A Little Bit Madrona, 2014 Edition

You may remember that last year I wrote a post with a similar title to this one about my adventures at Madrona and Stitches West. This year, I was able to attend both events again, but because I was at Stitches West for almost three full days this time, I am going to talk about each event in separate posts.

First up was Madrona. Unlike in previous years, this year I decided not to stay in the hotel, and when registration rolled around last November, none of the three- or six-hour classes appealed to me. So instead, I decided to go down to Tacoma for only one day, Thursday, February 13. I also signed up for two 90-minute mini-classes when they were opened for registration in January.

The first class was "Original Lace Design". I took the class solely to experience the legendary Evelyn Clark. She was wonderful, and I learned many new things about lace in the class, although I don't think I'll be doing a lace design anytime soon.

My second class was "Knitting with Your iPad", taught by Debbi Stone. Again, an excellent class. Even though I use knitCompanion, there are times when I don't want to go to all the trouble to set up a pattern in kC, and Debbi showed us some cool apps that will provide me with some other options to use with simpler patterns.

When I wasn't in class, I hung out in the beautiful Hotel Murano. The hotel is located a short walk from the Museum of Glass, so there are amazing glass art pieces located throughout the hotel. Here is the spectacular blown glass chandelier in the lobby:

I'm sure you are wondering if I spent any time in the Madrona marketplace. Of course I did! It seemed a bit smaller this year, with one favorite vendor, Blue Moon Fiber Arts, missing. (Sadly, Tina has given up vending at shows.) I made only one purchase, and I bet you can guess what it was:

Hazel Knits, of course! The colorway is Heartthrob, and it is a slightly more deep pink-red than the photo shows. Those reds can be so hard to photograph!

As we did last year, my friend Sarah and I met for dinner and went to our favorite Japanese restaurant. Then we went  to the third annual Teacher Talent Show, a Madrona highlight, which I still can't tell you about. Remember: what happens at Madrona stays at Madrona. We had a great time, and laughed a lot. When the talent show was over, I didn't have to do the hour-long drive home; I got to stay in Sarah's cozy upstairs guest room and drive home in the morning. Thanks, Sarah!

So that is Madrona in a nutshell. Up next is the much bigger Stitches West, which happened only a week later. That post will be coming up in a few days, so stay tuned.