I went to the TNNA trade show last weekend, in Columbus, Ohio. TNNA (The National Needlearts Association) is a major trade organization for knitting/ crocheting/ needlework shops. This particular gathering in June is where many stores order the yarns they will be selling in the upcoming Fall/Winter seasons.

I have always enjoyed this show – this was my 5th year in attendance. My friend Rae (Rae’s Yarn Boutique) took me with her my first three years and we always connect frequently even if I don’t travel with her.

Last year I roomed with Rita of Yarn Hollow (a handpainted yarn business). This year I roomed with Deb Robson of Nomad Press (which published the 2nd edition of Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’ “Knitting in the Old Way” and Donna Druchunas’ award-winning “Arctic Lace.”).

More on Deb’s own amazing new book (click link for review on sunsetcat.com) in a later post… suffice it to say it’s incredible.

Visionary Authors

There is a group of knitting writers who work in a group organized by Cat Bordhi. Cat calls them Visionary Authors, and they had a booth at the show. Deb is associated with this group, and so is Sandra McIver.

Sandra just came out with a book called “Knit, Swirl.” The Visionary group included a number of folks who knit patterns from that book, in order to show off actual garments and help Sandra with her book release.

Deb wrote a blog post about her own Swirl here. I took this photo when I was in the Visionary booth at TNNA (with permission):

Five swirls, four authors. Left to right: Mannequin, Sandra McIver, JC Briar (who just put out a book about using knitting charts), Cat Bordhi, Deb Robson.

Turquoise Swirl Circle Skirt?

Of course, Deb’s version in turquoise delights the color-lover in me. She alternated several yarns in the project, which is something I love doing.

Deb is taller than me. When I tried on her jacket in the hotel room, my instant response was that I would love to make one without sleeves or center seam, and wear it as a skirt.

I later actually looked at the book itself (and the schematic drawings in it). I realized I would not have to make any real adjustments to the design from the book. It would be simple to make the imaginary skirt I’d love to wear.

The Swirls are either oval or circular, and they either have arms placed in the center or off center. I could knit a circular one with center arm hole, not knit arms, and not sew up the arm hole.

I would have to improvise a waistband in some way. Even a row of eyelets with a drawstring would work.

In my spare time…. (she said).

This entry was posted on Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 10:57 amand is filed under Knitting, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.