Walking into "Clara's" for our free hot breakfast we're greated with "Bobbie!". It was the gals from Knitting Sisters. "Small world" discussion ensued. It was the free, hot breakfast sign that had lured them in too.
After a great hot breakfast we were on the road for home. It was a truly wonderful, eye opening trip. All the people I met no matter what their needlecraft were gracious and sharing.
So Ewe Knit Kits and Yarns will have new yarns and patterns in the next few weeks. Brown Sheep, more Collinette, and LB Evans Drawstring purses, lots of buttons, and new ideas to share with our customers.
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Day 4 - Sunday - Buy buy buy
Sunday morning class was "Embellishments and Trims for Plain Knitted Garments" by Svetlana Avrakh of Patons Yarns. It was another crochet trims class but this time using novelty yarns. It gave me some ideas on trimming ready made clothes. And I learned that I have been pronouncing Patons wrong. It's Pay Tons with a hard a. I've been saying Pa Tons with a soft a. Hmm, are hard and soft vowels still used?
B and my classes were only 2 hours so we met at 10:00 and placed orders at Collinette (for individual skeins of yarn and more throws in the new colors), Rowen and LB Evans (purses and totes are beautiful!). There was another vendor but it's gone from my brain. L and P joined us at 11:00 and went back for notions (purse handles, felting needles, gauge measuring tool, needles) and new FiberTrends and Oat Couture patterns, buttons from Dills, buttons from 2 other places, sequins and beads, yarns from Seaport Yarns, Cotton Fleece and CottonWool fingering weight from Brown Sheep and about this time B said "there's no room left in the store!" but we kept shopping....of course there were show specials to be had with vendors we already use so those orders were placed. We ran out of time to hit S.W.A.K., KnitWhits and Jamieson..but we have the literature!
My brain was fried!
We hit the road and drove about 2 hours before stopping for the night at a Best Western....it's the one with the sign that says "Free Hot Breakfast".
B and my classes were only 2 hours so we met at 10:00 and placed orders at Collinette (for individual skeins of yarn and more throws in the new colors), Rowen and LB Evans (purses and totes are beautiful!). There was another vendor but it's gone from my brain. L and P joined us at 11:00 and went back for notions (purse handles, felting needles, gauge measuring tool, needles) and new FiberTrends and Oat Couture patterns, buttons from Dills, buttons from 2 other places, sequins and beads, yarns from Seaport Yarns, Cotton Fleece and CottonWool fingering weight from Brown Sheep and about this time B said "there's no room left in the store!" but we kept shopping....of course there were show specials to be had with vendors we already use so those orders were placed. We ran out of time to hit S.W.A.K., KnitWhits and Jamieson..but we have the literature!
My brain was fried!
We hit the road and drove about 2 hours before stopping for the night at a Best Western....it's the one with the sign that says "Free Hot Breakfast".
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.
"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.
Day 2 - Friday - Classes and a Fashion Show
We arrived back at the Convention Center at 7:15 the next morning. Why so early? We weren't sure about parking and since we didn't want to miss a thing and since our classes began at 8:00 we left early.
We got our name badges (required everywhere you went), a great tote and we were off to our first class.
L went to an all day Lily Chin, B to a LYS retail class and P and I to "Knitting with Ribbon Yarn". Now this was not my number 1 choice...I've knitted with Ribbon Yarns..don't really care for it. And this was with size 35 needles. BUT was I in for a surprise. We learned backwards knitting. It doesn't twist the ribbon!!!!
P and I had 3 hours until our next class so we made it over to the Food Court for noodles & shrimp and peanut butter ice cream. When the food court began filling we headed back to the TNNA area and sat and knitted (surprise!) and watched the vendors registering and other knitters knitting and of course hit the Great Wall of Yarn again to add to our books.
I had a nice conversation with the inventor of the Circular Solution. New this year...in velvet! Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn will be carrying the needle solutions very soon.
2:00 came around and I was off to "Measure, Modify, Knit" with Judy Pascale. Fun lady. Learned tons. She crammed her 6 hour class into 3.
8 pages of notes later I met B, L, and P and we headed to the fashion show. One word...ponchos! I think half of what we saw was a poncho of some kind. Great sweaters for men and women, knitted purses, bears, simple to the complex knitting. To many to mention.
After there was a "cocktail" hour where we mingled for a while among a display of the new fashions and yarns. Then it was off to dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse.
