It’s time for one of several “markets” that we attend every year – this time in sunny, warm San Diego.

The grass is green! It’s so nice to see some green other than my Christmas tree 🙂

Our hotel is right next to the convention center where the winter trade show for The National Needlearts Association (aka, “market”) is being held. Plus we’re right next to the Gas Lamp district – an historic area of San Diego filled with fabulous restaurants – and the stadium for the San Diego Padres.

I spent some time walking around this charming area during the early afternoon (in 63 degree weather – I know, I should really stop rubbing it in, but I feel so lucky!). I found at least 10 restaurants I’d like to eat at…

Later in the day, I headed to my first class of the weekend: Moving Miters with Barry Klein, the owner of Trendsetter Yarns. Barry has been in the biz for his whole life, following his mother around to stores and market. He and his mother started Trendsetter 25 years ago. To celebrate their anniversary, Trendsetter is having a special promotion, which you can read about here. We just received our order of the 100% mink (!) yarn, Lotus ‘Mimi,’ from Trendsetter. Buying just one skein of this yarn will qualify you for the promotion.

Anyway, the class was fantastic. We learned how to make rectangular miters, instead of the more traditional diamond or triangle shaped miters. Here are some photos, concluding with the beginning of the a scarf that I will be making out of the two skeins of Ascot that Trendsetter gave each of us. (Sorry, we don’t carry this yarn; although I can think of lots of other yarns we do carry that would look great using this mitering technique.)

It’s been a fun day! More tomorrow…