THE MILLAMIA BLOG: Beautiful Butterflies

With apologies that we are a week late with the post (already missing Max's efficiency and whip cracking on blog posts!) we wanted to share a quick update from TNNA. Ideally we would have posted this last Friday as we arrived in Columbus - but at the moment crafting a blog with photos via an IPAD on the road is beyond my technical capabilities. A goal for the future instead.....

Exhibition centre Columbus

Segue tour - something you don't see in Europe!

TNNA was fantastic this year again. We are always impressed with the professionalism and spirit in the US yarn market and this proved to be the case this year again. We exhibit in the booth next to our US distributor Classic Elite and really enjoyed the camaraderie of being part of this bigger team. With an amazing team of sales reps across the USA working with Classic Elite has really helped us grow our US presence and it was wonderful to spend time with the many shop owners now stocking MillaMia who visited the show this year.

Helena hard at work pinning up the backdrop

Having won the 'best booth' award last year the pressure was on for Helena to come up with another brilliant concept. And she did not disappoint. Mixing the current trend for colouring in with her source of inspiration for the jewel like colours in our Aran yarn palette she came up with the beautiful dot to dot Butterfly background. Ably helped by our design assistant Tanya they brought it to life stitching in Ochre, Magenta, Cobalt, Emerald and Cherry Naturally Soft Aran yarn.

Free Milly Pattern is always popular

Beautiful Butterfly

The backdrop earnt us lots of compliments and was a real talking piece which is what we had intended. I was also thrilled it could be packed flat in our suitcase and was relatively easy to construct on site once Helena and Tanya had already done all the hard work in the UK before we left!

The finished booth

TNNA is also an opportunity to catch up with friends from the UK community who were also exhibiting or visiting. We bumped into Verity from Baa Ram Ewe and Titus Yarns already on the plane on the way into Columbus (and again on the way home!) and also Jenny from Fyberspates, Rachel (Rachel Coopey knits). I also enjoyed getting to know Carol Feller a bit better during a quiet part of the show. It's not just the independents that visit from the UK however - established operators like Ramsdens, Bretts and Sirdar are also making big inroads into the US market which is a great testament to our industry.

Catching up with Rachel Coopey and Jenny from Fyberspates

Finally a super breakfast with 3 of the most amazing knitwear designers from the US - Michele Wang, Olga Buraya and Bristol Ivy. It was so nice to spend some more time with these amazing women who are forging brilliant careers combined with their love of knitting. Their technical know how and perseverance and dedication to their concepts really sets them apart. Even more importantly - they are great company!