Fiber Dreams

We returned from Mexico on Saturday the 17th. I was here for oh, a good ten minutes, then I was gone again. What, you ask, could possibly get me out of my house after being gone most of the month? Well, TNNA in San Diego, of course! I jumped in my car, and about 90 minutes later I was checked into my hotel room in San Diego. The normal hotel room was a bit, er, cozy after the suite we had down in Cabo. And loud. The train goes by right behind the hotel with disturbing frequency. Gads. It’s amazing, really, how many San Diego hotels are right on the tracks. An hour or so after I got in, I got hold of the friends I was supposed to meet up with. They were having a bottle of wine in Denise’s room, so I headed over.

Looking at the above pictures from left to right, and left to right in each photo are: Zona, Aubrey, Anne; Anne, Denise; and Kristie. They’d all been at TNNA since Thursday, learned tons in some good classes, and attended the first day of the market, all of which I missed because I was in Mexico. I know. The sacrifices! It was way past my turn to make this sort of sacrifice, and I was happy to step up to the plate.

The point of going to the show wasn’t to hang out with friends, though I did, and I saw some others, too, like Anne (same spelling, different Anne) and Mim. Nor was it to get free stuff, which we all did (see the list below). The point was to make some new contacts, which I managed to do in spite of myself. I completely forgot to take any of my shawls with me. I also completely forgot to take my printed catalog, such as it is. And I was scattered, running this way and that, backtracking, tracing, retracing my steps at every turn. Contacts were made, nonetheless, and with luck I’ll actually be getting yarn and projects from some of the vendors there. These were the main vendors I talked to: Conjoined Creations, Kollage Yarns, Chameleon Colorworks (I already knew Nancy, but it was good to contact again), O-Wool, Jumbuk Fibres (Dave and I met Donna at her shop in San Juan Capistrano last fall), Claudia Handpaints, and Shibui. I’ve been talking with a few people before the show who I finally got to meet in person: Angela at Elann, Kathy at Webs, and Cecily at Classic Elite. Hopefully most of these will pan out. I have my fingers crossed. I talked to a lot of yarn companies, a number of which I even have cards from that I didn’t list here, but I think this abbreviated list is the most hopeful.

Now for the goodies. I know you’ve been looking forward to seeing this part. Publishers and bookstores have signings and give away free books every time you turn around. I got one of these books on Monday, the rest were on Sunday. In no particular order: The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques by Margaret Radcliffe; Mother Daughter Knits by Sally Melville; Faith, Hope, Love, Knitting by Lorna Miser; Luxury One Skein Wonders by Judith Durant; Crochet That Fits by Mary Jane Hall; Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel; Seven Things that can Make or Break a Sweater by Margaret E. Fisher; The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting by Nancy Queen and Mary Ellen O’Connell.

I had a blast talking with Anna Blangiforti (on Ravelry). Anna is the founder of Unicorn Fibre Wash. Her husband walked up at the same time I did with his arms overflowing with stuffed bears. The resulting conversation was quite fun. Evidently those plushies have real-wool fur, and they were all cleaned with Anna’s Fibre Wash and Rinse. Their fur was fabulous! I am definitely looking forward to using her product on the next sweaters I wash this weekend.

Yarn samples! The background bright pink-orange-yellow bit of knitting is a Flat Feet panel from Conjoined Creations, which I’m going to swatch with a tank top in mind. Vertically on the left is Punta Del Este South American Cotton Hand Painted (no web site, but here on Ravelry). Horizontally, bottom left is Wagtail Yarns 2-ply lace. You wouldn’t believe this yarn. It’s 100% kid mohair. It’s got to be the softest mohair I’ve ever felt. I talked with Kevin for quite a while at the show. He’s been specifically been breeding these goats for softness for 30 years. The finished yarn has a beautiful sheen to it. I’m definitely looking forward to knitting something up with this bit. My sample is only 25g, about 100 yards or so. It’s screaming to be a little lacy thing… Top right is a full ball of Classic Two from Kaalund Yarns in Nectarine. I got this ball of yarn from Donna at Jumbuk. I’m going to be knitting up a couple of small samples for her shop, so that she can better sell my patterns. Lastly are small skeins and color cards of each of O-Wool’s yarns. I spent quite a bit of time at O-Wool’s booth, too. Had a fun conversation with Marin about their yarns. She even sent me off with a nice cloth handle bag.

Enough of the in-again-out-again, Flannigan stuff for now. I’m home until the end of February when I’m going to Stitches West with friends. I’m so glad to be here, I can’t even tell you. Now to start digging my way out of the accumulated disaster that has descended on me. I’d like to be able to say it landed when I was gone, that I had nothing to do with it, but that wouldn’t exactly be the truth. The whole room is a disaster, piles on the floor, dead UPS scatter, magazines, bills, ack! I haven’t really seen the top of that table, though, in quite some time. Maybe I should try to do something about it this weekend. Hm.

Back to Mexico for this post’s close. Steve got a good photo of me at the end of my e-ticket ATV ride that started and ended in San Jose del Cabo. I’m sitting behind Larry, our tour guide, who really gave me the ride of a lifetime. OMG. I can’t even begin to… Fabulous. It was incredible. Can you tell by my expression that I liked it?

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