Demonic Progress

TNNA Show January 2007 Day 1

Victoria and I are off to the TNNA show in San Diego! Right now I am sitting in the Bangor Airport ... we have a couple hours to wait for our flight. It sure is exciting to sit in the Bangor Airport for two hours.... I can write this post, but I can't actually post it until we get to Boston around 2 pm, because I can't figure out how to get the BIA internet access to work. :(

We will be flying out of Boston around 4:15 and getting into San Diego around 7:30 pm. We are staying at the Bristol in San Diego... they tell me it's nice. :) Then tomorrow we will register for the show in the morning and play hookey the rest of the day. Instead of taking classes, we decided to go have a little fun. If it isn't raining (it never rains in California, the song says...) we plan to go to the San Diego Zoo. If it is raining... we will go to all the yarn shops we can find in San Diego and then go over to Coronado island to have a drink at the Del. My husband used to drive a taxi in San Diego, and he wants me to go over the Coronado Bridge at least once while we are there. We'll see, honey! heh heh. I will take pictures, regardless of what we do. I packed the camera in my checked bag so I can't take any now... but it's the Bangor Airport. The only thing worth seeing here is, of course, the Unique One display kiosk. :)

Friday night is the Galleria reception with vendor displays, meet & greet the names, awards, yadda yadda CASH BAR :) followed by the fashion show. The fashion show is always fun, either because it is actually worth looking at, or because the fashions are so awful that you can laugh at them. Some fashion shows, I like everything I see... some, I can't imagine what all the designers were drinking (but I want some of it). When we went to Indianapolis in June, the fashion show was of the latter variety.

Saturday is a class in the morning... I am taking a class on how to make a felted tapestry-crochet bowl. Then we'll go to the show for the rest of the day and look over the New Items table for the 5th time, and see the Great Wall 'O Yarn. This will all be followed by a tasty dinner (man I am so looking forward to getting a good salad.. I have to tell you, fresh produce in CA in January is a rare treat... it hasn't been trucked across a continent before you get it... and I am hoping for fresh pineapple jetted in from Hawaii that very morning...). Then a nice long hot shower, a little blog posting (for you, my faithful readers!) and thence to bed, to sleep, perchance to dreammmmmm....

Sunday morning Victoria is taking a class from 8 to 11 while I wander about. Then we will be at the show madly rushing to finish everything up. Sunday night we will undoubtedly go celebrate somehow, somewhere... we might be able to hook up with some friends and have dinner together. Then to bed... we have to get up early on Monday. Our flight home leaves San Diego at around 9 a.m., and we will get back to Bangor around 8 or 9 p.m. I should be home by 11 p.m. on Monday. :D

This is pretty boring so I will stop writing now... but watch this spot for far more interesting developments, including camel nuzzling (at the zoo) and new, exciting, wonderful yarn news (at the show)! We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog reading.......

---

Okay, we made it to Boston so I am posting this courtesy of Logan Airport wifi. We just had a great lunch (well, Pizza Hut pizza, but we were hungry). Now I am posting this and planning to settle into a nice long stint of listening to some blues on my iPod and working on my Pi Shawl (Elizabeth Zimmerman, I love you!) while Victoria industriously works on designing a sweater using O-Wool. She planned to knit a FiberTrends pattern that she brought with her, but the gauge did not work out and she only brought the needle sizes that the pattern recommended. So we decided she should just design her own sweater pattern and then it will be a Unique One original. :D The beauty of designing your own sweater is that the gauge is always right, no matter what... you just go with whatever it is. :)

See y'all after we get to San Diego! Have a great day!

Let Me Tell You How I Felt

Going to Kyrgyzstan? I found this really cool walk-through of how they make felt in Kyrgyzstan... it's set up as a series of pictures from each day of the felting process. Each day has many, many pictures.

I love the colors and the process.. take some time and enjoy this great resource! This is one of the most amazing and interesting fiber finds I have discovered on the internet in a long time.

