Sunday 29 January 2012

TNNA Pheonix Arizona

I have been travelling! Last week I had the pleasure of attending TNNA in Phoenix Arizona to help Lantern Moon sell Scrumptious to the USA. It was super duper! I think I might have finally got over my fear of flying which was pretty good since it was really my first major trip on my own, sad I know at 33, but hey, I've always had great travelling buddies up till now.


It was inspiring, and perhaps even a little bit life changing for me, the peeps from Lantern Moon are amazing and wonderful, I now feel like part of the Lantern Moon family, I am desperate to go back to Portland and see them all again, I want to go again before June in fact :)


Ysolda came and signed books on our stand for the Saturday treat collection which we will have our mitts on very very soon :D the designs in this book are wonderful, the cowl on the Front cover being my favourite.


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Scrumptious was so well received, I was very chuffed, we had some lovely comments from other yarn company owners too, which was so kind. The books were really popular too :)


Books


I met the Gorgeous Sexy Knitter who is a seriously talented designer, and gorgeous enough to carry off her incredible designs, we have some exciting plans to do work together on some fun things. I also met Cornelia Tutte Hamilton  I have to admit I felt a little fan girly around her, her designs were the first I ever took notice of and bought all her noro desing books because I loved them so much, and she was such a nice lady :)


This is Richard from Koigu who was trying on Lily Frances Hat design, he cracks me up completely, and hung around with us on the stand quite alot, such a sweetie!


Richard


One of my little secret goals of all time was to get into the major online retailers in the USA and we made it....we are now being stocked in Webs and Paradise Fibers and also some absolutely wonderful shops all over the US, I will list some more once I find out the links for the shops, but there were some AMAZING yarn shop owners who were so much fun.


I came back on a complete high with lots of new plans for this year, I want to make it the best year ever for Fyberspates and Scrumptious.


I came back to my unit having been completely changed, I now have a new dyeing area, drying cabinet, new shelving and all sorts so basically my little space has been custom made for me all by Dunc who was so incredibly kind to make my unit so workable, I will take photos at some point, but it feels like its a bit of a secret if that makes sense!


I also came back to find out that John Lewis decided to roll out scrumptious to 13 of its stores, which an incredibly huge order to be shipped in two weeks, thankfully we are in a good stock position, this was really a huge achievement for me, its something I have dreamed about for near on 6 years.....yes I have big dreams :) can't even begin to describe the ones for the next 5 years lol!


OK, thats enough news for now, I have so much more to tell you and so I will make sure I blog regularly.


j xx


 



Wednesday 25 January 2012

The Scrumptious Baby Collection has arrived!

We are absolutely thrilled to be able to share the project that we've been beavering away on for the last 6 months...


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The Scrumptious Baby Collection arrived back from the printers last week, and we are really proud of it! The book features eight designs for newborns through to 2 year olds, with cardigans, dungarees, hats, legwarmers and an heirloom lace shawl.


Temari_lr_4


We worked with some of our favourite designers again: Kyoko Nakayoshi (it's her Temari kimono top above), Belinda BoadenMélanie Edgar and Judy Furlong. They all did us proud with the beautiful garments and accessories that they created.


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These Ensar dungarees (designed by Mélanie),were a complete hit on the photoshoot. Each of the kids that modelled them seemed to love them (or perhaps more importantly, their parents did!). The long run of buttons means that you can change a nappy without having to take the whole thing off.


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I love the Corlyna set that Belinda designed. Who knew that baby legwarmers would be such a hit? They are absolutely brilliant. Much better than booties as they actually stay on active little people legs without falling off!


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Judy Furlong created this stunning lace shawl for the collection. It's a perfect Christening shawl and would be treasured by the whole family. It would also make a beautiful shawl for everyday wear, done in a different colour.


As with the last collection, this was a real team effort and we couldn't have done it without everyone's hard work. Particular thanks must go again to Amanda France for her lovely photography and brilliant baby-wrangling skills!


You can see all of the designs on the book's Ravelry page, along with more information about sizing and lots more pictures. You'll find those pages here: The Scrumptious Baby Collection on Ravelry.


The garments and accessories all use Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/sport (which is machine washable), apart from the lace shawl which uses 1 hank of Scrumptious Lace. If tyou'd like to purchase a copy of the book, then do ask at your local yarn shop. Here is a list of current Fyberspates retailers. If you are in the US, then Lantern Moon distributes the yarn and books, so do contact them to find your local reatailer. You can also purchase the book directly from us at Fyberspates.