Friday, June 13, 2008

Imagine everywhere you look, miles, or so it seems, of yarn, yarn and MORE yarn.

Mix in a few tons of scrumptious bags, a large large measure of accessories, thousands of tools and a cacaphony of voices in wonderment flying gaily up into the high high ceilings…

YOU are at the TNNA.

You are standing far downstream from the Giants of Industry: every large company you’ve ever heard of, continental and international, new and old alike, all of us, singing the marketplace siren song to the current of retailers flowing by.

And you feel Small.

Because you are.

Then you feel Large.

Because you’re a Player.

And I was glad I was THERE: at The National NeedleArts Association Fall/Winter 2008 Show in Colombus, Ohio.

The thought that kept playing through my head was the motto of the Illinois lotto: you gotta be in it to win it!

And was I ever!

Even though I was so plagued Friday night with butterflies I could barely form words into a sentence (please forgive me for speaking/not speaking!), even though my booth was simple and basic and quite tiny in comparison, new heroes and old were within arms reach sailing on by and many stopped at Booth 1157 to, as Capt. Jack says, parlay…

Beginning Friday morning, I was rocketed into a language immersion program using a vocabulary I that was familiar but not agile with. By Monday afternoon and the close of the show, I was fluent. It was the beautiful dialect of the Local Yarn Shop and believe me, your neighbors worked very hard scouring the landscape to discover all the new treasure for the Fall Season that will soon be on its way.

It was really fun to meet all the old friends and new; to extend the welcoming hand and be priviledged to show the collection! Thank You!

Some highpoints: a gentleman coming in cold off the aisle up to my display and proclaiming, “Now that’s what I call a sweater!”; finally having a rendevous with the beautiful Nathania and Sandy and being able to make a wish on Baby Elinor’s foot; being romanced by a Yarn Company; seeing, unexpectedly and out of the corner of the eye, a familiar sweater on display in the Potter Craft booth promoting a fabulous Fall Book Release; being thankful there exists a shoe company called ARCHE and the fact they were on my feet; being less than 20 yds from the ladies room; overhearing sales partners saying to each other, “just look at this, come over here…”; feeling on top of the world while standing on cold hard concrete…”

I can’t wait to do it again…