Design Contest – The Crochet Architect

August 7, 2019August 7, 2019

2019 CGOA Conference Afterglow

It’s been 3 weeks since I returned home from the CGOA Conference in Manchester, NH. This year is the 25^th Anniversary of CGOA! Wow! I’ve been a member since 2002, so I’ve been with CGOA for 17 of their 25 years. Happy Birthday, CGOA!

As always, I had a great time at the conference. I saw lots of friends, made new ones and was surrounded by everything crochet! This year, I taught 5 classes: Shuttle Tatting, Invisible Repairs, Irish Crochet, Intermediate Filet Crochet and Symbol Crochet. I had rooms full of wonderful students, each eager to learn what I was teaching. I even had a blind student in 2 of my classes! She was a treat to meet and teach (and what an inspiration to me!). Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of the students in my classes. But I still have a few photos to share with you from the conference.

Here are photos of some of my friends:

Carlotta Craig and me at the Banquet/Fashion Show

Bonnie Barker and Carlotta Craig at the Banquet/Fashion Show

Carolyn Calderon, Pia Thadani and me with our tatting shuttles the day after the conference

I stayed an extra day after the conference for some sightseeing! My roommate, Shari White, and I went to the Currier Museum of Art that day. It was a very nice museum with lots of beautiful exhibits. They even had a special exhibit about guitars. My favorite guitar was one made from an armadillo shell! Here are some photos from the museum:

My roommate and me at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester

Armadillo guitar at Currier Museum of Art

On the way to the conference, I saw some other guitar items. At Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix, they had an exhibit about making guitars. Here’s a photo from that exhibit:

Guitar making exhibit at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix

And at the airport in Nashville, where I had a layover on the way to Manchester, there was a Gibson Café. Here’s one of the tables that’s shaped like a guitar pick:

My oldest son is really into music, so I tend to take notice of music-related items!

At the conference, there was the usual Design Competition, which I love! I didn’t have time to make anything for it this year, but I always enjoy seeing the entries from other designers. Here are a couple of my favorites:

This is the Rockabilly Swing Dress by Nancy Nehring. She won the Grand Prize for this dress! And here’s her daughter, Katie, modeling the dress for the fashion show:

These are some other garments in the Design Competition. The one at the bottom left is the Blue Willow Dress by Susan Walsh. She won First Place in the Fashion category for this design.

Here’s Susan modeling her dress for the Fashion Show:

Susan Walsh modeling her Blue Willow Dress

I LOVE this dress! And it looks fabulous on Susan!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the yarn bombing at the conference. One of the CGOA members, Jennifer Ryan, who lives in NH, put together the yarn bombing this year, both inside and outside the conference hotel (the Double Tree by Hilton). Here is one of her yarn bombing displays:

Of course, there were pieces of crochet almost everywhere you turned at the hotel! I thought this one was really nice!

One of my favorite things to do at the conference is model in the fashion show. I’m not a professional model, but it’s a lot of fun! Here are a few things I modeled there:

This is Margaret Hubert’s Pot Pourri cardigan. Isn’t it beautiful? It was very comfortable! I don’t know where this cardigan is published, though.

This is my Frosty Lace Cardigan (a thread crochet top) that I designed a few years ago. I lengthened it by about 3” in April or May of this year, after the trip that my husband and I took to Japan in March.

If you’d like to watch a video of the fashion show, check out this video on Facebook. And here are some photos, along with the line-up, of entries in the Fashion Show on the CGOA blog.

Another fun event at the conference was the Friday night sign-along, hosted by Bonnie Barker and Jennifer Ryan. It was so much fun! If you’d like to see a few videos from that night, check out Bonnie’s YouTube channel. Some of the song names were “Will You Crochet Friend, Crochet?”, “Ms. MacDonald Had a Bag of F-I-B-E-R”, “On Top of My Craft Bag” and “Ripping Out is Hard to Do”. It was so fun to sing these silly songs!!! Bonnie and Jennifer did a fabulous job that night, along with 2 of Jennifer’s daughters!

As you can see, the CGOA Conference was a ton of fun! It always is! I met some very nice new friends and enjoyed teaching all of my classes. I hope my students enjoyed my classes and learned everything they wanted to learn in them!

Until next time! Happy crocheting!

