By Marina Salume
On January 31st, a group of knitters (including three Guild members) went on a tour of Salem organized by The Traveling Ewe. We met the bus in Wilsonville and were driven to the Mission Mill Museum for a guided tour, which was fascinating.
This mill was owned by the same family from its founding in the mid-1800’s until the 1960’s, and then it was turned into a museum almost immediately, so all the original machinery is still in place. It was especially interesting to see how wool fabric was “fulled” (lightly felted) using water power. The museum complex includes a nice yarn shop, Teaselwick Wools, and we had time to shop there as well as the small bookbinder, gift shop, and art gallery in the same building.
After a quick lunch in Salem at Rafns, we visited the nearby Tangled Purls shop, where we all received a “welcome” gift and a ten percent discount on our purchases over $25. We stopped to pick up an afternoon coffee and slice of delicious cake at Gerry Frank’s Konditorei to take on the bus as we drove to the last yarn stop, a shop called Apples to Oranges in Silverton, where we were greeted with another welcome gift.
It was a fun itinerary and very well organized. I’m already planning which trip I’ll take next–possibly the overnight Seattle tour April 11 and 12. You can find out about upcoming trips on The Traveling Ewe website and their Ravelry group. They’re also taking a bus to Madrona on Friday, Feb. 13 (a one-day trip), so sign up quickly!