It was off to bed by 11:00...we had a day of shopping ahead of us.
We got our name badges (required everywhere you went), a great tote and we were off to our first class.
L went to an all day Lily Chin, B to a LYS retail class and P and I to "Knitting with Ribbon Yarn". Now this was not my number 1 choice...I've knitted with Ribbon Yarns..don't really care for it. And this was with size 35 needles. BUT was I in for a surprise. We learned backwards knitting. It doesn't twist the ribbon!!!!
P and I had 3 hours until our next class so we made it over to the Food Court for noodles & shrimp and peanut butter ice cream. When the food court began filling we headed back to the TNNA area and sat and knitted (surprise!) and watched the vendors registering and other knitters knitting and of course hit the Great Wall of Yarn again to add to our books.
I had a nice conversation with the inventor of the Circular Solution. New this year...in velvet! Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn will be carrying the needle solutions very soon.
2:00 came around and I was off to "Measure, Modify, Knit" with Judy Pascale. Fun lady. Learned tons. She crammed her 6 hour class into 3.
8 pages of notes later I met B, L, and P and we headed to the fashion show. One word...ponchos! I think half of what we saw was a poncho of some kind. Great sweaters for men and women, knitted purses, bears, simple to the complex knitting. To many to mention.
After there was a "cocktail" hour where we mingled for a while among a display of the new fashions and yarns. Then it was off to dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse.
It was off to bed by 11:00...we had a day of shopping ahead of us.
Day 1 -Thursday - travel to TNNA
I was invited to attend the The National Needle Arts Association Fall-Winter 2004 Market by Bobbie the owner of Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn. What is TNNA you might ask...it's where the wholesale and the retail get together and sell and buy yarn and patterns and notions. There are also classes offered and new yarns and patterns shown. It's a fast paced, full 5 days of decisions.
B, L and I left Va Beach at 7:00 a.m., stopped in Hampton to pick up P and off to Columbus we drove. A quick stop for lunch, gas and bathroom and 10 hours later we arrived at the Westin Hotel in Columbus Ohio.
I must mention here that the university was holding graduation ceremonies for 6800 students the same weekend. Hotel rooms were hard to find.
After 30 minutes of haggling with Hotels.com, we made it to our rooms, washed our faces and headed to the Greater Columbus Convention Center a mere 9 blocks away. Glad we drove. Those 9 blocks were about 3 miles.
We had hoped to register but Registration had closed. So we got our bearings, found classrooms, where the Market would be setup and the Food Court.
Then it was off to the (bugles blaring here)THE GREAT WALL OF YARN!!!!!! Yep, a wall dripping with the NEW yarns for the fall. 169 of them. Arranged by color. whites..browns..yellows..purples..oranges..blues...blacks...And on the tables in front of The Great Wall of Yarn more balls and skeins of the same yarn. And we could cut samples off all of them. Fill-in-the-blank books were offered with the name of the yarn and a corresponding number. All you had to do was pick up the scissors and tape and snip and tape to your hearts content. We were like kindergarteners filling up our books with color and texture, oohing and ahhing over this one and that one, cutting snippets for one another ...no pushing or shoving was noticed. We were good fiber books completer.
Hunger soon got the best of us so off to Max and Erma's for dinner and back to the hotel to look at our The Great Wall of Yarn books and dream of the fiber delights to come.
B, L and I left Va Beach at 7:00 a.m., stopped in Hampton to pick up P and off to Columbus we drove. A quick stop for lunch, gas and bathroom and 10 hours later we arrived at the Westin Hotel in Columbus Ohio.
I must mention here that the university was holding graduation ceremonies for 6800 students the same weekend. Hotel rooms were hard to find.
After 30 minutes of haggling with Hotels.com, we made it to our rooms, washed our faces and headed to the Greater Columbus Convention Center a mere 9 blocks away. Glad we drove. Those 9 blocks were about 3 miles.
We had hoped to register but Registration had closed. So we got our bearings, found classrooms, where the Market would be setup and the Food Court.
