While financial planner Beth Oliver spent a week here in a weaving workshop learning the difference between warp and weft, her husband, former Los Angeles Times photo director Larry Armstrong, spent sunny October days doing plein-air painting at scenic Ebey's Landing and Deception Pass.
For Oliver, it was an "education vacation." For her husband, it was the ideal place to practise a favourite hobby. The California couple found a just-right holiday for partners with divergent interests.
"All day long we do exactly what we want, with no conflicts whatever," Oliver said. "And in the evenings, we have a little drink, a little dinner. We've really been making a dent in the mussel population."
For that, mouthwatering thanks go to Penn Cove's shellfish farm and local eateries that feature the island specialty.
Oliver was one of 10 students from around the Northwest and across the U.S. to take part in a recent beginner workshop at the Weavers' School on Whidbey Island, led by Madelyn van der Hoogt, a Coupeville resident who for the past 25 years edited two national magazines dedicated to weaving.
Van der Hoogt started her weaving school in Missouri in the 1980s and moved it in 1993 to Coupeville, where classes occupy the basement level of her home on a quiet back street. About 30 looms crowd the work space.
In one of Washington's oldest towns, with a pleasant abundance of well-preserved Victorian homes that are part of a national historical reserve, the click-clack of old-fashioned wooden looms fits right in.
"There are bed-and-breakfasts here within walking distance, it's an easy place to come, and if your family comes along, there's lots for them to do," van der Hoogt says. "Students come from all over the world."
Her school is one of the few places, she says, that you can come and weave on a loom that's all prepared for you, so you can move from loom to loom to learn different types of weave. In a recent class, Janell Neulinger, an Intel worker from Portland, Oregon, who has a doctorate in chemistry, worked on a colour gamp, a bright rainbow of hues in a systematic sequence of sections of equal size. Nearby, Patricia Hatfield, a retired health-care manager from Texas, laboured over a pattern called Summer and Winter.
"It's very tactile, whereas before everything in my life was numbers and spreadsheets," Hatfield said, happily stomping with stockinged feet on numbered treadles that helped guide the yarn. "Clack! Clack! Clack!" went the beater bars, used to tightly pack woven threads. It wasn't a quiet room.
Barbara Kerschner, from Centralia, Washington, worked on a Swedish Snowflake pattern in magenta yarn.
"I've been to Coupeville before, but never for a workshop," she said. "This has been a really fun experience."
In a series of lectures, van der
Hoogt regaled the group with how-to tips and suggestions on what yarns are suited to what uses. "Superfine merino is the most shrinking, fulling wool," she told them during my visit.
For a newcomer to the craft, listening in is akin to eavesdropping on a coffee-shop conversation in a foreign language.
IF YOU GO:
? Where: The Weavers' School in Coupeville, Whidbey Island, offers workshops from April through October. Weeklong classes are $495, including materials (weaversschool.com or 360-678-6225).
? Whidbey Weavers Guild hosts monthly programs in Coupeville. Membership is open to out-of-area residents; $25 annually. whidbeyweaversguild.org.
? Lodging: Coupeville has several good inns and B&Bs. I stayed at Blue Goose Inn, a B&B housed in an elegant pink Italianate home built in 1887 and a neighbouring blue house dating to 1891. Nightly rates (with breakfast) range from $109 to $159, (bluegooseinn.com or 877-678-4284).
? More Information: Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce, centralwhidbey chamber.com or 360-678-5434.
