Madrona Fiber Festival

or my romantic Valentine's weekend in Tacoma! One of the reasons I have never made it up to Madrona before is that it is always the same weekend as Valentines Day. This year I decided it would be different. So hubby and I got a hotel room for Saturday night to Sunday. I was told that I could go to the show as long as we did something else while we were up there. Well, last year when we went to Seattle we noticed the glass museum along the way and thought it would be interesting to visit. So as part of our Tacoma experience we visited The Glass Museum. I took photos of our endeavors. So first off:


Madrona Fiber Retreat. The show was a bit smaller than I was expecting, but there was still plenty to see. There were lots of booths from shops in Seattle that I hadn't seen before. There were lots of pretty handmade buttons that were drool worthy. Somehow I resisted because I told myself that I only need buttons for my baby sweater and super fancy hand washable buttons just wouldn't work. Maybe next year or for a very special sweater. I also told myself that I didn't need any more sock yarn or yarn for projects because I have plenty to work on already. That did leave room for yarn for baby projects, since I just found out that my cousin is going to have a baby, and sale yarn.


As you can see, I found a little something to come home with me. The buttons are for the baby sweater I just finished out of the Aztec Boucle. I'll talk about them a bit more next time when I talk about the sweater. Next up are the balls of Jojoland Rhythm. I got 6 balls in total in 2 different colorways. I was thinking baby sweater when I bought them. Of course I didn't realize that these are handwashable until after I got them so they may turn into something else. I still think they look so pretty I am sure I will have plenty of inspiration. Lastly the yarn on the end is O-Wool. It was on sale and so pretty. I just love the soft minty green color. It is organic merino wool and very soft. I'm not sure what it will be either, but it can probably felt so that adds a few possibilities. I'm sure after it marinates in the stash for a bit that I will come up with something.


Next we went to The Glass Museum. It was an incredible experience. Coincidentally the day that we were there was the last day that world renowned glass artist Lino Tagliapietra was there demonstrating his work. We got there right after the museum opened. We got a seat right away and watched as Lino and his many assistants fused together and molded glass in giant furnaces. Each one of his assistants are glass artists in their own right. Apparently this was only a small part of the entire process, which includes cooling the glass and reheating the glass over several days. It was incredible. Next we walked through the gallery part of the museum, which had lots of different amazing exhibits. After the museum we went to a gallery next door that was showing some of Lino's work as well as some of his assistants. It was so inspiring to see all the different colors and textures. I definitely recommend visiting The Glass Museum if you ever find yourself in Tacoma.

Tacoma 2009

If you would like to check out all of my photos from the adventure you can check out my Tacoma 2009 photo album above.