Another shop owner shared that she had a "TNNA Hangover". Going to the trade show is overwhelming. Yarn and products are everywhere and many decisions are made, which becomes exhausting.Jill and I arrived Thursday at 5pm, so we parked the car, checked into the hotel and walked over to the convention center to register. That was perfect timing as there were no lines. We then checked out the Great Wall of Yarn, which is hank after hank of beautiful new yarns. We check out what appeals to us, looking mostly at the vendors we currently deal with but paying attention to others too. Snips of yarn are available to tape into a book with all the yarn names and info. We don't take much as we prefer to look at the real thing in the booths.
Friday started early with coffee/tea and a scone before getting to the convention center about 7:30. I had a class from 8-10 and Jill got the car and unloaded our booth display. She then had a volunteer stint for the Fashion Show, collecting garments from 9-10. We met up after, set up the new products display and began booth set up, breaking only for lunch at the North Market, a great farmer's market a couple of blocks away. The exhibit hall was so hot that we needed to go back to the room to freshen up before returning for the Fashion Show. Jill helped with dressing models and I got to sit and watch the show (and drink a beer!). After the show, we met with others for a dinner with the interns. We got to meet Sonja, who will intern with Y2Knit this summer.
Sat-Mon we worked the booth, selling pattern and book orders and meeting wonderful shop owners. We also took turns going around the market to shop, network, check out products, etc. So much to see and it becomes overwhelming; however, we made some great connections and ordered some cool new products. More on those as they arrive. Market closed at 3pm on Monday, we packed up and were on the road at 4:22pm, arriving back in Funkstown about 11 pm. We crashed for a few hours after unloading the car, getting up at 4am to take Jill to the airport.
The women in the photo are a mother-daughter shop owners. The shop has Skein in it--I think the Skein Attraction. Anyway, we met them at Stitches East last year. They didn't order patterns then, just books, but were ready to place an order at TNNA.
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