This is going to take a little time:

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Seriously… I was expecting to come home with less yarn than I brought to TNNA this year. The show was a different experience for me because instead of being there to take classes and network, I taught classes (which is why I brought a lot of yarn donated by my sponsors to give away), and I worked the Stitch Cooperative booth.

Since I was moving, I wasn’t planning on getting any samples. But two of the lovely companies I use in my designs foiled my plan. First, Pagewood Farm had some lovely new yarn and Robin, the owner was generously urged me to try it out. Then, I walked with Kristi Porter and Robyn Chachula over to the Blue Sky Alpacas booth to see if maybe they had a spare skein of the beautiful rust colored skinny cotton I had used to teach my hat class on Friday–I liked the way my sample hat was going, and thought I might finish it up. Linda, the head of the company said, “Do you have a bag? Like, a really big bag?” resistance was futile.

I have some lovely yarn form new companies and new yarn from established companies, that I’ll try and highlight with pictures as I put everything away. Keep an eye out for Yarn Daze–a new hand dye company with a new, fresh color sense.

It was wonderful to catch up with old friends. Having the booth meant there was a place to sit, drop our stuff, and have a central gathering point. The yarn stores seemed to really like the concept of the Stitch Cooperative, which we started to streamline pattern distribution for independent designers. One of the highlights of this years’ show was meeting new people. I was pleased to meet, in person, Kate Gilbert, who is lovely and has started a beautiful new fiber magazine Twist Collective. I also met Miriam Felton, a star of lace knitting and Cheryl Schaefer, owner of The Schaefer Yarn Company. Franklin Habit was as charming and fun in person as he is on his blog.

Crochet seemed to be one of the buzz-words of the show. The Denise Needle company is working on a set of crochet hook tips for their interchangeable needles, Namaste bags are designing a hip hook case with a retro clasp an lots of room for tools, and many, many more yarn companies are looking for crochet designs.

Help crochet hook is on fire!

Here’s Jess practicing her crochet.

Then, there were the babies:

Me with Lexie's baby, Calvin

This is Calvin, Lexie Barnes’ newest addition to her family. There were lots of happy babies on the show floor this year–quite a departure from the first time I attended TNNA and found Lexie sitting outside the show, on the floor, nursing (her then infant) because they wouldn’t let her bring the baby in. Critical mass of baby-wearing TNNA members meant that that old rule was no longer reasonable and thankfully, the organization shifted without much drama.

Since I just had my camera phone I don’t have many pictures, but you can see the rest of what I do have on flickr.

Unpacking