The last month of my life is one gigantic blur, actually the last two months. My husband traveled out of town a lot, I had a car accident which resulted in my waiting a month to get a new car, and I had to do a heck of a lot of work on the latest Petite Purls to get the new design and issue up (with my partner in crime Allegra).

I had a wonderful time at TNNA, I don’t remember half of it but the parts where I didn’t spend it on my computer coding (hrmm maybe 40% I was not coding?) I really enjoyed.

Here we are with Amy Singer, whom I always like to make a point of saying hi to (sad not to see Jill this year with her!) as she’s an incredibly nice person to talk to.

Here is what everyone saw me do all weekend, kinda lame I know but honestly it was easier to code there then at home with the kids and husbeast.

Trying on my very favorite new Ysolda pattern, which I will most definitely be making (when the kids are 18) and the 34″ fit me perfectly. It’s always fun to chat about camera’s with Ysolda. I could nerd out on that for hours…. and she’s one of the few who humor me!

Allegra, with her eyes closed… best I got gf!! We are TOO lame for not getting better pics of us together and in our cute outfits.

Joanna Johnson knitting, she was smart and brought her knitting TO the knit in. I brought my computer.

Susan B. Anderson with her animals

Just realized I did not get a photo of us hanging out with Susan B. Anderson. Doh. That’s what I get for getting no sleep and not having my brain on. I also didn’t get a pic of Merri, who is the sweetest women on earth and seriously patient with me as a designer when I make stuff for Spud & Chloe.

Speaking of, it was so fun to see the big poster of my latest pattern and then they had a wee little adorable version of my sideways sweater.

I saw a lot of toys at TNNA in booths etc. It felt like our issue was very timely and appropriate. Summer is a wonderful time to make toys!

I got to chat briefly with the wonderful Raverly crew, but I really didn’t get to talk to half the people I wanted too, though many of them said hi to me while I coded and in turn I zombied back into my code in desperation to finish so that I COULD talk to someone.

At the booths I had a really wonderful Conversation with Denies from Denise of Denise Interchangeable Needles about the phenomenal work they have done in their raising money for Breastcancer, with the pink needle sets (over $150,000 thousand so far!). The DMC booth was HUGE and they had fun little bags with thread samples, and I had to stop by the Addi booth of course. I was pleased to find the Dale of Norway booth because I’ve always loved their yarn, and then way in the back (which was a shame really) I found the fleece artist booth. We got to speak with a very cool guy who is their silk supplier from  Sweden, and the silk in Fleece Artist yarn is the same silk in a Hermes scarf. I now need a Hermes scarf.

I new when he said he was a silk supplier for fashion that they must be supplying to someone big, and my guess was right. They are a 5th generation family business and we got to see photos of the mill, which was just really amazing. They also sent us home with a bunch of silk cocoons because they could not take the cocoons back out of the country for some reason. TNNA should really think about either mixing the knitting in with the needle work evenly, or keep it separate. It was not mixed enough to even be obvious that there would be another yarn booth back there in that corner.

I wish I had more time to see all the booths, I was trying to find out if Amy Butler had a booth this year but did not see it.

So I brought my good camera and didn’t take any pictures with that. I blame it on Petite Purls and all the coding I had to do. Next year, no coding (wishful thinking??).

I got to see my Editor at the Potter Craft booth, and chat with other Potter Craft authors which was a lot of fun. The book is taking on more speed and I’m working as hard and as fast as I can, very happy to have the latest issue out of the way so I can get back down to business!

I am so excited about TNNA. Apparently its very soon – which scares me because I have not finished coding the Summer Petite Purls and that must be done and launched before TNNA.

Last year was the first time Allegra and I met, it was just coming up on Petite Purls 1st anniversary. Here we are one year later, and Petite Purls is still going strong. We made many connections at the first TNNA which will be resulting in some amazing content in our Summer issue, all things come full circle. I also brought my book proposal with me to TNNA, and this year I’ll be meeting in person with my editor and working on the actual book. I personally felt the last year has been incredibly hard, but at the same time I look at all the success we’ve had and how far I have come personally.

Myself, Debbie Bliss and Allegra – TNNA 2010

I took very few pictures at the first one, and I had LG with me which was pretty exhausting, and I still had an amazing time. This year I’ll be baby free which is a bit of a special break for me, and will free me up to enjoy myself at all the evening events. I won’t know what to do with myself (oh wait, yes I will!). We already a bunch of meetups scheduled with various designers and companies which feels much more “official” then last year and is a nice stepping up point. I’ll have a new design out from a wonderful company (more about that once it’s released, hopefully this week!) which is always fun and I can’t wait to have drinks with my favorite designers.