Susan

March 6, 2019July 27, 2019

2019 CGOA Conference

I LOVE to teach crochet! And I LOVE to learn new crochet techniques! Don’t you?

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be teaching 5 classes at the CGOA Conference this July in Manchester, NH. Not all of my classes are crochet, though. I’ll be teaching shuttle tatting again this year, too!

First, I’ll tell you a little about the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) Conference. This takes place every year (sometimes twice a year) in various cities across the US. It is open to CGOA members and non-members. There are dozens of classes taught by many talented teachers, some very well-known! We have a marketplace with vendors who sell everything from luscious yarn/thread to hooks, books and supplies. We also have a banquet and fashion show, as well as some fun events in the evenings. And I can’t forget about Professional Development Day (PDD) where established crochet professionals share what they know about running a successful crochet business. PDD takes place the day before classes begin, on Wednesday, July 10 from 9 am – 4 pm.

For all the scoop about the conference, visit the CGOA conference pages. Here is a list of the events going on at this year’s conference. Read this page to find out about all the classes being offered. And one last thing, CGOA has a design competition each year for CGOA members only. There are prizes in 6 categories ranging from $100 – $300, with a grand prize of $1,000! There have been some fabulous entries each year! It’s so much fun to see the entries at the conference and find it who wins in each category!

Okay. Now to list the classes I’m teaching and when each one is offered.

Thursday, July 11 from 9 am – 5 pm (with lunch from noon – 2 pm)

Tatting the Old-Fashioned Way

Tatting is such a fascinating and delicate craft. I taught myself to tat over 20 years ago. I’ve learned more since then and I really enjoy teaching others so they’ll be successful in their tatting projects. In this class, my students will learn the basics of tatting and start tatting this beautiful necklace with buttons, beads or charms. This is the only 6 hour class I’m teaching at the conference this year. Yes, it takes that long to learn to tat and get your head wrapped around how to do it! But I’ll be there to teach my students and answer all their questions. If you’ve always admired tatting and want to learn to tat, sign up for this class early. I’ve limited this class size to only 20 students.

Friday, July 12 from 9 am – 12 pm (noon)

Invisible Repairs

I’ve taught my Invisible Repairs class at the conference for the past 2 years. This has been a popular class and I’m thrilled to be teaching it again this year! In this class, I teach my students how to repair their damaged crochet projects, no matter where the damage is located. There is homework for this class so we can all do the repairs to the same swatches in class. And I’ll be demonstrating how to do the repairs in class, as well. This technique also works great to invisibly seam the last row to the first row on crochet cowls!

Last year, I filmed a crochet video class for Annie’s on this same topic called “Crochet ER: Fixing Damage and Mistakes”! If you can’t make it to the conference and would like to learn to repair your crochet projects (or someone else’s crochet projects), check out my Annie’s video class.

Friday, July 12 from 2 pm – 5 pm

Intro to Irish Crochet

I LOVE Irish Crochet and I really enjoy teaching this class to other Irish Crochet enthusiasts (who don’t know where to begin). In this class, I’ll be teaching how to make the Irish Crochet rose and leaf motifs. I’ll also teach how to make the background and the edging that you see in this photo. This is an introduction class, so we won’t get into more advanced Irish Crochet techniques. But once you know the basics of Irish Crochet, you can always learn more on your own or with books.

Saturday, July 13 from 9 am – 12 pm (noon)

Intermediate Filet Crochet

This is my Filet Crochet class for those who already know the basics of Filet Crochet (open mesh, closed mesh and lacets). In this intermediate class, you’ll learn to do increases, decreases, diagonals and a whole lot more! Once you learn these intermediate Filet Crochet skills, you’ll be ready to tackle that more complex Filet Crochet pattern you’ve had your eye on for so long!

If you don’t know the basics of Filet Crochet yet, and you’ve been wanting to learn to do Filet Crochet, check out my Annie’s class called “Learn Filet Crochet Using Thread and Yarn”. Then if you want to take your Filet Crochet to the next level, why not sign up for my intermediate class at the CGOA Conference (or before for the best rates)!

