TNNA 2017

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Robin

Every January I meet up with my long-time friend, Irene, who owns Cotton Clouds, a mail-order business based in Arizona, to go to the Winter Show of The National Needlearts Association. Since I’ve been going it’s been in San Diego (2016 and 2014) or Phoenix (2015 and 2012) or Long Beach (2013 and 2011). This year it was in San Jose, only an hour and a half from here (on a weekend without commute traffic), so Irene flew to Sacramento and spent a few days here before we both drove to the show.

TNNA wasn’t the only thing in town on Saturday.

There was plenty of pink visible.

Other colors too. Why does Irene always look more excited in these photos of us together?

Big fat yarns seem to be the new thing this year.

I managed to find a few sheep.

After spending a few hours at the show we checked into our hotel where we had a room on the 5th floor.

This is the view…

…and this is the art work on the wall.

We went back to the convention hall. We had been seeing groups of young (mostly) men (mostly) wearing black (mostly) who were attending something in the convention center but didn’t quite fit the demographics of the yarn buyers and sellers. Irene spoke to one group and we found out that they were competing in the Super Smash Brothers Tournament, a Nintendo gaming event (if I’m using the right terminology). It’s worth looking at this link for a view into an obsession a little different than the fiber one (maybe takes up less space?) A quote from the article: “For video games you don’t need depth perception at all,” he explains, sounding almost Baudrillardian, “there’s no depth: it’s just right there.” Put in perspective, that quote is from a gamer who is blind in on eye. We may bring out fiber swatches and knitting needles. They bring their own controllers.

Back to the Fiber Hall.

I love how this sign was made.

Very clever.

I like the look of this fabric…

…woven on this loom which I have in the shop and eventually on the website.

We talked with a lot of vendors. This is Francis Chester-Cestari who has sheep and a fiber mill in Virginia and promotes American grown fiber. Irene is looking at some of his U.S. grown cotton. Notice the book on his table. That’s his memoir.

I didn’t come away from this show with all the new products that I usually do, although I do have some lotion bars with sheep on them (see photo in one of the collections above). There weren’t as many vendors and I really don’t need more yarn. What I need is a better way to market what I already have before adding more. So my investment this year is a new modern website! You’ll be hearing more about that in a month or so.

CNCH 2016

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Robin

The Conference of Northern California Handweavers (CNCH for short) is in Modesto this year and I have a booth. I wish I had taken photos of all the “before” but I didn’t think of that until I was facing my booth after getting everything out of the trailer. The “before” would have been of weaving samples to show off the new yarns in projects, making signs, setting up pasture fences so that it’s easy for Other People to take care of sheep, tearing my shop apart to box up the things I’m taking, and even backing the trailer into a loading dock with a curb on one side and a car on the other and blocking 3 lanes of traffic while doing it. The other is a lot of work, but that last one is the most stressful. Thanks, Henry Clemes, for moral support and rights and lefts.This photo doesn’t do justice to the pile of stuff. Most of them are still out in the aisle. A couple of people stopped by and were amazed that I actually fit it all in. What you don’t notice in the photo because of the black drapes are the 16 gridwall panels that create the booth. Those get heavier every year.I got to Modesto about 4:30 p.m., worked until 8:40 on Thursday and then from about 9:30 to 1:30 today. The show opened at 2. Here is a tour of my booth:Rusty’s Yarn faces the aisle.On the 3-grid tower in the middle I have the Meow and Woof yarns……Sprout yarns……and Mountain Meadows, all fingering weight yarns with sample scarves.Around the inside of the booth is the Timm Ranch yarn with blankets I wove and Mary’s beautiful shawl. There are Jacob sheepskins too–only a few left.Moving to the left there is the Jacob yarn and Imperial Yarn Company’s “Anna”, a wool/cotton yarn that weaves up quickly (at 5 epi).Going around the back wall I have rigid heddle looms from Ashford and Schacht and the Ashford “Katie”, which is a wonderful very portable 8-shaft table loom.Purl & Loop Stash Blaster looms and Swatch Maker looms are brand new. Next to them are the Zoom looms with the critter kits that use squares made on the them.Coming around the corner I have photo notecards, buttons, and Meridian Jacobs bags and aprons.I have added to the horn buttons. My son helped finish off another batch.Last there is Cormo Sport yarn dyed by Sincere Sheep. You can see one of the samples that I wove. It is incredibly soft and spongy (not a good wool term, but is it better than squishy? I probably need a different adjective, but it’s late.) I brought Power Scour, etc with me but barely found room for a few bottles.

I left an awful lot home but tried to bring mostly things that I didn’t think other vendors would have. I left home books and most of the equipment and had to gamble on which yarns to bring. I hope that tonight’s TV news coverage of the “yarn bombing” in Modesto (that I haven’t seen but heard about) will bring customers to the show tomorrow and make this all worthwhile.

