TNNA Recap

I'm back from San Diego and digging out from the big ol' pile of work that accumulated while I was away. Can someone please explain to me why it takes two days to recover for each day I'm gone?

Our time in southern CA was fantastic. We left -17F/-27C in Chicago and arrived to find sun and 80F/27C. Our flight was on time and uneventful. We even arrived in San Diego with enough time to drop our bags at the hotel before hopping on the Amtrak to LA. The Amtrak ride was also uneventful. When it comes to travel, uneventful is good.

The party at Unwind was spectacular! Over a hundred people turned out...enough that they had let them into the shop in two groups.













This is probably going to sound a little nutty, but I don't get out to visit yarn shops as often as I'd like. I sort of have lots of yarn here (duh) and tend to get focused on what needs to be accomplished for Lorna's Laces rather than seeing what's out in the world. I should make an effort to do better. The best part of getting out is the chance to meet knitters and hear what's making them happy and find out what we can do to make them even happier.

After Unwind, we got back on the train and arrived in San Diego a little after 1:00 AM. I had been apprehensive about the late hour and all the travel, but it turned out to be good thing because it helped my body clock adjust to the time change right away. I woke refreshed the next morning at a time that made sense for being on the west coast and I was good to go for the rest of the trip.

Friday is set-up day. We had some new displays that show all the colors we dye.














They are wine riddling racks that my husband found. The samples are shown in Shepherd Worsted and it was a little tight. We may need to adjust and switch to Shepherd Sport the next time around, but after five years of the same thing, it felt good to be doing something different.

We brought five new colors, a new yarn and a special color/yarn to the show. Today, I'll tell you about the new colors.

This is Montrose. This color feels really fresh and current to me.














It's a combination of greys, browns and a fabulous icy green. It knits up into a sophisticated neutral with just a pop of brightness. Of course the garments we have knitted in all the new colors are in the crate on their way back to us right now so I can't show them to you today. I'll post them as soon as I can.













The next color is Beverly. Nice bright blues and greens. This is a happy color that will be nice for little boys and anyone with blue eyes.













This is Andersonville. Golds, greens, blues and browns. The shell we have is something special. The greens really shine.











Here's another shot.












Next is Rockwell. I have to admit this one is a little autumnal, but something about it just spoke to me when it came out of the dye pots for the first time. There's a slate color, a great green, a rich plummy red and a wonderful pumpkin-y gold. Maybe I like this one so well since I'm a redhead these days. Although I think Andersonville might be good on me too.













Last but not least is Satsuma. This is a bunch of shades of orange. Nice rich oranges with depth.

My favorite color is what I refer to as Crayola orange. When I was growing up, I never got the big box of crayons. The 16 box was all we got so I learned to work with what I had. I used to be so jealous of the little girl across the street because her parents bought her the box of 64. I suppose I need to get off the bitter bus about that, huh?

My next post will cover our new yarn.

I'll leave you today with a photo of Amanda and Stefanie Japel. Stefanie was doing a signing for her new book Glam Knits. Amanda is wearing the Two-Toned Shrug from Fitted Knits knit in our Green Line Worsted colors Ashburn and Chocolate. It's a nice photo of them both!