New York, New York

 

(In Central Park)

Hi, Knitters,

First things first, I randomly selected a winner for the Gale's Art Sock Blank Club 3-month subscription! The winner is......

knitgineering on Ravelry! I've already contacted Jessica and Gale to let them know. Thank you to everyone else for entering. Gale told me that there are still some openings in the club so hurry on over. She is closing subscription orders tomorrow I believe, Wednesday, January 20th, 2016. Please be sure to contact Gale if you have any questions. Thank you, Gale, for the opportunity.

I'll have another giveaway very soon. Thanks for all of your participation in the blog. I really appreciate all of you for sticking with me here!

Now for today's topic. I'm back from Vogue Knitting Live NYC 2016. It was a whirlwind of knitting, teaching, the market, book signings, students, techniques, dinners, seeing old friends, colleagues, and meeting new friends. I loved every last minute of it. My classes were full and the students were enthusiastic, happy and talented. What a complete treat. Thank you to Vogue Knitting for everything.

This year my lovely husband came along with me and we had so much fun together. He made the trip easier for me in every way whether it was lugging around heavy suitcases to bringing me lunch in between classes to arranging dinners and going on late night walks in the city, but mainly just by being there. It was truly wonderful to have him along, he is the best guy around. I don't talk about my husband too much on the blog but he is the reason I get to pursue my teaching and travels and all of my work through the years. I am thankful to have him by my side for the past 34 years (we are high school sweethearts!). 

We thought the photo above was so funny because he is as big as the gigantic Welcome sign in the lobby of the hotel. He is super tall if you didn't know. 

Our room was on the 36th floor with a spectacular view of Times Square and the always interesting skyline. The first night we were thrilled to have the chance to meet up with my former editor and publicist from my publisher, Artisan Books. We have been friends for about 10 years now and we still keep in touch and really enjoy and take care of each other. We are like family and when we see each other it's like we've never been apart. The food at the Marseilles restaurant was fantastic and we lingered for a long time just catching up, laughing and simply being together. I was sad when we had to leave.

After my workshops on Friday I zipped down to Steven Be's booth on the Market floor for a book signing for my new book, Kids' Knitting Workshop. I was super excited to get to meet my new publicist from Artisan Books for the first time in person. Breanne is doing a great job with the new book. It's funny because we meet in New York but Breanne is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from the UW-Madison the same year as my oldest son. Breanne moved to New York City after graduation and started working at Artisan soon after that. Breanne also knits which makes it even better to have the opportunity to work with her. We have a lot in common. She is a complete pleasure to work with and a real go-getter. People were mistaking us for a mother/daughter pair which is cute. It's that Wisconsin water I think (or the brown hair, glasses and similar stature). Thanks, Breanne, for making the effort to come to the signing.

It was a complete zoo in Steven's booth in a good way! It was so jam-packed with knitters I could not believe the frenzy. I had a great time, signed some books and the booth ended up selling a lot of copies of Kids' Knitting Workshop throughout the weekend. There is something so sincere and good-hearted about Steven if you haven't met him. He gets that by supporting the community around him in a positive way that all of his goodness and generosity multiplies a million times more. That is why he is incredibly successful and so loved. And he is fun!

Don't forget that Steven Be's shop has online shopping available for complete kits for Kids' Knitting Workshop. Included in the kit is yarn and a faux-furry pom-pom in the best and brightest colors to make one of the hats in the book, the needles to knit the hat, and a cute zebra print bag to keep it all in, and a copy of the book, of course!

Click here for the Kids' Knitting Workshop Kits!

Thanks to Steven Be's for hosting me.

Breanne and I hung out with Jen Geigley who was also having a book signing in the booth for Weekend (click here!). 

Remember the Gaptastic Cowl? That's Jen! She is wonderful and I really enjoyed her.

Click here to see Jen and to find out more about her new book, Weekend! She's definitely my new BFF. 

Click here to see her new book with big chunky fashionable knits, Weekend!

 Missy and me!

Above is my girl Missy Ridley who is one of the masterminds at Steven Be's. She's the reason behind me getting to come and teach at the shop several times and my book signings and custom kits at the shop in Minneapolis. She is my friend to the end and I appreciate Missy's support so much. I wish we lived closer because we would be best buds and hanging out no doubt (if we both stopped working so hard for a minute). Our kids are around the same age and going through the same things so we have a lot in common. Thank you for everything, Missy!

On Saturday night after my last class I dashed off to the Knitty City booth where the lovely Pearl hosted me once again. I have been going to Knitty City in NYC for book signing events since Itty-Bitty Hats was released in 2006! Pearl is a constant supporter of the knitting community. Honestly, I have never seen a busier more bustling knit shop anywhere. It is a true neighborhood hang out for knitters. I love how Knitty City supports authors and knitting books. If you have been to the shop you will remember the HUGE wall of knitting books at the entrance of the shop. A lot of shops don't sell many knitting books any longer.

I had so much fun at the signing that I just hung out for awhile even after it had officially ended.  I love the people who work at Knitty City. They are fun, engaging and interesting. Pearl's daughter and son were there. One of the staff members is a touring opera singer and she is performing in Madison with the symphony orchestra in 2017. I'll have to try to go when she comes to town.

Also, we made plans for the coming spring to coordinate a huge window display with my designs and projects at Knitty City! I am super excited about this because they have the best front window ever. I'll let you know when the window display is up. It's going to be like a big trunk show at the shop.

Thank you, Knitty City and Pearl for hosting me. I signed a lot of my different books, some signed books are at the shop now if you want to pick one up. 

The view from the hotel window was very exciting for this Wisconsin native.

I loved meeting Sharon from the tvknittingpodcast on YouTube in my class on Friday.  I have been a subscriber and listener and now watcher of her podcast for a few years. Sharon is an excellent knitter and teacher. You should check out her podcast on YouTube if you get a chance. 

Click here for the TV Knitting Podcast on YouTube! Click here for the website with links! 

I came home on Sunday to my cozy house and my cozy kids (they're all adults now except TC!) who held down the fort with style and ease while we were gone. They waited up for us to get home late on Sunday night. It was so good to be together again. 

On Monday it was about all I could do to knit a sweet red wool mitten (pattern here), bake some cookies and read my new review copy of Clara Parkes' Knitlandia. 

Why are simple red wool mittens the best? 

It was a good, good weekend.

I'll be back soon with more.

xo ~ susan 

p.s. I'll try to film a new video podcast in the next week or two! I'm way overdue.