TNNA

Amanda & I had a great time at TNNA!

I took a class on Chris Bylsma's Crayon Jacket, where I learned about mixing some of my favorite classic stand by yarns like Lamb's Pride Worsted with "dessert yarns" like handpaints and dare I say even novelties to achieve a pleasing overall design.

While I was in that class Amanda took a class on teaching the Undulating Waves scarf in a fingering cotton from Schaefer yarns called Susan. I kept hearing things like "so soft" and "so wonderful" from Amanda. And about a COTTON. Can you believe it?!

That night we got to enjoy seeing 99 new designs in a runway style fashion show. It will all be posted on YouTube eventually but it's not up yet... Then we were off to an ice cream social hosted by Ravelry.
We never did get any ice cream because there were hoards of people and, well at least speaking for myself, I am old and like to actually sleep at night. So after a wonderfully refreshing drink suggested by Amanda (I think it was an Amaretto Sour) and after scoring free t-shirts, we found our hotel and called it a night.

Next day we were up bright and early for our classes. Amanda went to Colorful Cables with Melissa Leapman and I took a really fun class on hand dyeing with Rachael Blackledge. It was FUN, FUN, FUN! We dyed a skein of sock yarn


then we painted a sock blank

The sock blank is a double strand, so once I unravel it, I'll have 2 matching balls of yarn. How neat is that?! Can I say again, it was really, really fun?!

Then we spent Saturday walking the floor of the show looking at everything all the companies had to show us, thinking about what you might like to see at River Knits! We ordered all kinds of things and found out about other things to keep in mind for the future.

We ordered every color of a lovely new laceweight Legacy Lace from Brown Sheep company as well as a very elegant beaded shawl pattern that was featured in the fashion show.

We processed everything we had seen Saturday over dinner that night with my friend Nanci from KnitOn! It was fun to hear about what yarns she had seen that day, hear about her trip to Kazakhstan and of course to polish off not only some Bahama Mamas but most especially a Schmidt's Cream Puff!

I was really excited about a new yarn from Classic Elite called Woodland. It isn't even on their website yet. But it is a is a very interesting animal/plant mix with 65% wool and 35% nettle fiber. Amanda said, "Don't nettles sting you?" Well, they can if you walk in the middle of them in your shorts. But nettles is also a wonderful plant that can be used for fiber as well as for salads, tea and infusions and even for making a rinse for making your hair shine. When I saw the yarn, I had to have some! There is a nice supporting pattern booklet as well, with a tunic type vest that I also fell in love with. I think someone decided to make this yarn just for me!

We also decided to grab 2 new yarns from Berroco; Blackstone Tweed CHUNKY, which as you would guess is a heavier version of the worsted that many of you have already come to love, and a new yarn called Remix. I am rarely drawn to non-animal fiber yarns but know that many of you want them. Maybe you have allergies or sensitivities, maybe you are knitting for someone who thinks that wool is itchy (even if we beg to differ...). But when we felt this one we thought, "Hey! THIS is a great mix that might really be great to knit with EVEN for people who don't want wool! Heck, even people who LIKE wool might like this sometimes. I would even like it!" The pattern booklet for Blackstone Tweed Chunky, Remix AND Norah Gaughn 7 (ooooh, you're gonna love it) are all going to be headed to a yarn shop near you.

What else? Well we were on a roll with chunky yarns because we snagged some Malabrigo Chunky too. I'll be sure to send out an email whenever I see that box. I know you'll all be really excited. Malabrigo never fails to excite. And there will be several bags of lace in that shipment as well.

Oh and if that's not enough we also decided that you probably would love Namaste's new Monroe bag so expect to see those sometime too! And we couldn't resist the cute little magnetic buddy case. I think you'll see why when they come in.

Plus we ordered new patterns from various designers and picked up lots of literature from many other companies that I will probably want to add some items from as we move towards Fall. As much as I might have wanted to I can't order it all at once! But that will give us more to look forward to.