We recently traveled to sunny Anaheim, California to attend the 2014 Winter Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show. This annual show gives us a sneak peek at all of the hot new trends in the crafting world. We were not only lucky enough to play with all of the new craft supplies that will be hitting stores this year, but we also ran into some crafty celebrities that you may recognize — scroll down to find out who! 🙂
We, of course, bee-lined to all of the yarn booths to check out what’s in store for us knitters and crocheters. A few of the major trends that we couldn’t help but notice are oversized wearables, bright colors, and pompoms. So sit down, relax, and read all about our favorite new yarn trends below.
Red Heart Yarns:
Red Heart’s big reveal this year was reflective yarn. In normal lighting, it looks just like your average acrylic yarn, but believe it or not, it actually reflects light because of reflective thread that’s been added to the yarn. This unique component helps in nighttime visibility, and would be handy when working up accessories such as headbands, scarves, and dog apparel.
Lucky for us, this awesome feature also shows up exceptionally well in flash photography! The images on the left are in normal lighting (without a flash); the images on the right were taken with a flash. You can really get a good look at the reflective feature!
Lion Brand Yarns:
Our friends at Lion Brand are calling 2014 “the year of you.” Their big focus this year will be personalization of patterns such as their zodiac scarf collection, crocheted afghans to match your own personal home decor style, afghans for every season, and personalized baby blankets using their adorable little Bonbons to embroider homemade crochet afghans.
We were also lucky enough to get a seat at the Lion Brand fashion show, The 7 Wonders of the Yarn World. This lively fashion show featured the latest knit and crochet patterns from Lion Brand, all of which will be available for free on Lion Brand’s website by March 1, 2014. The seven wonders included Cables, Stripes & Chevrons, Lace, Embellishment, Texture, and Granny Squares. Some themes that were impossible to ignore this year were over-sized (comfy!) garments, bright colors, and playful pompoms. Check out some pictures from the show below!
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 It was also a pleasure to meet some of the talented crochet bloggers that AllFreeCrochet works with on a regular basis. We were able to spend some time with Michael Sellick of The Crochet Crowd, Mary Kathryn Vaughn of Crochet Chiq, Jaime Maraia of Crochet Dynamite, and last but certainly not least, Vanna White from Lion Brand Yarns. These talented bloggers and companies were able to mingle and network together, as well, at Prime Publishing’s second annual Blogger Networking Event.
Of course, a trip to Anaheim just wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Disneyland! We were lucky enough to sneak in a bit of “playtime” while we were at CHA, and look who we ran into!
What new yarn product or trend are you most excited to try? Leave a comment and let us know!
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