Meet our newest addition! aka TNNA roundup part 1

Hi everyone, Amanda here! Beth is still out in Long Beach attending Board of Directors meetings for TNNA so I thought I would hijack the blog and tell you all a bit about our newest addition, Iris the Gourmet Monster.

As we were gearing up for our winter market trade show we realized something was missing. Should we get a new sock pattern? Maybe a lace shawl? Perhaps a great felted bag? Then it hit us! The answer was so clear! We desperately needed a foodie, cheese loving monster kit!

A quick pow-wow with Rebecca Danger and Iris the Gourmet Monster was born and we could not be more pleased with her. I honestly can't look at her for more than about 15 seconds without going into a giggle.

She was quite well received at the show. In fact Trisha Malcolm from Vogue Knitting said she was the cutest thing she saw at TNNA.

Iris is available in 4 different size kits using 4 different yarns. The picture above is my favorite, the lumpy bumpy Iris, using 2 skeins of our Revelation standing about 22" she is a big girl! Slightly smaller at 19" in 2 skeins of Shepherd Bulky. Smaller still at 15" in 1 skein of Shepherd Worsted and rounding out the ladies is a wee 13" Iris in 1 skein of Green Line DK. Iris, just like everything around here, is available in all of our colors so she can match you just perfectly.

Personally I think I might need a small army of them to oversee the day to day business of my desk here in our studio.


Stay tuned in the next few days for images of our 6 new colors! Though if you are paying attention you will see 4 of them here. :-)

Back at It

It's good to be getting back into some semblance of a routine after the general frenzy that is "the holidays", isn't it? Between flight delays and a bout with some kind of crud that's been going around, I've been out of touch more than I like.

For me, there is a fine balance between my desire to stay connected and know what is going on and my need to really truly get away. If I get too far from the computer, my brain reverts to 7-year old status and I become afraid I am missing something monumental. But if I spend too much time there, I don't feel like I'm getting the vacation I need. I haven't quite figured out what best answer is. I do know that I don't want to be a slave to it all.

Michael and I headed to Virginia Beach to spend Christmas with my mom. She's going to be 92 in a couple of weeks and I hate to miss any opportunity to spend time with her. We stayed with my sister and her husband and had a really nice time. It was quiet, but I like that. I even got to cook a fancy dinner.

My sister lives out in the country on about 75 acres. They share their home with two Standard Schnauzers, a Maine Coon cat, a peacock and a peahen. There were chickens the last time I was there, but they don't have any right now. I missed seeing the chickens and going out to the chicken coop for fresh eggs. I am a city girl through and through, but it's fun to see how the other half lives from time to time.

We were supposed to head back to Chicago on Saturday, the 26th. After waiting patiently at the airport for about four hours, our flight was canceled because of bad weather. They couldn't get us on another flight until 6:00 AM on Monday morning.

Instead of getting fussy, we decided to make the best of it. We found a hotel near the airport and settled in for a day of unplanned R&R. We took a nice long walk on the beach, checked out the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and tried to relax.

The week between Christmas and the New Year was a blur. I came down with a bug and missed a couple of days here at the studio, but I'm back and happy to be at it again. With TNNA at the end of the week, it's going to be another busy couple of weeks. That is all fine with me.

It seems like everyone has done the compulsory year-end wrap up on their blogs in the past week or so. I am going to resist the temptation. As with most years, 2009 had its ups and downs. I have had years I liked better but there have been many remarkably good things that happened this year too.

Well fed by my friend Neal's black eyed peas and greens on New Year's Day, I am heading into 2010 full of optimism.