It’s been just a couple weeks since my last Friday video but I had to take a moment to catch my breath after the incredible weekend that was our Escape with SweetGeorgia retreat at Brew Creek. I was just saying to the team today how I had a hard time articulating anything about the weekend and about how it was just this haze of magic. I honestly couldn’t do the retreat justice in my video and there were so many other things that I wish I had said…
This retreat was just a spark of an idea that we had many many years ago. For a long time, I had dreamed about having a retreat at Whistler but I just didn’t know how it would come together. A couple of years ago, I was invited to teach at a Knit Social retreat at Brew Creek near Whistler and I fell in love with this place. I love the spectacular drive along the Sea-to-Sky highway and I love turning off the highway onto the bark-laden pathway to Brew Creek. I love the stillness of the setting and the fact that you have to walk from building to building for all the activities. It feels like a cozy hygge version of a college campus where we’re learning the fibre arts. And so it was in the back of my mind that we could come back to Brew Creek for our SweetGeorgia retreat.
Weaving Studio, Brigid working the 8-shaft table loom
Amanda Milne faciliated the weaving studio
Katrina’s Spinning Studio all set up with fibre buffet for carding
Making rolags with the blending board, photo by Leah Churchley
Felicia’s Dyeing Studio, all set up and ready to go
Drying hand-dyed yarns outside
I’m just feeling so thankful for this opportunity to host our fibre friends and community at this incredibly special event. I talk about the powerful and positive takeaway from the entire weekend in my recap vlog here and if you’d like to see more photos of the event, you can find our shared photo album here.
The parts that didn’t make it into the video this week were the three days leading up to the retreat where Tabetha Hedrick, our design director, flew in early to film workshops for the School of SweetGeorgia prior to then also leading the knitting studio sessions at the retreat. Phew, it was a busy week!
Tabetha and Nina hit the Little Fox Bakehouse for HK Sago Double-Baked Croissants and Matcha Donuts
Dinner with Tabetha and the SweetGeorgia Team at Tap & Barrel Olympic Village
More important than the things we dye or make or film or produce or design… more important than any of our passions for craft or knitting… I found that the most important thing in this whole joyful, exhilarating, and exhausting scheme of things is our relationships with each other. And we get to build and grow those relationships when we sit down over a meal with some knitting and share our stories. It’s profoundly simple. I’m so glad we got to do this.
