July 3: TNNA Designer Dinner Sponsors

In this episode, the special guest is Marly! She is presenting a full product review of the sponsors of the 5th annual Yarn Thing Designer Dinner at TNNA. Being in a room with so much talent is humbling! Thank you to all the designers! This year there were 110 of you, all the “who’s who” in the industry and it was awesome to have you take part!

It was a HUGE hit this year with many wonderful sponsors! We love what we do, the tools that we use, and we love to talk about it! We truly appreciate you!

Wool Wide Web takes care of all things related to social media and advertising, including the show notes for Yarn Thing!

Alpaca Yarn Company is out of Pennsylvania and makes lovely yarn (Marly’s favorite is Halo). They generously donated 20 special prizes that each included a yarn assortment! Thank you Beth & Heather!

Bijou Basin Ranch is another “special prize” contributor! They put together special tote bags that included enough yarn for a sizeable project, a full set of interchangeable needles from HiyaHiya, and a subscription to Knitter’s Magazine.

Buffalo Wool Co very generously gave a sizeable gift certificate for their yarn!

Red Heart never lets Marly down! They provided needles, a knit check and a bag to hold all the goodies! They love knitters & crocheters alike!

Craftsy has the best classes online – you knew that right? Amazing for a group that is only a year old! They added needle gauges and tape measures to the bags, perfect for designers – you can never have enough. A special Thank You to Susan! 10 lucky winners also won a free class!

Eucalan‘s Jennifer provided us with the “Getaway Gang” kit, which you should really look into for gifts for your favorite knitter or crocheter!

Fiesta Yarns has such color in their booth that is inspiring – be sure to check it out if you can! The designers received 3 sample skeins of their yarn, perfect for swatching! Stay tuned for a future podcast with them!

Green Mountain Spinnery‘s own Eric and Margaret attended and were so down to earth and awesome! Every designer received a mini skein of the Spinnery’s “Alpaca Elegance”  yarn which is scrumptious!

Hadaki is another new sponsor this year that provided special prizes! The French Market Tote in a few patterns were special prizes that held the Alpaca Yarn Company Yarn.

Indian Lakes Artisans provided wonderful wooden hexagonal needles created by a husband and wife team; they were so much fun! Stay tuned for a podcast with them soon!

JHB buttons is a family based company and they gave a container full of a great button assortment. Perfect for designers and they will be put to a good use!

Jimmy Beans Wool supports designers and wants you to check out their website – what are you working on?

Knitter’s Pride Needles gave all the designers a set of dpns in the Dreamz line – have you seen the colors? They have many needle options to discover.

Kollage Yarn  are new sponsors. They invented the square knitting needles, did you know that? They brought all their manufacturing to the United States! They gave each designer a zipper project bag with 2 skeins of yarn and posed a challenge to the designers to come up with something amazing!  The winners will be announced at Stitches East!

Kraemer Yarns is an US based company. Everyone received a skein of “Perfection” yarn, which is a chunky weight. Do you have any baby items to work on? Check out this yarn.

Lorna’s Lace  gave cozies with the writing “Pretty & Smart” on the side, how different! Check out their Solemate yarn – very nifty!

Malabrigo was a financial sponsor, which is greatly appreciated!

Namaste are so kind and wonderful to work with! Everyone received a Skinny Mini for their tools.

Patons generously gave a few skeins of their DK Superwash. This is a wool you can find at the “big box” stores and this is perfect for all sizes!

Random House Audiobook provided a variety of audiobooks. How perfect is that for listening to something while you work! Did you know they also do the Harry Potter and Twilight ones?

Simplicity/Boye/The Crochet Dude What can be said, except for you can’t go wrong here. Drew, the Crochet Dude, has a line of crochet hooks with the ergonomic cushion, excellent!

Skacel gave out SimpliWorsted and SimpliCITY by HiKoo. This is acrylic done right! Wonderful colors and a great feel – you will love this!

Stacey Charles  provided a yarn assortment representing their yarn lines including Filatura di Crosa, the high quality Italian designed yarn,  S.Charles Collezione is the high fashion brand perfect for a little bling, and Tahki Cotton Classic which so many love to use!
Soak is not just fiber wash! They have heel cream and brand-new hand cream as well. Handmaid, the hand cream, was included in the bags this year.  Make sure you look for their kits with Lorna’s Laces!
WEBS has their own yarn line, did you know that? In addition to being financial sponsors, each designer received a skein of their yarn line, Valley Yarns.
Westminster Fibers  is a new sponsor, they are so wonderful. Each designer received this scrumptious yarn – Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK.

XRX Publishing / KNITTERS magazine It is no secret that the team at XRX are wonderful friends! They are the best of the best! So much Marly does, would not be possible without Benjamin’s help!  The goodie bags contained one of the following books: Betsy Beads, Knit 1 Below, Victorian Lace Today, Swing Swagger Drape.

YarnSisters, (you may know them better as Zealana) who you know is the New Zealand based yarn that does the possum yarn, which – trust Marly – is just different! They gave each designer a yarn from their yarn line. It is wonderful to spread the love about such great yarns!

Please support these sponsors that support our knitting and crochet community!

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This podcast is sponsored by: KNITTERS magazine, Craftsy, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns and Bijou Basin Ranch.