TNNA Fun

I can't quite believe it is the last day of January! 2014 is moving right on by. It seems like just last week I was in San Diego for TNNA, but really, it was three weeks ago?! Time to catch up a bit.





I had a booth with Deep South Fibers, my awesome wholesale distributor that helps get my IGK patterns into your local yarn stores. Here I am with Linda and Donna at the end of the weekend- I think we look pretty good for the end of a three day trade show.



\

I shared a booth this time with the lovely Pam Powers. Her designs are just stunning and I loved having time to hang out with Pam a bit more this year. Being able to spend time with other designers is one of my favorite things about TNNA. I always feel inspired for new designs and projects after TNNA.



Hard not to be inspired by Sarah, aka The Sexy Knitter, and her fabulous Downton Abbey-inspired couture outfit. Isn't it stunning?! Plus it is made with Anzula's lovely yarns.



Speaking of Anzula, here is Sabrina, the fabulous owner and dyer of Anzula yarns. I absolutely love working with these ladies and I can't wait to show you some of their new yarns that I came home with. Plus, I've revived one of my designs featuring their heavenly Cloud yarn since I've been home. Hoping to have this finished in time for Stitches West!



a little sneak peek

I really missed my roomies from the last TNNA, Anne and Erica. But I did stop by to say hi to Krist at Shalimar Yarns and was able to see some of Anne's designs in person.



Here is the lovely Sheltie Square (another fabulous pattern from Bare Naked Knits 2012 club, which reminds me to tell you that there is still time to sign up for BNK 2014), knit in Shalimar's gorgeous colors.



Look at Anne's gorgeous Leaving sweater in Shalimar Yarns Breathless DK. So gorgeous! I'm so excited to see more of Kristi's yarn at Stitches West this year (yes, they are coming!! first time!). Plus, they are celebrating 7 years in business with an awesome ShaliMarch event. Read all about it here.



Yes, TNNA is definitely awesome to see everyone in all their fabulous knits! And I loved seeing some IGK projects too. Maridee from The Yarnover Truck showed off her Wish I Might shawl. So pretty!



Here is cupcakefaerie's Silver and Bold in progress.



And SnBLeslie cranked out these Comfort Food fingerless gloves.





I'll admit I was a bit worried about going to TNNA so soon after finishing radiation. But I'm so glad my girlfriends encouraged me to go. It was just the right combination of vacation and IGK work. And I came home excited about new potential designs.

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

TNNA Recap

A few weeks ago I went to TNNA, The National NeedleArts Association, Tradeshow in Phoenix, Arizona.  I had such an awesome, inspiring time seeing friends, meeting new people, and let's not forget all the yarn!  Here's a quick rundown of my trip.

First, Sample It!  On Friday evening, yarn store owners are able to purchase at wholesale prices special items from some of the vendors.  I helped Erica at the Kollage Yarns Booth, where they were selling kits featuring their Riveting Yarn and the My Kind of Saturday and Bonnie Jean Scarf patterns.




I was good and didn't succumb to the call of the pretty yarn. BUT, knowing my knee surgery was coming up, I used that as a reason to get the new Namaste Boardwalk Backpack!  And it sure has come in handy while walking around on crutches the past two weeks (side note: looks like it is going to be another 1-2 weeks at least on these crutches, so I'm really! glad I bought the bag).



I bought the eggplant one.  Sherri at The Loopy Ewe has a bunch still in stock!

The rest of the weekend I was in the Deep South Fibers Booth, as they distribute my IGK patterns to retailers!!  I'll admit, I was a bit nervous, with this being my first TNNA where I was really hoping to get my designs out there to shop owners.  But Donna and Linda from Deep South Fibers were so incredibly welcoming!



Here are my designs on display, right between two amazing designers, Tot Toppers and Ysolda.  Deep South represents a wide range of talented designers and the booth looked fantastic.  CocoKnits had all of her new sweaters and also these cute little nests and necklaces.



The necklaces would make such great gifts too. I'm definitely picking up this pattern from Julie's booth at Stitches West.

Here is Grace Akhrem's designs.  Grace is another designer with Deep South and she is a riot!



