TNNA Long Beach 2011

We had a good time this year at TNNA, the National Needle Arts trade show. I had a really fun day with Marsha, our cruise director and tour guide, and my sister Nancy, the world famous kung-fu master of the credit card.

Be Sweet yarns had tons of eye candy, as usual. This year Nadine seems to be bringing in a natural color palette next to her candy store brights.

We had a lot of fun checking out Imperial Yarns. These yarns are grown, sheered, spun and dyed in Oregon and are gorgeous.

Helen Hamann's booth was a color feast, so many beautiful brights!

Of course, Manos del Uruguay didn't let us down. They're launching a new line of colors that can be seen from space!

But don't worry, they still have our old favorites!

I think it's time to stop here, I still have more but let's save it for tomorrow! If you want more right now you can hop over to Nancy's recap at the beautifully redesigned NobleKnits.com blog.

Savor.

I want to be happy and show you pretty pictures of my yarn adventures, but I can't. I'm sad. In the last day we've learned that our good friend died suddenly, another friend fell with a stroke and is in the hospital, and a family relative lost her battle with brain cancer. None were old. All are making me slow and contemplative. Stop, breathe, relax and enjoy. Be happy you can.

A feast for the eyes

Look at all that yarn! Woohoo! This past weekend was the big yarn trade show called TNNA and I'm still trying to digest all the things I saw, people I met, and new ideas that came to mind. I'm excited to have some fun stuff to blab about for a while, I'll start with this photo of my sister and me. Have you met her? She's NobleKnits.com.

Sensing a trend: Sock Monkey!

Sock monkeys seem to be a big hit these days. We had three Christmas gifts in our little house alone. My friend Sue (Hi, Susan!) sent us the Fred & Friends Wine Monkey Wine Caddy. Hello, adorable! I shall call you Ferdinand.

And, my sister-in-law Emily, who writes a great blog over here, sent us a pair of these completely adorable sock monkey egg cups with matching monkey spoons from PG Tips. I kind of like eating breakfast with a cute smiling face staring back at me. I think they need names! What are some good twin names?

And Santa brought Lola got the third sock monkey present. A silly monkey creature that she cuddled to death. With her teeth.

It's great to see knitting winding it's way through popular culture. Knitting is a huge trend in my mind, but it seems all kinds of people really enjoy handknits right now. Is it that people are turning toward simpler times because of the economic downturn? Or, are knitting designers following trends more closely? Or, is knitting just that cool, come on... you know it is.

Sneak Peek!

I am over the moon with excitement about my newest project. This is just a little preview of what's been on my mind and on my needles for the last few months. I'll have the finished pieces in hand by the end of the week, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you!