Madrona: Just a Glimpse

I know I promised you a detailed account of my adventures at Stitches West, but before I share that, I want to fill you in on my very quick visit to the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. I have gone to Madrona every year since 2009. Some years I have taken classes and stayed overnight at the Hotel Murano, and other years, like the last two, I have just gone down for the day. This year, my friends, sisters Melissa and Kate, joined me, and we had a fun time exploring all the goodies in the market, lunching in the hotel and knitting together at a nearby Starbucks—because we couldn't find anyplace to sit together in the Murano!

I didn't manage to get a photo of the three of us together, but Kate did, and you can see her photo here on her blog. Melissa did take a photo of Kate and me in our matching ponchos:

This matchy-matchy event was planned well in advance. We both knit the Tea Cozy Summer Poncho, which was last year's LYS Tour pattern from the Tea Cozy yarn shop in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. We also picked the same colorway, as you can see, but we each dealt with not having quite enough yarn to finish the pattern as written a little differently, and we also wore them in a slightly different way. Melissa also purchased the yarn and is knitting the pattern, but she wore Kate's lovely design, the Silk Road Wrap, instead.

I did a tiny bit of shopping in the marketplace, because, after all, why go to Madrona if you don't get at least a tiny bit of yarn? I bought a luscious new Hazel Knits yarn, Ethereal, at the Fiber Gallery booth. It's a 70/20/10 merino, silk, cashmere blend, and I chose the Hydrangea colorway, one of my favorites.

I also got a rustic blend of merino and silk from Isis Yarn. I know this local vendor from seeing her at Knit Fit every year, and she always seems to have interesting blends and beautiful colors:

So that's all there is from Madrona this year, but keep an eye on the blog in the next few days for more yarn-y goodness from Stitches West!