Saturday, July 13 from 2 pm – 5 pm

Simplifying Symbol Crochet

This class is always a lot of fun to teach! I learned to read symbol crochet charts several decades ago through Magic Crochet and Decorative Crochet magazines. I love to make doilies and the patterns in these magazines were mostly written in crochet symbol charts. As a visual learner, I find these charts so much easier to follow than a lengthy written crochet pattern! And they look so similar to the finished project, too!

If you haven’t learned to read symbol crochet charts yet, this is your chance! You’ll learn all the basic crochet symbols and lots of more complex symbols, too. You’ll learn to follow a symbol crochet chart, both in rows and in rounds. And you’ll practice what you’ve learned making 2 small projects/swatches in class. Once you learn to read and follow symbol crochet charts, a whole new world of crochet patterns will open up to you! You’ll even be able to follow symbol crochet patterns in other languages including Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Ukranian!

If you’ve taken any of my classes in the past, you know how much I like to have nice, precise class handouts. I print them in color and bind them like a book to they’re a great keepsake to refer to later on after the conference. I charge $5-$8 for these handouts (depending on the quantity of photos/pages), which is what it costs me to print them at home, with the price of toner cartridges, nice paper, card stock and binding combs (to use with my binding machine). Here’s a look at my class handouts:

If you’re going to the CGOA Conference, class registration begins next Wednesday, March 13 at 12:00 pm (noon) Central time. Once again, here’s the CGOA website to find out more about the conference and CGOA in general. And if you have any questions about the conference, I’d be happy to answer them for you.

I hope to see many of you at the conference!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

August 20, 2018August 17, 2018

To CGOA or not to CGOA? That is the question!

What does that mean exactly? Well, to me it means whether to join CGOA (the Crochet Guild of America) or not. That’s a silly question, in my opinion! CGOA has been the best thing I ever could have done (and I did) for my crochet career! Even if I wasn’t a crochet professional, it still would have been the best thing I’ve done for my crochet skills and knowledge! I’ve learned so much about crochet since becoming a CGOA member!

CGOA has a conference every year. The first CGOA Conference I attended was in 2003 in Chicago. I’ve attended almost every year since then (15 conferences so far) and I’ve taught at 9 CGOA Conferences since 2009!

This year’s CGOA Conference was held last month in Portland, OR. I taught 5 crochet classes there: Symbol Crochet, Multiple Motifs, Invisible Repairs, Beginning Bruges Lace and Intermediate Bruges Lace. I had the best classes this year! All of my students were fabulous! I’ve met so many crocheters at the conference who are just as passionate about crochet as I am! The attendees come from all over the US, as well as a few other countries such as England, the Netherlands, Australia and a few more. Here I am teaching in one of my classes:

You may be wondering what exactly happens at a CGOA Conference. Well, it depends on the year! Some years we’ve had a Pajama Party or a Fun Night! Those were both lots of fun!

At every conference we have dozens of crochet classes (and sometimes a few other similar crafts) that are taught by very talented and accomplished teachers (I am in awe of my fellow teachers’ accomplishments!). Here are some of the students in my classes this year:

Every year we have a show floor/market place where we can purchase yarn, thread, hooks, books and lots of yummy fiber goodness!!! This year we had a “yarn tasting” table outside the show floor where you could try out some of the yarns that were being sold in the market place. I really enjoyed “tasting” some of the yarns there!

Every year we have a banquet and fashion show. That’s so much fun (with yummy food, of course!). You get to see some gorgeous crochet fashions (or be a model yourself)! I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone for almost 10 years and have modeled in quite a few fashion shows over the years! It’s a lot of fun, mixed with some butterflies in my stomach, of course!

Almost every year we’ve had a Professional Development Day (PDD). That’s one of the best investments I’ve made at the CGOA Conference because I learned so much about how to run a professional crochet business. I’ve even presented the topic of Contract Crocheting at PDD a few times in the past!

Every year we hold a Member Meeting where we vote on the minutes of last year’s meeting and discuss new business for CGOA. The meeting is run by the volunteer board members. I was a board member for several years and it was great to learn more about what goes on “behind the scenes” of CGOA!