The Fiber Studio, Henniker, New Hampshire

Yesterday I had such a great time... my mother-in-law and I traveled over to Henniker, NH where I visited Pam Grob at The Fiber Studio. What a wonderful place!!! If you have never been there, you MUST go... go right NOW especially, because the Fiber Studio is part of the Wool Arts Tour which is going on this very weekend!!!

The Fiber Studio has it all... yarns, lots of yarns for hand knitting, machine knitting and weaving; spinning supplies, including wheels and fiber; weaving supplies; buttons; books and patterns; beads; gifts..... so much.... I loved it!! I had to buy some wonderful hand-dyed sock yarn (ironically from Maine) and some extra beautiful hand-dyed tencel yarn. Pam also has a wonderful space for classes, which I am very envious of. As a matter of fact, I picked up a copy of her newsletter and I am thinking about going back in November to take a class. What a great trip that would be... a NH bed & breakfast and a couple days of fun fiber learning at the Fiber Studio. Yum!!

The reason I went over there was to buy a Toyota knitting machine for sweater production. I did buy it and it is wonderful! But let me tell you, while I was in the barn picking up the knitting machine, I saw a wondrous thing... Pam has, for sale, possibly the most magnificent loom I have ever seen. For one thing it is huge, a 60 inch loom with 12 harnesses and about a billion treadles. For another thing, it is gorgeous, solid walnut, and with graceful, clean lines that reminded me of Scandinavian furniture design. And for a third thing, it is a really good deal: I believe Pam said the loom was $3000, and let me tell you, after seeing it, I think it is well worth the price. Just as a piece of beautiful furniture, this hand-crafted wonder is worth at least that much. I barely even weave, and I want it, just to look at! I mean, jeez, as a comparison....the cheapest Golding spinning wheel costs $4,250.... and this loom is HUGE. The loom is every bit as lovingly hand-crafted as any spinning wheel, too. If I had any place to put it, I would buy it myself. That's it... I need a barn.

Our trip through New Hampshire was beautiful... the leaves were gorgeous colors and the sun was shining. If you get a chance to go out today or tomorrow on the Wool Tour, make sure you visit the Fiber Studio in Henniker, NH! It's a wonderful place. :)

The First Ever Isaac Evans June Knitting Cruise!

Where to begin.... to say that the knitting cruise was wonderful, or great, or fun, or anything you like, could never sum it up. Just imagine the most fun three days in the whole world. That would pretty much do it, except it was more fun than that!

For one thing, we not only had perfect weather, it was the first beautiful, sunny stretch of days we've had all together like that since about April. Believe me, we enjoyed it thoroughly! And not only was it sunny and warm, but there was a good stiff breeze most of the time, all weekend long, so we had wonderful sailing as well! It was actually hard for people to knit, because there was so much else to enjoy, too: lovely sunshine, beautiful scenery, wildlife spottings, unbelievably delicious (and constant!) food; great company -- this was a thoroughly enjoyable group of interesting, friendly, wonderful passengers. I just had the best time. I will be re-living this knitting cruise for many days, in my mind.

And I get to go back in September and do it again! Yahoooo!

We set off on Thursday, and had excellent sailing all day. There were really interesting people to talk to on board, including a professional juggler, Steve; Mie, his wife, who is from Japan; Helen and Rachel, who just finished up the Appalachian Trail recently and who are already planning their next trip, to Antarctica; Dossie, a dear friend of mine for many years who came all the way from Montana for the cruise; Kim and Kari, excellent sailors and wonderful writers, artists, and musicians; and Sally and Ann and Cindy, well-loved Unique One customers! It was a great group.

Thursday night we had a lobster bake on Wreck Island -- a wonderful place for a lobster bake, because there are many large rocks to sit on and one large, flat rock that makes the perfect table; a river otter joined us for dinner and provided entertainment.

