Day 3 - Saturday - Crochet and Window Shopping

Not that I was anxious to get into the Market or anything, but my Saturday class seemed like it went by in slow motion....and it was a GREAT class.

"Funky Crochet for Kniters" by Kathleen Power Johnson. We crocheted on knitting! We inserted crochet panels into knitting. We added borders. We added beads. It was a wild 3 hours of crochet. I was inspired!

I guess I should stop at this point to add that B, L and P were also taking classes but I can't remember what they were....but they all said they were great classes and they learned. And that's a good thing.

Aside: needlepoint and cross stitch were included this year as part of TNNA market. I'm a former needlepoint addict and it was sooo hard to walk by those canvas but I did...I'm not saying I didn't admire a few ... but I didn't linger.

Since it was our first time L, P and I agreed that we'd meet at the Market entrance at 11:00..right after our classes ended and experice the Market together. Well P and I waited 15 min for L and we couldn't wait anylonger....we were off.

The front of the Great Wall of Yarn booklet has the words...Enticing Textures...Exciting Colors...Extraordinary Possibilities...I think that sums up The Market. I can't begin to tell you all of what I saw. I can say we began at 11:15, stopped no more than 20 min for lunch and a bathroom break and didn't stop again until the Market closed at 6:00 and even then it was 6:15 before we actually left the room.

And the people...Lily Chin, Lorna Miser, Beth Casey and the gang from Lorna's Laces, The Jamisons', Leslye Solomon, Sally Melville, Annie Modesitt (that was me yelling and waving Annie), and many more who's names aren't coming to me right now. Like Diane of the Simple knits patterns, and the young man who invented the gauge guide ruler thingy and Circular Solution inventor...

And the yarn companies...Rowan, Misti, Prism, SouthWest Trading Co, Plymouth, Knit One Crochet Too, Blue Sky Alpaca, Crystal Place, Trendsetter, Louet Gems, Muench, Aurora Yarns, Classic Elite, Cherry Tree Hill, Alchemy Yarns, Dale of Norway, Cascade, Skacel, Interlacements, Artful Yarns, Tahki, Stacy Charles, Red Heart, Himalayan Yarn co, Mountain Colors, and so many more.

And books and patterns...Oat Couture, Fiber Trends, Interweave, Martindale, Jamieson (I sat and looked through the not even printed Simply Shetland book and it's better than the last one if that's possible)

And purses and notions and beads and tote bags and buttons...oh my!

By the end of the second hour I understood why so many shoppers had those bags on wheels..both of my bags were packed full of literature and samples. My shoulders still hurt from the weight but I wasn't about to let a sample go untouched!

What a sweetie the Addi Turbo salesman was. He offered this tip...if your Addi circulars become stiff, put them in a plastic baggie with a damp tissue and they'll right limber up.

By 6:30 the 4 of us were heading down the interstate looking for our hotel. Did I mention because of Hotel.com arrangements we only had reservations for 2 of our 3 nights.

Finding the motel L, P and I waited in the car while B went to see what the problem with reservation was (Hotel.com only had 1 room with a double be for all 4 of us) and it's a good thing they messed up the reservation. While waiting we saw a drug sale, what we think was a prostitute waiting for her John (it was in the way she was dressed that just sort of made us think that way) and then a train goes by about 20 feet from the motel property. At that point I went and got B, told her no way were we staying there...she was already on the phone to Hotel.com ....

At 7:00 we were back on the interstate looking for another hotel without the help of Hotels.com. AAA guide and a cell phone are wonderful. The desk clerk at The Drury talked into his parking lot where we had clean, quiet, kingsize bed bedrooms for each of us. After dinner at a Japanese restaurant we settled in B's room to look through our goodies, discuss our thoughts and ideas for Ewe Knit Kits and Yarnand plan the buying on Sunday.