilion along Front Street all the way over to Captain Coupe's Park, which has beach access. But if you walk over to Captain Coupe’s Park, beware of the smelly water treatment plant. Walking around the neighborhood is also fun, especially if you love seeing deer. Surprisingly, the deer are tame and stroll through the town all day. But all I could think of was how a few years ago, in Ohio, there was an over-population of deer, which led to several instances of deer getting spooked and running through patio windows, or my favorite, through a restaurant’s front window while people were inside eating. Hopefully, that doesn't happen in Coupeville. It seems like these deer are the town's pets. So, let's hope they stay so well behaved. There is also a yarn library right around the corner from Weaver's School if you want to exchange some yarn bits with the locals. Oh! And there is a Yarn truck that drives around and Madelyn had the woman come to the studio on Thursday for a school yard treat.
The school is at Madelyn van der Hoogt’s home and is a visual amusement park for textile enthusiast. One example is the embroidery work over the kitchen sink. It was fun to look at every time I went in there. Parts of the piece were either left unfinished or had different colored thread in a motif. It's as though the imperfections made it that much more engaging. At the Weaver's School when you first walk in you see the classroom area with tables, books, and a wall of woven samples you can pick up and interrogate. There were also a few tables dedicated to items for sale from the Eugene Textile Center in Eugene, since Suzie was helping with the class. As a craft book nerd, I admired all of Madelyn van der Hoogt's weaving books, and the old binders filled with vintage goodies like old newsletters & samples & a weaver’s treadling notes from the 50's era. Next to the classroom is the huge weaving studio, practically every weaver’s dream playground. Madelyn van der Hoogt’s method of teaching block weaves is to have several looms warped with different block structures. Then, the student can go to each loom and weave a sample and see how that structure weaves at the loom while being taught in the classroom that the placement of the block of structure creates the design. I think this method is ingenious. It takes a lot of looms and a lot of warps, but it allows the student to see what is happening and make their own sample book with references to "The complete book of Drafting for Handweavers" by Madelyn van der Hoogt. Madelyn van der Hoogt doesn’t need an introduction if you have been weaving for a decent amount of time. She has been in the published weaving community for a long while. She was editor of Weaver’s and then Handwoven magazine. She published several books and inserts about blocks and weaving techniques and has run the Weaver’s School for the last 33 years, and she has the 'Ask Madelyn' section online with Handwoven magazine. It was great to listen to her 'about me' speech at the beginning of class. It starts off in a bland Los Angeles home, goes to exciting Oaxaca, then to self-sufficient Missouri, and finally to cozy Washington. Being with her in person is a special treat. One, because of her empathetic, adaptable, and excellent sense of humor. And two, because of her ability to answer any weaving question instantly, which sometimes is too fast for my new-ish weaving brain, ha! Suzie Liles, the founder of Eugene Textiles Center, was also there to help manage 14 students working on about 30 different looms. She's been weaving for a long time and realized at some point that in order to keep weaving and pay bills, she needed to start a yarn store. Now, that yarn store has become the main yarn store for the west coast. They host international trips, invite artists to teach workshops, and they have their own Fiber in the Forest festival every spring. Suzie is a succinct woman of few words, but those few words matter. I was having an issue with weaving on the draw loom, and she said to try such and such, saw that I knew what she meant and left for a bit, which is exactly how I learn. Say something, let me play with it, then come back and see if it worked. She easily provided simple solutions to what I thought were complex issues. I went to Weaver's School to learn about draw looms since I fell in love with one at the 2022 Convergence in Knoxville. Madelyn was demonstrating the new Glamakra draw loom attachment. However, I never met her when I went over to the demonstration loom. Eventually, I contacted Madelyn through Weaver's School to find out how to go about learning draw looms. That's when I found out the Weaver's School has three types of draw looms. So, I instantly signed up for Weaving 2! Since I signed up for the class solely for the sake of playing on a draw loom, I had no idea that I would be learning block theory all week. Luckily, block theory and draw looms go hand in hand, making the classroom work the perfect refresher before I worked on the loom. Madelyn was very helpful in explaining the mechanics of the draw loom and its weaving possibilities. She even has me almost thinking about purchasing one. Oh, bother. The schedule during the workshop is to show up early morning, and weave until about 10 a.m. From 10 a.m. until noon, Madelyn van der Hoogt gives a lecture on profile drafts and unit weaves. Then it’s lunchtime, with most people bringing their lunch and using the small kitchen. Around 1 p.m. we all migrate towards the studio space for weaving until you want to leave. Some people left around 4:30 p.m., while others stayed until the last call at around 5:30 p.m. I stayed Thursday night because I wanted enough time on Friday to see what was in the old weaving folders. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Weaver’s School with Madelyn van der Hoogt. The setting was welcoming, with the Pacific Northwest waterfront and places for a dog to be free. The instructors were eloquent, and the other students were fun to work with. Now I’m home with three drawloom samples and an unnecessary need to find out how to get a draw loom.
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Author: Vader
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