My First National Needle Arts Conference

I know that I think about knitting all the time but attending The National Needle Arts Conference (TNNA) has given me a new perspective on knitting.  It has opened my thoughts about how much more of a role knitting has in my life.  It was an amazing experience and I got to travel and attend this event with designer Ann Young.  She is fun, spontaneous, kind and gentle, and opinionated in a good way!  The conference was held in Cleveland, OH which turned out to be a very beautiful and fun city.  I had the pleasure of being Ann’s roommate, but I am not sure she had the same mutual feeling!  The first morning she smiled her beautiful smile and said, “what was with all that heavy breathing last night?”  Now I have never heard anyone call my snoring “heavy breathing”.  We laughed and she said, “at least it didn’t go on all night, only when I was trying to go to sleep!”  Haha, poor Ann, I did not disclose this information when we discussed us being roommates!  I really did enjoy traveling with her though.  

TNNA is filled with classes, new products and networking opportunities.  I attended several classes and am working on how to put those new ideas and techniques into my current classes and my blog.  I took classes with amazing designers like Grace Akhrem, Gwen Bortner, and Kate Atherley.  I learned about finishing projects, sizing garments and how to improve my teaching skills.  TNNA is set up for retailers so the classes they offer, and the marketplace is geared for shop owners rather than consumers.  It is where all the yarn shop owners go to see new products, learn about new designs so that they can bring it all back to their customers.

There was a huge fashion show, a real fashion show with an elevated runway and professional models.  It was so much fun, and incredible to see knitting as more than a craft but also as fashion.  They modeled more than 50 designs and I liked, and wanted to make, more than 20 of them.  So much to knit and so little time!  I can’t decide which one to make first!  Seeing all those ideas in one place was a bit overwhelming.  I have not even mentioned all the beautiful yarn I saw.  

As I mentioned, the booths were set up for retailers.  This is the conference where the wholesalers meet the retailers and order new yarn and product lines.  It’s not really set up for the consumer like Wool Market and Yarn Fest.  It was huge with lots of booths with all the new fall colors and winter products.  There is another show in the winter that will show all the spring and summer products and colors.  Of course, there are so many garment models on display it is hard to pick favorites.  It was very frustrating to come home and have so many class projects in the queue because I just wanted to start knitting some of these new designs I saw.  I did purchase yarn for a sweater.  Can you believe I held it to only one sweater?  I can’t either and I plan to start that right after I get done with my fall classes.  

I saw so many ideas that I can use in my classes and on my blog.  I see a bigger vision of what I can do with my business.  Knitting is huge.  Yarn and fiber have never been so beautiful and so available.  Seeing so many local yarn shop owners and meeting other teachers has opened my eyes and helped me to see where my teaching could go next.  I am very excited about all the possibilities I have with this and with my blog.  If you have ideas for classes or blog posts be sure to share them in the comments below.  I love to hear from you.

Knit with Love my Friend,