Our first booth at TNNA was everything we hoped for! Sarah and I had a wonderful time hosting designers for trunk shows and meeting shop owners from all over the country. A big service that we launched at this TNNA show was our new In-Store Pattern Sales service. This is a brand-new feature that allows yarn shop owners to sell patterns that designers have made available through this service to their in-store customers.

In-Store Pattern Sales: How Does It Work?

Participating LYSOs can search for patterns available through this service (designers agree to the pricing scale for any patterns they want to include as long as they are available through the Ravelry pattern store, and shops sell the patterns at the suggested retail price) and sell them to customers through their shops, printing the pattern for the customer in-store if desired. Patterns can also be emailed to the customer and saved in their Ravelry library. At the end of each month, shop owners receive a combined invoice for all the patterns sold during that month, and pay for them through Ravelry via PayPal or a credit card. There are no Ravelry fees to shop owners for using this service. The usual pattern sales fees apply for designers.

The In-Store Pattern Sales service received an incredible response at TNNA, and we are more excited about it than ever. Shop owners brought up so many advantages to this service: many shops love to carry paper patterns but may not be able to carry a designer’s full line, or may have a shop sample that is selling patterns and yarn like hotcakes and expressed interest in using this service as a way to offer the pattern when they are waiting for a new shipment. Some shop owners saw this as a great way to connect their local customers, even those who are less internet-savvy, to patterns that are going viral online but not available to sell through traditional wholesale methods. Every shop we spoke to gave us more inspiration and ideas – we know that this feature is brand-new in our industry and we couldn’t be more excited to launch it.

Currently, we are contacting the shop owners who signed up at TNNA, but if you are a local yarn shop owner who would like to offer this pattern in your store (brick-and-mortar shops only: this service is not available for online shops), we have registration information for you at the end of this post.

Thank you, designers!

Though the launch of this new service was the primary focus of our TNNA booth, we were also so pleased to host trunk shows by some incredibly talented designers:

What a pleasure it was to see the gorgeous samples from each talented designer! The Ravelry booth was transformed over and over again throughout the weekend, thanks to the trunk shows, and we really couldn’t have planned to have a nicer group of people to spend the weekend with. Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches, Laura Nelkin of Nelkin Designs, Woolly Wormhead of Wooly Wormhead, Kate Oates of TotToppers, Anne Hanson of Knitspot, Robyn Chachula of Crochet by Faye, Cecily Glowik Macdonald of Winged Knits, Hannah Fettig of Knitbot, and Ann Kingstone of Ann Kingstone Designs: we really appreciate you! Thank you so much!

We really had a blast, and it was so exciting to announce our new In-Store Pattern Sales service and receive such an incredibly enthusiastic response!

Signing your shop up for Ravelry’s In-Store Pattern Sales service.

If you are a local yarn store owner and are interested in participating in this service, please write to us at instoresales@ravelry.com. Currently, we are contacting the yarn shop owners who signed up for this service with us at TNNA and working to get them set up and using the service. When we have set those shops up (as quickly as possible!) we will begin contacting the shops who have written to us via email, in the order in which we received the messages. (If you signed up at TNNA, there is no need to write us there – we are working through the list!)

If you are a designer and you’d like to make your patterns available to local yarn shops, you can do so right in the “configure store” section found in your manage store area. We have instructions in the Ravelry wiki!

A newly launching Ravelry feature that we are really excited about is our In-Store Pattern Sales service (designers and shop owners, you can read more here), which allows local yarn shops to sell patterns that designers make available through this service to their in-store customers. We’ve been beta-testing this new service for some time, and are ready to take signups from interested shops at TNNA! The fabulous designers hosting trunk shows in our booth are among the many talented designers offering their patterns to yarn shops through this service. Many of them have been to TNNA shows before; others are coming from overseas to make their TNNA debut. We are honored to have them be a part of the very first Ravelry booth at TNNA! Please come by to see their beautiful designs.

The full trunk show schedule (all in the Ravelry booth – #454) is:

Saturday, June 11

10 – 11 am: Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches
12 – 1 pm: Laura Nelkin of Nelkin Designs
2 – 3 pm: Woolly Wormhead of Wooly Wormhead
4 – 5 pm: Kate Oates of TotToppers

Sunday, June 12

10 – 11 am: Anne Hanson of Knitspot
12 – 1 pm: Robyn Chachula of Crochet by Faye
2 – 3 pm: Cecily Glowik Macdonald of Winged Knits
4 – 5 pm: Hannah Fettig of Knitbot

Monday, June 13

10 – 11 am: Ann Kingstone of Ann Kingstone Designs

Huge thanks to all the designers spending time in our booth! We can’t wait to see your beautiful work in person.

To all TNNA designer and teacher attendees: Sarah and I will also be speaking on the Social Media panel at the TNNA Designer/Teacher meeting (open to TNNA members/convention attendees), which is being held on Saturday evening from 6:00 – 7:30 pm, in room D132 of the Convention Center. This is a subject that is obviously near and dear to our hearts, and this is such an exciting time in our industry – we were honored to be asked to speak!

TNNA shows always mean a great and busy week for us – we get to see talk with so many other industry people and always come away motivated and full of new ideas. If you’re going to TNNA, we’ll see you at booth #454!

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Recently, Sarah and I got to go to Minneapolis for StevenBe’s Fantastic Fiber Fest Weekend and the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild’s Yarnover event, and boy, did they show us a good time! Minneapolis clearly has a vibrant fiber community: great yarn shops that support each other to help make the city a destination for yarn lovers, loads of fun fiber events (the weekend we were there, folks were still buzzing about the recent shop crawl and were making plans to attend another festival the following weekend!), and best of all, lots of happy and talented crafters.

