10 Things I Remember About the West Coast Tour

1. My little brother Kevin, coming to TNNA to visit me for the launch of both my new yarn with SWTC, and Knitty Gritty Knits. I made him walk the aisles of the convention holding a copy of the book that had, “This is my sister!” and an arrow pointing to my picture on the cover. He was not amused. Although he said that the whole being-surrounded-by-crafty-people experience was like “re-living his childhood”, he stayed for a long time so he couldn’t have been that miserable. 😉

2. Getting to see one of my favorite guests, Erika Knight for the first time in 3 years. She was at TNNA promoting her beautiful new book, Glamour Knits. I absolutely adore Erika and her designs!

3. Having dinner with Drew Emborsky and Annie Modesitt who were there to promote, Men Who Knit & the Dogs Who Love them. Annie also showed me a preview of her next project, an ingenuous, knit-stitch flip book. She’s self-publishing, so stay tuned! That same day, I also got to see, Amy Singer, Suss, Melissa Leapman, Candi Jensen, Jenny Hart, Tina Whitmore, Nicky Epstein, Brett Bara, Lily Chin and many more. 🙂

4. Turning the cameras around to take pictures of people who came to the Barnes & Noble signing in Orange, CA.

5. Shooting a “DIY from CHA” special with a bunch of the other DIY craft hosts. We always have so much fun working together. It’s like being at camp. Later we all hung out with Karl & Amy from DIY to the Rescue at the DIY/Sterling launch party for the new books.

6. Giving a presentation at CHA (Craft & Hobby Convention) to industry buyers about textiles and home decor. The audience stared at me with straight faces. It was semi painful doing mine, but I enjoyed watching Cathie’s workshop on floral design!

6. Jennifer & I chatting with craft maven ,Carol Duvall. Later met Bernie, rescuer of Noel the wonder pup. I’m thrilled to report that Noel’s doing well and loves the ears everyone’s been sending her!

7. Seeing all of my new yarns in stores for the first time at Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos., Stash in Berkley and Pacific Fabric & Crafts in Seattle. So exciting! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate local yarn store owners investing in the Vickie Howell Collection .

Me with Hollis of Full Thread Ahead. She’s wearing a travel wrap I designed to be extra wide for warmth on airplanes. Yarn: Double-stranded ROCK in color: Billie Joe.

Barrel of LOVE at Stash in Berkley.

8. Randomly ending up on the same press juncate, which put us on one flight and two different morning shows together, as the former head of the DNC, Terry McAullife. He was promoting his new book, What a Party!. He’s also the CEO of Hilary Clinton’s campaign. I don’t think he ever asked my my name but instead took to calling me “chick with sticks”, after I was introduced that way on a show in San Fran. I chatted a bit with his consultant Justin, late one night at the airport while waiting for our flight. As we boarded the plane he had his hands full so I helped him with his briefcase. Of course, I had to joke that I was literally carrying the weight of their campaign. This was a lot funnier, sleep deprived at the time, than it is re-counting it now. But I digress.
I also had the pleasure of meeting the author of Alternadad, Neal Pollack who was a guest on the same morning show as I was in Portland. We both had hours to kill before our respective next events, so we grabbed some breakfast together. My favorite part about what I do is all of the interesting people I get to meet. Neal is definately one of them.

9. Visiting the Yarn Garden in Portland. It was such a great event! They have a lovely cafe in their luxurious store which gave the talk/signing a casual feel. I parked myself on the counter and chatted with the packed room of people for an hour or so, while sipping champagne and nibbling on truffles. This is my favorite type of appearance, ones I get to just hang out with fellow knitters and talk. My schedule doesn’t allow me to go to Stitch n Bitch meetings anymore, so this is the next best thing! Oh, and a friend I went to junior high and high school with but hadn’t seen since, Ali, showed up with her MIL and daughter. That was a very cool suprise. 🙂

10. The DIY Knit In Blog-a-thon event! Holy majoly, it was crazy. I was on my laptop at my friend Melinda’s in Seattle, and didn’t stop typing for 6 hours. I don’t know how many people logged-on but there were over 550 comments posted! Thankfully I had Karen & Nan from DIY in Knoxville helping out answering questions. Next year, we’ll have a better system worked out so I can give more attention to individual posts. Possibly involving a bullpit and “Judy from Time Life” headsets. Thank you so much to everyone who joined me! It sounds cheesy, but I really dug knowing that so many people across the nation were spending time virtually hanging out together.

My friends Kristin and Lori knitting and helping me out during the Knit In on Superbowl Sunday.

xo,
Vickie