By a stroke of great good luck, CraftGossip had a Secret Snoop on hand at the January trade show of The National NeedleArts Association in Long Beach, CA, USA. Here’s her report:
Knitting: The hottest things on 2-or-more sticks continues to be the shawl, wrap or capelet. These look good on everybody – even chunky girls like me.
What’s interesting here, is the variety of awesome closures – imported, domestic, handmade, machine made, clay, metal, wood, etc. These closures are usually just a ring with a sharp stick – so it’s an awesome opportunity for the woodworking, beadwork, pottery, and jewelry making bloggers. If someone can show folks how to carve, bead or craft their own closures, I think this would be really popular!
Amigurumi knitting seemd to have less of a presence during this show – it was the wrap that “stole” the show.
Cross Stitch: Cross Stitch patterns designers were not represented at all. Cross Stitch vendors are making it loud and clear that they prefer to attend an entirely separate trade show, without yarn and needlepoint respresented. This is causing a lot of concern among the independent shop owners who can only afford to attend 1 or 2 shows per year to buy. Many of these shops feature knitting supplies, cross stitch, and needlepoint – so they’re not happy campers right now.
Crewel: Only a handfull of crewel vendors were onhand, and their stuff was just same ol’, same ol…
Threads: Sullivans Thread was there, as was DMC, Caron Collection, High cotton and Kreinik. Anchor floss did not have a presence. Kreinik has introduced a new line of wired thread called Hotwire, as well as a new line of candy colors. DMC added 10 new colors of Memory Thread to their line – but these won’t be available until May. Sullivan’s is still trying to ride the coat-tails of other floss companies, but in my opinion falls short – cheap in price, cheap in quality (although I am sure they feel otherwise).
Tools:Knitting and crochet tool collectors will love the handmade needles and hooks from:
– Laurel Hill: http://laurelhillknitting.wordpress.com/
– Chiaogoo: http://www.chiaogoo.com/8.html (especially the breast cancer and I love knitting single points),
– Lantern Moon: (http://www.lanternmoon.com/LM%20Catalog_Jan2011_digital.pdf for knitting and http://www.lanternmoon.com/LM%20Catalog_Jan2011_digital.pdf for crochet)
Thanks a million, Secret Snoop!
Thanks Secret Snoop! Do those x-stitch folks not get it? Most of us partake in multiple crafts! doh!
Thanks for the scoop, but was crochet represented at all?
I’m sorry, Pat. I don’t know — I wasn’t there. You might want to check with the CraftGossip crochet editor — she may have heard some crochet scuttlebutt from TNNA.
Denise
you didn’t mention anything about needlepoint. There were some very cool ikat needlepoint canvases.
There were tons of needlepoint and crochet patterns, designers and products. Absolutely luscious stuff! The only thing really missing was cross stitch and surface embroidery.