There’s so much to catch you up on, I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been knitting like a mad woman, designing new things, printing and stuffing patterns into sleeves, and shipping them off to my distributor, labeling blocking wire tubes and getting them shipped out (I’m currently behind by about 300 labels), coordinating a test knitting project, and on and on and on.

Earlier this month Dave and I went to TNNA in Long Beach. I love having Dave with me at these conferences. Unlike me, he has no qualms at all about walking up to people, introducing ourselves, and asking questions. It’s fabulous. Though that part of Long Beach is only about 30 miles from here, we opted to stay at the hotel on site. We’re so glad we did. We had late nights and early mornings, and would have at best been zombies on the days in between if we’d stayed at home. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened in traffic or during a late night trip home. No. It was crazy expensive, but worth it in the end.

I had knitted samples in three booths this time, and don’t have a picture of a single one. I had a number of things in Bryson Distributing’s booth, of course, since he’s my distributor now. I also had a shawl in Fibre Isle’s booth, Sevilla. Silvie loved my design almost as much as I enjoyed knitting with her Kami Bison yarn, so having the shawl in her booth was wonderful for both of us.

The real surprise was that my sweater, Denim Lace Tunic, was one of only two samples hanging in Love of Knitting’s booth. My sweater was evidently quite a hit with the magazine’s staff. It was fun seeing it on display. They didn’t tell me beforehand that it was gong to be there, so it was a complete surprise.

While at the conference we went to the AKD panel discussion, Yarn Group and Designer/Teacher Group meetings, and the TNNA general meeting. We learned all kinds of new stuff. And we met people. Lots of people. Talked to tons of folks. We finally got to meet Julia from Patternfish. She’s a delight. It was a blast meeting Marly of Yarn Thing the first night. I think we must have run into her half a dozen times every day after that. It seemed that every time we turned around the Ravelry group (Casey, Jess, Mary-Heather, and Sarah) was there. It got to be pretty funny after a while. We also spent a bit of time in the Bryson booth, mostly meeting and starting to get to know the staff who were there, as well as some of the other designers whose work he carries.

I got yarn to play with. Some really luscious yarn. I don’t know what’s going to come of all of it yet, some might end up being involved with secret projects, so I’m not going to tell you what all I got. Know that it’s all gorgeous, some quite special, and all wonderful. And soft. Oh-so soft.

Back home again, the testing of Gloriosa, my first cardigan pattern, is progressing. Not quickly, not without its bumps (all my fault), but it is progressing. Let’s just say that my test knitters this go ’round have been very patient with me. There are a lot of people who wouldn’t agree, but I find grading sweater patterns to be a lot more difficult than anything to do with designing lace shawls. The pitfalls are seemingly endless. We’re slowly making our way through them, so with any luck at all it won’t be too much longer before the pattern is ready for the general public.

A shawl design that I came up with late last year is now done with test knitting, goof-catching, and photography sessions. I hope to get it out later today. More about that little project then. I’ll leave you with this progress picture of it.

Dave came in a moment ago. We’ve been promising each other an outing to see Avatar. We’re finally going to go do that today. We plan on catching the noon showing. See you there.

Edited to add stuff!
There were two things I forgot to tell you, so I’m updating this post to add them while I’m thinking of it. First, I need volunteers to test knit a garter stitch baby blanket for me. The blanket is knit in panels that are attached to each other as they are knit—no seaming! Except for the border, the rows are short and knit up quickly. I found it to be a rather addictive knit. Here are some photos of it. The finished baby blanket isn’t very large, only about a yard in each direction. The pattern is based on a quilt block, like Pinwheel is. If you want to volunteer to test knit this pattern, please contact me for details.

The second thing I forgot to tell you is that there’s going to be a knit along for my Pacific Islands pattern on Ravelry. If you’ve been on the fence about knitting this one, now is the perfect time to start planning. The KAL start date is February 12, 2010, to coincide with Ravelympics. If you’re participating in Ravelympics, this could be the perfect project for you. Non-Ravelympians don’t have to worry. There’s no specific end date for this KAL.