With so much going on during the trip, our itinerary was pretty full, but Steven and his staff welcomed us like family into their (gorgeous!) shop and made us feel relaxed and at home right away. Over the course of the weekend we attended a teacher/student dinner, two parties at StevenBe, Yarnover, a presentation by Nicky Epstein, and gave a presentation on Ravelry! Phew! We still had plenty of time to enjoy the events and talk to the wonderful Ravelers (both new and more experienced users) who came out to say hello and hear us speak. Steven, the owner of StevenBe and our host for the weekend, has created a rich community space in Minneapolis. His shop is gorgeous and fun, the staff is helpful and cheerful, and the enormous space is positively packed with yarn. What’s not to love? Sarah and I pretty much wanted to move in by the end of the weekend.

Huge, huge thanks to the staff of StevenBe and everyone who came out to see us during our presentation and Ravelry meetup, or said hello and chatted with us at one of our events during our weekend in Minneapolis. It was especially exciting to get to give a presentation on Ravelry with so many new users in the audience. We, and the long-time Ravelers in the audience (some of whom brought their iPads and laptops to help answer individual questions after the presentation – what a great idea!), had fun sharing the Ravelry love! Minneapolis was truly a wonderful time – and we hope to come back!

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Sarah and I are really excited to be coming to Minneapolis over the weekend of April 29 – May 1 for StevenBe’s Fantastic Fiber Fest Weekend in conjunction with the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild’s Yarnover event! We always love seeing StevenBe (of StevenBe and The Yarn Garage) at TNNA, and he is kindly hosting us for a weekend full of fiber events. We’ve got lots of festivities planned, from shopping, to a Ravelry presentation, to meetups, and even a wine and cheese party!

Here are our scheduled events:

Saturday, April 300

12:00 – 1:00 pm: Ravelry meetup at Yarnover! (Google maps link to location.) We’ll be at the Yarn Garage booth – booth 23 – with lots of Hello buttons to give away. We’re so excited to meet Ravelers (our very favorite thing about work travel) and check out all the fabulous vendors in the marketplace!

6:00 pm: wine and cheese party at StevenBe in Minneapolis! (Google maps link to StevenBe.) Lots of great Yarnover teachers will be attending this soiree, as well – please come say hi, we do love a party!

Sunday, May 1

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm: we’ll be at StevenBe, giving a presentation on Ravelry (with plenty of time for questions and answers at the end, too!), and a meetup afterwards 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm. There are so many activities happening at the shop all day – you can check out the schedule and all the classes and book signings available on the StevenBe website.

If you need more information about any of the Fantastic Fiber Fest Weekend events or Yarnover, or would like to register for any of the festivities, please check out their respective websites for the details and contact information.

We do have a Ravelry Events Page set up for our weekend activities – please click if you are attending! This does not register you for the events in question but it’s always fun to look at the list of attendees and spot your Ravelry friends.

Minneapolis, we can’t wait! We’ll see you soon!

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We’re headed to Wisconsin this weekend, for the Madison Knitters’ Guild Knit In! With two talks on the agenda for Saturday, March 19 (one from 9:00 – 11:00 and the second from 1:00 – 3:00), it is going to be a busy trip, and we’re really looking forward to sharing some Ravelry history (as well as some tips and tricks) in our presentations. For more information about the Knit In event, please check out the Knit In website! There are lots of classes and some really amazing vendors at this event. If you are going, we look forward to seeing you there!

We have a few more events planned this year, too! We’ll be posting more information as the dates approach, but we did want to put the basic information up for our upcoming events:

Minneapolis, Minnesota: from April 29 – May 1, Sarah and I will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Fantastic Fiber Fest, taking place at Yarn Garage, in conjunction with YarnOver, the annual event from the Minneapolis Knitters’ Guild!

Columbus, Ohio: Sarah and I will be going to TNNA this summer (June 11 – 13) to represent Ravelry at our industry’s trade show while Jess and Casey take care of their sweet new baby girl!

Rhinebeck, New York: The New York Sheep and Wool Festival, October 15 – 16, 2011. The whole team is planning to be at Rhinebeck this year (Ravelry’s 4th New York Sheep and Wool!), hosting daily meetups both days of the festival. We will not be throwing a Ravelry party in the evening this time, but we hope to see as many people as possible during our daytime meetups and around the festival.

It’s a very busy year for us here at Ravelry but we always love to meet Ravelers in different parts of the country (and the world!) when we can!

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The STITCHES shows have a little something for everyone – there was a marketplace full (and I do mean full!) of incredible vendors, evening activities (like an inspiring fashion show, highlighting lots of inspiring new handknit and crocheted designs, a student banquet, our own Ravelry meetup, and even a pajama party!), and lots of classes taught by some of the finest teachers in the industry. In short… it’s amazing! We spent our days in the marketplace, shopping (ahem, some of us may have gone to STITCHES West resolved to come home without any additional stash acquisition… and some of us may have blown that resolution.) and hosting daily meetups. As always, we got so much energy from meeting our users in real life. Ravelers are pretty darn awesome.

Casey and Jess even got to have an extra gathering in the Bay Area – they flew out a little early and spent Valentine’s Day at A Verb for Keeping Warm, a lovely shop in Oakland. There were cookies, chocolate, yarn samples, and lots of friendly faces – including the cute doggy face of Cleo, the shop dachshund!

Thank you so much to everyone we met during this trip! If you came to one of our STITCHES West meetups or our Happy Hour, or if you were at the Valentine’s Day party at A Verb for Keeping Warm, please add your photos to the Ravelry Events pool on Flickr! An extra-special thank you to the good people at XRX/Knitter’s Magazine – you are all so wonderful to work with, and we are so grateful that you invited us to come to STITCHES West and showed us such a great time. We had a blast!

P.S. thank you to WonderMike of Fiber Beat for the photos from the Verb for Keeping Warm party and booth! :)

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Next week, Jess, Casey, Sarah, and I will be heading out to Santa Clara for STITCHES West! This is a huge west coast yarn extravaganza- classes, a fashion show and other fun events, and an amazing marketplace. This year it is taking place from Thursday, February 17 – Sunday, February 20. We can’t wait! If you’ll be there, we’d love to see you at the Ravelry Happy Hour or one of our Marketplace meetups!

