Saturday, June 29, 2013

TNNA and Friends

I still can't believe that just a week ago I was at TNNA having an exhaustingly great time! Time seems to fly when I'm with my knitting friends.  TNNA was great to be able to see friends that I don't get to see very often and meet friends that I've only talked to online.

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First, I was so lucky to be paired up with Hilary Smith Callis, aka The Yarniad (you know, of Citron fame!). We both have the same wholesale distributor, Deep South Fibers, which is why we were able to share a booth (one-stop shopping!). Both of us are bay area girls and had met a few times at Nine Rubies Designer events, so it was nice to hang out together over the weekend. I just love her one of her new designs, Glacierre!

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And look, Hilary was one of the featured designers in Knit Scene magazine!

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Knitterella is also distributed by Deep South Fibers and her booth was just perfect! I so love Jill's sense of style, which I think makes working with her so easy!  Here she is modeling next to the big poster of my San Mateo pattern!

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The nice part about having a booth at TNNA is that lots of people stop by to say hi! Thank you to everyone who came by to say hi!!

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The Yarnover Truck girls stopped by!! I was so excited to see that they won the TNNA Business Innovation Award! Well-deserved! I'm hoping IGK patterns will be coming soon to the truck :)

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Lara, of Lara Smoot Designs, and I have been blogging friends for quite some time so it was so nice to finally meet her and her lovely husband Andy! I can't wait to show you the pretty Shalimar Yarns that Lara gave me...gorgeous!!!!

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The lovely Allyson from The Sweat Shop of Love came by to say hi too! I'm so glad she did because she is super sweet and oh so nice and a college football fan! And she went to Michigan too?! haha.... We promised to be great friends 360 days out of the year....except when Michigan and Notre Dame football intersect! Go Irish!!

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It was so great to give Sheri of The Loopy Ewe a big, big hug! She has been so supportive of my designs- I still think Summer Wind was so successful so quickly because she blogged about it over and over!!

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Melynda of French Press Knits, another Deep South Designer, stopped by to say hi too! 

Across from my booth was the fabulous Wooly Wormhead! Here's group shot of us with Donna, the fabulous lady behind Deep South Fibers!

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I was able to get out of my booth a bit too! I was so excited to see everyone loving Knitted Wit's gorgeous colors!!  Fickleknitter took this picture of us but I forgot to take a picture with her! You guys, my very first TNNA a few years ago, Michele was sooooo supportive of me as a newbie designer and I am so grateful for her advice throughout the years. If you aren't familiar with her designs (I'm sure you are) or if you haven't looked at them lately, check. them. out. To. die. for!

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Since I drove down to Columbus from Detroit with Erica and her mom and baby knitspot, I was thrilled to see the Knitspot booth was also right across from the IGK booth! You guys know I'm a huge fan of Anne Hanson and her designs- I loved seeing her booth and all of the lovely knits!

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You may notice that her pattern posters look similar to mine. Well, Monday before TNNA (that is you know, just 4 days before set up, and 2 days before I was leaving) I was talking to Erica about how I loved Anne's poster at their Squam pop-up shop and how I wished I had something like that for TNNA. She then tells me about Drew from Lovan Enterprises, a printer who did that for Anne and that he was super fast. Which led to me having a few very last minute posters made up and delivered by my favorite honeybadger, Anne! That Erica, she comes through for me all the time! And Anne too! Thanks ladies! I had such a great time hanging out with you guys. Oh, and in case you guys wanted to know, Erica and Anne were also my fashion consultants throughout the weekend...thank goodness for them!

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I was also able to see a sneak peek of one of the yarns for Anne's Fall in Full Color club! Wow, it is gorgeous!! I'm going to be doing a blog interview with the knitspot crew this next week, so if there are any questions you have for them about the Fall in Full Color club (or I guess any other knitspot questions) please leave me a comment. I'll also pick one lucky commenter who has a question to win a knitspot pattern of their choice (up to $8.00 value...my treat!).  Check out her newly released Scottish Reel (so pretty!). Remember to leave an email or ravelry id so I can contact you if you win.