It’s always fun to see how many Petite Purls designers we meet in person, this year I think we’ll have to do a fun head count and get photos. I’m definitely brining my camera!

Allegra and Stefanie Japel (and little LG asleep on Allegra). – TNNA 2010

I’ve been sick most of the week (it hit me wednesday) and I was so bad on friday that I had to spend all of Saturday in bed, today I feel a bit better but still sound horrible so I’ll have to force myself to rest so I can get better faster. My wonderful husband took care of the kids all day yesterday so I didn’t have to worry about them, and I never heard any crying or fussing (which is amazing in and of itself). Off I go to rest, so next week I can hit the code hard for Petite Purls!

I arrived into NYC around 5pm in the evening, the sun was setting as I took a taxi to the Hilton (The largest hotel in NYC btw, and the knitters took up 1/3rd of it, walking around though it seemed like 3/4ths). The trouble with going on these sort of trips is hoping you run into people you know and they don’t mind a bit of company, because while I never mind being alone, I did not come to NYC to be sit by myself the whole time! I was very lucky to run into the team that makes up Bijou Basin Ranch on thursday night. A wonderful husband and wife team, along with the always wonderful Marly from YarnThing fame who (hope I get this right) is creative director for their pattern line, and she has some really wonderful designs with them (including that cabled hooded jacket that I seriously wanted to steal).

Thankfully class started on friday at 8:30 instead of 8:00 (which was still way to early but meant I could wake at 8am and then just rush a bit). I headed off to Jared Flood’s class. I figured if I DID have to wake up early, that was the class to have to do it for. I was not disappointed. Jared is a calm and intelligent teacher. He knows his stuff, and he knows his yarn. He was easy to understand, and draws lots of helpful diagrams as he speaks. One gem form his class, when measuring a sweater, never “smooth” it out/down with your fingers. Instead pat it to smooth it out, otherwise you are stretching the knitting and stitches out and getting a false measurement. The class focus was the percentage system of designing sweaters. Everyone listened carefully for 3 straight hours, and it went by very quickly.

Jared Floor explaining good ways to measure.

Next up, Debbie Bliss in a class focused on designing for babies and how to pick our own motif to put onto a design. I adore Debbie, she’s incredibly sweet. She’s also one of those calming forces. Someone you just can’t possible be stressed out around. Her daughter Nell was also in class helping hand out yarn. Oh yeah! Debbie is the swag queen! I left her class with three glorious balls of Rialto merino, AND her new book! This was incredibly generous of her and I don’t know of any other teacher who did so much.

Debbie Bliss

As an aside, Vogue gave everyone a copy of the Vogue Knitting Encyclopedia. Petite Purls didn’t make the cut (it’s a book that talks about knitting terms but it also names a LOT of people and companies). Maybe in the next print we can win a spot, I like to think we are worthy! Oddly enough some no-longer-in-existence companies where named which I found odd.

That night there was a nice event with drinks and all the teachers in a ballroom, I used the opportunity to dress up because that’s a rare thing around here! I had two glasses of wine and was done! Not enough sleep but enough to keep going. I think there was a market preview this night before the drinks, and I did go and take pics and buy some sewing stuff (last post will be what I got, I don’t normally buy stuff at these sort of things but could not help myself).

Pixie dresses up, alert the media.

Saturday morning I was very able to attend Meg Swansen and Amy’s class. Watching these two women teach together and interact is so fun. Once again, wonderfully calm teachers with loads of amazing information you just want to eat right up. The class focus was knitting with two colors. Meg taught how to hold two colors in your left hand and amy taught how to hold one color in each hand (which I’ve tried and always failed but I LOVED it by the end of class).

Right after class I met with my editor from Potter Craft and had a lovely lunch with her and we worked on the book a bit. After that I had some free time and I kept arguing with myself about purchasing some photography equipment. It’s sold out online, and is new (D7000) and I knew that if anyplace in the world would have it, NYC would. So I called around (knowing B&H was sold out) and caught a few sketchy places, then I wound up finding CameraLand which was about 5 blocks away from the hotel. It was pretty cold out but with my big coat with it’s giant hood, and gloves, it was a lovely walk. The wait list on this particular camera is around 2 months most places. This shop had received 8 camera’s the night before, and only one (brand spankin new) was left. I would recommend getting a camera from B&H or Adorama because they have MUCH better return policies, but given that I would have had to wait so long and I needed the camera to shoot the Summer Petite Purls (and time to get used to it) I took the plunge. It was a highlight to my trip, I’ve been dreaming of a new camera for a very long time. My D80 is over 3 years old, and I only have one lens!

