This weekend my sister and I headed down to Houston for Quilt Market. To be honest, I’m not sure exactly why I went, but people have been asking me for the past two years whether or not I would be there, so I decided to give it a shot. There was so much fun quilting and sewing stuff to look at, but what sealed the trip for me was knowing that Brett Bara was coming into town, and that Drew Emborsky had a book signing the same weekend, hosted by Yarntopia (co-owned by kindred crochet spirit, Sheryl Means!). Many cool crocheters in one place, plus a chance to catch  up on what’s new in the fabric world? Yes, please!

At market, I only took about two pictures and this was one of them.  I got to meet one of my favorite fabric designers–Anna Maria Horner. Anna Maria is a crocheter herself, as well as an amazing sewer and fabric designer. She has a new line of velveteen (yes, velveteen!) fabrics coming out in her collection, Innocent Crush. I have no idea how she does all that she does, but it’s inpsiring nonetheless. And you know I love a good cross-crafter–I don’t buy into the attitude that crocheters don’t sew, knitters don’t crochet, sewers don’t knit, etc. Crafty is crafty!

On Sunday we headed over to Yarntopia for Drew’s Crochet It. Love It. Wear It! book signing and Crochet Dude Product launch. Kim Guzman (above) was a surprise guest, and it was great to get to meet her. Plus I got to hang out with Brett Bara, who you may know as the former editor of Crochet Today. We used to work together in New York and it was so good to see her and talk yarn, crochet, and life.  She is holding up a sparkly ball of Kollage yarn in this photo. And  yes, I am wearing a light up pumpkin necklace. Because it was  Halloween, after all.

I had a lot of fun catching up and also, shopping! I have talked to Sheryl, one of the owners of Yarntopia, several times about crocheting as it relates to local yarn shops/high end yarn, and browsing her store I could just tell how much crochet love she has put into it. It was well stocked with lightweight yarns that come with generous yardage, and there were at least as many crochet samples as there were knit. It is always great to see that! If you’re a yarn shop owner, you can see more about how Sheryl has made her shop hook-friendly in my article, “Courting the Crochet Customer” in the October issue of Yarn Market News.

While I was busy gabbing and petting yarn, my sister Mary decided to sit down and learn to crochet. She made a couple of crochet-covered rings and was beaming afterwards. In the car, she said she never realized how easy it was to do! I’m going to have to round up some stray yarn and hooks to keep her going now!

I got home just in time to greet loads of trick or treaters. So even though I missed out on carving pumpkins, roasting seeds and dressing up this year, I think this may go down as one of the best Halloweens ever. I hope yours was lots of fun, too!