Last month, I was able to do another week-long weaving retreat up at Harrisville Designs in Harrisville, NH. It is one of my favorite activities I do for myself – I find it very relaxing, creatively stimulating, and special.

This year, I took their course in color with Megan Karlen. I had taken the course in color with now-retired Tom Jipson, and wanted to see how the course would be with a new teacher. Tom’s class was much more technical, and slower-paced, while Megan’s was much more about cultivating intuition and open. Both were great, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to attend both.

The retreat is also particularly special due to the preservation of the town. Weavers have the option of staying across the street from the studio at the Boarding House, and everyone has 24 hour access to the facilities. Waking up early and being able to walk over to the studio in the fog is an amazing way to wake up.

One day I would love to have a property where I could host this type of retreat. Being able to stay on site with the studio is so important for being able to destress and focus on freely weaving for the week. Having all the yarn included helps too 😉

We also got a tour of the recently moved spinning mill! The mill has been moved back into its original historic building, and is now mainly powered by hydro and solar power.

Throughout the week, I completed about four or five different samples. My two favorite were emulating a twill sampler Megan had woven and brought it, and the overshot sampler pictured above.

Overall, I had an amazing time. I came back refreshed and inspired, and I can’t wait to try other color experiments. I would love to do more large-scale, vibrantly colored overshot, as well as some more traditionally-sized, but still contemporary color variations. And some of these twill samples would make an amazing upholstery fabric…