Road Trip – 2nd half of Day 8 – Oregon

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Robin

After touring Pendleton Woolen Mill we got on the road again. Just as we were getting on the freeway to head west we saw this scene:Herding cattle next to the freeway and across lawn? Look again. These are beautifully made full-size sculptures.Not far from Pendleton Highway 84 meets up with and then follows the Columbia River. We followed the Columbia River. This is the John Day Lock and Dam. In some places we saw windsurfers on the river, but elsewhere there were huge barges. I don’t have photos but we also saw several bighorn sheep on the rocky cliffs just south of the highway in this area. We turned south onto Highway 97 which would take us all the way to California. More stunning landscape, sky and wide, open spaces. Rolling hills of wheat. Isolated ranches and distant mountains.

We passed the town of Shaniko (population of 36 at 2010 census) which was known in 1900 as the Wool Capitol of the World. The largest landowner at the time was R.R. Hinton who had first homesteaded in the 1870’s and continued to purchase land until his Imperial Stock Ranch became the largest individually owned ranch in Oregon. The Imperial Stock Ranch eventually ran 35,000 head of sheep in 12-14 bands that would winter on the home ranch and be trailed to summer range on Forest Service land. Hinton was involved in breeding programs that led to the one of the first sheep breeds developed in the U.S., the large-framed, fine-wooled Columbia sheep, originating from Lincoln and Rambouillet ancestors. The newly formed town of Shaniko (built as the railroad reached the area) was less than 15 miles from the Imperial Stock Ranch’s headquarters, and its wool warehouse shipped 4 million pounds of wool by rail in 1901.Imperial Stock Ranch is now owned by Dan and Jeannie Carver and they have developed the Imperial Yarn Company using Columbia wool produced on the ranch and elsewhere in the state. This is some of my favorite yarn in the shop and I have recently been using it to weave blankets. Since we were going to be driving through this part of Oregon I had asked if we could visit the ranch. The photo above is the road into the headquarters.

Keelia, lives on the ranch and was there to show us around the headquarters. This is the house built by R.R. Hinton, now headquarters of the Yarn Company.The headquarters complex has been entered into the National Register of Historic Places and the history of the buildings and the Hinton family are available for review.

The grain silo. See the detail of the construction below. This is one sturdy building. We also saw the shearing shed and other buildings that are still in use.A few bottle lambs hand out under the house to greet visitors. As we left the ranch headquarters some of the sheep were near enough the road to get some photographs of them in this majestic setting.Back on the road on the last leg of the trip.

Next post: California’s scenery isn’t too shabby either. Mt. Shasta and home.

Robin Goes Shopping

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Robin

I am not a shopper. I once told the guys at Higby’s, my favorite feed store (that carries some clothing), that if either they or Ace Hardware carried underwear then I’d never have to shop anywhere else.

Shopping for yarn and fiber related toys is another story. That’s what the TNNA trade show is all about. It is where shop owners go to find all the products they want in their shops for the coming year. Every year I meet up with my friend, Irene, of Cotton Clouds and we spend the weekend shopping and working on weaving ideas and solving life problems.

This year’s show was in San Diego, but the show was in the Convention Center so no scenic outdoor photos. You don’t get to buy things in the main trade show hall because its set up to place orders for items to be carried in stores. However, the first night they have Sample It, where vendors can sell one or two of their new items and us hungry shoppers can go away with yarn and other goodies. This is the line to get into Sample It. This is the Yarn Wall where you can fill pages with samples of all the distributors newest yarns.The Spinning and Weaving market segment now has it’s own group under the umbrella of TNNA. Spinzilla was a very successful promotion that began in 2013 to raise funds to bring the spinning craft into the Needle Arts Mentoring program. Meridian Jacobs hosted a team last year and will do so again in 2014.There are also opportunities to take classes. I took a class to learn about making felfs. Wouldn’t these be nice in Jacob yarn with a horn button? cardboard sheep

I found sheep without even going outside……in all colors……and styles……and things in colors of sheep. Some will be arriving in my shop soon!Yarn is presented in a variety of ways.Hungry?This one reminds me of gummy worms but I don’t think that is the intent.Unusual colors were inspired by a yarn enthusiast who is involved in cat rescue.But the best thing about going to TNNA is getting together with friends… …during the show… …and after.

Order Out of Chaos

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Robin

I made all these buttons this week. Here are better photos. I think I have a new audience for my buttons….…How about using them for sorting practice for little kids? You can sort by shape, color, and size. You can arrange them in order of size. So they’re not just for sweaters anymore! But at $6/button this would be a pricey sorting kit.

Art as Inspiration for Weaving

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Robin

At the request of a nearby weaving guild I developed a class about using favorite artwork and photos as inspiration for weaving designs. This was based on the show that I had at the Artery a few years ago and that was the subject of a Handwoven article. This is the publicity photo we used for the show. Our model is wearing my Red Canna (Georgia O’Keefe) chenille shawl and Julia’s felt hat.