That night was the big “dinner” which was nice, but I definitely preferred the drinks event the night before. Sunday I had left wide open, with a flight out at 5pm. I wanted to leave myself some time to explore NYC, which will conclude in part 3…

I was so very excited to be able to attend Vogue Knitting Live this weekend in NYC. I had such a wonderful time. The teacher line-up was simply insane. It was phenomenal. I took classes from Jared Flood, Debbie Bliss and Meg Swansen. I feel like the luckiest knitter on earth (though I signed up THE DAY they put the site up, I knew the teachers would be sold out fast). This makes me feel a little bit better about missing Sock Summit (the baby was too little for me to leave her). Events like Vogue and Stitches have quiet a difference vibe then say, Maryland Sheep & Wool or Rhinebeck. It’s a different beast all together, with less focus on the “animals” and more focus on the fasion and market. Obvious with any knitting event, there is lots of fiber content talk, but it’s just different and hard to explain. As amazing as Stitches is, I’m more of a fan of a festival type event, so if I am going to more of a market like Vogue is, then I want LOADS of amazing teachers which is exactly what they provided.

(Spud & Chloe yarn at Purl in Soho)

During trips down the elevator I was standing next to or chatting with Vicki Howell, Nicky Epstein, Debbie Macomber and countless others. In an odd bit of serendipity on both plane rides up and back, I was sitting next to other authors, whom had been published by my same publisher (not the knitting segment though) and so we had lots of lovely conversation (and the older man in front of us scolded us for talking so much, thats a first on an airplane!). The second author I met wrote “Can I have a cell phone for Hanukkah: The Essential Scoop on Raising Modern Jewish Kids ”  by Sharon Duke Estroff and she has an adorable 8 year old red head who just might wind up being a model for my book! Sometimes things line up in such a lovely way. Her book has 5 stars on amazon and a kindle version is available. I immediately got myself a kindle copy, and I’ll review it once I’m done.

I had the pleasure of finally meeting SweetGeorgia in person (and her very sweet husband), and I had a blast getting to have ADULT conversation with ADULTS (gasp!). I’ve always wanted to meet her and she dyes the most amazing jewel toned yarn in her studio in Canada. I got to meet and hang out with too many others to mention, and it was just an amazing trip, how can you go wrong with New York City?

I ran into Purl and got the very last two skiens of shelter (hat for the husbeast, I felt it was proper to knit him a hat from yarn designed by a man, hah!) and I was supposed to buy zippers for a very important project, but I was SO distracted by how amazing everything was I forgot! I can not believe I did that! Grrrrrr.  I would have liked to have taken more street photographs but I noticed some people being annoyed that I was taking photos so I didn’t get as many as I would have liked. It was easier to sneak pics with my cell phone.

Insane amounts of felt.

To be continued in another post, I’ll talk about the classes and teachers…

TNNA was just as much fun as I imagined it to be, maybe even more! I had to take little LG with me, which is not exactly something I would advise (brining a baby to TNNA) however it is allowed, and I can tell you I am extremely happy I went, and at this juncture I simply could not have gone without her. Next year however, margarita’s on me, because I’ll be coming alone! Everyone was so kind about having the baby along, I am going to attempt to thank a few of the people who helped me with her, allthough I am sure I’ll miss a few.

First and foremost thank you to Allegra for wearing her and watching her many times. Thank you to Kate for wearing her while we went off the interview Debbie Bliss, I really didn’t want to miss that opportunity! Thank you to Theresa for entertaining the baby and Stefanie for the moral support, and thank you to everyone else who smiled at her or offered to hold her (despite the fact she wouldn’t let anyone!).

Just a few of the people I got to meet in person (finally!) Boone Marie Burns, Stefanie Japel, Marly Bird, Olga (Olgajazzy), Melynda (FrenchPressKnits) Debbie Bliss, Amy Singer, Ysolda, and about 500 other people!!!

Everyone was so amazing, and so nice. I am just all filled up with goodness from the knit/crochet community. Oh wait, how can I forget about Amy Butler, who was just about the sweetest person ever. She has a new line of yarns out that are amazing, and don’t forget about her wonderful fabric (how could you?). I keep thinking of more names, it’s insane crazy how many talented and wonderful people are at TNNA, it’s an amazing opportunity so many thanks to TNNA for putting together such a great show, and how fun was the @hellotnna twitter stream (from the ever wonderful Ravelry team).

