McGown Teacher training 2017 - Day 1 and 2

Jennifer and I broke the trip down to Ripley, West Virginia, into 2 days, stopping in Marietta, Ohio the first night. On Sunday we arrived too early to get into our room so, as it was a beautiful "summer" day, we went for a walk on a trail in the woods behind Cedar Lakes.

We took the Bearclaw Trail which was around 3.5 miles

The trail was wide and dry, tree shaded.

The woods were still quite green, even though it was the beginning of October.

Some trees were just displaying a touch of colour.

It was a pretty hilly trail, a good workout, and during the last half we kept getting glimpses of Cedar Lakes below.

After lunch in town we were able to get into our room, do some hooking, catch up with people we have not seen for a year and eat at the dining hall.
The first day all the classes were hooking roses; double swatching, cross swatching and white. I took the white rose, taught by Janice Frank. It was a day of having to think about each strand, intense and tiring. Janice was an excellent teacher and had lots of resources and advice but I took no pictures, sorry.

What I got completed, in a whole day. Pathetic!

The second day was Native American art and I took Marble Canyon with Holly McLay as the teacher.

The Marble Canyon pattern

Holly hooked three examples for us

She also had some Navaho rugs as resources and lots of pictures and books.

What I got completed in a day of class and an evening of hooking.

In between the classes we have breakfast in our room (with a couple of cups of coffee), lunch at the dining hall, a walk around the campus, some yoga to stretch a back hunched over a frame all day, dinner in town (Italian and Mexican so far), a hilarious auction for funds that sponsor travel to other McGowan training, and lots of laughter, hooking and wine.