Friday was another gorgeous day and we had excellent sailing all day long. I greatly enjoyed looking at everyone's knitting and helping them out with knitting questions here and there. Kim learned to knit socks on two circular needles; Ann learned how to knit a short-row heel on a sock; Mie began knitting a scarf (and she's a great knitter -- had the scarf pretty much done by the end of the cruise, and such beautiful, even knitting, too!). Sally was knitting a really pretty cabled scarf out of Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton -- it felt lovely. There were many projects on the go. Everyone brought more than one thing to work on, you know how knitters are! We just had a great time knitting and talking and eating and sailing and letting the wind blow through our hair. We anchored in Bartlett Cove and enjoyed a magnificent sunset. Scotch was opened and consumed (in moderation, of course); conversation flowed and riddles were asked. Each night of the cruise, Kari played beautifully on her Native American flutes. It was such beautiful, haunting music!

Saturday we were all very sad to have to head back to Rockland, but we did, despite seriously considering hijacking the boat. But, Brenda had a hair appointment at 11:30, so we had to go back. Dang. There is already a plan to make the June cruise a four-day-er next year. It was so much fun!

I put pictures of the cruise in a Picture Trail album (click here to see the pictures). I didn't use the TypePad photo album feature because it is just way tooo screwed up. The Picture Trail site offers much more control over the photo album. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

And finally, here's a riddle that Capt. Brenda asked us -- and it took me 15 hours and a bit 'o Scotch to figure out the answer, too:

What is greater than God,
More evil than Satan?
Poor people have it,
Rich people need it.
If you eat it, you will die!

Do you know the answer?

Gone Sailing

I'll be boarding the Isaac Evans in a couple of hours for the three-day knitting cruise! I hope we have good weather, but actually, as long as everyone brought plenty of knitting, I guess it doesn't really matter. It will be fun no matter what!

Unlike the Indy trip, I won't have any internet access for the duration, so this is the last post until at least Saturday evening and most likely, Sunday sometime. I will, however, take lots of pictures and I'll post them as soon as I can after I get back!

One More Picture

My camera phone doesn't take very good pictures, but here's the one I got yesterday morning when the limo picked us up. The driver's name is Shawn, and he's putting Victoria's bag in the limo:

TNNA Show June 2006 Day 5

Most of this post is actually a re-cap of what we ordered at the show yesterday. So let's just jump right in:

• First of all, I didn't order anything from Louet, but I did check out their very cute new spinning wheel called "Victoria". Here's what their brochure says about it: When folded, it is the smallest wheel on the market; it is light -- only 6.5 lbs.; it has an optional backpack/carry-on bag you can put it in; it has high ratio wheels, available with an optional high speed head; scotch tension brake system; available in oak or beech. This wheel will be available in November 2006. I measured the wheel they had on display; it is 20" high and the wheel is 11.5" in diameter. I don't think it takes regular Louet bobbins; they looked smaller to me.
  
• We ordered some new buttons from Dill -- some nice big polymer buttons in paisley shapes and earthy colors, perfect for bags or that cardigan that needs just one big button; black buttons with skull & crossbones on them; bright colored shell buttons; a chipmunk button; a sheep button we didn't already have, and tons more.
  
• We visited Renaissance Buttons and Victoria ordered a bunch. We got translucent fishbowls housing one fish, available in several colors; tiny, cute bunny heads; daisies; sushi buttons; pin-up girl buttons, and another sheep button we didn't already have.
  
• We stopped by the Alchemy Yarn booth, waved hello to Gina and Austin (who were quite busy taking orders with other customers), and we ordered a few things to fill in what we already carry. We recently got some new things from them before the show.
  
• Because I took Iris Schreier's class, I was able to pick up a free copy of her book Modular Knits at her booth and get her to autograph it. We had to order some Artyarn Supermerino 8 anyway, so we headed over and got the book. Iris was really busy, running around helping other customers; I hated to bother her for an autograph. But I did want to place an order. A wonderful, friendly woman came up to us and said, "Can I help you?" It was Annie Modesitt! She was helping out at the Artyarns booth. We laughed and talked for a while; I had only talked to her on the phone before, and it was nice to talk to her in person. Turns out, she's been in Unique One before, and she loves the shop. I'm so glad! I like Annie. She got Iris to autograph the book for me, I placed a yarn order, and I got Annie to write a note in Iris' book, too, heh heh. We'll have to get her to come teach at Unique One sometime.
  