Then it was off to the (bugles blaring here)THE GREAT WALL OF YARN!!!!!! Yep, a wall dripping with the NEW yarns for the fall. 169 of them. Arranged by color. whites..browns..yellows..purples..oranges..blues...blacks...And on the tables in front of The Great Wall of Yarn more balls and skeins of the same yarn. And we could cut samples off all of them. Fill-in-the-blank books were offered with the name of the yarn and a corresponding number. All you had to do was pick up the scissors and tape and snip and tape to your hearts content. We were like kindergarteners filling up our books with color and texture, oohing and ahhing over this one and that one, cutting snippets for one another ...no pushing or shoving was noticed. We were good fiber books completer.
Hunger soon got the best of us so off to Max and Erma's for dinner and back to the hotel to look at our The Great Wall of Yarn books and dream of the fiber delights to come.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
A Brad filled weeked
After all my moaning and groaning last week my 3 day weekend turned out really pleasant.
I was able to work from home for my mortgage paying job on Friday which was a nice treat.
Saturday I worked at Ewe Knits with Sherry. We expected a quiet only two or three customer kinda day but it ended up nicely busy. No record breaking day, but a nice summer kinda day in a LYS where you had time to chat with the customer.
Sunday was overcast and by 11:00 the sky was filled with dark gray clouds and it didn't appear as though the sun was going to make it through. So it was off to the Regal Theaters to see Troy. Now, about the only thing I remember from history class was that the war between the Greeks and Trojans was suppose to have lasted 10 years. Not so in the movie version. But it was an entertaining 2 1/2 hours. Lots of good looking men running around in short skirts and no shirts.
An aside: it really bugs me when the theaters turn up the lights the second the credits come on.
When I got home, A River Runs Through It was playing. I had forgotten Robert Redford directed this movie. And so I couldn't let an overcast Monday go without a Brad-sighting so I watched Legends of the Fall.
All in all it was a good weekend.
I was able to work from home for my mortgage paying job on Friday which was a nice treat.
Saturday I worked at Ewe Knits with Sherry. We expected a quiet only two or three customer kinda day but it ended up nicely busy. No record breaking day, but a nice summer kinda day in a LYS where you had time to chat with the customer.
Sunday was overcast and by 11:00 the sky was filled with dark gray clouds and it didn't appear as though the sun was going to make it through. So it was off to the Regal Theaters to see Troy. Now, about the only thing I remember from history class was that the war between the Greeks and Trojans was suppose to have lasted 10 years. Not so in the movie version. But it was an entertaining 2 1/2 hours. Lots of good looking men running around in short skirts and no shirts.
An aside: it really bugs me when the theaters turn up the lights the second the credits come on.
When I got home, A River Runs Through It was playing. I had forgotten Robert Redford directed this movie. And so I couldn't let an overcast Monday go without a Brad-sighting so I watched Legends of the Fall.
All in all it was a good weekend.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Time flies whether your having fun or not
KnittaPalooza weekend came and went. Read my recap here: http://www.knittersreview.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10601&whichpage=2&SearchTerms=%2CKnita
That Sunday afternoon was spent getting Ewe Knits Kits and Yarn storefront back in order. Bobbie tells me she'll post pictures from the weekend on the website soon.
The next day I was off to San Francisco for the week. It was a "you must be here for the meeting" last minute trip and I was both dreading and looking forward to it.
I hadn't been out there in almost 3 years and I'm not ready to get sucked back into the madness. I spent 3 years flying from east coast to west, west coast to east coast every week with promises of wonderful promotions and lots of bonuses....and in the end all I got was 7 new managers, the old "ya gotta prove yourself to me 'cause what you did before doesn't count" and 400,000 frequent flyer miles. So now I do my job, put in my 50 hours and don't believe anything anyone says. I'm hanging out for a separation package.
All in all it was an okay time. My favorite hotels were booked so I ended up at the Sir Frances Drake on Powell. Nice. But the only place to plug in my laptop to recharge the battery was in the socket used by the hair dryer in the bathroom. A laughable inconvenience.
Work meetings went well and we completed the agenda. Vendor came back with new dates for implementation. ...... Hmm, think I blogged about it earlier in the year. Where I told my young'in boss that what she wanted to accomplish would take a few years not the few months she had planned...my prophecies are coming true.....vendor needs to 1st Qtr 2006..... So the business isn't happy and young'in boss must now negotiate with the vendor and she's all in turmoil...it's giving me perverse pleasure to watch her squirm.
I did have evenings to myself to revisit the city. I walked to Chinatown, up to the mall, took the cable car out and back, visited Borders, Virgin Records (great dvd selection on the second floor), Sephora (Philosophy 3 "Grace" solids) and ArtFibers (3 skeins of "Siam" and 2 skeins of "Chianti").
