At the beginning of the month I spent a few days in the woods of New Hampshire for a creative retreat called Squam Art Workshops or SAW. I had heard great things about it and was so excited to spend a few days teaching embroidery at a beautiful, lakeside camp surrounded by makers....
This was my cabin that I shared with about 12 other ladies, who knitted (& embroidered) every night while a fire was burning. We also had our own little private dock....
SAW is all about connecting with people and yourself through making! Everyday, all the time I was surrounded by people knitting. They would also be wearing lovely hand-knit shawls, socks and sweaters. I was so impressed by their creative passion. Being vegan, I think a lot about the disconnect between the food we eat and where it comes from. Seeing so many people knitting also reminded me of the disconnect between the labor of our hands and the products we buy, like clothes. (It can take up to 16 hours to knit a sock!) It makes me so proud to be a maker! It's also a challenge– I want to learn how to sew some of my own clothes now!
I taught two sessions of my Pictures & Stitches class in an old cabin, called The Sugar House, that used to be a nature center and had such a blast! People are so creative & it was totally energizing to see the works in progress by these first time embroiderers...
Learn more about Squam in this interview of Elizabeth MacCrellish, the brainchild of SAW. A big thanks to Elizabeth for the opportunity to teach, to all the lovely ladies who took my class, and to everyone I met there...
(click the pictures for more on Flickr!)
This was my cabin that I shared with about 12 other ladies, who knitted (& embroidered) every night while a fire was burning. We also had our own little private dock....
SAW is all about connecting with people and yourself through making! Everyday, all the time I was surrounded by people knitting. They would also be wearing lovely hand-knit shawls, socks and sweaters. I was so impressed by their creative passion. Being vegan, I think a lot about the disconnect between the food we eat and where it comes from. Seeing so many people knitting also reminded me of the disconnect between the labor of our hands and the products we buy, like clothes. (It can take up to 16 hours to knit a sock!) It makes me so proud to be a maker! It's also a challenge– I want to learn how to sew some of my own clothes now!
I taught two sessions of my Pictures & Stitches class in an old cabin, called The Sugar House, that used to be a nature center and had such a blast! People are so creative & it was totally energizing to see the works in progress by these first time embroiderers...
Learn more about Squam in this interview of Elizabeth MacCrellish, the brainchild of SAW. A big thanks to Elizabeth for the opportunity to teach, to all the lovely ladies who took my class, and to everyone I met there...
(click the pictures for more on Flickr!)
Wow! Now I want to learn how to embroider ;-) Beautiful work.
ReplyDeletethat embroidery work they made is spectacular! i want to start stitching now.
ReplyDeleteWow, that looks so awesome!! I wanna go!
ReplyDeletetheir pieces look SO good!!! and wow, that is such a scenic place to have a retreat. i want to go next year :)
ReplyDelete@Megan you can totally embroider! if you do start show me what you're working on!
ReplyDelete@Liane - Thanks! I have to share my new Enhabiten goodies too!
@ Virginia - They have a Fall session that's more mixed media focused that I think you'd like...
@Laila - seriously these are your peoples! And they have a big craft fair at the end of it & I think people would love to take home your yarns...