Fibertraditions in Tacoma, part 1

(picture heavy post)
Yesterday afternoon, Sam, Barb and I left work early to try to catch the market at Madrona Fiber Arts retreat in Tacoma, WA, before it closed. Despite heavy traffic, we arrived in Tacoma in enough time to do significant damage to the Mastercard. But, readers, this post is not about the purchases. They haven't been photographed yet. This post is about the people.

I was surprised that the retreat was being held in such a large hotel, the Tacoma Sheraton boasts 26 stories, quite a change from the smaller, more quaint Gig Harbor that retreat alumnae are familiar with. I was wondering how we would be able to find our FT friends, when what should I see walking through the lobby, but Donegal, in all it's glory:

You may notice that Barb is making quite a bit of progress on her Port Orford in Lisa Souza's emerald city.
The Beast and Rogue were making their rounds:

Everyone else seemed to know Sandy already, but this was the first time I got to meet her in person:

Then we headed into the meeting room to wait for Yarn Harlot's talk. We're knitting and waiting...

Notice that by now we have joined up with Marti, modeling her lovely silk garden cardigan.
And Denise stops by to say hi:

There's lots of retreat talk ... thanks yous, you're great, no you're great, blahblahblah, and finally...
The Yarn Harlot.

I heard Steph speak some months ago at Third Place Books, and usually she takes a photo of the sock that she is currently knitting. This time, she photo'd her Olympic knitting.
Harlot's talk was very entertaining, she talked about the sport of knitting, and how the Olympic Knitting event was born. We all chuckled about how, at 2pm yesterday, at the start of the opening ceremonies, over 4000 knitters were casting on for the OK events. And we imagined all those non-knitters out there, noticing a very slight cosmic shift. Funny. (I am sure Steph will write about this more eloquently on her blog.

This knit report is interrupted because Mitten Man needs help with a Star Wars puzzle. To be continued...