• We meant to stop by the Swedish Yarn booth and talk to Hanne Falkenberg, but she was always pretty busy everytime we walked by, and then we forgot. Ooops.
  
• I was happy to find Fiber Fantasy had a booth at the show, so I was finally able to order the blocking wires that are so great for blocking shawls, as well as pretty much anything else. I have wanted to carry these for years. I also ordered knitter's design graph paper (big sheets, helpful hints for designing) and..... wait for it....... yarn that glows in the dark! Yes! It feels kind of horrible and isn't too fun to work with -- picture knitting with pink insulation -- but oh my lovelies, it glows in the dark! You'd never knit a whole garment or anything with this stuff, but think of the fun embellishments you can create. A black pirate hat with glow-in-the-dark skull and crossbones knit into it or duplicate-stitched on. The possibilities are endless!
  
• Finally, we went to the booth with the other needles that light up, and I am happy to report that after beating Victoria in a hand-wrestling contest, I placed an order for size 8 and size 10.5 11-inch needles, size 15 9-inch needles, and sizes H, K and L crochet hooks. The sizes available in both needles and hooks was limited, as were the needle lengths. I also am having them send wholesale info on OTHER light-up tools that I think you're gonna love -- but I'll save that big secret for your amusement in a few months! And the best bit: their products are made in the USA! Wisconsin, I think.
  
• Some of you may remember an amazing little device called the Weavette Loom -- basically it is a small wooden frame with steel pegs nailed into it all the way around. It looks like the plastic frames you used to weave loop potholders on at summer camp. Only, the Weavettes are for real weaving! I want to carry these in the shop because I think they are really cool. Since each square can be woven with only a few yards of yarn, it would be a super way to use up those odds and ends of yarn we all accumulate. Also, these little looms are truly portable: the smallest frame is only 2 x 2"! So, I ordered something they call a 'retailer's introductory kit' -- basically, so I can teach myself how to use the frames before I buy any to sell. Then, I'll offer a class in how to weave with these little frames, and hopefully be able to round out my customers' fiber skills a little with tiny weaving.
  
• I was pleased to find Briggs & Little had a booth, and since they're practically our neighbor, hailing from Harvey, New Brunswick -- just across Maine's border -- I stopped to say 'Hi' and had a nice chat with John Little, a charming man. Before I knew it I had ordered both Tuffy and Durasport yarns. Customers (Hi Fran!) have actually been asking for these for a long time. Tuffy is like Maine wool, but with nylon in it, making it wonderful for heavy boot socks. They're very warm and they do not wear out, because of the nylon. Durasport is a single ply, light weight version of Tuffy, so now you can make warm wool socks that are nylon reinforced, but in a light weight. I love that these yarns are from Canada.
  
• This show was full of surprises. On the new products display table, I noted a new product I just HAD to have -- straight knitting needles with a ruler marked on them. So, you can measure how many inches you've knit using your free needle after you finish a row. It's really a stroke of genius, in my opinion. We found the booth to order these from and lo and behold, the lady who invented the needles grew up in Camden, lived on Chestnut Street, graduated from Camden High School years ago. She's an amazing wonderful lady, a pilot and an inventor, retired (as retired as she'll ever be, I'd say) and living in Florida now, if I remember right. She's someone I'd like to sit down and talk to for a couple of days. I told her someone should write an article about her, and she said, oh yes; several people have done that -- and reeled off a variety of magazines who have featured her in articles. Anyway, we ordered the needles, which were available in sizes 5 through 9 in a 14-inch length. Each size is a different color: lavender, golden yellow, crimson mist, turquoise powder, and magenta.
  
• We stopped by and said hi to Tina at the KnitWhits booth -- she has some great new kits for socks that I love! We ordered them, of course. We also got the crocheted flower scarf kit in a couple of new colors as well.
  
