Our first visit to Vogue Knitting Live!
After six years of business, we at Argyle decided to do something a little bit scary and a lotta bit exciting which was to go to Vogue Knitting Live for the first time as a vendor!
| Vogue Knitting Live is like a cross between a knitting trade show and a craft fair, and is held in Times Square. Famous knit wear designers fly in from all over to teach master classes. And in the "marketplace," there are hundreds of booths, in which yarn makers and dyers show off their own wares, and merchants like us display our favorite new yarns. The yarns we selected for this year were by Hedgehog Fibres, Woolen Boon, and Barnyard Knits. We also put together lots of three-skein kits to make the "Brooklyn Blossom," a shawl custom designed by Kirsten Kapur for a knit-along hosted ourselves and Brooklyn General Store. Speaking of . . . |  |
 | Like anything big and new, it took a little courage to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. Fortunately, we have become friends with Catherine, the owner of Brooklyn General Store! Since she had never had a booth at Vogue Knitting Live either, we decided (as it were) to hold hands and jump together. We've had a wonderful time over the last year collaborating between the two stores. We decided to split one booth and we practiced setting up and decorating it together before the show. As the weekend got closer, it actually got less stressful and more exciting. It felt a little bit like when we first opened a yarn shop in the first place |
| Here's a picture of Esther and Catherine in the back room of Argyle, figuring out how to hang the drapes behind the grid wall, and where to put these cool café lights. There were so many stressful, grownuppy things to learn about trade shows like mobile credit card processing and "drayage fees," (Ugh! You don't want to know!) that by the time we got to just think about what kind of fabric to decorate with and what kind of music to play, it felt like sweet relief! |  |
 | Here's the final look at Argyle's half of the booth. We also put together a bunch of really fun three skein kits with the pattern included to make the Brooklyn Blossom, a pattern designed for Brooklyn General and Argyle for our joint knit-along. When they first open the doors at VKL, hundreds of ladies are already waiting in a massive line outside, and they all pour in at the same time with a loud whoop! We hoped we would be ready for them! |
| One of the delightful things about being at Vogue Knitting Live is having everyone all in the same place at the same time. We were very happy to meet Kim, the founder of Barnyard Knits. And here is Esther with Beata, the founder of Hedgehog Fibres! We were delighted to finally meet her, and she flew in from Ireland to be there. Before we opened a business, I thought maybe it would just be numbers and transactional. You always hear that phrase, "It's just business." Not so! The reality is, it really really matters to have a face-to-face relationship with the people you do business with. You root for each other, and it makes your enthusiasm for what they do genuine. |  |
 | We also got to meet Katy, the founder of Katrinkles, who makes the most charming custom wooden notions. Here's a lineup of these four awesome ladies! (I, David, was there the whole weekend, but I guess I forgot to take a selfie). From left it's Catherine of Brooklyn General, knitwear designer Lavanya Patricella, Esther of yours truly, and Beata of Hedgehog. Vogue Knitting Live truly was a wonderful experience, and we look forward to going back next winter! |
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