TNNA Day 1

Want to fit a week's worth of work into 2 or 3 days? That's what TNNA is for me! I'm exhausted but overall it was a great weekend. Friday night I got to meet the terrific people from Bijou Basin Ranch yarn. Here we are at dinner.

On the bottom left is Knitwear designer, Simona Merchant-Dest, next to her is Carl Koop of Bijou Basin Ranch, behind him is the entertaining Darlene, aka "Marly's Mom", on the other side of the table by the wall in the white is Carl's wife, Eileen Koop of Bijou Basin Ranch, in the red is author, designer Kristin Omdahl, I'm next to Kristin. In the front, on my other side is designer Marly Bird, of the Yarn Thing Podcast. Marly is also the creative director for Bijou Basin Ranch.

I had a great conversation with Eileen about their Yaks. They raise the animals on their farm in Colorado. The need for their fur however is greater than what they can produce with their herd. They also buy the fiber from other farmers in the United States but also in Tibet and Nepal. Harvesting the fur from yaks does not harm the animal. I learned that the animals are very self-sufficient. She said about half their herd welcomes a scratch behind the ears and a little attention. The other half is a little nervous of people. All of them respond to the dinner bell. :) Bijou Basin Ranch has recently added colors to their natural fiber selections. Thank you Bijou Basin Ranch for your hospitality and for sponsoring events throughout the weekend!

More on TNNA for the next several days. I will be sharing photos of many great new products that I was gifted. Also, more and more photos and shout-outs for many other names you will recognize and information on yarn companies you may or may not be familiar with.