Ohio.
Buckeyes. LaBron James. Presidential Primary. TNNA?
Well for the last two years I've been involved in the knit industry (if i can really say I'm involved) has lead me to the great city of Columbus to the ever inspiring Needle Arts Trade show. I was ever so happy to join Patricia owner of Patricia's Yarns in Hoboken to offer whatever two cents I could. We documented our day to day on Patricia's shop blog PY Knits - trying hard to seeing everything and everyone!
Patricia and I walked the show again this year with fantastic shop owner, Craig, from Loop. Booth after booth was filled with yarn, patterns from old and new vendors alike. My favorite booth by far was Blue Sky. They have a fantastic new line of yarn coming out called Spud & Chloe. ADORABLE.
It was also so fun to put faces to names and voices to pictures that I've only encountered through the internets. Kate from Fibre Company was one of the first people I was excited to see and learned that one of her more popular and unpublished works was finally going to be coming to a LYS near you! Wait for it, Wait for it... ;-)
I also enjoyed randomly crossing paths with Kate Gilbert who I totally felt was following me and not the other way around. (ha, as if!) Or perhaps I like to think I was just being pulled in by her fantastic knit designing gravitational pull. Either way, it was a delight to see her and to learn that while her patterns are phenomenal, so is the designer behind them!
I also met a fantastic new (to me) designer Coralie Meslin. Her patterns have been featured in Vogue Knitting (Ravelry Link), Takhi Stacey Charles magazines, and in the fall I'm sure we'll see her stuff in Interweave and beyond. It was fun for me to pick her brain and to hear how and when she got started. Persistence is key people! Just keep trying and submitting and designing. (now to only find some time ;-))
It's no wonder one can feel so inspired to knit and design - you're in a huge room with hundreds of talented people. Their creative wavelengths are bound to cross yours - not to mention knit sensory overload. Everywhere you looked there were either gorgeous hanks of yarn or beautiful knitted sweaters.
As if my knitting fingers weren't going fast enough they now have more incentive to get moving. What's great about this 'knit high' is that I can share it and hopefully get others as excited about knitting as I am. Thank you again to Patricia for generously having me with her... :-)
If you happen to be in town this weekend we are most definitely doing something for World Wide Knit In Public Day!
Hope to see some of you there!
Happy Knitting!
L,
M
TNNA was so great. It was my first one as a new shop owner. I didn't get to meet that many other attendees, mostly met designer, reps, and yarn company owners, which of course is fantastic all on its own. But, I also saw some new products that truly inspired!
Posted by: Courtney Heath | June 17, 2009 at 06:08 AM
Spud and Chloe - I just picked up a skein of that (orange!) at my LYS here in Columbus and plan to make a pair of ankle socks. 80/20 wool/silk - has a great feel to it, doesn't it?!
I'm glad you and Trish had a good weekend here in Columbus at TNNA. :-)
Posted by: Heather M. Brown | June 17, 2009 at 07:58 AM
Only you can make stalking funny! (heh heh)
Now I'm super curious about the new Blue Sky yarns, you've piqued my interest:)
Posted by: Heather | June 18, 2009 at 10:58 PM