Posts Tagged ‘the national needlearts association’

Alice Faye Huff-Idom and the Yarn Resource Catalog

Alice Faye Huff-Idom, a student at University of Akron, recently completed her Pathways into Professional Needlearts (PiPN) internship with my company Business Directions inc.  As part of her responsibilities, Alice has helped create the Yarn Resource Catalog.  Thanks to her, Barry Klein of Trendsetter Yarns, TNNA’s Yarn Group, as well as one of TNNA’s PiPN interns Rylee Tomlinson, the catalog is near completion.  I’ve now contracted with Alice to complete the mock-up.  So good-bye to Alice the intern. Hello to Alice the sub-contractor!

Here’s what she had to say:

Working as a PiPN intern this summer far exceeded my expectations. I not only learned   about the characteristics of unfamiliar yarns, but I learned more about the creative side of marketing and how to create a yarn catalog.

Creating a catalog allowed me to become more comfortable with Excel and how to collaborate with a professional such as Sherry Mulne. The experience with Sherry gave me a preview of what it would be like having a career as a creative marketing consultant and made me recognize my strengths and weaknesses.

I also learned that it is important to meet deadlines for clients including Sherry, to have an open mind and to show that I was willing and able to get the task done no matter how hard I had to work.

Finally, I would like to thank Sherry for welcoming me into her home and sharing her knowledge with me throughout the summer.

Our very own Dr. Teena Jennings-Rentenaar (University of Akron), a world traveler herself, has arranged an awesome fiber arts tour to Italy for students next year, and wanted to be sure all our PiPN interns and alumnae had first knowledge of this opportunity.

Here are the trip details.

• Dates: May 13, 2012 through May 24, 2012
• Itinerary:
  • Tour begins in Cleveland OH, with first stop in Milan
  • Next stop — Como to visit the Ratti Museum and Silk Manufacturing
  • Then to Venice.  (Dr. Jennings encourages you to book the lagoon boat ride to Burrano Island to see the lace workers and museum.)  If time allows, a visit to the Fortuny Museum.
  • Off to see the sites in Florence and visit a silkscreening and batik studio.
  • Then to Rome and a visit to a papermaking atelier, among others
  • Back to Cleveland
• Costs include airfare.

• The program is being organized by Dr. Jennings through EF College Study Tours,

• Information pertaining to costs and fees can be found at www.efcollegestudytours.com.  Once on the site, fill in tour # 1045590 in the appropriate box.  (If a pop-up happens, ignore it.)

If you’re interested, don’t delay.  Prices may go up Aug. 31st by another $100 or so, unless they have 5 registrants by that time.  Then they hold fast.

This is certain to be a trip of a lifetime.  It would also be a great opportunity to get together with past PiPN interns to compare notes, network and do a little needlework at the same time.

Personally, I’d love to go.  Maybe I’ll see you in Florence in 2012!

As I was just about to email all our 2011 summer interns and host companies, when I received this wonderful letter from Sarah Jo Mosbeck, an apprentice from PiPN 2010.  I felt I had to share it with you.  It’s great to know PiPN is making a real impact.

Sarah Jo Mosbeck modeling original knit skirt

Hi Sherry,
I was in the PiPN program last year, as an apprentice, and you were a tremendous help to me in the application process, and while I was in Columbus for TNNA. You had me give a talk on how adding the apprenticeship option had helped me, and as a result I was approached by Trisha Malcolm the next day, and she gave me a copy of Vogue Knitting’s Lace Stitchtionary to aid my designing dream.

My summer with Shannon Okey was amazing – informative and fun, and I came away having learned a lot and made a great friend. She wrote me a glowing reference letter for the job I have now.

I am currently filling Renee Lorion’s place as yarn editor here at SOHO Publishing in New York City while she’s on maternity leave for 3 months, and I feel that my participation in the PiPN program is responsible for me having the job I’ve wanted since I learned to knit. I’m also doing a couple of designs for them (one for Knit Simple Winter and one for Vogue Knitting Winter), which has been a long-held desire of mine.