The 5 hour flights from Charlotte gave me lots of time to knit. I worked on the "Auntie's Afgan" from Oat Couture that I'm knitting for my neice (the one who's expecting). I had begun knitting it using the "american" way of throwing the yarn. Then I re-learned "contenintal" and knit about 20 rows. Didn't like the differences that I saw so I ripped it out and began again. Didn't rip back far enough for my eye so once again, ripped it back. Perhaps it was my dissatisfaction of having to make the trip that cause my knitting to be out of whack. I finally put it away and read. Nora Roberts Birthright kept me entertained.
Didn't have to work at Ewe Knits Saturday so spent the morning running errands (groceries, garden place, picking up B at kennel) and then cleaning up the front and back flower beds and planting a few new flowering things.
Sunday I had a horrible sore throat which eventually turned into a cold. Since I had promised my mother I'd go to see her I couldn't stay home and feel sorry for myself...standing up my mother is worse than a sore throat! It's my second cold this year and I NEVER get sick! My body is thrown off course with all the going I've been doing. I haven't had a day of not going somewhere since April 11! I need some time alone.
SOOOOOO, this Sunday and Monday I am not going anywhere. The car will not leave the garage. I'm staying put! Just me and Bailey...and I may not answer the phone.
That Sunday afternoon was spent getting Ewe Knits Kits and Yarn storefront back in order. Bobbie tells me she'll post pictures from the weekend on the website soon.
The next day I was off to San Francisco for the week. It was a "you must be here for the meeting" last minute trip and I was both dreading and looking forward to it.
I hadn't been out there in almost 3 years and I'm not ready to get sucked back into the madness. I spent 3 years flying from east coast to west, west coast to east coast every week with promises of wonderful promotions and lots of bonuses....and in the end all I got was 7 new managers, the old "ya gotta prove yourself to me 'cause what you did before doesn't count" and 400,000 frequent flyer miles. So now I do my job, put in my 50 hours and don't believe anything anyone says. I'm hanging out for a separation package.
All in all it was an okay time. My favorite hotels were booked so I ended up at the Sir Frances Drake on Powell. Nice. But the only place to plug in my laptop to recharge the battery was in the socket used by the hair dryer in the bathroom. A laughable inconvenience.
Work meetings went well and we completed the agenda. Vendor came back with new dates for implementation. ...... Hmm, think I blogged about it earlier in the year. Where I told my young'in boss that what she wanted to accomplish would take a few years not the few months she had planned...my prophecies are coming true.....vendor needs to 1st Qtr 2006..... So the business isn't happy and young'in boss must now negotiate with the vendor and she's all in turmoil...it's giving me perverse pleasure to watch her squirm.
I did have evenings to myself to revisit the city. I walked to Chinatown, up to the mall, took the cable car out and back, visited Borders, Virgin Records (great dvd selection on the second floor), Sephora (Philosophy 3 "Grace" solids) and ArtFibers (3 skeins of "Siam" and 2 skeins of "Chianti").
The 5 hour flights from Charlotte gave me lots of time to knit. I worked on the "Auntie's Afgan" from Oat Couture that I'm knitting for my neice (the one who's expecting). I had begun knitting it using the "american" way of throwing the yarn. Then I re-learned "contenintal" and knit about 20 rows. Didn't like the differences that I saw so I ripped it out and began again. Didn't rip back far enough for my eye so once again, ripped it back. Perhaps it was my dissatisfaction of having to make the trip that cause my knitting to be out of whack. I finally put it away and read. Nora Roberts Birthright kept me entertained.
Didn't have to work at Ewe Knits Saturday so spent the morning running errands (groceries, garden place, picking up B at kennel) and then cleaning up the front and back flower beds and planting a few new flowering things.
Sunday I had a horrible sore throat which eventually turned into a cold. Since I had promised my mother I'd go to see her I couldn't stay home and feel sorry for myself...standing up my mother is worse than a sore throat! It's my second cold this year and I NEVER get sick! My body is thrown off course with all the going I've been doing. I haven't had a day of not going somewhere since April 11! I need some time alone.
SOOOOOO, this Sunday and Monday I am not going anywhere. The car will not leave the garage. I'm staying put! Just me and Bailey...and I may not answer the phone.
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