Wow! We had such a great time at the 2008 Knit Out and Crochet event at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minn. It was held over Presidents' Day weekend, just before this issue went to press, and thousands of dedicated stitchers braved the freezing cold weather to meet up and have fun.

If you've never been to a Knit Out, you're missing out! Knit Outs are held in various cities around the country (just visit knit-out.com to locate one near you). My mom attended her local Knit Out in Pittsburgh earlier in February, and she had a blast.

What's to see? At the Mall of America event, everyone who's anyone in our industry came together to share the latest and greatest with the public. First and foremost, we wanted to meet you to hear what kind of projects you're making and what you'll be interested in doing in the coming year. We also wanted to give you a peek at everything our industry has to offer.

Popular crochet and knitting authors were on hand to sign books, speak on panels, and teach workshops - including Candi Jensen, Vickie Howell, Debbie Macomber, and many more. Yarn companies were there to hand out free patterns, yarn samples, and other goodies. Knitters and crocheters competed for the title of World's Fastest (congrats to Lisa Gentry for upholding her title of World's Fastest Crocheter!). Several fashion shows displayed gorgeous designs for women, children and even dogs. Local guilds and clubs set up booths to recruit new members and show off their wares, and publishers (that's us!) attended to promote their books and magazines.

Crochet Today's Assistant Editor Sara Graham and I gave away thousands of copies of Crochet Today, and we met thousands of you in the process. What fun! We really felt the reader love, and needless to say, we are still glowing from the wonderful reception.

Check out our May issue to see photos - including one with Sara and me in the Crochet Today booth (a), against a backdrop of some of our most popular patterns from recent issues. Attendees were literally lining up to snag a free copy of the magazine. I taught three workshops on making granny squares (d), and I hope there are many new granny-makers out there as I write this letter. This stitcher (i'm sorry, I didn't get your name!) came to my workshop but gave up and declared that she just couldn't learn to make a granny. I helped her understand how to read our stitch diagrams, and in no time flat she had completed her first-ever square (e). We were both very proud!

Hope to see you there next year!

Brett Bara
Editor in Chief