Hello all! I hope this year finds you well so far. For me, I find I never really feel the year has started until Vogue Knitting Live in NYC is over; it’s later than usual this year and it’s weird for me!
Vogue Knitting Live New York is a really special show for me. I had honestly never heard of Vogue Knitting Live before I was approached to participate in the 2015 VKL NYC. I had never done a show like this before and I was nervous as anything, but I decided to roll the dice and see what it was like. MollyGirl was still more a hobby than anything else at the time, but I thought it could one day be more and this seemed like a good way to find out. It was a defining weekend for me; it was the weekend I met so many of the people who influenced what my business would become and many of whom I still work with today. IU’s own Lisa is among that number, as is my good friend Xandy Peters, Rachel Maurer of Woolyn and Marsha from One Geek To Craft Them All. It seems like a natural thing then that I should make a post leading up to my fifth VKL NYC here, since this show in particular for me is a celebration of all those friendships I made that first weekend.
This year I am really excited a part of the MEGABOOTH, a collaboration between myself, Woolyn, One Geek To Craft Them All, Yarn Over New York and Wee Ones Creations. We’ve got one huge space and so much cool stuff between the five of us that the fifth floor won’t know what hit it! The highlight of this collaboration will be the release of a new pattern called City Windows by Rachel Maurer. It features one skein of my very own Rock Star yarn as well as a skein from Yarn Over New York. I assembled the kits myself last night and they look so cool! I can’t wait to share them all with you in person.
As usual, I will have some new yarns at VKL and this year I’ve got two new ones to share! Boogie Woogie is my new fingering weight yarn that comes to me direct from Italy. I have been itching to work with this supplier for some time, and when I got a sample of this yarn from them I knew it was the one! It’s 85% Italian Superwash Merino and 15% nylon, with about 435 yards in each skein. It’s insanely soft and my sample knitters have been raving about it. I’ve dyed a bunch of it in a huge range of colors, from newbies to MollyGirl classics so there will be something for absolutely everyone there!
The second new yarn is the most recent addition my Rock Star line: Rock Star Sport! Sportweight is becoming increasingly popular among designers, and I’m thrilled to have added this one! Made from the same American Superwash Merino and 100% processed in the USA, our Rock Star yarns now range from sportweight to bulky and all of them will be making an appearance at Vogue alongside the newcomer! It’s absolutely perfect for sweaters; light enough to layer but heavy enough to wear straight through to the spring to ward off chilly rainy weather. It too has been dyed in a huge range of colors and will be available for squishing and snuggling all weekend long.
I will also be taking signups for Volume II of our Spotlight club at Vogue, so if you haven’t snagged your spot yet now is the time! The name of this Volume is My New Project, and it’s all about the smash hit musical Wicked! I have all five colors planned out and I’m really, really excited about them. I’m also madly in love with the artwork (which will also be the enamel pin that goes with this Volume!) that graphic designer and fellow yarnie Aaron Wood came up with. I met him this year at New York Comic Con and I knew right away he was someone I’d love to work with going forward. I promptly lost his card (as I am wont to do) but was able to track him down through Ravelry! What would we do without it? You can sign up online through January 31 or in-person all weekend long at Vogue, but, fair warning, space is limited!
Finally, Vogue will see the release of a whole new set of fun enamel pins featuring art by Xandy Peters! I never would have thought when we met five years ago in my booth in the way back corner of the fifth floor that we’d still be working together, let alone that we’d have become such good friends. We were both exhausted, awkward and slightly intimidated by one another, and I think she wound up talking to my mom longer than she talked to me. Now we get to work together on so many awesome projects and I am ever grateful for her continuing friendship. Our latest collaboration is these new pins, including some new designs and new spins on some classics, and they’ll be available in person at Vogue.
Right now on Facebook everyone is doing that “my first profile picture vs. my current profile picture.” I think I’ll have to do that for my first Vogue vs. this one. I think part of the reason this show is so central to my year is that it wasn’t just at the beginning of the year. It was very much the birth of MollyGirl as you know it now. MG was already almost 2 when I did that show back in 2015, but it was the most inspiring weekend I’d ever experienced. I remember not being able to sleep for several nights afterwards, even though I was completely drained, because I had so many ideas spiraling around in my head and I didn’t want to miss a single one. I can’t believe it’s been five years, but I also can’t believe it’s been ONLY five years. I can’t wait to see all my old friends and meet plenty of new ones this year, and I hope to see y’all there!!
(Can’t make it this weekend? Don’t worry, everything shown here will be available online Monday, January 28!)