Happy Hour on Thursday night:

Ravelry, along with STITCHES/XRX, will be hosting a Happy Hour on Thursday night, just after the Market Preview! The Happy Hour will be right in the Santa Clara Convention Center, in Ballrooms C, D, E, and F from 8:00 – 9:30 pm.

All are welcome – you do not need a ticket to the Market Preview!

We’ll have a cash bar, music, lots of hello buttons, and best of all, lots of friendly faces to meet and hang out with! We are really excited to meet you all!

Daily Meetups:

We’ll also be hosting daily meetups, in the Marketplace concessions area. If you can, please come by and say hi! These meetups are always a fun way to hang out with a whole bunch of our Ravelry friends… without having to go too far away from the amazing marketplace so we can get right back to stash acquisition. ;)

The official meetup times are:

Friday from 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Saturday from 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Sunday from 10:00 – 11:00 am

Please click on the links to the events pages of any of the events listed above – if you click that you are interested or attending you’ll be able to see other Ravelry friends who will be there as they sign up, too. It’s always fun to see! :) We’re also chatting about these meetups in the STITCHES West group on Ravelry.

Valentine’s Day Party

If you live in the area, Jess and Casey will also be at a Valentine’s Day party at A Verb for Keeping Warm’s shop in Oakland, on February 14th, from 6 pm – 8 pm. More information can be found in the Verb for Keeping Warm Group.

Can’t wait to see you there!

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While in Burbank, we had to stop off and get some Pinkberry! A trip to Pinkberry (or two or three) has become one of our TNNA traditions. We’re always happy to get it but sad when the bowl is empty.

We also had a great time at the TNNA industry trade show this year.  From meeting some new dyers to seeing new yarns, books and patterns, it’s always exciting to see our industry continue to grow and change. Keep an eye out for some great patterns, yarns and other accessories coming soon to your local and online yarn shops!

**Since we know you’ll want to know about the knits, in the photos at the top, Ysolda and I are both wearing sweaters from her upcoming book, Little Red in the City.

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See this post for the announcement: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/for-the-love-of-ravelry/1465110/1-25#4

Squam Art Workshops, the wonderful arts retreat in New Hampshire, has just launched its 2011 offerings and there is much for Ravelers to celebrate!

As usual, Elizabeth has lined up some amazing teachers including, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Cat Bordhi, Denny McMillan, Gudrun Johnston, Megan Ingman, Ysolda Teague, Mary Jane Mucklestone and Cal Patch.

Casey and I always have such an incredible time at SAW, not just knitting but trying all sorts of other classes, too—take a look at the printing we did last year! Super fun.

Of course, as you all may know—there will be a wee Raveler in our midst next June and so Casey and I will not be able to be there in person. I am so bummed! BUT! Instead, two lucky Ravelers are going to get to go in our place. YES—Ravelry and SAW will be sponsoring TWO fully paid registrations for June 2011. All the winners need to do is get themselves there! Classes, nightly events, jumps in the lake and wonderful food is all included.

So, this fabulous giveaway is open to all Ravelry members—simply post a comment about why you’d like to be our Squammy representative and we will be choosing two lucky winners by random number generator on Thursday, January 13th. Comment entries will be closed at midnight EST, Wednesday, January 12th.

Come on, you don’t wanna miss this!

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January means it’s time for another TNNA trade show, so the Ravelry staff is flying out to Long Beach this week! Once again, we’ll be at Unwind in Burbank for a fun Thursday night get-together before the industry event of TNNA. We’re going to be joining Classic Elite Yarns and Shannon Okey aka Knitgrrl at the shop on Thursday, January 6, from 6:30 – 10:00 pm. The details are on the Unwind events page – please note that space is limited and reservations are required, so if you want to come to the party, be sure to reserve your spot through the Unwind website. (Not through comments here or emailing Ravelry, please – thank you!) We hope to see you there!

If you’ll be at the TNNA show and see us on the floor, please do say hello! It’s always such a pleasure to meet so many shop owners and Ravelry advertisers and users from around the country.

To all Ravelers, we hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying a happy start to this New Year!

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It’s travel time again! Next weekend, Sarah and I are headed to Austin, Texas, for a “Thankful for Ravelry” event at The Knitting Nest on Saturday, November 13 from 10 am till 6 pm! We’ll be there all day, hanging out and meeting all the awesome Ravelers who come by. The last time we did an event at that shop we had an amazing time, and now the store is in bigger and better digs – we can’t wait to check them out!

The address is:

The Knitting Nest (Google maps link)
8708 South Congress, Suite 570
Austin, Texas 78745

You can mark if you are attending on the Ravelry Events page!

I’m looking forward to this event on a pretty personal level – Stacy, the fabulous owner of The Knitting Nest, has organized a silent auction on that day (it will end at about 5:45 pm) to benefit the American Cancer Society in honor of my mom, who spent the first part of this year battling cancer. She lost her nose due to a massive tumor in her sinuses, but I’m happy to say that she is a survivor and has been cancer-free for months now… and will even be at the Thankful for Ravelry event with us! The goodies up for auction are going to be amazing – there’s a thread to check out some of the fabulous donations in the Knitting Nest Ravelry group.

Jess and Casey are headed to New Orleans for RubyConf over the same weekend, and Jess will be posting in the Louisiana Needlers and New Orleans groups here on Ravelry about a possible meetup. Watch that group to see what the plans are – they’d love to say hello to some some Ravelers while they’re in the Big Easy!

These are going to be our last work-related trips of 2010 – time has really flown and we can hardly believe it’s November already. As our community is approaching 1,000,000 users, we often talk about how lucky we are to have the chance to get to know so many positive people on the site and in person during our events. 2011 travel plans are already getting started – we’ll be visiting some new places and meeting more Ravelers, and, as always, we’ll have the information here!

p.s. I can’t believe I forgot to link the woolies! Jess is wearing the Vivian sweater and Ripley hat – both patterns are by Ysolda Teague.

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The Ravelry party was so much fun! It was our biggest party to date – nearly 800 Ravelers came to the Elks Lodge and there were smiles all night long. There was a bit of a wait for the shuttle bus (next year we hope to have two!) but from what we heard, folks were making all kinds of new Ravelry friends in line, which is so great!

