The first thing that was great was meeting my friend, Mary Moran, in person! Mary is the brilliant developer of Sole Solution NeedleTrax, and Knitter's Desktop Companion. She also owns The Knitting Zone and most recently, she has added North American Distributer of Hiyahiya Needles to her empire.
Like a true idiot, I forgot to have someone take a picture of us to prove we have been on the planet in the same space and time, so you'll have to take my word for it.
But our story is that we 'met' at least 5 years ago on the internet and after discovering that we share a birthday (except she's much younger than I) we began a friendship that has developed over the years. She lives on a farm in Alabama and when she's not being a knitting mogel, milks cows, gathers eggs, nurses goats (and worse) and has a pet pig named Wilbur.
I so much enjoyed sharing a couple of dinners with her and her sidekick, Sue, who flew with her from Alabama to help with the show.
Their runaway best seller is the 9" circular sock needle. It seems everyone loves making socks and would prefer bypassing the dpn's!
What a thrill I received to answer the phone on Saturday morning and hear Margaret Hubert's voice! Years ago, I took a class with Margaret, just to get an opportunity to meet her and tell her how much I admire and appreciate her work. Margaret is very generous and gracious to provide aspiring knitter-designers with advice culled from her successful life-long knitting career. We developed a little e-mail friendship and although she was already booked for all meals, we were able to have a little sit down on Saturday while she got me caught up on her 18 (yes 18!) books!
And we were joined by the beautiful and multi-talented Myra Wood, who showed me a copy of her new book, Creative Crochet Lace. I have already pre-ordered a copy from Amazon, and if you love freeform or lace or both, you should, too! The sweater Magaret is wearing is actually featured in Myra's book!
And then I got to spend time with my newest knitting pal, Janice Rosema, who unveiled her newest creations for Ozark Handspun. I got to see Dave and Terri for the first time since becoming a customer of Ozark myself! Janice's work is just exquisite and Ozark supplies patterns FREE here.
This is my favorite Janice design.If you haven't seen her creations, you must check them out, although her newest ones aren't up yet. But you can see them on ravelry here, and I know the patterns will eventually be on the Ozark site.
And then there was Claudia! Once again I am an idiot and didn't use the camera! I instantly felt a connection to this lovely woman whose hand dyed yarns have taken over my life and my upstairs hallway! How could I not love someone whose logo is a heart and who prints the words "Peace, Love, Comfort and Joy" on each label of her gorgeous yarn?
Claudia had a modular coat that she made and designed herself that showed how talented and patient she is, not just with the dye pots! I ordered more of her gorgeous yarn, this time in sport weight and her new linen, and plan on some new designs for Summer TNNA! Stay tuned!
The only thing that would have made my day better was getting to meet the woman who first inspired my imagination with her freeform book, Prudence Mapstone! And guess what?
I was so inspired I came home and worked all night. I knit so much that I got a boo boo on my finger. See the groove that runs around my finger? That is a permanent groove worn in from years of holding the yarn wrapped around right there. When I work with Noro, especially, over days, I sometimes start to bleed from that groove. Knitter's stigmata.
