2017 CGOA Conference Afterglow!

I’ve been back from the CGOA Conference in Chicago for 3 weeks now and I thought I’d share some of the highlights of the conference this year for me!

 

I taught 6 crochet classes this year: Beginning and Intermediate Filet Crochet, Beginning and Intermediate Bruges Lace Crochet and 2 classes of Invisible Repairs. For more information about any of these classes, check out my previous blog post here. My smallest class had 11 students and my largest class was sold out at 25 students! I had the best students in each of my classes this year! I met so many nice, encouraging, friendly crocheters in every class and at every event!!! My dog had run into my left foot the Saturday before the conference, giving me a huge bruise and a very tender foot, so I was hobbling around a lot before and during the conference. My students were very understanding and let me sit down a lot, bringing their crochet pieces and questions to me most of the time! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting each student and sharing my crochet knowledge with them!!!

 

Here are some photos of my happy students from each class:

 

2017 Beginning Bruges Lace class left side

Left Side of Beginning Bruges Lace class on Wed night

 

2017 Beginning Bruges Lace class right side

Right Side of Beginning Bruges Lace class on Wed night

 

2017 Beginning Filet Crochet class left side

Left Side of Beginning Filet Crochet class on Thur AM

 

2017 Beginning Filet Crochet class right side

Right Side of Beginning Filet Crochet class on Thur AM

 

2017 Invisible Repairs class AM

Some students in Invisible Repairs class on Fri AM

 

2017 Invisible Repairs class PM

All students in Invisible Repairs class on Fri PM

 

2017 Intermediate Filet Class left side

Left Side of Intermediate Filet Crochet class on Sat AM

 

2017 Intermediate Filet Class right side

Right Side of Intermediate Filet Crochet class on Sat AM

 

2017 Intermediate Bruges Lace Class left side

Left Side of Intermediate Bruges Lace class on Sat PM

 

2017 Intermediate Bruges Lace Class right side

Right Side of Intermediate Bruges Lace class on Sat PM

 

You probably can’t notice from the small size of these photos that one of my students took all 5 of my classes this year! Her name is Robin and she’s a wonderful crocheter and student! Here we both are in the last class:

 

Robin and me from all classes

Robin and me

 

Here’s another student, Gwen, from that same class wearing her amazing crochet lace top that she made:

 

Gwen and her amazing lace top

Gwen with her amazing lace crochet top

 

And here is Corina from my afternoon Invisible Repairs class:

 

Corina and me from Inv Rep class

Corina and me

 

Corina is from Romania. She had contacted me through Ravelry a week before the conference asking a question about one of my designs. I noticed that she lived locally to Chicago and told her about the conference. I had no idea that she would actually attend the conference, let alone take one of my classes! And it was her birthday, too! Happy belated birthday, Corina!

 

I hope to see all of my students at next year’s CGOA Conference to be held in Portland, Oregon from July 25-28, 2018.

 

Another fun event at the conference, besides classes, is the Design Competition. I entered a shawl that I designed this year and I won an Honorable Mention! Here’s the shawl, which I’ve named Blazing Embers Lace Shawl. I designed it based upon a really pretty doily that I crocheted a number of years ago. Obviously this isn’t a doily! I’m pleased with how it turned out and will self-publish the pattern one of these days/weeks/months/years, when I get the chance!!!

 

Blazing Embers Lace Shawl laid out

Blazing Embers Lace Shawl

 

Here’s a photo of the Design Competition display at the conference:

 

2017 Design Competition Display

2017 CGOA Design Competition display

 

The Design Competition display was set up in the same room as the crochet lounge, which was sponsored by Red Heart Yarn. Red Heart set up an amazing display, designed and crocheted by Gina Rose Gallina called Queen Bee. Here’s that amazing display, along with Gina herself:

 

Queen Bee and Gina Rose Gallina

Queen Bee display with Gina Rose Gallina

 

At the end of the conference, on Saturday night, we had our banquet and fashion show, which is always so much fun! We also had the induction ceremony for this year’s CGOA Jean Leinhauser Crochet Hall of Fame award. This year, the award went to Carol Alexander, who was a crochet designer for many years before becoming the editor of Crochet! magazine (a magazine published by Annie’s). Here’s Carol giving her acceptance speech:

 

2017 HOF Winner Carol

2017 CGOA Hall of Fame winner, Carol Alexander

 

And here’s the loot from the goody bag that I came home with this year! What a haul!!!

 

2017 CGOA Conference loot

2017 CGOA Conference goody bag loot

 

If you’ve never been to a CGOA Conference, I hope you’ll take the plunge and attend one (or more)! You’ll learn so much, meet awesome crocheters and make life-long friends!

 

Until next time!

 

Happy crocheting,

Susan

 

This entry was posted in Bruges Lace Crochet, CGOA, Crochet classes, Crochet repairs, Design Contest, Filet Crochet, Teaching classes, teaching crochet, Thread crochet, travel and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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