I love TNNA!
TNNA San Diego was fantastic! Knitgrrl tech editor, the fabulous Kristi Porter, hosted Crochet Me Kim Werker and myself at her house, which was beyond great. (Hotel rooms don’t come with adorable children and cats, alas, but hers do. One night, she even put chocolates on the pillow).
I got to see the proofs for Kim’s upcoming tween crochet book, Get Hooked. Amazing. I can’t wait to go on tour with her this fall! Keep your eyes on the Knitgrrl event page for related dates).
What I also love about TNNA is the ability to check out lots of new knitting books and meet their authors at signings. (My shoulder was actually bruised by lugging home all the new books yesterday on the plane! Though they certainly came in handy, since we had a three-hour delay in Phoenix when our plane’s computer went boom). Expect reviews of Big Girl Knits: 25 Big, Bold Projects Shaped for Real Women with Real Curves, Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters’ Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures, Mother of Purl: Friends, Fun, and Fabulous Designs at Hollywood’s Knitting Circle, Morehouse Farm Merino Knits: More than 40 Farm-Fresh Designs, A Treasury of Magical Knitting and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting (Cat rocks!), Inspired Cable Knits: 20 Creative Designs for Making Sweaters and Accessories, The Yarn Girls’ Guide to Beyond the Basics…and many more.
So, speaking of Mason-Dixon Knitting, you may ask yourself, how awesome are Kay and Ann? And to that, I will answer: SO awesome! (You can read Ann’s TNNA roundup here. At one point, she spilled an adult beverage on Kim’s copy of their book during the signing, which just made it all the more amusing and treasure-able). I would rope steers, go to the opera or knit stuff with them any day. And their book! their book! I am a total graphic design geek. Can’t help it. I can usually find something snarky to complain about in any layout. The kerning, it is weak! The fonts are dull! That color is so 1997! But about Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Book, I have nothing snarky to say. Go, Kay and Ann!
Ok, more about the show. It was held in the San Diego Convention Center, right next to an extreme skateboarding-y trade show. Ann is right — it was very easy to tell the difference between the two types of conventioneers. I wish I’d brought my Thrasher magazine “Oh God, Why Can’t My Boyfriend Skate?” shirt…I could’ve blended in!
I witnessed the astonishing Prudence Mapstone Phoenix wrap in South West Trading Company’s booth (see right). I don’t care how minimalist you are, I don’t care how much you hate yarn X, Y, or Z…there is no way on earth you can see this wrap in person and not fall in love. Prudence: come to Ohio! You can stay here, and I’ll feed you bonbons and coffee on demand! I want to learn how to do what you do! South West Trading Company’s designs keep getting better and better…I couldn’t help but pet many of them (not to mention Tofu, the soysilk bear). Some of the new yarns are exceedingly soft, and my brain’s going a million miles a minute figuring out what to do with them.
I visited all my fantastic yarn sponsors, among them Cascade, Brown Sheep and Crystal Palace. I love Crystal Palace — Susan is the best resource you can imagine for almost every imaginable fiber art (she’s a formidable quilter, too) — and everyone involved in the business is just plain enthusiastic, which I love.
Best show idea: the booth which featured an inflatable couch. Sometimes folding chairs are just not enough! I need one of these the next time I do the Renegade Craft Fair or Bazaar Bizarre!
Best post-show party: Curious Creek‘s Kristine Brooks had one at her house. Imagine a kitchen filled with astounding homemade food (avgolemeno soup, caesar salad, brownies, cookies, and bread right out of the oven). Imagine a dining room-slash-dye studio. Imagine a gang of tired fiber geeks re-excited about all of the above after a very long day. We practically threw Kristine to an acquisitions editor on Sunday, because she needs to do a book! Her “serendipitous dying” method is just gorgeous.
We met Linda Roghaar in the Potter Craft booth and ended up discussing the breathtaking Robbins Library in Arlington, Massachusetts, where she grew up. Next time you’re in the Boston area on a cloudy day, go knit there — it’s one of the most impressive libraries I know.
As you might suspect, there was lots of new yarn. Too many to name, really. I spent a considerable amount of time petting three particular colorways of Alchemy’s Bamboo, though.
All in all, a fantastic weekend…and one which launched a new project which I will reveal at a later date!
More to come…
(p.s. I am in love with this Lexie Barnes bag! it wants to be my new knitting bag, it does!)