So sweet, but sassy!  She convinced lots of us to strike a mustache pose.  Check everyone out here.





Anne from Crafty Diversions has such lovely work. She is beyond nice and such a talented designer.  It was so nice to finally catch up a bit with her and soak up all of her design experience!  Thanks Anne!


Ysolda was also in the Deep South booth signing copies of her new book, Whimsical Little Knits 3.  Another winner!


I met Michelle of Fickle Knitter Design at last year's TNNA and it was so nice to see her again.  She continues to inspire me with her amazing shawl designs!!  Check-out her recap of TNNA here.  I'm excited to be teaming up with her for a project with Knitted Wit and Sincere Sheep....more to come soon, but here's the info.


Let's not forget the yarn!!  I fell in love with Zen Yarn Garden's new colors!



And this Dreamy skein of Anzula Yarns has already been swatched and I'm ready to cast on my new design!

One last surprise.  I also did my first interview as a designer!  FiberStory TV did an amazing job interviewing a number of vendors, designers, yarnies, etc., at TNNA.  I'm featured here, in the Part 2 update (watch for me at the 16:00 minute mark).  Crazy nervous fun! 

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Sunday, Already?

Seriously.  How does the weekend just fly by so quickly? 

I am almost, almost recovered from Sock Summit and A Verb for Keeping Warm fun, but I still feel like I'm trying to play a bit of catch-up from the month or two of non-stop knitting that was happening before Sock Summit.  For example, my room is a complete disaster and when I tried to clean it a bit today (well, really I was looking for some needles, so figured I'd put some stuff away in an attempt to find them), I was a bit overwhelmed by how messy the knitting area had become.  Needles everywhere. Yarn everywhere.  Swatches everywhere.  Oh boy.

Gradually I'm trying to find room for all those Sock Summit goodies.  Here's a few I haven't shown you.



The Signature Needles!  I actually got two pairs because one was part of the teacher swag bag!  We received a coupon to pick out any set of needles we wanted! Thank you Signature Needles.  I love the few pairs of Signatures that I have, but they are with the older cable.  I'll be interested to see how I like the new cable.

I also bought a skein of Hazel Knits Entice, a new to me yarn purchase.  I love Hazel Knits, but haven't tried this yarn yet!  I was proud that I was able to resist all of her other lovely colors.  I also just had to have Miss Babs new colorway Jane Austen.  Isn't it lovely in those pinks and soft browns....love!!   That gorgeous blue, colorway Shark Island, is a mini-skein of Creating from A Verb for Keeping Warm.  I actually purchased a few more pretty yarns from Verb last weekend.  I can't wait to knit them up!  And lastly, that gorgeous brown is Anzula Yarns Cricket. 



I wish I could describe just how soft and squishy this gorgeous yarn is!  I first discovered Anzula's yarns when Snowboarder brought me two skeins of Squishy back from Purl Soho last year.  And I finally cast on with one of those skeins for another Summer Wind.  Here, a progress picture for you:



I knit quite a bit on this last weekend, especially Saturday evening, hanging out with Stephen, Debbi, and Anne.  Such a lovely evening with friends :)  Of course, I haven't touched it all week.

But there has been some knitting.  I'm on a bit of a hat/Plucky/Primo/no deadline knittting kick lately!  More details to come on these soon, but I think I'm finally almost ready to have Uncle Frank's Hat and Dear Baby Francis' hat and baby socks set test knit soon!  Just took a year or so??!?!!  Then I need to find a cute baby for the photo shoot?!



I'll warn you now....there will be lots of Plucky on my needles for the next month or two!

Oh, and exciting news to share with you guys!  My pattern line is now going to be distributed for wholesale through Deep South Fibers! Check out their new products!  Hopefully this will make it a bit easier for you to find my patterns in your local yarn store!!

I am so excited to be included with the many other amazing designers that they represent!  Be sure to let your favorite LYS know you'd like to see IGK patterns there :)

So, how was your weekend?  Can you believe summer is almost over?  What do you have planned for these last few weeks?  Or are you ready for fall? 

Although I don't want summer to be over....just 19 days left until Notre Dame's championship season begins!!  Hey, a girl can dream :)

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits