We began with a class taught by Marianne Isager. She is such a lovely person and is passionate about her work. She began serendipitously in the business nearly 30 years ago by taking over a yarn business from an ailing mentor/friend. She still loves the yarns (with good reason) and creates her exquisite garments by hand.
Samples of the children's garments from her upcoming book based on Hans Christian Andersen fables were available for us to see and touch. If you don't have a child to knit for in your life, I suggest finding one now. You will want to knit these. We also received handouts and practiced swatching some of the texture and color patterns from this book. Jan learned to double-knit!
We were able to flip through her daughter Helga's book which will be coming out in the coming year as well.
We've purchased a wide array of DK to worsted weight yarns for fall. Hand dyed, eco friendly, and Made in the U.S.A. will all make their mark on our inventory in the coming months. Pattern support is on its way as well. We combed through several independent pattern companies' stock to select just the right designs to go with the new yarns. Jan went crazy over hand dyed lace weight silk and we both drooled over Tonos - a new yarn from Misti International.
If I ever get over the sickness I picked up on the plane on the way back from the show I have some work cut out for me. I'll be rearranging the inventory to move the wool stock to be more by gauge. And I've begun building a new system for organizing the leaflet patterns.
And the sickness sock is nearly complete. I started it on the plane during my return flight. I didn't know it would be a knee sock. I adore Opal's Hundertwasser colors and started with a toe up sock from my head. As I spent more and more time in bed recovering from this horrid cough, the sock got longer and longer and I really like knee socks in the winter and wouldn't they look cute over the tops of the Pliner boots I acquired last season and the nylon in the sock yarn will keep them from wearing out too soon and I should really plan on a nice foldover at the top . . .
Toe up socks are cool because you can try them on and experiment as you go. I added shaping at the calf and about 4 inches of tighter ribbing at the top for a good supportive foldover. I don't think I'll use the same colorway for the second sock. Why should I when there are so many others out there from which to choose?