• Ashland Sky is the company that has the translucent needle cases and notion bags that everyone's been talking about. We opened an account with them, and in August will be getting circular needle cases, straight needle cases, double-pointed needle cases, short double-pointed needle cases (also great for crochet hooks), and the zippered "gadget sack" for notions. These bags are trimmed in a variety of colors, and the plastic feels good in your hands. It's grippable.
  
• Now, some of the best news of the day: remember how wild I was about the Namaste cylindrical bag, with the needle holders around the outside of the bag? leather? turquoise? highly desirable? I was agonizing about how I could possibly sell such a high-end item to my customers. In truth, I really just wanted one for myself. It seemed like every other yarn shop lady around me was carrying one, and I couldn't believe they were all selling them, because of the high cost. I figured they must sell for around $200. Well, it turns out that the leather must be faux leather, because when we got to the Namaste booth, I found that these highly-desirable bags are totally affordable. The'll retail for only slightly more than our Ellington Cargo Tote bags sell for now, around $80. The style I like is called the Vintage bag, and I ordered it in summer colors of pink, turquoise and a rusty orange. I can special order it in black and tan; actually, if these sell well, I'll order those colors for fall. Victoria picked out the Executive and the Messenger, the latter of which she especially loved. It's a corduroy messenger bag with a fabulous, fun lining. It is a rather casual bag. The Executive is leather-like, a little more dressy or professional. All these bags make great knitting bags, but they are also just great all-around bags.
  
• We went to the iKnitiative booth, as I mentioned earlier, and ordered The Whirlwind Scarf pattern and found out that Natalie lived in Portland for a while. We also ordered a variety of her other patterns, for things like sweaters, bags, scarves, gloves and a shawl. There was one really great kids' sweater called the Monster Sweater. All of these patterns are both attractive and very clever.
  
• Several customers have been asking for organic and/or natural yarns. Up til now, the only organic yarn we had was Eko-Bomull, which has recently been discontinued. We figured we'd better get on the stick and find some alternatives. Therefore, we came to the show looking for organic yarn. As you know, one of the things that is important to me at Unique One is that I want to sell, at least as much as possible, things that are Maine-made, New England-made, made in the USA, made in Canada, or things that reflect traditions of handcraft or quality, or things which, through their sale, benefit women's groups or help promote handcrafts of a culture, all in that order. (There ya go, my store philosophy summed up in one long, rambling sentence!) So when we ran across the Vermont Organic Fiber Company selling organic wool, it was a dream come true. This good, basic wool yarn will retail for about $12 per skein; it is 198 yards in 100 grams, and has a suggested gauge of 4.5 sts per inch on a size 8 to 10 needle, depending on how you knit. It is Certified Organic Merino from Australia, processed in accordance with the Organic Trade Association's Fiber Processing standards. We ordered it in all 13 colors, with wonderful names like evergreen, willow, sky, mulberry, saffron, and chocolate. I can't wait to knit with this yarn!
  