You know, when I look at all these pictures, I realize why it has taken me a few days to recover from TNNA....a whirlwind of fun!!

Quick reminder, Wish I Might and Falling Leaves, my two new shawl designs, are on sale for $4.75 through July 8!  And thank you for all the love for Wish I Might...it has been hanging out in the Ravelry Top 20 Hot Right Now patterns since yesterday!! Yay!!!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!! It is hot hot hot hot here, so I'm sitting by the fan knitting today!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

17 comments:

Renee Anne said...

I keep hoping that I'll be able to go to TNNA as a designer. I'm not going to hold my breath though...

It looks like you had a ton of fun :)

Anonymous said...

Looks like a great event! I would ask Anne what her favorite thing to knit is and from where does she get inspiration for her designs.
Ravelry ID: lesleybadger

robin54 said...

Ann is so prolific! How many WIPs does she have going at any time?

Love Falling Leaves by the way ...)

Meredith said...

I've loved Anne's designs for a long time. I'm curious about how she can be so adept at creating both shawl/stole patterns and sweater/sock patterns. It seems difficult to be able to design both!

Unknown said...

What is Anne's favorite pattern that she designed?

Jocelyn said...

Wow! What a whirlwind of an event! I really hope that one day you and me will have a photo in your booth either at TNNA or another fiber festival. Great to put faces to names that I only read about online. And Jill is too funny posing the same way next to her huge poster.

You know I'm a bad girl. I have not made anything from Knitspot. I think I own a couple of her shawl/wrap patterns which are gorgeous but ohsoscary. I'd like to post a question for Ann: where does she get all the intricate lace design inspiration from? I don't think she has any two wraps that even closely resemble each other!

Hope you have recovered from TNNA.

Judy said...

I would ask her to talk about her design background, which looks pretty extensive. In particular, the "costuming" aspect, what were the costumes for...Broadway shows? At what point in her career did she and her husband decide to work together? Is there any other art form that she feels supports or mirrors her design process? Ravelry I'D: Rhowenknits

Unknown said...

Great post and pics, Carrie. So much fun!

Looks like "Wish I Might" is number 6 on the HOT LIST today. Congrats!

I miss you!! :(

ypsiknitti said...

Thanks for sharing the experience of TNNA. Your new shawls look beautiful. As much as I like shawlettes, a full size shawl is a great thing to have.
I would ask Ann when she is going to post the pattern for baby knitspot's christening sweater (that matched his hat and blanket)?

Bonny said...

My question would be how Ann and David live, work, renovate, garden, etc. so well together. They make it look easy and effortless, but I'm sure that isn't always the case. Maybe they have some words of wisdom for us as to how they are so calm, organized, efficient, productive, and happy!

Bonny said...

Another question: what shawl is Erica's mom wearing? Gorgeous pattern!

Knitter Kitter said...

I would ask Anne if she sees herself as a process knitter or a product knitter?

Linda Shields said...

The pictures and stories about TNNA were fabulous - - again. Thanks for sharing.

I would like Ann to explain what types of designs make for 'stretchy' sock legs and cuffs. I often can't get exact sizes and measurements for the recipients for the socks I knit and would really like to know how Anne works 'stretch' into her sock designs.

Love the new designs Carrie. Salam wa sa'aadah lindashields

SpinningLara said...

It was so wonderful to meet you Carrie! Your designs are even more beautiful in person.

Jodi said...

Looks like great fun! So much talent in the same place at the same time. : )

Debbie said...

What a great post-I felt like I was on the floor with you at TNNA!

I would ask Ann if she plans out her "design year" or just follows her muse, when and where it takes her?

Debbie said...

Oopsie! Forgot to add my Rav id to the last comment -- Debbie4

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