We could not have thrown this party without our sponsors – great big thanks to you all!

qiviut sponsors: Fabulous Yarn and Simply Socks Yarn Company
cashmere sponsors: eat.sleep.knit, The Loopy Ewe, Sandra Singh, XRX/STITCHES Knitting Expos, and Ysolda Teague
merino sponsors: Berroco, Bijou Basin Ranch, Cooperative Press, Indigo Dragonfly, Knit Picks, Potter Craft, Sweet Georgia Yarns, Twist Collective, and Webs!

Thank you all so much for your support – you all rock, and we wouldn’t be able to do this without you! (Please visit those links and support our sponsors!)

Once at the party, there were lots of snacks, a great big bonfire, and an awesome photobooth that Ysolda set up! (You can see the photobooth pictures on Ysolda’s site!)

We had a table full of seriously great door prizes donated from the sponsors – lots of oohing and ahhing (and a few squeals of glee!) from the crowd as we announced the winners!

We also had some fun giveaway project bags printed up, designed by the fabulous Julie of symposi.com. The sponsors provided some coupons and fun goodies for inside the bags.

Once again, we got some printed cupcakes from Deising’s Bakery – these are always a big hit! We had chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, with cool printed designs that complemented the project bags and sponsor poster.

We really want to say a huge thank you to our helpers! They worked for hours: stuffing goody bags, running errands, hanging twinkle lights and garland, moving tables and chairs, arranging cupcakes, greeting partygoers, taking pictures, handing out buttons (we gave out 1,000 buttons over the weekend!), helping to clean up the party, and pitching in all over the place as needed for the whole weekend. There is no way the party could have happened without them, and we just regret not thanking them live at the party so they could get the round of applause they deserve! Emily, Nancy, Cheryl, Laura, Ysolda, Thea, Gudrun, Julia, Kyle, and Erica, as well as Cirilia, Cecily, and Maya (not pictured but still super helpful!): we love you guys!

We also had two great meetups during the day on Saturday and Sunday. Thank you to everyone who came by our spot on the hill! There were cupcakes, hula hoopers, and many smiling faces.

These were our largest meetups yet – especially the Sunday meetup – we’ve never had a Sunday turnout like that, it was so great!

If you have photos from Rhinebeck this weekend or any other Ravelry event or meetup, please add it to our Ravelry Events pool on Flickr – we love checking out those pictures! There is also the great Rhinebeck group on Ravelry where you can talk about what you bought and who you saw (and, of course, what you bought!) this past weekend!

Every time we travel to a festival or event, we come away so overwhelmed and grateful for the wonderful Ravelry community. So many people take the time to come and thank us for our work on Ravelry, and we appreciate every single one of you, but we just have to say: THANK YOU! Thank you for everything that you give to the site and to our community! Ravelers rock!

p.s. We know that people will ask about our woolies – so here are some links for you! Casey is wearing his Seamless Hybrid that Jess knit for him for last year’s Rhinebeck, as well as his Hat of Love (an original creation by Jess!). Jess is wearing her gorgeous Vaila sweater, I’m wearing the awesome Orange Pop!, and Sarah is wearing the lovely Gwendolyn. We were warm and cozy!

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Big thanks to our qiviut sponsors: Fabulous Yarn and Simply Socks Yarn Company; our cashmere sponsors: eat.sleep.knit, The Loopy Ewe, Sandra Singh, XRX/STITCHES Knitting Expos, and Ysolda Teague; and our merino sponsors: Berroco, Bijou Basin Ranch, Cooperative Press, Indigo Dragonfly, Knit Picks, Potter Craft, Sweet Georgia Yarns, Twist Collective, and Webs! Thank you all so much for your support – you all rock, and we wouldn’t be able to do this without you!

Party Details

Once again, we’ll be at the Elks Lodge in Red Hook, in their outdoor pavilion with heated tents, plenty of chairs, music, snacks, a cash bar, amazing door prizes from our sponsors, and hundreds of your fellow Ravelers to hang out and have fun with! The party will be on Saturday, October 16, from 6:30 – 11:00 pm (we’re going to need plenty of setup time so please avoid arriving early if you can!). You can RSVP for the party on its Ravelry Events Page.

The address is:

Elks Lodge
7711 Albany Post Rd
Red Hook, NY 12571

Google maps link!

(Parking information and more below the photo!)

While there will be some parking directly behind the Elks Lodge, we have learned that it will fill up quickly, and street parking is not permitted, so once again we have worked with the Elks to provide a bus service from the parking lot of the Mill Road Elementary School 1 mile down the road. (Google maps link to the school!) This worked out really well last year! :) We strongly encourage folks to carpool and park at the school to take advantage of this shuttle service (it will be running back and forth all night) and save some parking headaches!

Lunchtime Ravelry Meetups!

We also have two meetups planned during the day on both Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 1 pm. (Click on those links to RSVP!) The location for the meetups is shown on the map below- it is a shaded field down the walkway from the author’s tent. Come and meet your fellow Ravelers and get a Hello! username button.

For more information about the Ravelry festivities at Rhinebeck this year, including the answers to some frequently asked questions, please check out the Final Details thread in the New York Sheep and Wool group!

Be sure to wear your Ravelry shirts and pins and carry your bags around the festival – some vendors are offering a discount to Ravelers!

We just can’t wait for all the beautiful fall leaves, sheepdog trials, fried artichokes, friends, and of course yarn, fiber, and other fibery goodies that NYS&W has to offer… See you in Rhinebeck!

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Alice and Cookie were so well organized and such great hosts, the volunteers were amazingly helpful, the attendees and teachers were enthusiastic and we just felt so lucky to be included.

I wasn’t able to take any classes because I can’t knit due to injury (nothing drastic just repetitive stress) but Casey and I were able to join in the fun by going around the great Marketplace, giving our talk on Ravelry, and hosting a fun party on Saturday night!