• In the same vein, we got another surprise: on our way out the door we decided to make one last stop at the InfiKnit booth, distributors of Fiddlesticks Knitting patterns, Zephyr yarn, Country Silk yarn, and other products. The company hails from Toronto, Ontario. We thought we'd just stop by quickly to see if there were any new Fiddlesticks Knitting lace patterns. Manning the booth were Carol Tomany and Dorothy Siemens! I was delighted to meet Dorothy, because I truly think she is a knitting genius. A genius, I tell you. She and her designs are unbelievable. Anyway, we got sidetracked from looking at patterns because..... they had a whole line of organic cotton yarn called EcoKnit! I couldn't believe it. We had looked at the organic cotton yarn that Blue Sky Alpacas offers, but turned it down because a) lots of people carry it already; b) it was a little more expensive than I wanted; c) it was so soft it looked like it might be kind of pilly; and d) their booth was so busy we couldn't get anyone to talk to us. So when we found an even better organic cotton that is being sold by people with whom we already have an account, and whom we consider to be not only geniuses but also our friends, we of course ordered the whole line! This is a really great cotton, organic or not: it is soft, but not pilly-soft; it's strong; the cotton actually GROWS in the colors of the yarn: they are all quite light, earthy colors -- natural off-white; light sagey-green; a darker sagey-green; tan; and beige (lighter tan). I love this yarn, and it is very affordable; I think it will retail for less than $6.00 per skein (depends on shipping costs). Victoria remembers that it is 100 meters in a 50-gram skein, and a DK weight, but you could probably get a worsted gauge out of it pretty easily. And get this, this is the bestest-best bit: Dorothy Siemens has designed 5 patterns specifically for this yarn, including sweaters and at least one shawl!! This yarn, being cotton, will shrink if machine-washed and thrown right into the dryer, so brilliant Dorothy designed the garments around the shrinkage factor! Therefore, you knit the sweater with the organic yarn it calls for, then wash it and tumble dry it, and it comes out all pre-shrunk and lovely. I especially love this part, because that's how we make the cotton sweaters for Unique One. We knit them a little on the large side and then preshrink them before we put them out for sale. That way, people who buy our cotton sweaters can just throw them in the washer & dryer. But I digress: this organic cotton is wonderful and it is another yarn I can't wait to work with. Dear customers, I think you'll love it.
  
• Finally, one of my favorite things I found at the show this year: 100% camel yarn from Nomadic Trader Yarn Company. I love this yarn. It was available in three options: handspun yarn, each skein labeled with the name of the Mongolian herder who spun it on the drop spindle; handspun yarn dyed in a variety of colors by a lady here in the U.S.; and commercially spun yarn. I ordered handspun camel-colored yarn labeled with the name of the Mongolian herder who spun it on a drop spindle (of course) and I also ordered some of the camel yarn commercially spun in lace weight. It's a wonderful yarn, but that's not the whole reason I ordered it. I had to have it, you see. Had to. My husband owned a camel when he lived in West Africa -- her name was Aphrodite. Of course, she wasn't a Bactrian camel, like the camels who provided the fiber for the camel yarn I ordered, but just the same.... it was camel and I had to have it.

  An interesting thing happened while I was in the Nomadic Traders booth. A lady was talking to the Nomadic Traders lady about camel yarn that was being held for her for a certain project: it was Myrna Stahman! We got talking, and it turns out she's doing something with Linda Cortwright! So of course I had to tell her how Linda is one of my favorite people in the whole world, and we talked for a while about how great Linda is.
  

So that's it, for what we ordered. I started writing this in the hotel this morning, and now we're sitting in Indianapolis' airport waiting for our flight. We had a great breakfast at Le Peep, a breakfast place around the corner from the hotel (of course we find it the morning we leave), and then we wandered around the capitol building and Monument Circle one last time, taking pictures. I have had such a great time in Indianapolis. It is a beautiful, interesting, fun city and I wish the TNNA show were held here every summer!

We got our limo ride to the airport, and I tried to take a photo of it with my camera phone. If it comes out, I will put a picture of it in another blog post later.

[Later]

We are now at the airport in Cincinnati, and I am able to post this blog entry & some pictures. Here are pictures I took this morning:

TNNA Show June 2006 Day 4

You know how it is on Christmas or your birthday, after you've opened all your presents and you're running through them all in your mind, remembering one you forgot? And you say, "Ooooh, cool, I forgot about that one, it is so cool! I can't believe I got that!"

That's how I am feeling about the stuff we ordered at the show. We ordered so many really, really cool things! I can't wait for it all to come so I can share it with you! Some things will be arriving right away, some things will be coming in the fall, and some things will be coming whenever the manufacturers are able to produce them. I am VERY excited about everything we got, to the point of being just giggly over some of it, GIGGLY, I tell you. Wait, just wait til you see what I got. I feel like Santa Claus, because I know what's coming & you don't! Unfortunately, unlike Santa, I won't be able to give it to you for free, but maybe you know someone who'd like to play Santa in your life? 'Cuz baby, some of these things will be gifts to die for.

