getting naked with knitspot

I first met Anne Hanson at TNNA in Long Beach. It was my first TNNA, and I had not yet made the switch from graphic artist to full time fiberista. I didn't really know what to expect, and I was fairly overwhelmed. Anne and I had only corresponded before, but she came into the lobby, recognized me, and greeted me as a long lost friend. I will never forget that moment; I relaxed and felt at home immediately, even in the face of all that yarn and fiber, and all those people. Anne is like that. She's warm and intelligent and welcoming and gracious. She kept telling me to chuck it all and pursue my fibery dreams full time. (I'm thinking she was right.) And today when faced with a situation where I'm trying to decide what to do, I often think WWAHD (What Would Anne Hanson Do)? She inspires me: to be a kinder person, to be a better designer, to be more open. I hope you all get a chance to meet her one of these days, perhaps to take a class or chat.

But I'm sure you're wondering about the naked part, right? I feel lucky to have spoken with Anne about her BareNaked Knitspot Club before it even began. We were at another TNNA, and we were fondling naked (undyed) yarns. Anne has a background in textiles, and it's very cool to watch her feel the fibers and judge the "hand" of different yarns. She said she was thinking of doing a club that was exclusively undyed yarns and wondered if people would be as amazed by the different fibers, natural colors and options as she was. Yes yes yes, I said! We fondled some more. TNNA ended. We went home. Months passed. And all of a sudden I saw that she and Mr. Knitspot had come up with this fantastically cool club. You can read about it here and here. 2012 was the first year, and since it was so successful last year, Anne has decided to do it again in 2013!


So. What can you do? Go. Check it out. Lovely yarns, a range of Anne's great patterns.

Mr. and Mrs. Knitspot do it right.