The annual Knit and Crochet Show (formerly known as Chainlink) was so. Much. Fun! Seriously, of the three years that I’ve been attending this had to be the best one yet. The Radisson in downtown Manchester is well-staffed with people that very much want you to enjoy your experience. Twice there were set-up glitches that no one could have predicted and they were immediately all over them, even taking initiative and making suggestions on how to solve the problems. Refreshing in today’s day and age. Big shout out to them!

The week started with Professional Development Day 2008 with a record number of attendees. There are a lot of opportunities in this industry and that one day event launched many professional careers I’m sure. Rita Weiss and Jean Leinhauser, industry gurus and quite the hotties, started the day with an in depth overview of the publishing industry, covering every topic a hopeful professional needs to know about. Their presentation went until lunch and we could have ended the day right there and call it a success. If you want to see some of the amazing publications that they have put out go here: Creative Partners and prepare to be impressed. Seriously, sit down before clicking that link.



Lunch was delish and I have to mention that Lion Brand Yarns stepped up and sponsored the entire day. What an amazing show of support for our industry and their generous support helped offset the cost tremendously, making it effortless to provide a great experience for everyone. Anywho, although lunch was quite tasty, the hour was highlighted by a wonderful presentation by Amy Shelton – co-owner of the megaforum Crochetville.  where she showed how crochet professionals can get involved in forums and all the wonderful features and opportunites they provide.

The exciting afternoon roundtable discussions took Jean & Rita’s presentation and exploded it. Ten different options were available ranging from how to create a book proposal to self-publishing to contract crocheting to how to do publicity to the upcoming trends and for an hour smaller groups were able to interact one on one and hear the knitty gritty of how to take their careers to the next level. Each hour the groups would rotate and participants were able to choose three of the ten presenters in total.



The fun part for me though was giving out the door prizes all day long. So many people stepped up and provided books (many of them autographed), yarn, hand made hooks, etc including Lark Books, Leisure Arts, DRG, Melissa Leapman (had trouble giving that one away – who would know if I had kept it, right?), Mary Jane Hall, Lily Chin, Margaret Hubert, Myra Wood, Kim Kotary, Amie Hirtes of Nexstich.com, Robyn Chachula, Doris Chan, Jimbo, G3Studios, Interweave Press (free subscriptions), Crochet Today (free subscriptions), Tammy Browning-Smith (free legal consultation), Misti International, Annie Modesitt, Jennifer at Stich Diva Studios, Vickie Howell, Edie Eckman, Conjoined Creations, Mary Beth Temple, Laurie of Crazy Aunt Purl, Doris Chan, Westminster Fibers, Kristin Omdahl, and the rock stars of the day Jean & Rita of Creative Partners LLC.

Seriously, there were so many gifts to give away that nearly everyone that didn’t leave the room for a potty break got a gift. I’m always amazed at the generosity of this industry!

Anywho, I guess I’ll get back to work. That cardigan isn’t going to crochet itself you know! That was just the first day, and not even all of it – I’ll do more updates later! To see a great overview of the week check out Vashti’s blog here: Designing Vashti