We arrived a couple days early and got to visit the V&A (the amazing Victoria & Albert museum that was literally next door to the Knit Nation venue), had lovely afternoon tea with the tutors, Alice, Cookie and Katie from Hoxton Handmade, and explored the Marketplace as everyone was getting prepared for the shoppers!

After that, Casey and I worked a bit on our talk about Ravelry as we were curiously nervous about it- we have gotten fairly used to talking in front of people but since we were doing it on our own (without Sarah and Mary-Heather) and since people were paying to see us, we really wanted to do the best we could! It ended up going well, I think, since people told us they enjoyed it during the rest of Knit Nation. :)

(Thanks for the photo, mulene!)

Then it was on to the Ravelry party on Saturday night! Thanks to our awesome sponsors, we were able to host a really fun party and even got some really cute giveaway project bags:

The bags were a big hit with the partygoers- it was fun to see them try to find all the knitting and crochet items hidden in the image. Thanks again to all our party sponsors, we really could not have done any of it without you!

Qiviut: Loop and Ysolda

Cashmere: Kollage and Socktopus

Merino: Denise Interchangeable Knitting and Crochet, Gardiner Yarnworks, Little Knitting Company, The Knitter, Mrs. Moon, Skein Queen, Soak and Rohrspatz & Wollmeise.

Ysolda was kind enough to offer the use of her fun photo booth at the party- we all had a great time going in there and getting snapshots, even the bartenders! hah!

There are Julie, Adam and Sarah in their photobooth shots. Julie and Ysolda surprised us with that image layout with the special Bob/ Knit Nation image- such a fun souvenir! I was so happy that Julie and Adam got to join us at Knit Nation- she works so hard on our graphics for events and she finally got to see them in person.

Another person we were *so* thrilled to see in person was Velvet/Louisa, one of our wonderful and hardworking moderators of the main six!

Not surprisingly, she was so sweet and got lots of compliments on that shawl of hers!

If you were at Knit Nation and want a digital version of your party photobooth images, you can see all of them here. I am nudging Casey to put up a nice gallery but that is what we have right now! There are some pretty funny ones in there.

Thanks to everyone that came out to Knit Nation to see us, the party sponsors, the volunteers and of course Alice and Cookie!!

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It’s been an exciting summer here at Ravelry as we have worked with many of you to implement the new Ravelry search! The new search has a lot of great features, but it may seem a bit complicated at first.  While we wish that we could come to each of your houses and sit down with you to show you how to use it, unfortunately that’s just not a feasible option.  Instead, we’ve put together a new pattern search video for you to show you how it all works.  It’s the next best thing and doesn’t require you to straighten up the house or get out of your pajamas!  There are more search features than what’s included here, so we hope to have some additional videos that get a bit more specific for you in the future!

To view the video bigger, you can view it full screen by clicking the arrows icon beside vimeo in the bottom right when you mouse over the video.  If you don’t see it above, you can view it here.

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This awesome knitting and spinning expo starts on Thursday and ends with our Ravelry party on Saturday night. There are classes with amazing teachers, our talk on Ravelry on Friday, booksignings and a really incredible marketplace!

Our party should be tons of fun! We are borrowing Ysolda‘s photo booth and have lots of room to spread out knit, hang out and get a drink. It would not be possible if it weren’t for our sponsors:

(Click on the logos to get more information about our sponsors!)

Please check out Knit Nation if you haven’t already and are accessible to London- there are class spots still available and Marketplace tickets will be available online until tonight at midnight GMT. (They will also be available in person for £8.)

For party details and to RSVP, please go here. There are no tickets for our party, to make it welcoming to all, but RSVPing will help us get a head count.

You can also chat about all the fun happenings at Knit Nation in the KN group on Ravelry!

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We can’t wait to roll out and begin testing our new search later today! We think it’s pretty great and there is no way we could have done this without all of you – thank you so much!

Of course, we did have some lovely prizes to award to some very lucky winners! We announced the Search Party Prize recipients yesterday – in fact, there was kind of a party all day long on the For the Love of Ravelry forum. Here’s a quick recap of the winners and prizes:

The Designs by Romi prize went to , chrispindle won the Buffalo Gold prize, heather296 is the lucky winner of the package from Webs, The Loopy Ewe goodies are going to live with HeatherInPortland, and the Sweet Georgia Yarns basket has a new home with Beccak!

The XRX/STITCHES Knitting Expos prize was awarded to Sara6908, Kailiope won the goodies from Bijou Basin Ranch, the Rowan Yarns prize will be sent to marvelg, and cuppatea won the package from Eat Sleep Knit!

MagpieMabel won the package from Berroco, eweniquerzt gets to bring home the Louet prize, the Knitspot goodies will be going to gherkin, and wells201 won the Wollmeise discoball!

The Malabrigo winner is anglerfish, awesomegan is the lucky winner of the Namaste package, upandatom won the package from Schacht Spindle Company, and we’ll be sending a package of Ravelry goodies to knitter246!

Congratulations to all the winners, and a huge thank you to the companies that donated prizes for the Ravelry search party! We wish we could have given prizes to all of the Ravelers who participated – it has been really fun to work on this (enormous!!) project with the Ravelry community. We think that the new search is going to be the best prize of all – and we hope you agree!

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For a long time, we’ve been talking about improving the pattern information so that we can provide a better search and more ways to find patterns. We’ve been working hard on new categories and attributes, and we need you to help reclassifying patterns that are still missing information by using the Search Party Tool: http://www.ravelry.com/searchparty.

We know that going over the 166,000+ patterns in our database is going to take a lot of work, but we have some incredible donations from some fantastic companies to help reward your efforts! For every pattern you reclassify (that is not your own design), you will be entered for a chance to win one of the sweet prizes listed below. There are 17 amazing prizes with a total retail value of over $5,000, and each one is absolutely drool-worthy! Be sure to scroll down to check them all out – and a huge, huge thank you to our friends who so generously donated these wonderful prizes!

Prize #1: SweetGeorgia Yarns!