Participants in the class brought favorite photos or artwork to use as a basis for designing weaving projects and used……colored pencils and…rayon chenille for their designs. Here are some of the plans: Won’t it be fun to see these projects when they are finished?

A Shopping Weekend

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Robin

TNNA is The National Needlearts Association. The annual winter trade show was in Long Beach and I spent the weekend there with my friend, Irene, from Cotton Clouds and thousands of other yarn store owners, designers, and fiber lovers. This kind of a show has a different feel than the typical shows where I go as a vendor. Part of that is certainly because I’m on the fun (buying) side of the table instead of the work (selling) side. But it is also because this is where the manufacturers and producers go to sell their fiber, yarns, patterns and accessories to yarn stores and other retailers.

Irene and I always look forward to this weekend because, although we collaborate on the phone and by e-mail all year its nice to be face-to-face (and share a room at the hotel). There are a classes offered and I had fun making this needle felted bird. It’s good to find out how other people teach topics that you already offer.This is a crocheted coral reef in the lobby.There are autograph sessions for authors with new books. Mom wrote this book, but it features Ava (aka Annie), who knitted the scarf, and also signed every book.

Isn’t she adorable? Reminds me of Katie.

For the most part photography is not allowed on the show floor, but usually vendors don’t mind if you are going to buy their things. Here is a glimpse of some of what UPS will be delivering soon.

Are you as excited as I am? Make sure you sign up for my e-newsletter so you will know when these new items (and more) arrive!

A Few of the Week’s Accomplishments in the Shop

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Robin

Baby blankets still on the loom. Baby blankets off the loom and finished. I put on a 21 yard warp and wove 14 blankets. I hemmed some this time instead of leaving short fringe. I’ll be interested in seeing what buyers like best. The rest are shown on this page.

I taught several classes this week. This is WWW (Weekly Weaving Workshop), sometimes known as Wednesday Weavers Workshop, or Warped Women Weaving, or….It could go on. It is a drop-in class and we usually discuss any questions that people bring up about anything weaving and yarn related. (Some people come for a therapy session with friends.) Last week I said that I’d teach how to read weaving drafts. Those are the “recipes” for weaving patterns. This week we’ll look at drafts for “color and weave” effects.On Friday I taught a rigid heddle weaving class. This is Tanda with her beautiful new scarf woven of Jaggerspun Zephyr yarn on her rigid heddle loom.

On Saturday and Sunday I taught a spinning class. I can’t believe I didn’t take photos. That was followed by an interview about Fibershed for a well-known (in the fiber world) magazine. You’ll hear more about that when it’s published.

When I’m working in the shop or at the computer all day, instead of in the barn, I try to make sure I go for a walk or a bike ride with Rusty. That’s good for both of us. I’d probably get more exercise if I didn’t take my camera because I always get distracted by the view… …whether it’s close-up or……in the distance.

Color Wheel in Fiber

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Robin

I taught Exploring the Fiber Color Wheel this week. Here are some photos.

We used the three primary colors to create secondary and tertiary colors and complete a 12-color color wheel. Dona’s wheel has some other blends in it as well.

Mary used printer’s primaries (cyan, magenta, yellow) to create her color wheel.

Jean also used printer’s primaries and spun her fiber.

We made tints by carding with white.

Here is the left-overs from the floor and the carders blended together.

Today I had a chance to card my own colors. I will spin this tomorrow night at Spinners Night Out. What will I weave???

You can find out more about this class by clicking here.

Where’s Robin?

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Robin

TNNA is The National Needle Arts Association. I have just been at the winter trade show in Phoenix. This is where wholesalers show their newest lines of yarns, accessories, and gadgets and retailers make selections while trying not to max out their credit cards.

Sunrise over Phoenix from the 6th floor of the Hilton. I stayed with my good friend, Irene, owner of Cotton Clouds.

This is the inside of the Hilton looking down from the 6th floor. I reminded me of the space-age Jetson’s. (I know this dates me.) The Hilton was a nice hotel, but the internet was down for the last night we were there. That was frustrating as I wanted to work on my new newsletter (stay tuned) and the blog. But there were other things to keep us entertained.

Inside the Phoenix Convention Center.

I took a class on Thursday afternoon and in the evening went to Sample It where retailers can purchase selected items from the vendors so that they have something to take home. Look at what I got!

The show opened on Friday with an Apache blessing.

This is the first show since the Spinning & Weaving Group became a part of TNNA. Their debut was marked by some fun garments in the fashion show…

…and a beautiful blanket.

Irene and I spent time discussing new weaving projects and choosing items for both of our stores.

Someone who will remain nameless pretending that she is not in a booth full of wool.

Irene and I have been friends for 31 years. We had a great time together and I am grateful to her for helping me with things relating to my business. (I’m also grateful that she had a car in Phoenix and is willing to ship all my clothes home to me because I couldn’t take them and my new books and fun samples home on the plane.)

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