Solomon's Retreat with Margaret Fisher

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Once again, Marie has outdone herself with the wonderful retreat she put together featuring Margaret Fisher. As always, the venue was fabulous and so was the food. Marie definitely has perfected the art of providing everyone with perfect meals. I can't think of a single thing I'd change! (Except to get Marie out of the kitchen more so she can participate more in the classes.)

I love the water...the view is just fabulous - I feel very much at home here. It's a very calming and comforting place. Everywhere I look, the view is gorgeous! And the house where Marie hosted the classes - "The Maples" - was just gorgeous!












The sunrise wasn't a brilliant as it could have been...there weren't any clouds to reflect additional colors, but it was beautiful none the less.




The sunset Saturday evening was beautiful as well. The bridge makes a nice contrast to the darkening sky and seems to cradle the fading sunlight.



Margaret was a fabulous instructor - patient, knowledgeable, and very detailed. I learned so many new techniques and methods for finishing that I feel like my head is going to explode with all the new knowledge. I just can't say enough good things about her.

She had gorgeous samples that she showed for each technique shown and all the scarves and garments she wore were absolutely stunning. Our only disappointment was that she hasn't written out the patterns for her sweaters or scarves - we all would LOVE to purchase them...if they existed (hint! hint!).

There were a total of four classes held during the weekend (summary below). Of course, I signed up for all four! I have photos of my completed swatches for many of the techniques I learned, but the flash really washed them out. I'll update this post later - once I'm able to re-take the photos in the sunlight!

1. Seven Things that can "Make or Break" a Sweater - wow! This class was chock full of all kinds of info from increases and decreases to buttons/button bands and blocking. I highly recommend Margaret's book of the same name! Definitely a keeper and a great reference!
2. The Long and Short of Knitting Alterations - This fabulous class taught mehow to lengthen and shorten the various parts of a sweater and also covered repairs - something that I definitely needed to learn!
3. Zip, Button, and Tie: Creative Closures - I learned several new closures as well as interesting twists on closures I was already familiar with. I'd never done a zipper before, so I was very intrigued by that process. (Keep in mind, the "Samus" from Knitty is on my list of projects-in-waiting....and it's a zippered cardigan!)
4. Special Techniques for Beautifully Finished Sweaters - This class also covered a number of techniques - cast ons, bind offs, grafting, duplicate stitch and a special method for doing shoulder shaping.
   

I forgot to get a photo while the whole group was here, but I did manage to get one of Margaret with a few of the "stragglers". (It's so hard to leave...such a beautiful place...such a wonderful hostess...and such a fabulous teacher.)


I'll end this with more photos of the beautiful view. Whenever we took breaks from the classes, we'd gaze out at the water. The sailboats were out in force on Sunday. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend - in every way possible.