• 2 skeins of Superwash Sock in Tourmaline and Pomegranate (new for Fall)
• 1 skein of BFL Sock in Autumn Flame (also new for Fall)
• 2 skeins of Merino Silk Lace in Black Plum and Cayenne
• 2 skeins of Buttercrunch Silk in Saffron
• 5 skeins of Silk Crush in Goldmine and Marigold

Prize #2: Buffalo Gold!

• Buffalo Gold canvas/bison leather tote
• 2 skeins of Buffalo Gold Lux – Mountainberry colorway
• 2 skeins of Buffalo Gold Moon – Smoke colorway
• 100% Pure Bison Roving
• Buffalo Gold collectors mug

Prize #3: WEBS!

• WEBS Bamboo Interchangeable Needle Set
• Valley Yarns Pattern #327 Sojourner Cardigan
• Valley Yarns Valley Superwash DK in Blue Mist – 15 balls to complete Sojourner Cardigan
• Valley Yarns Pattern #301 Oriel Cardigan
• Valley Yarns Greenfield in Grey – 10 balls to complete Oriel Cardigan
• $50 WEBS Gift Card

Prize #4: The Loopy Ewe!

• 1 Namaste Newport Bag
• 3 skeins of Wollmeise Superwash
• 3 skeins of exclusive Sock Kit Club yarn
• 1 Della Q Travel Needle Case
• 1 Loopy Accessories Tote with knitting gadgets
• 1 Little Loopy Traveling Pal

Prize #5: Designs by Romi!

• a 2011 membership to the Designs by Romi Pins and Lace Club, Romi’s Choice option – includes 4 quarterly shipments of custom yarn, shawl pin and new shawl pattern
• 7 Small Shawls eBook subscription
• 3 skeins of sock yarn

Prize #6: Rowan!

• 1 bag of Rowan Pure Silk DK in Damson
• 1 Rowan Classic Reminisence
• 1 copy Rowan Winter Gifts
• 1 Amy Butler bag

Prize #7: eat.sleep.knit!

• $200 eat.sleep.knit gift certificate
• eat.sleep.knit T-shirt
• Vine Bolero pattern
• 5 skeins Ravelry Red colorway of Malabrigo Silky Merino (enough to make the largest size of Vine Bolero)
• eat.sleep.knit mug with scarf pattern on the back and a skein of our exclusive colorway of Malabrigo to make the scarf
• 1 12 oz bottle of the Ravelry Unleash scent of SOAK Wash

Prize #8: Bijou Basin Ranch!

• 4 skeins of our Bijou Spun Mountain Treks 50% Pure Yak/50% Prime Alpaca
• 2 ounces of 100% pure yak roving – perfect for spinning or thrums
• Finally, 2 Bijou Spun patterns designed specifically for Mountain Treks and Bijou Spun roving: thrummed mittens for your hands and a hooded scarf for your neck and head

Prize #9: XRX/STITCHES Knitting Expos!

Winner’s choice – either the “Works” package from STITCHES Knitting Expos, redeemable at any STITCHES Knitting Event in 2010 or 2011, and which includes:

• Opening Day & Opening Day Lunch
• 21 class hours
• Fashion Show & Fashion Show Dinner
• The Student Banquet
• …and of course access to the Market all weekend long!

• Or, in the event that the winner would not be able to travel to a STITCHES Knitting Expo during this time, the winner’s choice of $300 worth of XRX books!

Prize #10: Berroco!

The entire 2010 Berroco Design collection, which includes:

• Comfort Afghan Book
• Norah Gaughan Men
• Norah Gaughan Volumes 6 and 7
• Spring/Summer 2010: Booklets #292, 293, 294, 296, 297
• Fall/Winter 2010: Booklets #298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303
• Plus! A $200 (retail) Berroco yarn credit!

Prize #11: Louet!

• Yarn and pattern for our Gems Light Worsted “Ribs on Diagonal Pattern” (your choice of Gems Light Worsted color)
• 2 14 oz bottles of SOAK in the scent of your choice.
• $150 of Louet North America Spinning Fiber of your choice of over 150 handspinning fibers to make whatever type of yarn or felted project you like

Prize #12: knitspot!

• the les Abeilles shawlette sample, knit by Anne Hanson in Briar Rose sea pearl, which measures approximately 19 inches long x 50 inches across the top edge.
• a $50 gift certificate to the knitspot pattern shop to be emailed to the recipient at time of award

Prize #13: Wollmeise!

• A Wollmeise Discoball! 15 skeins of either Wollmeise Twin (80merino/20pa) or Wollmeise 100% merino superwash, dyed especially for the winner in her choice of any of Wollmeise’s colorways. Have them all dyed in the same colorway for a sweater or cardigan, or each skein dyed in a different colorway – it’s the winner’s party!

Prize #14: Malabrigo!

• Two bags of Rios, the all new superwash worsted yarn from Malabrigo – one bag in the Ravelry Red colorway, and the other in a surprise colorway from Malabrigo. The winner will have the chance to try the new yarn before it is available in stores!

Prize #15: Schacht Spindle Company!

The total Get Started Weaving Kit and Caboodle:

• a Schacht Cricket Loom with a full complement of reeds (5-, 10-, 12-dent)
• a pick–up stick
• a copy of Weaving Made Easy and Time to Weave.

Prize #16: Namaste!

• Monroe bag in Hollywood Pink
• Wallet in Hollywood Pink
• Mini Clutch in Peacock
• 15″ Cozy in Eggplant
• 8.5″ Mini Cozy in Eggplant
• Buddy Case in Red
• Binder – Red

Prize #17: Ravelry!

• a Ravelry hoodie
• winner’s choice of large Ravelry tote bags from the minimart
• winner’s choice of small Ravelry project bags from the minimart
• 1 bag of Louet Gems Light Worsted Merino in your choice of any of the Ravelry colorways
• 1 bottle of Unleash Ravelry SOAK Wash
• a sweet assortment of Ravelry buttons, stickers, and drinkware!

WOW, right?! We are so grateful to all the donating companies for giving such amazing prize packages for this! We can never get over the generosity of this industry and the people in it – thank you, thank you.

