Just got home from TNNA where I suffered from camnesia (forgetting I had a camera), so I have no pictures. It was an overwhelming experience with the amount of yarn and related knitting stuff to see. Amy and I met Casey of Ravelry and I got to see Cat Bordhi spin yarn by rolling it around on the floor.
Not many yarn samples were given out (darn!). But I cam home with lots of small fiber samples and a Louet drop spindle kit that I won in the silent auction (I outbid Annie Modesitt by $5) and got a spindle, 1/2 of roving and a sample of Soak wool wash for a $15 bid! I had 2 great classes with Sally Melville (of The Knit Stitch series of books) Class 1 was on Intarsia. Class Two was multiple ways to carry 2 yarns for Fair Isle knitting–one yarn in each hand, both in right, both in left, and the Andean method (where you strand the yarn around your neck and manage the working yarn with your left thumb) purling all the stitches in the round. The Andean method was new to me and works really well. I knew most of her tricks already, so its good to be validated in my self taught ways, and it was great to see how someone who is a professional teacher manages a classroom and approaches the methods with the students.
I also had a class with Lorilee Beltman on continental knitting. She does it slightly different than me, so again its good to have another approach and to feel like I can handle a class of 10 or more people learning something new.
So, off to soak my feet think about more class ideas for Silk Road Textiles! They have a bunch of new yarn coming in soon too!