Santa Fe Trunk Show and Columbus Fiber Haul

When I arrived back from Columbus late Thursday...more like Thursday evening...I had Friday to rest before turning right around to head to Santa Fe for my joint trunk show with Amor and Crave Yarn.You wouldn't have really known it though, I was pretty excited about this trunk show. We were a little late arriving because of all the Balloon Fiesta traffic but we made it before the store actually opened. I liked the space and the layout a lot better in Santa Fe. People had room to move about, my shawls had room to be shown and viewed, and people could still come and sit and knit if they wanted to. Here, let me show what things looked like....

One of the things I am thankful for is learning from the first trunk show. For example, Deborah, the owner of Yarn and Coffee, suggested that I bring copies of all my available patterns so people can see what they are purchasing. That never would have occurred to me to do so I did just that....

On the left are the three patterns in Sexy Spines Vol 1, on the right is Volume 2 and in the middle are all of my other patterns. And it was very useful, people looked at them and through them. I wish I had these for the Columbus show but like I said, I knew I would learn a few things! Everyone there was wearing a Claudia Donnelly Designs garment (with the exception of Amor, she was wearing her own design which was FABULOUS!). Deborah had on a Cornwall Coast and Leticia was wearing her Vintage Bordeaux that she made with lace weight. The last time I was there I saw it in progress so I was super excited to see it on her...

Isn't it fabulous?! I love it in lace weight! I had my supporters with me too..Mom and Aunt Betty came along. It was still in the middle of Spinzilla so Mom brought along her wheel so she could crank away on some yardage for her team. Aunt Betty is currently knitting Nocturna, the first shawl from my new series.

This is Deborah and I, she is the owner of the shop...

And this is Amor of Crave Yarn. She is amazing. I learned so much from her about really greeting people when they come into the shop, and presenting your product. These may sound like easy things but they aren't necessarily nor always easy. Some people that came into the shop were almost intimidated by my shawls so I had to be able to read that and talk to them about the easiest shawls I have, what makes them easy and why I think they could do them. I will get better as time goes by and I do more shows. It also has me thinking that I maybe need to develop a few more easy level, or beginner level shawls to add to my collection. We had such a good time talking to people though. I think I may have met my biggest fan, next to my mother. She came into the shop with all this energy and told me her name and her Ravelry name. She said that she reads my blog, follows me on Facebook and now Instagram, is in my Ravelry Group, etc. and when she read that I was doing a trunk show she immediately put it on her calendar as not to miss it. Thanks Lil, you helped make my day awesome!

Here is a pic of the yarn and fiber haul I brought back from Columbus...

Of what I brought home, this was mine....

This is Baah in the colorway Pecan. Its their MCN and I just fell in love with the colorway. I don't think I have anything in my pattern collection knitted up yet in this color. Its gorgeous. When I was looking for fiber I looked for either local stuff or stuff that I couldn't find at our Albuquerque shop before it closed and that isn't (yet) at Yarn & Coffee in Santa Fe.

And this is Anzula Dreamy, the blend is merino, cashmere and silk in the colorway Madam. I love it! I love this colorway and cannot wait to design with it again. I got Mom some Baah and Anzula, some Madelinetosh Unicorn Tails and Silk Hankies dyed by Frabjous Fibers. I got Dilshani a skein of Baah in the colorway Emerald Isle for socks and 3 skeins of yarn done by the folks that do Panda Silk, but its sport weight and I cannot for the life of me remember what its called.....Panda something. At any rate, it will be stunning with her coloring.

Here is a pic of the Frabjous Fibers my Mom spun in a gradient way and the colors are amazing. She beat her personal goal in Spinzilla of spinning over a mile and a half of yarn! Wow. That just blows me away. She says shes gonna knit Grass Harp with it! Cant wait to see that!

In addition to the Santa Fe trunk show being done as soon as I got back from Columbus, so did my duties as cat sitter begin. My friend Kim is on a Viking River Cruise in Switzerland, Germany, France, etc living it up! I am making sure her kitty Marley is not neglected. She has gotten close enough to me to allow me to take some photos. Shes a beautiful Burmese with bright blue eyes....

That brings me current! I am working on something special that I cannot share any pics of until it is completed and gifted away, then I will share a bunch of pics. I am also working on the Be Simple Shawl in Freia Hand Painted Yarn in the colorway Dusk. I knitted on it while I was away. When I released Sexy Spines Volume 2, I needed something easy for my brain to just relax for a while. This was it. Yarn & Coffee has a sample of it above all their Freia yarn. Seeing this I knew, as easy as it was, I wanted to make one. And the timing couldn't have been better....

I absolutely love the colors. A mustardy yellow and rust and grey will also get worked into this soon. I will post progress pics of the gradient colors as they change.

I would love to hear what you are working on, what you are working with, do you love it, where did you get it, etc. Until the next time.....Knit On!!