This post is beyond overdue, what with Madrona having been from February 16 – 19, making this post almost exactly a month late. Brava to me. Well, what can I saw about Madrona that hasn’t already been said?
Probably not much, but I’m going to make the attempt nevertheless. First, I’d love to mention how much I enjoyed visiting Tacoma. For years, I’ve heard so many disparaging comments about Tacoma, and while I’m sure the city has it’s unsavory sections, most of what we saw was lovely, funky, and interesting.
Opus, her Mum, and I took the train up – an experience I cannot deny is infinitely preferrable to driving. We were seated at a table and knit all the way there and all the way back (the trip is about 2.5 hrs from Portland), stopping to surf the web (free wifi!) and snack. Tons of fun, and quite productive. We then walked from the Amtrak station to the free streetcar line and were amused by the fact that the Tacoma streetcars are exactly the same as Portland streetcars. Funny. After a 5 minute ride, we hopped off and walked to the Hotel Murano.
Of course, the weather was frightful, so we were quite damp after five minutes outside. But, it was worth it. The Madrona Fiber Arts Festival is held at the Hotel Murano, clearly named for Murano island in Venice (home of the glassmakers), and was just filled to bursting with glass art. I couldn’t help myself and snapped pictures. We finally made our way to the marketplace and were super excited to see so many of our favorite indie dyers – and some friends!
I had to visit Maia of Tactile, whose booth was a lovely naturally-dyed oasis, and Susan of Abstract Fiber, who also had a gorgeous booth. I was very, very good and only bought a very little yarn. From Habu Textiles. Now before you mock me (yes, many stores in Portland carry Habu), these were colors that aren’t carried locally. I also bought some gorgeous roving from Woolgatherings. Yum. I don’t have a good photo of my goodies, though.
We had to leave a bit early (around 5pm) to catch the train back, but it was a fantastic day trip and so much fun. We’re already talking about taking the train up in a month or so to visit the Tacoma Museum of Glass and the Tacoma Art Museum. It would also just be great to tour the city and look at all the beautiful glass art on display. Sounds like a fun daytrip or two, right?
So, it was tons of fun and I would love to be able to take classes next year – or maybe teach – and will have to plan ahead. Hopefully this post wasn’t too boring :) For more photos from the trip, see the “Tacoma” tag on my flickr account. In the next post (which won’t be a month late), we have the awesome success of the 2012 Rose City Yarn Crawl to go over. Cheers!