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Meg Swansen's Knitting Camps and Retreats 2010

The application period for Camp 2010 has ended. If you applied between Feb 1-7, 2010 online or by calling us, you will receive an email from us within two weeks with information about your status--camper or waiter. General camp information is below. Please don't hesitate to call us with questions. 715-884-2799

Dear Knitters,

Knitting Camps and Retreats 2010 dates are below. Arrival will be Thursday after 3 p.m. for check in and an evening welcome supper. Class is all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Sunday night stayover is included in your fee, and knitters are welcome to gather Sunday evening and Monday morning; there will be a Farewell breakfast on Monday morning, however there will be no class.

Camp/Retreat Sessions:

Camps are based on EPS (Elizabeth Zimmermann's Percentage System) and require a basic knowledge of knitting (cast on, knit, purl, increase, decrease, cast-off) and plenty of questions. Retreats are gatherings of old friends, but we welcome new Campers to join us as we network and zig and zag through knitting minutiae and what has happened in the knitting world during the preceding year. Show and Tell, discussion and mini-workshops for specific techniques are highlights, as well as our yearly Knitting Contest.

CAMP Session 1: arrive Thurs, July 1- depart Monday July 5. Meg covers updated details of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Percentage System (EPS) for circular, seamless garment construction plus color-patterns, steeks, and assorted techniques and tricks. There will be small projects to knit during the session, plus optional Show-and-Tell. We recommend reading at least one of Elizabeth Zimmermann's five books prior to your arrival, or watch some of her DVDs.

RETREAT 2.75: arrive Thurs, July 8- depart Monday, July 12th. A mixture of intermediate and expert knitters. Plenty of Show and Tell, mini-workshops and group discussions; a contest (Contest 2010: Elizabeth Zimmermann 100th Birthday Celebration) will highlight this session.

CAMP Session 2: arrive Thurs, July 15 -depart Monday, July 19. For those knitters already familiar with EPS and Elizabeth's books, we will explore additional territory based on questions and offer handouts for small projects to knit during class.

RETREAT 3: arrive Thurs, July 22 - depart Monday, July 26th. A mixture of intermediate and expert knitters; Retreat 3 will include Show-and-Tell, mini-workshops by volunteering participants, group discussions and a contest (Contest 2010: Circa 1910) to highlight the session.

Housing:

We stay at the new Holiday Inn Conference Center in Marshfield, WI with all the amenitites you expect including fridge and microwave in the rooms, indoor pool/hot tub and more. We have a large conference room for our classes, a private dining room and a knitting supplies marketplace. There is a bar and restaurant attached to the hotel.

Meals:

A supper buffet will be served from 6:00-7:00 pm on the evening of your arrival, plus the hotel provides a complimentary continental breakfast in the knitting room each morning at 8:30. You will also receive a coupon for a free breakfast at the Kitchen Table restaurant (most excellent fare) the morning of your choice (Closed Sunday). Lunch will be catered each full class day, plus we will have a daily mid-morning snack break. Non-knitting companions may join us for the supper buffet, the continental breakfasts. S/he will receive a coupon to the Kitchen Table and *new this year, non-knitting companions may join us for lunch. Monday morning we will have a Farewell hot breakfast buffet.

Transportation:

By air: Madison, WI, Minneapolis, MN, Milwaukee, WI, or Chicago, IL airports all have feeder lines to Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA, phone:715-693-2147) in Mosinee/Wausau, WI (35 miles east of Marshfield). A van shuttle service from CWA to the hotel is available through the Holiday Inn (call in advance, 715-486-1500); the cost is $35 per person-one way. Or, you can rent a car at either CWA or a major airport (Madison, approx drive time: 2.5 hrs, Milwaukee, WI approx drive time: 4 hours, Mpls, MN, approx drive time: 3 hrs, Chicago, IL approx drive time: 5.5 hours, CWA approx drive time: 35 minutes) (More complete travel recommendations will be added to acceptance letters.)

Tuition (2010 prices):

Single ($810)
Double w/knitting camp roommate ($660)
Double with a non-knitting companion ($870) *includes single room, breakfast and lunch for companions.
Off-campus ($545 )

Your tuition includes lodging, some meals, and teacher's fees. Transportation is not included.

Questions? Call us at (715) 884-2799 or send us an email.

Knitting Camp Yahoo Group

After attending Camp 1 in 2006, the knitters from that session created a Yahoo Group - MS Knitting Camp - to continue the atmosphere of knitting comraderie for which EZ and Meg's knitting camps are known. The group is open to anyone who has attended any Knitting Camp session, any year.

You may subscribe through email or visit the Yahoo Group online.

Yahoo Group address

PBS and Schoolhouse Press

In July of 2005, a public television crew filmed Meg Swansen's 2.75 Knitting Camp. The PBS program aired as a segment on the December 22, 2005 "In Wisconsin program" and is now available for anyone to view as streaming video on the public television site.

http://www.wpt.org/npa/transcripts/index.cfm?did=19485

(Paste the link above into your browser, then scroll down past the description to Related Links and click Watch this Segment.)

Knitting Camp
Every summer since 1974, knitters have come to Wisconsin for knitting camp. The camp was first held at a University-Extension campground in Shell Lake. It is now held every weekend in July at a hotel in Marshfield. Meg Swansen of Pittsville, daughter of the late Elizabeth Zimmermann, who was the original teacher at Shell Lake, leads the camps. Producer Art Hackett explains how some of the camps have grown beyond educational efforts into an annual retreat and reunion for dedicated knitters.