This weekend NwRSA’s annual conference was held at University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.

Unlike last year, this time I commuted each day. Since it was quite a drive I just attended a couple of full day classes and didn’t have a chance to stay for most of the evening events. On Friday I attended Variations on a Theme, Part II  with Myrna Stahman (the Faroese Shawl guru) and on Saturday I took Spinning for Socks with Carol Rhoades (Spin-Off Magazine’s Technical Editor).

I’m still getting my notes and samples in order and plan to post about each class.

One highlight of the weekend for me was Sarah Swett’s keynote address and slide show on Saturday night. She’s an exceptional tapestry weaver from Idaho who’s had several articles in past issues of Spin-Off and was one of the featured knitters in Knitting In America (that’s her in the upper right hand corner on the cover of the book). She also has a new book out called Kids Weaving that explains how to create an inexpensive loom from PCV pipes.

While wearing a her beautiful long vest, Sarah showed slides as she talked about her work, her life and how unexpected surprises influence her creativity. She describes herself as a story teller that uses tapestries to convey stories of her and her friend’s lives. Here’s one with her friend sitting in a “dryer” dreaming about living some place where a dryer isn’t needed. Recently, her attention has shifted to painting with egg tempera, doing a bit of needlepoint and learning to play the cello.