The first night we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning print screening some project bags to give away on the show room floor. I have a print Gocco and I burnt a screen and brought it with me, along with ink and a cloth stamping kit.

Allegra and I met for the first time EVER, and that of course was amazing, in many ways it felt totally normal like we have been buddies forever. I guess all those late night phone calls and google-chats can do that to you! I am flat out exhausted, and sad I never had any ice cream, but there will always be next year. Now off I go, to code up the last bits of the Petite Purls summer edition.

A lot of fun was had at Stitches South. The nearly 48 hours I was there was just so full of fun, social activity and all things knitting and fiber related. I arrived Friday morning and went straight to the Cast on Cottage booth to see their display and my samples on display. It was already fairly crowded Friday morning, more than I expected.

The market was open Thursday night and all day Friday. Word was my pattern and the kits sold very well all weekend! Theresa can be seen in the photo above wearing the multi-colored scarf; she is the owner of the shop and has been so wonderful to work with over the past year. I was seriously impressed by the booth and how everything was set up. There were about a zillion colors of Mmmmmalabrigo. I of course couldn’t leave without some.

So after walking around and scoping out everything, I went to my class (at this point all I had purchased was a Namaste bag, seen below, everything else I got on Saturday morning). My class was all about how to alter the length of your knits. I enjoyed grafting the fabric together when it wasn’t on needles. Kitchener wasn’t as much fun, but it was hard in class with the teacher speaking to try and focus on it. The biggest thing I got out of the class was how to *think* about your alterations and how to make them in the easiest most efficient manner. For example taking out 1 inch of fabric at the elbow of a sleeve really wouldn’t be that difficult, vs ripping back to that point and re-knitting the entire sleeve just because you accidently put in too many increases or decreases etc.

Here is my swag from the first day; Namaste bag, Knit Witch Super Wash and some Tess’ yarn. After resting at the hotel for a bit I headed to the fashion show.

I was pretty darn exhausted by this point and I had packed too much stuff to walk around with, and was walking far more then I was used to. So I wound up not taking my camera to the fashion show (a shame too) but I was simply too tired. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of the semi-nekkid male model. He was wearing hand knit boxers and matching socks. The crowd went crazy. Every time he came out with something new the room got so loud, he would wink and play up the audience. He was very good looking too. After that came the banquette. I had run into Elizabeth from the AKG and wound up sitting with her at the fashion show and then dinner and had a good time catching up. Everything about Stitches is very different from the type of “fiber fairs” i am more used too. It’s more of an *event* and while still very laid back you get a vibe of it being overall more “up-scale” of an experience from something at a fair ground. The hotel was beautiful and my only complaint was for some reason the conference center didn’t have any seating outside the market area (there was seating in the eating area, and plenty of it). I hate when conferences don’t have seating. I’ve spent most of my time at IT conferences on the floor with my laptop in-between courses, but it’s too hard to get up while 26 weeks pregnant so I was glad I had the classes to sit down in (with complimentary water, shew!).

Over the course of the two days I was there I bumped into the CEO of stitches, Benjamin. I need to check his card when I get home and make sure I have his name correct. I was very impressed by how hands on he was for the event, and always helping someone and taking care of something. He was helping me out in the registration line and I didn’t know who he was until I looked at his card afterward, he was incredibly nice.

Oh lest I forget the AKG’s contribution to the banquette. They knit the most amazing knit flower centerpieces for each table. I had seen one in person back when I spoke at the AKG a few months ago, but it was nothing like seeing them all set up and in person, each flower was set upon a wired stem that was several feet tall, making for a very impressive entrance into the room. The stem was metal, the flower at the top was knit and the base was also knit, each was themed differently, daisy’s, tulips and other various plants. It was amazing looking, I am sure some photos will turn up on the internet.

I’ve always wondered why Stitches Events aren’t more prominent in blogs. Stitches West seems like a fairly big affair but really over the past few years you don’t see much in blogs, and that’s because of the no photography rule at the market. It really is too bad and I know there are good reasons for it but the amount of free advertising that could be had if blogging knitters could take photos would certainly help build the buzz around the event. I had a press pass and was able to take photos, I wish I had taken more but my lazy pregnant self just didn’t have it in me to lug the camera around the entire time. I did get this picture of the Bagsmith booth though;

Those are some big needles!!!

