We had a wonderful time at TNNA with everyone, but there are definitely those moments when I just had to think of the Las Veges tourism commercial and smile. Rob and I joked about the image of the grandmotherly Asian woman writing a postcard home from Las Vegas, realizing what she's written, then hurriedly running the fountain pen ink with a moistened fingernail. What goes on here, stays here.

In all seriousness, nothing terribly untoward happened, but there was a woman in the hotel lobby quite amused to hear us and our new friend and roomie for a couple of evenings trying to explain to the clerk how two men, one present woman, and one absent woman needed to split the price of the room over several nights. There was also the quite interesting moment when at dinner with Beth, Michael, Jen, and Amanda of Lorna's Laces, plus Mary Moran and her daughter of The Knitting Zone, when Taiu of Koigu called wanting to know where Rob was and when he was coming to rescue her from... well, that's kind of where the evening goes south, but suffice it to say that we all made it home with our skins and unfairly commonly suspect honors intact.

As Rob has already said, it was so great meeting everyone, and we were amazed by the generosity and hospitality of so many of the people whose names are respected throughout the industry. We had a delightful conversation and subsequent tour of the Trendsetter line with Myrna Klein peppered generously with conversation and laughter shared with Barry, Heidi, and Jane, the unstoppable Edith Eig, and numerous others. We were thrilled to catch sight across the way of Frank Bielec of Mosey 'n Me though we refused to go bother him since we're not customers but giddy-stupid Trading Spaces fans. And it was so nice to be able to actually hug the necks of folks that we may have interacted with for some time but that whose presence we've never actually been in. Rob's talked and even worked with Melissa Leapman for years, so it was almost like bumping into an old friend when we happened to walk by her in the market, but it didn't even occur to me until later that she probably had little to no idea what we looked like.

The same is true of "Moma", "Yarn Goddess" or just plain Joan (though Joan is anything but just plain anything) of Cascade Yarns. Joan and Cascade have been with us almost as long as the shop has been in business, but we'd never met in person. The same is true of Lorna Miser; I think I might even have scared her a little when I first noticed her standing next to me and without thinking said, "Hi!" like I'd known her forever and just hadn't seen her in ages.

In general, though, we just had a great time, met tons of truly wonderful people (vendors, reps, and other shop owners), and had an absolutely incredible time. We're home, now, though. And despite being exhausted, we're also completely gung ho for an amazing autumn and winter season in our new digs.

Look out, world. ThreadBear is gearing up for some exciting new offerings, ideas, and surprises that will knock your socks off.