We just spent three of the most enjoyable hours of my life having "supper" with Susan Pine & her charming, witty husband, Ted at Palomino's, a great restaurant near the convention center. We had so much fun! There was a bottle of Francis Coppola wine involved. There may also have been potatoes with gorgonzola; crab & artichoke dip; coffee and chocolate tiramisu. I do believe I saw a creme brulee float by at one point, as well. Susan and I found we have a close bond involving my very small (pop. ~400) home town -- she used to work at the school there. I had no idea! So we shared fond memories of Portage and its elementary school. It was a great night!

I am really tired, so I am probably going to anger some people when I say, I am not going to post tonight about all that we looked at at the show today. There was so much! I am so tired! I want to sleep, and save my extensive -- and detailed -- post about all the really wonderful, unbelievable stuff I saw and ordered for the store, until I have had a little rest. That way I'll be able to post without being tired down to my bones as I am now, and I can give you a little better sense of the real enthusiasm I have about these things. Tomorrow morning I have a few hours before the LIMO picks us up (promise I will try to get pictures of it) to take us to the airport. I will also try to get a few more photos of Indianapolis before I go, as well. You will not believe some of the things we saw and heard at the show!

I will also tell you about this morning's classes -- Victoria took a beaded knitting class with Judy Pascale, and I took Multidirectional Knitting with Iris Schreier.

But I will say one little thing to Jean: we did order that Whirlwind Scarf pattern you liked from iKnitiative! (Along with some other cool patterns -- the lady who "is" iKnitiative is Natalie Wilson, and she lived in Portland, Maine for 10 years and is quite familiar with Unique One, having visited us many times! She is now located in Michigan.

So, sorry, that's all for tonight. I have to go to bed now.

Things That Light Up

This is just a quick post while Victoria is in the shower.

I discovered a booth yesterday that sells a different kind of needles that light up. The kind we have on order are very, very cool -- brightly colored plastic with tips that light up, and actually, the light is pretty bright.

BUT there is another company that makes needles that are clear plastic the full length, so the light shoots down the whole needle, making the whole needle light up! They are SO COOL! They are also double the price of the other light up needles. I suspect that may be because the second booth is a very small company (just one guy) who hand crafts each needle. (I could be wrong about that; will check it out later.) The brightly-colored light-up needles are made overseas -- I know because a woman called the store & left the message that the needles are "on the boat" and should be at Unique One soon.

But I saved the best part of the second light-up needle company for the last: they make light-up crochet hooks, too!!!! I actually held one in my hand. (Drooling)

Let me kid you not, these novelty needles and hooks are pricey. They'll probably retail for around $40 dollars. There are some people who may be in the shower right now who think those needles and hooks might be a little too pricey for Unique One. But there are other people who drooled when she held them, who know that for some people, nothing is too much to pay for fiber tools that glow in the dark!!!!!!!!

That's all for now -- will post more later.

TNNA Show June 2006 Day 3

Today is the first day of the actual Needlearts Market. It's pretty exciting! We got up at 5:30 as usual, got ready for the day, and headed out. I thought it was around 7:00, but it was only 6:30! So we walked around Monument Circle -- very lovely¡ I wish we had time to go up to the top of the monument to see the view. We grabbed coffee and yogurt at Starbucks and went to the convention center, where we are now waiting for our classes to start. I'm taking a class on creativity with Sally Melville. Victoria is taking a business class with Chris Bylsma and Jan Stahl.

I'm looking forward to the show, looking forward to seeing all the new stuff!

[Later]

I had a great class with Sally Melville, probably the best class I've ever had. It was all about creativity, and I could talk for hours just on that. But I won't, because you want to hear about the show! Her class has given me material to talk about for many, many future blog posts. You can expect to hear me ramble on and on about it for many posts to come.

Victoria's business class was good; she didn't learn anything revolutionary. It was fun to hear from other shop keepers about what they do in their shops, and compare notes.