So I met up with my dear friend Claudia after all the vents and we had fun catching up in the hotel room. The next morning we set up to make a run of the market and my main goal was to get accessories and notions as those are things harder to find at stores. I got some adorable children’s sock blockers, a really neat little scissor tip protector, stitch markers, knitters highlighting tape, some free Addi’s from Skacel (one side is the lace tip, the other side is the normal tip, handed out to all Stitches Students as a special present!) and then a fantastic project bag, and matching zipper pouch to go with my Namaste bag.

Here is my lovely project bag, it matches the knitting bag and I like it because the pull ties are “closed” so there is no way they will eventually slide into the inside and fall out (this has happened to me a few times now). In that shot is my February Baby Sweater, the first knit for BG #2 knit in a buttery yellow crème color from Rowan Pure Life.

The last of my yarn swag, all from Tess’ Designer Yarns (love their colors):

My last event of the weekend was the Saturday night Scalini’s Italian Restaurant Ravelry Meetup! The KnitWitch I believe ran this event, and it’s her dad’s restaurant. It was a lovely event and we even went around the room shouting out our ravelry nicknames, there must have been 100 people in the room so that took a few minutes and they had loads of prizes to give out.

I gave a little squeal of delight when I sat down at my seat, each dinner plate had a Cast on Cottage flyer (with 10% coupon) and I was sitting there just reading over the list on the card when I realized my name was on it! I had no idea it was on there! I didn’t attend the market Sunday, two days was more than enough for me. It was a wonderful weekend, and I highly recommend Stitches events, it sounds as though they will be back next year, I am sure even bigger and better than before.

I wanted to write an entry about my experience speaking at the Atlanta Knitting Guild last week. It truly was a blast! I took the day off for work so that I wouldn’t have to stress about Atlanta traffic. I also got the oil changed in my car and ran a few other errands on my way. It was a great day (aside from the fact that BG threw up on me that morning, sorry tmi!) and considering that was how I started my day I was so pleased with how well things went.

Left half of the front seating. For some reason I forgot I had my camera in my bag and just used my iphone which isn’t the best for wide angle shots.

I arrived at 6:30 and set up my knit samples, pattern samples and business cards up on the table near where I would speak. I had also made a special little binder of 8×10 photos of my patterns, including various action shots that had not made it into the final pattern, a mini portfolio of-sorts. A lot of people arrived throughout the hour; I was surprised by how many people came. I know the AKG is big but I always try not to set any sort of expectations for these sorts of things, I stress less and wind up much happier. I was thrilled, loads of people with two big area’s of seating directly in front of me and then to the right. As far as I could tell it was mostly full. They had some shops set up in the back and Only Ewe and Cotton Too was selling my patterns at the event.

The section off to my right (shop tables behind).
As I have been one stressed out individual lately I didn’t plan on what I would talk about too much. I ran through a template in my head while I drove around all day, and when I got up to the podium to speak I asked for a show a hands for interest on 3 topics, Blogging, Podcasting and Designing. Most hands went up for designing (which I was pleased about because at this point that is what I was most prepared to speak about). I basically ran through a quick history about myself, a bit of background info and how I came up with my first design (motivation, inspiration etc) and I probably had that all finished in about 20 to 30 minutes (the time I had to speak for) and then I just opened it up for questions, and that is where the fun really began. I got loads of questions which I really enjoyed answering and I even got a few laughs out of everyone. I gauge success in speaking by Audience involvement. Questions count as involvement and interest in the topic, reactions such as laughing or even shouting something out etc.

Photo by AKG Jolie (Thanks!)
I had more detailed questions on blogging and podcasting, which I think are always fun to answer. Talking about how to increase comments (go comment on other blogs!) and what makes a blog more interesting to readers (photos help!). I was then asked what my inspiration was and my only answer could be, BG of course! Simple as that, she is my muse.
Afterwards I got to watch people walking around holding my patterns they had purchased, which always gives me a thrill (People buying my patterns? How cool! People knitting my patterns? Oh-my-gosh beyond cool!). During my talk people got to pass around my knit samples and photo book which I was very happy I had spent the time to make, the room was big so I had something to give each area so they could actually see my work while I spoke. I wasn’t sure how many had been exposed to my designs before.
Later I also got to speak with Joe from SWTC (the yarn company, corn and soy silk yarns etc) and he was getting us all excited about Stitches South and had brought a load of card samples for people to take home.
I must say the AKG is just wonderful, and Elizabeth who worked with me is terribly sweet and kind and most importantly laid back which always helps calm the nerves. I was thrilled to have the opportunity, thank you AKG!