As with all big Ravelry updates, we’re talking about this in For the Love of Ravelry – you can chat with us and other users in our thread for general discussions and chatter; if you need help choosing a category for a pattern, we’re talking about that in this thread. We’re going to be drawing the winners throughout the day on Monday, July 19 – the same day our brand new pattern search (that you are helping create!) is released on the site!

We hope you have fun with this huge reclassification project – we couldn’t do it without you! Good luck – we’re already looking forward to seeing who the lucky prizewinners are!

“I wrote your story as a fairy tale and I think you are gonna love it!”

Experience has told me that when Elizabeth writes you, don’t ask too many questions and just give her what she needs. The result is always the same: she will surprise you with something wonderful.

I have a feeling that this journal book will be no different. I hope that you check it out and get a peek at the rejeuvenating, calming, exciting and educational experience that is Squam Art Workshops.

At January’s TNNA show in Long Beach, we started thinking about ways that we here at Ravelry could participate more with the show. We really wanted to focus on two things: enhancing the sense of community that is already there within the industry at the show, and finding a way to share the excitement with all of our users.

The Ravelry Ice Cream Social on Friday night got the ball rolling at the show. Held just after the fashion show, we took over the Hyatt Lounge and a private dining room, and thanks to our sponsors, we had unlimited scoops of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams (YUM – it’s truly the best) and plenty of drink tickets for all. Casey even came up with a Guinness and dark chocolate ice cream float. ;) Jeni herself came to the party, which was extra fun – she got a lot of yarny love!

About 600 people (and Bobsolda!) attended the party, and we didn’t even run out of ice cream! (The scooper RJ was a real pro – my arm would have given out in no time.) Thank you so much to everyone who came, and special thanks to our sponsors – we could not have thrown this party without your sponsorship help!

Our Banana Split Sponsors were Rowan and Ysolda Teague.

The Waffle Cone Sponsors were Buffalo Gold, Knitter’s Magazine, Malabrigo, and Namaste.

And our Single Scoop Sponsors were Bijou Basin Ranch, Classic Elite Yarns, Dream in Color Yarns, Kollage Yarns, Lantern Moon, Skacel, and St-Denis!

Thank you so much, sponsors! We really appreciate your help – we just love working with such great companies!

The ice cream social was a great way to kick off the weekend, but it was Saturday on the show floor when the real business of TNNA began. The summer trade show is when companies bring out the new yarns, patterns, designs, and notions that will be available in stores for the fall. Retailers from around the country come to check out the new products and place order for their shops. There was such a positive feeling to this show! Exhibitors were happy, retailers were busy, and everyone was chatty and excited to be there.

Before the show, we worked with TNNA and got permission to set up a special website for the show – helloTNNA.com. Throughout the show, Sarah, Jess, Casey, and I posted photo and video updates from the convention center. Since TNNA is an industry-only trade show, we thought the Hello TNNA site would be a fun way to share the show happenings with interested folks around the world. We got permission from everyone who participated (thank you so much to you all! We wish we’d had the time to post from every single booth!) and had a great time asking the exhibitors to show off their new goodies for fall. The companies in this industry are so creative – we were blown away by all the new products! You can still browse the Hello TNNA site (and archives) if you want to check out anything you might have missed – and check to see if it will be in your local shops!

Each TNNA show gives us so much inspiration. We’re just full of new ideas for Ravelry! (Which is great, because we definitely have a lack of ideas and things we already want to do… ha.) Getting to spend time with our friends in the industry is so encouraging, and one of our favorite parts of these twice-yearly shows. We can never take for granted how lucky we are not only to have such a wonderful community of users but also to work in such a creative, supportive industry. Yay yarn!

If you’d like to see more photos from TNNA, check out Jess’ set on Flickr! We also started a Hello TNNA Flickr group; if you attended the show and would like to share your photos, please add them to the pool!

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Last Thursday, we had a really nice visit with Yarnmarket and got to meet some local Ohioans! We usually are so busy when we come to Columbus for TNNA in June that we fly in and out pretty quickly, so this was quite a treat!

Deborah and Alex from Yarnmarket were such great hosts- they let all of us run around their (omg yarn up to the ceiling!!) warehouse and hang out in the lovely showroom and office.

They even invited the great people from Della-Q, Kollage Yarns and Denise Needles to come show off their products and hang out with us all.

We wished we got more photos but apparently we were too busy talking with all the Ravelers and enjoying our sandwiches. Thanks so much to Yarnmarket and to all the Ohio Ravelers who came out to see us!

If you are in the Pickerington area, definitely stop by and see Yarnmarket! They have a nice showroom to sit and knit, with couches and lovely yarn to touch. Info here!

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We also had a little table at the Squam Art Fair- we brought some yummy cake and beer to share.  We were in great company, the vendors were just incredible. My only regret was that I didn’t bring enough cash ;) Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by to say hello to us- next year we will bring a little more cake!

Thank you so much to Elizabeth and all of her helpers!

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Thursday, June 10, 6:00 – 9:00 PM: Ravelry at Yarnmarket

Deborah from Yarnmarket graciously invited us to have a party in her shop, and we really can’t wait! This is a great chance for us to meet some folks in the local knitting community while in town for the trade show. This evening is open to all (with RSVP – space is fairly limited) and is sure to be a fun time! If you’d like to attend, please email Deborah at ravelryATyarnmarketDOTcom (just replace the AT and the DOT with their regular email symbols). She’ll be able to put your name on the list while there is still room, confirm your place, and set you up with directions to the shop!

Friday, June 11, 8:30 – 11:30 PM: Ravelry Ice Cream Social at TNNA

The National NeedleArts Association (TNNA) hosts industry-only trade shows in Columbus each summer, giving us the chance to see what is coming next in the fiber world and get caught up in a whirlwind of activity and people and lovely new yarns and designs. We are so lucky to be in an industry full of so many creative, talented, passionate, and just plain nice people behind all the companies we love to support, and we thought it would be great fun to start off the weekend with a bang meeting and networking with our fellow convention-goers… over yummy ice cream! After all, Columbus is the hometown of Jeni’s Ice Creams (otherwise known as the fuel of the Columbus TNNA show. Seriously. We may or may not eat it multiple times a day when we’re in town… ahem).