So, thank you – the PiPN program, the addition of the apprenticeship option, and all of your kind council and advice has helped me to achieve my dream.

Sincerely-
Sarah Jo Mosbeck

May 31, 2011

Rylee Tomlinson, Mississippi State University, interning with The National NeedleArts Association

Hola mi amigos!

The TNNA trade show is almost here and I cannot tell you how excited I am! We are doing so many things to get ready like calling people and working on displays. Speaking of displays, I think y’all are really going to like what we are working on. It has a past, present, future theme and we have some help from Ohio State University’s Historic Costume and Textile Museum…but I am not giving away any more than that. You will just have to come to the show and see it for yourselves.
By the way, on a more personal note, all of this has been done while battling a medium level case of poison ivy. I would post some pictures but you would be too grossed out. You know, if it stayed concentrated to one area, like my arm, I would be okay. But no! It spread to my stomach, my other arm, and the front and back of both legs. I look just awful. Oh, and the itching is so much worse than the way I look. I have found, for anyone looking to relieve itching, that ice packs work wonders. Benadryl does too but, alas, I am now immune to it.
But I digress. The real point of this update was to let you know what we interns have been working on here at TNNA.  If you’re coming to the show, and I hope all of you are, don’t forget to stop by our display (to be on the show floor, in the “Fashion Show” area) and see what we have accomplished. You will not be disappointed, I promise!

First let me introduce TNNA’s PiPN interns.  Rylee Tomlinson and Crystal Spann are both students at Mississippi State University, our second PiPN hub.  I’ve been lucky enough to have them here, at my home office . . . and have to say, I’m enjoying every moment.  It’s wonderful to have their creative spirits and energy . . . not to mention they are delightful to spend time with . . . and are an  incredible help.

I’ve asked them, as well as our other 2011 summer interns, to send me updates of their experiences, so you can here it from their own mouths.

Here’s the first from each of them:

May 5, 2011
Rylee Tomlinson

Hi everyone!

Just a little update from an intern here at TNNA. My week started off slow, almost to the point where I was not sure this was for me. Boy was I surprised! Things have significantly increased and I now have a healthy amount of projects to work on, which I absolutely love. I have to stay busy or I think too much and go crazy. We had some trouble at the beginning of the week with the technology but Miss Sherry got it all worked out while I busied myself getting display pieces ready to ship to California for Maker Faire (I’ve never done so much sanding or used so much spray paint in my life). Tuesday we spent all morning making our to-do list (it’s very long, you see) for the whole summer. Now I am involved in the PiPN program by calling interns and making sure they are settled in with their host companies, the Stitch N’ Pitch program with the Cincinnati Red’s, and the TNNA Tradeshow in June. Lots and lots to do in a month! This is so exciting, though. I’ve never really done anything like this before but I’m taking it all in strides and doing the best I can.

Stay tuned for more from the interns here at TNNA and also, eventually, some interns from other hosts!

—————–

Hi guys, Crystal Spann here! I just want to fill everyone in on how my first week has been, interning for TNNA. I arrived on Friday, May 13, and I must admit that I was very nervous! Everyone, especially Ms. Sherry Mulne, was very welcoming and kind to me. It took me a while, but I finally started to relax and feel more comfortable, on Monday, after the first day of work.. Rylee and I met with Ms. Sherry that morning and talked about everything that we planned on accomplishing over the course of the next month or so. After the meeting, Rylee and I went out to run errands for TNNA and Ms. Sherry. We ended up being out a lot longer than we expected (five hours to be exact.) For the remainder of the week we worked on a few of our projects that we discussed on Monday and we were very proud to realize that we got a lot done in such a small amount of time! So far, I can honestly say that I love it here and I am really learning a lot about the real world and how to make something out of nothing.
Thanks for listening,
Crystal Spann