For many years now, we’ve held a Design Competition that is only open to CGOA members. Doris Chan started this (I can’t remember what year it started, though). It’s fabulous! Thank you, Doris, for working so hard to start the design competition! I think it’s been a great help for many budding crochet designers. I was too busy to design anything for the Design Competition this year, but I saw a lot of really nice designs in the competition! Here’s a look at it for you:

We have an editorial “Meet and Greet” where designers can sit with a book publisher or magazine editor and show them their designs. Many editors actually purchase (or commit to purchase) designs right then and there! It’s a fantastic benefit for designers who attend the conference!

Almost every year we have a CGOA Masters ceremony where we pin the newest CGOA members who have passed one of the Masters courses. This year, I earned my Fundamentals pin. This was because I helped test the new Masters course, Fundamentals of Crochet. This is a fabulous course and I learned a lot while taking it. I also helped tech edit the course last year, so I earned a Writer pin for that! You can read about the current Masters programs here. Here’s a photo of the Masters reviewers and graduates from this year’s conference:

2018 CGOA Masters graduates and reviewers

Since 2011, we’ve held the CGOA Jean Leinhauser Crochet Hall of Fame. The first inductee was Jean Leinhauser, who passed away unexpectedly the month before her induction ceremony. There have been 8 inductees into the Hall of Fame so far: Jean Leinhauser, Margaret Hubert, Rita Weiss, Gwen Blakley Kinsler (the founder of CGOA), Lily Chin, Doris Chan, Carol Alexander and Pauline Turner. This year’s inductee was Pauline Turner. What an interesting crochet career she’s had!

For new conference attendees, we have a buddy program where new attendees are paired up with volunteers who answer their questions before the conference and help them out, as needed, at the conference. Of course, everyone there is more than willing to help anyone else with their questions at the conference! We have a Buddy Breakfast where the buddies and newbies can all spend time together and meet each other. It’s a fabulous program!

We have door prizes and goodie bags at the conference, as well! These are always lots of fun to receive and they change from year to year! In addition to the goodie bags, I won a door prize this year! It’s a Yarn Pop bag! This bag is awesome!!! It’s HUGE and is big enough to fit a whole afghan while working on it (it measures 17” wide x 15” high x 5” deep)!!! The bag has an outside pocket, 3 grommets to feed your yarn through, if desired, 3 inside pockets, 2 zippered inside pockets, 2 magnetic clasps and a lanyard inside to attach your keys, or possibly even your cell phone (if you have a cell phone cover with a grommet, of course). You can see all the bags that Yarn Pop makes on their website here. You can see (and order) the very big bag here. Here’s a photo of all the goodies I came home with this year:

But one of the best things about the conference is seeing and spending time with the friends I’ve made over the years! We’re all like-minded when it comes to crochet! We each have our favorite crochet technique and fiber to work with, of course. But we all LOVE crochet and LOVE learning more crochet techniques! That’s where the conference comes into play! The classes are fabulous! I’ve learned so much in CGOA classes!

In addition to the annual conference, CGOA has over 120 chapters across the USA. Chapter members get together either weekly or monthly to encourage each other, teach each other, share their work, attend workshops and more. To find out more about CGOA chapters, check out the CGOA website here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at CGOA and the 2018 CGOA Conference. Until next time!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

August 21, 2017

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:

Left Side of Beginning Bruges Lace class on Wed night

Right Side of Beginning Bruges Lace class on Wed night

Left Side of Beginning Filet Crochet class on Thur AM

Right Side of Beginning Filet Crochet class on Thur AM

Some students in Invisible Repairs class on Fri AM

All students in Invisible Repairs class on Fri PM

Left Side of Intermediate Filet Crochet class on Sat AM

Right Side of Intermediate Filet Crochet class on Sat AM

Left Side of Intermediate Bruges Lace class on Sat PM

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:

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

And here is Corina from my afternoon Invisible Repairs class:

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!!!

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

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 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 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!!!

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

July 27, 2015

2015 CGOA Design Competition Results

Last week, I attended the CGOA Conference (aka: the Knit & Crochet Show) in San Diego, CA. The conference was a blast, as usual! There were fabulous classes from Wed night through Sat afternoon, lots of shopping on the show floor on Fri & Sat, as well as a “sneak preview” for registered conference attenders on Thur night and a celebration of crochet on Fri evening, which included the Masters Pinning Ceremony (for those who have passed the Masters program since last year’s conference), the Design Competition Awards Ceremony and the Hall of Fame celebration (for the new inductee into the Jean Leinhauser CGOA Crochet Hall of Fame). This year’s Hall of Fame winner is Lily Chin. Congratulations, Lily! You’re a HUGE force in the crochet field!