Finally we got to enter the Needlearts Market. We separated and spent some time walking through the show, taking notes and collecting materials. Then we met up again and had lunch (at Don Shula's steak house in the Westin; I had an excxellent Asian shrimp wrap) and then went to Starbucks to have coffee and plan our attack.

We had a loooooooong list of booths marked down to visit. We divided the big list into three smaller lists: booths we definitely wanted to go back to and place an order from at the show; booths we wanted to get back to and either get more information or just say hi; and booths we didn't need to get back to and could place orders from after we got home, because we are already familiar with their product lines.

So off we went. By this time, it was already 2:00 p.m. and the show closes at 6. We got to quite a few places though, placed some orders, and got to look at some incredibly cool stuff! Here's a list of products we either ordered or looked at so far -- if you have a favorite item in this list, please comment below. If we only looked at it and didn't order it, your comment would be one more vote in favor of the product and might sway me!

• Unicorn Books had a lot in their booth. You would not believe how many fiber arts books there are in the world, until you see them all in one place.
• We stopped by Harrisville's booth and looked at all the Vivian Hoxbro kits, including the new ones we saw in the fashion show. That Vivian, she is one clever girl!
• Knit One Crochet Too had six lovely new shades of their Paintbox yarn and some new patterns, including the pattern for the cool cardigan we saw in the fashion show. They also have a yummy 100% cashmere that knits up as a DK weight. For cashmere, it was very reasonably priced. I love K1C2 because they are a Maine company.
• We took a spin through the Bryson booth and looked at new patterns from Dovetail Designs, talked to Annie of Oat Couture fame, looked at a couple of great new Vermont Fiber Designs patterns and some beautiful Fiber Trends shawls, and looked at some new notions and needles. We actually got our hands on the new light-up needles and let me tell you, they are nice. Very nice. Fun to play with!
• We breezed through the JHB button booth and checked out their new buttons. They have a beautiful line of buttons made out of polished rocks. Very pretty!
• Winterset Designs is a Vermont company that makes very clever, rugged, attractive fold-up containers for knitting and sewing. Basically, it's a canvas basket that sits in/on a wooden frame. The frame is made from pine and birch from Maine; the canvas part is removable for washing. There's a smaller, desktop model and a larger floor model. I love them.
• Della Q bags showed some really cute bags for fall -- they'd make a great holiday gift! They are really super knitting bags in gorgeous colors. The bags are handmade in Vietnam, of silk, I believe.
• We stopped by another Maine company, Portland's own Fibre Company. We needed to replenish our stock of Khroma, and order more copies of the hat & sock pattern I designed for them. They have a really beautiful yarn called "Organik". It is made from organic wool, with a little mohair and silk. The yarn is spun in New Zealand and kettle dyed at the Fibre Company in Maine. It is absolutely gorgeous and feels heavenly, and you should see the colors.
• A new company, the Yarn Place of Sunnyvale, California, had some unbelievably beautiful gently-multicolored laceweight merino yarn, 2400 yards per 100 gram ball, very reasonably priced. The way the colors blend together reminded me of Noro or the Dancing Fiber/Diakeito yarns that we now carry. One of the prettiest lace weight yarns I've seen in a long time, and quite different from any other lace weight yarn I've seen anywhere else. It's not solid-colored, and not hand-painted or hand-dyed or variegated. It's just different and extra pretty.

That's as far as we got today. We have got a pile 'o shopping to do tomorrow! But we'll hit the floor at a dead run at 10 tomorrow and since we've done all our pre-planning and organization, we'll be able to get right to work! Our classes tomorrow morning: I am taking modular knitting with Iris Schreier and Victoria is taking a beaded knitting class with Judy Pascale.

We were pretty tired after the show so we found the best pizza place in Indianapolis (they have a sign on their wall to prove it): Giorgio's Pizza. Giorgio opened the place in 1990; he came from Italy. Let me tell you, he makes a very good pizza! We liked it quite a bit, as you can tell: