Craftwork goes to TNNA

Lots of publishers were at the show, rolling out their new needle arts books for the spring and fall. Needle arts, in case you're wondering, includes knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cross-stitch, and needle point. No sewing, as sewing usually involves a machine and fabric. Needle arts are all crafts you can do with your hands.
We had dinner with some fabulous fiber art girls, including, Shannon Okey, Kim Werker, and Cecily Keim. To be honest our needle arts expertise doesn't go too far beyond embroidery and basic knitting, so these ladies were a real inspiration walking around with their handmade bags, sweaters and scarves all flawlessly made. We're eager to get our hands on Cecily and Kim's book, which Cecily showed us while giving us our very own tutorial. She taught Nancy how to whip up a crocheted flower in minutes and we're hoping to do the same soon.
Is it any wonder that almost everything we loved at TNNA was from the Bay Area? Oakland's Pick Up Sticks! had some great felting kits. Felting requires knitting and then basically washing what you've knit so it shrinks up and gets thick and felted. In addition to crocheting we also want to try some felting this year. From what we hear felting is great for messy knitters since all imperfections are hidden in the shrinking process.

The ipod nano case from AMH Design.

Needlepoint was also all over this show, big canvasses of lions, horses, and pumpkins lined the show halls, but what stood out to us were the unique takes on this craft.

FAS-stitch combines needlepoint and jewelry. They supply the kits and design (although it sounds like they could easily work with one of your designs), you do the needle pointing and then send it back to them, then they set the needlework you've done into a pendent, earrings or cufflinks. What we love about needlepoint is the pixilated look of it, reminiscent of Atari graphics. So we dug the primary colored block designs of FAS. We're sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this type of jewelry in the future and we can't wait to see what other crafty folks come up with mixing these mediums.

We were also drawn to the needlepoint journals and kits from AMH Design. Their lovely journals have been all over style magazines as they're both beautiful and easy to make. We were most taken with their new ipod nano case, in pinks, greens, and yellows. Combining the soft look of needlepoint with technology.

What else was there? Yarn, yarn, buttons, thread, yarn, and lots of needles.

We couldn't not tell you about one of the highlights of the show-- in the same building as TNNA, taking up three quarters of the convention center there was a Mary Kay leadership conference happening. We couldn't believe our luck either. Pink polka dotted luggage, inspirational videos, walls of Mary Kay ladies who have risen to the top, conveniently arranged in precious stone categories such as, emeralds, rubies and diamonds. It was quite a site, and we're still wondering about the Mary Kay first aid room, which took up about a stadiums worth of space. Broken nails? Melting make-up? Stray nose hairs? What, we wonder, deserves the fabulous title of a Mary Key emergency? If you've got any insider information on that one, please don't hold back. In exchange, we'll teach you how to crochet, as soon as we master the basics.