TNNA Highlights!

Today's Tip

Are you ready to sew up your sweater but the yarn you’re knitting with is either too thick, or it’s thick-and-thin, or otherwise not great for sewing with?

Try tapestry yarn (ie. for needlepoint). It’s thin, it’s wool, inexpensive, and comes in a million colors.

TNNA Report
I just joined TNNA (The National NeedleArts Association) recently, so I was excited to attend my first TNNA in Long Beach earlier this month.
Here are some quick highlights:

• Seeing some interesting new yarns – including one made with real pearls! More on this later.
• Meeting book authors, including my idol, Norah Gaughan; getting books signed by the authors, such as Alana Dakos, Daniel Yuhas, and Edie Eckman.
• Seeing the Vogue Ultimate Hat Book (in which I have 2 designs) in the wild.
• Wandering into the Madeline Tosh booth, where they asked to take a picture of my 50 Shades Shawl (which is made with MadTosh yarn). To say I was thrilled would be an understatement :-)
• Acquiring some great products at wholesale prices: Kollage needles, TilliTomas yarn and pattern (from the FickleKnitter), Chic-A project bag, new Mountains Colors Twizzle yarn, Hiya Hiya needles.
• Watching the Fashion Show, truly inspiring.
• Won a raffle where the prize was the latest Rowan, issue 53, autographed by the fabulous Josh Bennett, one of the designers. Stunningly gorgeous stuff.
• Saw some size 100 (!) needles at Pagewood Farms. Yes they were the size of baseball bats!
• Introducing myself and chatting with countless yarn companies about possibilities of somehow working together. Great news is that nearly everyone said they would provide yarn support if I send them design ideas.
• Attending the Designers Dinner, arranged by Anne Kuo Lukito, on Sat night
• Saw a great gadget for removing pills from sweaters – the Lilly Brush. I saw it in action and it works really well.

I have to say, although it was great fun, it was exhausting. Between the sensory overload of all the great yarns, books, and gadgets, and the strain of acting extroverted when I'm naturally more of an introvert, it really drained all my energy out of me. I actually can't remember when I've been more tired.

In my next post I’ll go into more detail on specific new yarns I saw, items from the fashion show that caught my eye, and pics of some of my acquisitions.

Here's Twizzle:

As always, check out some of my patterns for sale on the right hand side ==>