TNNA 2013 in Long Beach Recap

It’s been less than 10 days since we got back from Long Beach, but already those short days feel like a blur! The Long Beach trade show was our third time showing at TNNA and each time it seems like we have a whole new set of challenges to overcome.

This time, the challenge was that Teresa and Carina, our now seasoned TNNA travellers, were not able to come to California. Carina is now a full-time baker at Meinhardt Fine Foods (she still comes in to dye with us on her days off!), and Teresa was due to deliver her third baby during the exact dates of TNNA. In fact, with a labour lasting less than an hour, Teresa delivered her baby at 11 pm the night before we flew to LAX! Harrison, Dan and I rushed to the hospital after getting the news and we hung out until about 1 am so we could catch a glimpse of the new baby, Matthew.

So, our newest studio assistants, Ginny and Liisa came to TNNA for the first time. Oh, the excited twinkle in their eyes as we walked the show floor and they saw booth after booth of every yarn imaginable! It was so nice to have them at TNNA, spinning and chatting with shop owners and designers. I think their enthusiasm was adorably infectious. And as a bonus, Ginny’s mom, Diane, was also in Long Beach with us and we all had some nice dinners together.

We set up in record time. We were definitely done before 12:30 pm on Friday afternoon, giving us enough time to grab a proper lunch and for me to have a nap, miss my alarm, and nearly sleep through the Sample It. But here’s us setting up the booth in less than 4 seconds:

Sample It was exciting both as a vendor and as a shopper. I managed to snag one of Namaste’s offerings as well as one of Schacht’s new Zoom Looms. Check out the photo of Denise showing off a scarf made entirely of handwoven squares! It was made using the new Schacht Zoom Loom and the scarf was designed and woven by John Mullarkey. And our own Rushing Tide shawl and sock kit offering sold out too. We stayed afterwards for the fashion show in which we had two garments: the Raindrops Pullover designed by Emily Wessel in our Merino Silk Fine and the Budding Garden Pullover designed by Alison Green in our Superwash DK. Also in our booth, we were showing the gorgeous Chrysanthemum shawl designed by Emily Wessel, also in our Merino Silk Fine. All these patterns will be available shortly.

As people seem to say, the Winter TNNA show is slower than the Columbus show, but we did better than we did last year in Phoenix, despite the low attendance. I can’t complain, it’s a pretty ideal result. We are looking forward to working with many new shops this coming year, including Fancy Tiger Crafts, Web-sters, and Pudding Yarn, among many others.

This year’s TNNA was held on Superbowl Sunday, sadly, so I missed hanging out with my husband and our friends, but Liisa and I caught the last 15 minutes or so of the game over a massive and deeply fabulous plate of BBQ. Saturday night, Denise from Schacht and Liisa and I had dinner at the dueling piano bar but happily got there early enough to avoid the hysteria of the actual piano music and drunk people.

And on the last night, after nailing down the lid to our shipping crate, Ginny, Diane, Liisa and I went to the Irish pub across the street for early dinner and to catch the very last bit of sunshine, followed by a surprisingly well-produced ghost tour at the haunted Queen Mary hotel/ship. As Liisa said over the weekend, “Can’t wait to do this again!“.