The generous support of our sponsors helped us to turn our fun (and perhaps slightly silly) idea into reality:

Banana Split Sponsors:

Rowan
Ysolda Teague

Waffle Cone Sponsors:

Buffalo Gold
Knitter’s Magazine
Malabrigo
Namaste

Single Scoop Sponsors:

Bijou Basin Ranch
Classic Elite Yarns
Dream in Color Yarns
Kollage Yarns
Lantern Moon
Skacel
St-Denis

Thank you so much, sponsors – we truly appreciate having the support of such fabulous companies!

The Ravelry Ice Cream Social at TNNA is going to be held in the foyer (across from the bar) of the Hyatt Regency Columbus, just after the TNNA Fashion Show. We’ll have drink tickets, music, plenty of room to hang out and meet with your fellow TNNA attendees and exhibitors, and lots of delicious Jeni’s Ice Cream! It’s sure to be a great time – if you’re coming to TNNA and would like to attend the Ice Cream Social, please RSVP on its Ravelry Events page. We think this is going to be a very memorable industry soiree!

We’re really looking forward to this trip: meeting lots of Ravelers, brainstorming new ideas for Ravelry, and lots of ice cream sounds like the makings of a pretty fantastic week. See you soon, Ohio!

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Before we head out, I had to remind local folks of our event on Saturday- we will be at the Squam Art Fair on Saturday, June 5th.  There will be some great vendors there, including:

• Ysolda Teague
• Susy Pilgrim Waters
• Maya Donenfeld
• Angela Ligouri
• The Woolen Rabbit
• Cal Patch
• Juniper Moon Fiber Farm
• Jill Bent
• Lettuce Knit

We will have some local beer and some Hello buttons so come by and say hello!

Directions here!

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The entire event had a wonderful community feel throughout the weekend. The marketplace, classes, and evening events all took place in the same hotel at which many attendees were staying, so the seating areas in the lobby were full of crafters throughout the day and late into the night… so was the hotel bar. ;) This gave the weekend such a cozy and casual feel – it was kind of like camp for yarn-loving grown-ups (who’d rather sleep in a hotel than a tent).

We started our weekend with a bang, hosting the Ravelry party on Thursday night. Around 350 happy Ravelers came by for some music, snacks, drinks, giveaways and door prizes… and even a chocolate fountain!

Thank you again to all of our fabulous sponsors – we wouldn’t have been able to host this event without your help, and the generous door prizes and giveaways you all donated made lots of attendees very, very happy. :)

Whenever we work with sponsors to throw an event like this, we are reminded of just how lucky we are to be in an industry with such lovely people behind the companies we all support. Please visit these links and check out the fantastic yarns, designs, notions, and goodies from our sponsors!

Qiviut: Knitter’s Magazine

Cashmere: Discontinued Brand Name Yarn, Eat.Sleep.Knit, Handknitting.com, Kollage, Skacel, Trendsetter Yarns, and WEBS

Merino: Bijou Basin Ranch, Della Q, Interlacements Yarn, Lion Brand Yarn, Lisa Souza, Knitting Notions, KnitWitch, Mirth, Miss Babs, Only Ewe and Cotton Too, and Sassafras Creations

Special thanks also to our fabulous party volunteers (Lauren, Kim, Jessica, and Kathy) who helped us set up before the party, clean up after, and took care of all the attendees as they entered the room. We also owe a huge thank you to the good folks at XRX, especially Benjamin and Molly, who helped us with our trip to Atlanta every step of the way, and Lisa, who seemed to be everywhere at once taking pictures of the event, and let us use some of her great photos for this blog post. Planning our attendance and party at STITCHES South was a breeze (and fun, too!), thanks to their help and support. It’s easy to see why STITCHES events are so popular when you meet the warm and friendly people behind them all. :)

The party was only the beginning of a whirlwind weekend. STITCHES events are packed with fun things to do! Friday began with the opening day talk (block your swatches!) and lunch with the fantastic teachers in attendance, and ended with the big fashion show. Sarah, Jess, and I were all so inspired by the fashion show garments, particularly the beautiful summer wear in warm-weather fibers. The weather is heating up where we all live, so the drapey tanks and skirts really caught our eyes.

On Saturday night, we served as special guest judges at the Student Banquet and Fashion Show. This event allows attendees to get on stage and walk the runway in their favorite projects from the past year, and all we had to say was: WOW. It was great fun to see such amazing pieces, and really hard to choose a winner! In the end, we gave our prize to this stunning sweater from Phyllis (who we are pretty sure is ngaknitter on Ravelry – we forgot to write her username down but the name, location, and fact that she’s been knitting for about 3 years definitely match)!

The sweater is her own design, knit entirely in reversible cables, and can be flipped not only inside-out but also top to bottom to change the look of the sweater’s length and shaping around the neck. It was a stunner! As you can see, Phyllis was absolutely glowing – who wouldn’t be, after finishing such a gorgeous garment? We were proud to give her a special Ravelry prize pack (a tote bag filled with goodies from the Ravelry minimart).

Naturally, we hit the marketplace floor every day – there were lots of wonderful vendors, and it’s impossible to get tired of looking at such lovely wares. Even Sarah’s little one, Cam, had fun checking everything out! The Atlanta Knitting Guild and the North Georgia Knitting Guild even had a table set up right as you entered the marketplace, greeting everyone with a warm welcome and a table full of swifts and ball winders to use after a few purchases. :)

It was so great to travel as a team to a new part of the country and take part in such a big event. Thank you, XRX, for inviting us to come!

If you were an attendee and have photos from the Ravelry party or meetups this weekend at STITCHES South, please add them to the Ravelry Events pool on Flickr! Thanks so much to everyone who gave us such a warm welcome in Atlanta. We had a blast, and hope your weekend was wonderful, too!

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