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Allegan, Part 1

Well, I had such a good time at Allegan! Now that I have rested a bit I will take the time to tell you all about it.

Wednesday I got there in the afternoon and got settled in to the trailer, onsite, where Annie Modesitt and I were to be roomates for the duration of the Festival. I went down to Annie’s classroom but she was surrounded with students at rapt attention so I left well enough alone and waited to meet her until after class. We have corresponded off and on for a couple of years and it was exciting to be able to finally meet her and get to know her.

After her class, she came over to the trailer and we each made our own dinner. I tell you what… after five days in a tent last year, in 95 degree F weather, having a refrigerator, a microwave and a bed was quite a luxurious experience!!! I got good food all week (without worrying about ice melting in a cooler), which really helped my experience significantly.

After dinner we went outside and ran into Merike Saarniit, who I met a few years back and whose acid-dyeing class I attended last year at Allegan. We chatted a little bit and it was good to connect a little. Unfortunately, she apparently left the festival early and we never got to connect again. She spent the month of May in Estonia and I was hoping to see photographs. I’ll just have to take her earlier word that the trip was wonderful and leave it at that.

The next day I had my polymer clay class. I had 16 enrolled and 14 made it to class. We had such a wonderful time!!! It was really windy and I was in a sort of large gazebo with no walls, but we made the most of it, taking turns chasing down flying handouts at times. Can you see how great my students did? Here are photos of: my own workspace, Debbie with her creations, a couple of plates full of student works (check out those buttons in particular), and most of my students after class.

Unfortunately, I never did get a photo of Annie in her magnificent lace hats. You’ll want to check out her website and see those and more amazing pieces of work, including Schooner, her installation of three lace panels, placed outdoors in New Jersey. All very cool. She’s an incredibly prolific and creative woman, and I’m delighted to know her.

One of my students knew, going in to the class, that she was also taking my ColorJoy Stole class the next day (the Festival called the class “Knitting with Novelty Yarns” which sounded sort of boring to me, but 10 people signed up anyway). Another one of my students in the polymer class decided she would sign up for my stole class after spending the day with me. I considered that a very high vote of confidence, indeed. I set out to make sure she and the others would be pleased with the knitting class.

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