TNNA :: Southern California Edition

Well, hi there! Happy New Year!  Phew -- I really didn't mean to let an entire month go without posting, but I'll be honest...the holidays kind of kicked my butt this year.  December was FULL.  In addition to the bazillion Christmas activities we took part in (Daniel was having so much fun with it all...how could we say no?), we also threw an engagement party for my cousin and traveled to visit Neill's family in North Carolina for a week, then immediately went up to the mountains for New Years Eve.  Anyhoo, I loved it...but it was exhausting.  And then I jumped into getting ready for TNNA.

So, The National Needlearts Association has a few trade shows over the course of the year, but the two most applicable for handknit designers are the Summer show, usually held in Columbus, OH, and the Winter show, which is held somewhere in Southern California. The former is where I've exhibited twice now, and the latter I got to experience for the first time just this weekend.

I didn't exhibit this time around, and it was my first time attending such a show with no purpose other than networking, talking to yarn companies (when they weren't busy with customers, of course!), and generally making contacts in the industry.  And I have to say -- it was a lot of fun. Productive and fun.  Like a working vacation.  It didn't hurt that San Diego is GORGEOUS and that I overcame my introverted tendencies and roomed with a friend (I turned down a fun roomie opportunity back in June and totally regret it).  Anyway, here are a few images from the weekend...

My roommate, the Sexy Knitter, and I heading out for a night on the town!  (And by "night on the town" I mean that we had a deep conversation over Indian food and then joined a group knitting in the lobby of the Omni hotel.)

Hanging out in the Anzula booth with the awesomeness behind Yarn Nation (Johnny and Lacie, left), as well as Diana, owner of their LYS The Yarn Garden.

And with two of the ladies of Anzula!  (Sabrina, the genius behind it all, is on the right, and Charlie on the left)

Lookin' hot, ladies!!

And, finally, coming back from lunch with Amy Palmer, Knitscene Editor Extraordinaire, and one of my favorite people ever.

The weekend was not without yarn support....I brought home these beauties from Anzula (For Better or Worsted in Navy and Candied Apple), and plan to turn them into a vest with some sort of simple colorwork and/or stripes.

Oh!  And this show I had the opportunity to pair up with Anzula and design something with two of their brand spankin' new colors, Sexy and Gravity.  Turntable, below, was available as a kit with the two colors of Dreamy at TNNA's Sample It! event, and will also be available to the general public in the next day or so....stay tuned!