TNNA Report Winter 2012

Amber, Jess and I just got back from Phoenix where we attended the Winter National Needle Arts trade show. This is where we get to see what's new and exciting in the yarn world and order new yarns, books, patterns and notions! We were really excited to go since we have lots more space now and can expand our yarn offerings! We will have lots of lovely new products coming into the shop over the next few months that we ordered - here is a small preview of some of the awesomeness to come...

We have been dreaming of the Fibre Company yarns for some time and as soon as we walked into their booth - and were greeted by the charming and adorable Courtney Kelley and Hannah Fettig - we knew it was the right company for us. Their gorgeous yarns are all spun and dyed in the U.S. They have designed fabulous patterns so you will have no problem finding something to knit with them. We picked out palettes of two yarns - the Road to China Light (a fingering weight alpaca/silk/cashmere/camel blend) and Terra (a worsted merino/silk/alpaca blend) and we ordered lots of their beautiful patterns. We also ordered Hannah Fettig's new book of patterns, Coastal Knits, that you will love!

Ysolda Teague was signing copies of her two new books, Whimsical Little Knits 3 and Saturday Treat. Jess and Ysolda were both sporting their new button hats (a pattern from WLK3) so it was a great photo-op moment! Both new books are on their way to the store and Ysolda will be treating us to a visit here at Fancy Tiger Crafts on February 17th to do a lecture and book signing!

One thing we knew we wanted to carry once we moved into our new store was the Schacht Cricket Loom. This affordable, table-top, rigid heddle loom is a great beginner loom and introduction to weaving - and made right in Boulder! We were able to try it out and we think you will love it! Look forward to its arrival in late spring and classes with Liz Gibson this summer.

It's always fun when we get to visit the Habu booth. We love them for their many interesting and unique yarns and picked up three new Habu yarns. We are super excited about this paper chenille yarn and the matching pattern by Cocoknits for little airplant pot holders. Perfection.

The most exciting thing that happened at TNNA was meeting with our favorite producer of heritage breed US yarns -  Jeane deCoster, the woman behind Elemental Affects. We will be working with Jeane to develop her new US grown and milled 100% Romney yarn, our first private label yarn. We were able to decide on the palette to be dyed and we will be coming up with names and labels for the new yarn. It is a beautiful, hardy yarn that is everything we could have ever dreamed our first yarn would be. We can hardly wait to share all the details so stay tuned.

At the end of it all we couldn't resist getting our country on with Ysolda and Miriam Felton!