22 January 2009

Better Late than Never?

Okay. The truth is that I was going to post about TNNA yesterday, but then I read Anne's post about it. And I got a bad case of blog inferiority complex. So here goes nothing!!

First of all, you must know that my car died on the day before I left to go to TNNA in San Diego. Thankfully, though, I had non-refundable tickets! Otherwise, I am (in)famous for not spending any extra money, and I would have canceled out in a moment! Which would have been a bad thing. Because then I would not have met so many cool people, seen so many drool-worthy items, and um, lost my voice. But enough of that.

I left my car at home to deal with upon my return, and my husband and boys drove me to the Santa Rosa Airport, from which I took the airporter to the San Francisco airport. We only have one airline locally, and it generally costs $150-200 more to fly out of Santa Rosa. The Airporter was quite a trip, particularly since the driver reeked of alcohol (at 8 in the morning!) and the bus had no shocks to speak of.

After a fairly uneventful wait and flight, I arrived in San Diego in the early afternoon and headed over to the hotel. I rode in the shuttle with a TNNA board member who said that the convention would be in Long Beach next year due to the high cost of San Diego.

I was honored to be staying with Tanglewood Trish and her friends and helpers at the hotel, and when I had checked in, I headed over to the convention center and under the pretense of helping Trish, got to fondle and play with all of her yarn while I arranged the colors on one of her racks. Now this is where I really regret forgetting my camera! Trish's yarn, for those who have never felt it or seen it, is beyond description. She also had some of her hand dyed roving. My hands began to itch as soon as I saw it. Then I began drooling and trying to invent some sort of way to part her from some. But she doesn't sell it. :whimper:

After helping Trish, I headed out into the lobby to register. After looking around a bit for familiar faces, I dialed Anne Hanson. It rang and rang, and I turned around just in time to see her walking towards me! We did this another couple of times, too. It was very bizarre. Well, now I will direct you over to Anne's blog to read her account of the terrible restaurant where we ate. Urgh. We went back to see the fashion show, and then off for dessert and coffee!

The next day, I was up early to meet Miriam and Anne for the designer/teacher meeting. It was an interesting and informative meeting, and for once, I didn't feel strange knitting all the way through a meeting! Then I was off to demonstrate in the Interweave booth. I had decided to do a demo of knitting wire with a knitting doll; I used the Clover Wonder Knitter. I was glad to have chosen something simple that I could be doing while talking to everyone! I have to say that I was thrilled to be able to meet everyone from Interweave, and put faces to voices and email correspondence. They truly are a wonderful bunch, and I enjoyed every moment of hanging out with them.

Between my demonstration and the meet and greet, I didn't have much time left to peruse the show floor, so since I would only be there one day, I was off and almost literally running! Somewhere in there, I took a moment to try on (giant, 20 lb) Vogue knitwear. (Picture courtesy of Amy). Throughout this, I was getting updates on my son's swim meet! (He had a tough first event and came back for a personal best in his next event).

I am not even going to go into all the cool people and wonderful designers I met that day, or those that I saw again. It was overwhelming and amazing. Every time I turned around, I recognized someone from their Ravelry or Facebook picture, or saw people I had met previously. (Does anyone else recognize people's faces, but have a difficult time remembering people's names out of context?!) But I have to say that one of the highlights was when Lily Chin complimented me on my book!

By the end of that whirlwind day, I was so exhausted that I really felt my incredible luck in convincing Janel and Anne to go have a quiet dinner with me instead of going out with the energetic group that had gathered at the Stitch Cooperative booth. We had just an amazing and inspiring talk. I felt so lucky to be hanging out with these two incredible women!

The next morning, I caught the 7 am shuttle from the hotel to the airport and flew back to SFO to catch the second day of my son's meet! It was his first zones championship meet and it was very important to me to get back there for at least one day. I had my Supershuttle reservation all ready, and in an amazing turn of events, everything worked out exactly as planned! I was dropped off in SF at the meet, wheeled my bag into the natatorium and was in plenty of time to watch my son's events. He did pretty well, and best of all, his team won the meet! So off we went, back to the car, me pulling my suitcase behind me! By that time, I was so completely and totally exhausted that I fell asleep in the car.

The next morning I awoke without a voice! But while I lay in bed, my wonderful husband took my car down to the shop. The bad news? It was the alternator that ate TNNA Columbus. :sigh: Maybe next year!

I do have some pics of goodies, but those are going to have to wait until after I deal with a hairy little deadline situation having to with this:

these:

and this:

Wish me luck!!!!

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11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

My Dear, you finally have arrived.....


I"m looking into my crystal ball and I'm seeing you knitting......something lacey......with beads.....

(wipes sweat off of brow from such extremely hard predition...)


Ba

12:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good luck! :-)

4:42 AM  
Blogger yarn chef said...

Oh, Darn! I was hoping to get a chance to get a chance to meet you at TNNA Columbus. I'm going for sure this year since I live right here.

I'm glad you had a good time in San Diego and didn't back out of going (which is something I would have done as well). It sounds as if everyone had a grand time. I've been drooling over everyone's pictures of sunny beaches and palm trees.

5:06 AM  
Blogger lv2knit said...

Sounds like a frenetic fun fest!

5:22 AM  
Blogger Heather said...

Oh, I am so jealous! :) It sounds like an amazing time - really inspirational, too. I look forward to seeing the fruits of the trip over the next few [projects....

6:01 AM  
Blogger Rudee said...

It sounds like such an amazing time. I'm glad you got to squeeze in your son's meet. Sorry about the car :>(

6:06 AM  
Blogger Gudrun Johnston said...

Sounds like the trip was worth it! Your deadline project materials look gorgeous...look forward to seeing what you make!

8:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmm....gorgeous looking yarn and beads, I hope to see more of them soon! ;-)

1:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, good luck! Sounds like the trip was worth it.

5:00 AM  
Blogger Tanglewood Fiber Creations said...

It was fun for us too! Thanks for coming and being a part of our insanity! Trish

2:19 PM  
Blogger Margit Sage said...

It was great seeing you again at TNNA! What exactly is a Clover Wonder Knitter? I clicked on the link but a tiny photo with no description doesn't really help give clues as to its purpose...

7:50 AM  

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