Vouge Knitting Live NYC

Good Morning Everyone,

Vogue Knitting Live in NYC this past weekend, was quite an experience.  The crowds of people in the market, and the amazing booths were overwhelming at times, but so much fun.

Most fun for me was catching up with some old friends and making lots of new ones.  

I left Pawling at 8 am Saturday morning on a cloudy, gray day, with some flurries falling, and arrived home to a winter wonderland of trees that looked like they were covered in cotton balls, and streets covered with snow.  My friend, Carol, was with me and she had the job of getting us home from the train station. All was well.

Some of the sights from VKL, enjoy

One of the first people that I ran into was Nicky Epstein.  Nicky's booth with all the wonderful doll cloths from her books, KNITS FOR DOLLS AND CROCHET FOR DOLLS was a big hit with all, especially the young set.

Gabriela Serigatto and me

I had the pleasure of meeting Gabriela Serigatto www.gabrielaserigatto.com, a young, talented, fashion designer from Brazil. Her work blew me away.

 I had to stop by and see Steven Be, Steven always surprises.  The sweater he was wearing actually had some kind of film rolls knitted into it and some other unusual things. When Steven invites you to dance, even if its on the floor of VKL, who could resist?

Always a pleasure to see Kristin Omdahl, designer and author of several books. Kristin told me that this was the first time that she had her very own booth.


The fantastic display of red crocheted doilies by Ashley V. Blalock www.AshleyVBlalock
was so magnificent, truly beautiful.  Unfortunately, Ashley was not present when I was there, so I did not get to meet her.

Another Artist that I got to meet was Carol Milne, www.knittedglass.com. Carol's sculptures were so unbelievable, my photos do not do them justice. I could not capture the detail with my phone camera and the lighting just did not work.

Some other fun stuff, The Yarn Company's booth was represented by several companies.

Me and Richard 

The Verdant Gryphon, with Gryphon(owner) and Hitomi (dancer).



Artist Kelly Fleek, with her amazing creations wwwkellyfleek.com

I hope that you enjoyed visiting Vogue Knitting Live with me.

Stay warm and safe, yet another storm heading our way right now.

Margaret

Fun Gifts for the Needleworker

Good Morning Everyone,

We had a rainy, windy day yesterday and it washed away all the snow.  It was a warm day for New York in January, so no ice to deal with (hooray!).

I was packing away all the Christmas things, and contemplating all my lovely gifts and I thought that you might like to see one of them. My daughter in law, Marianne, always manages to find something special for me. This year her surprise was a new iPad cover. My iPad is the original one, and my cover was getting kind of shabby, but I could not find a new cover. I was toying with the idea of knitting or crocheting one for myself, but this is what I received as a gift.  I don't know how she does it, but always a nice surprise.

Marianne gave me a knitted calendar, that looked like a long bell pull.  The dates were printed on the fabric, and each day you unraveled that day. When I got to July, I had quite a large ball of yarn. So I cut the yarn, and started a new ball. At the end of the year, I had two balls of yarn, my year "unraveled".  The recycler in me thought "what can I do with these 2 balls of yarn?". 

Well this is what I did with them, I turned them into a scarf, and put it in Marianne's Christmas stocking :-).

Have a great day,

Margaret

Goodbye 2013

Happy New Year Everyone,

Last year, when I did a post called "GOODBYE 2012) it was my most read blog post to date. Since then I had another blog post (The Clog Blog) Which was my all time most read blog post. Literally thousands of readers checked that one out.

Here it is, another year gone by, and as I look back, it was another eventful year.  A year filled with highs and lows. Some great happenings, and some not so great.  I read somewhere once "that you do not know when you are on a mountain top, unless you have been in the valley".

My year began with trying to finish up loose ends on my book RUNWAY CROCHET.  It was a fun book to do, and I had lots of help from fellow designers.  I had just come off a rough year and I was so grateful for such talented friends - Shelby Allaho, Ellen Gormley, Tatyana Mirer, Shannon Mullett-Bowlsby and Sharon Hubert Valencia, all contributed designs.  Gwen Blakely-Kinsler, founder of CGOA, recently reviewed the book and you can see her review here.

http://crochetqueen-royalramblings.blogspot.com/2013/11/book-review-runway-crochet-by-margaret.html

At the same time that I was finishing up RUNWAY, I was starting on GRANNY SQUARE FLOWERS. Unbelievable, one book not quite finished, next one in the works already. GRANNY SQUARE FLOWERS was my second book on beloved grannies.  Isn't it wonderful, from Runway fashions to Granny Squares in the same year! Lots of room for both in my world.

My first book on granny Squares "THE GRANNY SQUARE BOOK, was doing so well, I was asked to do another.


                                            

                                                       
                 

First Granny book was so popular that it has been translated into Italian.  Some of my other books have been translated into other languages, but this one is the first in Italian, so it is a little special to me.  Besides, I have a bunch of new friends from Italy on Facebook, such fun!

I'm afraid I got a little over the top with the Granny motif. While at the conferences, I was wearing my granny square sweater, my granny clogs and made granny square cookies. Never enough of granny, she's been good to me :-)

Early in the year, I had finished with the loose ends on RUNWAY, started second Granny book, finished that one and no sooner was that one finished, started on another (title still under wraps, but due out soon).  If that wasn't enough I am now working on another new book (also still under wraps). Should keep me busy for awhile.

In addition to all the books, I did several workshops throughout the year.  I attended and taught at CGOA events in Indiana and North Carolina. Did book signings at several events, like the New York Sheep and Wool Festival and Stitches East in Hartford, Ct.

Visited and taught workshops in two really lovely shops, one in Middletown, NY,  one in Wallingford, Ct. Met so many wonderful people had such a great time.  

Here are some photos from my workshops and visits, too numerous to post them all;

Yarn Tasting at the Yarn Box in Pawling, New York, such fun, about 84 people attended the festivities in the newly renovated shop. Marie, owner of the shop, and Erlinda, from Cascade yarns provided yarn, food and fun for all.

                    American Needleworks in Middletown, New York

American Needleworks in Middletown, NY

Country Yarns in Wallingford, Ct

                     Lauren at Country Yarns in Wallingford, CT.

                      Hooked on Dutchess, Poughkeepsie, New York

Even had time to make myself one new sweater, featuring one of my favorite things, the 
butterfly.

Have a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year,

Margaret