We had our grand finale Banquet and Fashion Show on Saturday night, as well. The food was delicious, the fashion show was fabulous and the attendees are some of the nicest crocheters you’ll ever meet! Ellen Gormley, the editor of Crochet! magazine, was the emcee. The evening was relaxing, exciting and inspiring! It was a great way to end the conference (although nobody wants the conference to end)!

For the past 6 months, I’ve had the pleasure of working as co-chair of the 2015 CGOA Design Competition, which was held at the CGOA Conference last week at the Town & Country Resort & Conference Center in San Diego, CA. I was amazed at the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to put on the design competition! I tip my hat to Doris Chan, who has handled the design competition for 5 years (mostly by herself)! You’ve done a fabulous job, Doris!!!

There were many hands helping in the design competition this year. First, I want to personally thank my co-chair, Bobbie Matela, for all the hard work you put into the design competition. You were a fabulous co-chair and I couldn’t have done what I did without you! Next, I’d like to thank our judging manager, Karen McKenna, the many helping hands at the conference, including (but not limited to) Edith Smith, Diane Miller and many, many more, Kaytee Sumida for loaning us so many display pieces, as well as everyone who helped “man the booth” on the show floor (there are too many of you to list, but you know who you are)! We couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!

We had 7 categories in the Design Competition this year, including 2 new categories (First Time Entrant and Young Designer).

Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the announcement of the winners in the 2015 CGOA Design Competition! Can I get a drum roll please?

In the “First Time Entrant” category, sponsored by Susan Bates, the winners are:

3^rd place – Harem Nights by Amy Curtin

2^nd place – Woodland Winter Jacket by Heather Galluzzi

1^st place – Emily Rose by Kayt Ross

In the “Young Designer” category, sponsored by The Marian G. Wilburn Foundation for Fiber Arts, the winner is:

1^st place – Catherine Wheels Skirt by Grace Rosburg

In the “Artistic Expression” category, sponsored by Creativebug, the winners are:

3^rd place – Danakil Depression by Kayt Ross

2^nd place – Cobblestones by Kayt Ross

1^st place – Spiral Blues by Ann Wicker

In the “Accessories” category, sponsored by Clover, the winners are:

Honorable Mention – Ombre Celtic Knot Necklace by Jennifer Ryan

3^rd place – Spring Floral Pin by Jean DeMouy

2^nd place – Eleanor Shawl by Kathryn White

1^st place – Hearts Galore by Sandy Gold

In the “Afghans & Home Décor” category, sponsored by WEBS America’s Yarn Store, the winners are:

Honorable Mention – Shades of Teal Afghan by Kayt Ross

3^rd place – Behind the Picket Fence Throw by Shari White

2^nd place – The Long & Short of It by Vicki Buford

1^st place – Country Gardens Pillow by Joyce Geisler

In the “Thread Crochet” category, sponsored by Bernat, the winners are:

3^rd place – Blue Bird Doily by Kathryn White

2^nd place – Spring Leaves Wedding Dress by Brandi Isham

1^st place – Free Spirit Doily by Kathryn White

In the “Fashion” category, sponsored by Interweave Crochet / Love of Crochet, the winners are:

Honorable Mention – Lollapalooza by Julia Bryant

Honorable Mention – Blue Poppy Lace Coat & Poppy Pin by Alla Koval

Honorable Mention – Checkerboard Cardigan by Shari White

Honorable Mention – Aegean Dress by Kristin Lynn

3^rd place – Velella Poncho by Shari White

2^nd place – Tunica Geometrica by Susan Walsh

1^st place – Legacy by Kathryn White

For “Technical Merit”, sponsored by Mary Maxim, the winner is:

Spring Leaves Wedding Dress by Brandi Isham

For “Peoples’ Choice”, sponsored by Happily Hooked Crochet Magazine, the winner is:

Spring Leaves Wedding Dress by Brandi Isham

And the “Grand Prize” winner, sponsored by Red Heart, is:

Emily Rose by Kayt Ross

Please join me in thanking all of our generous and supportive sponsors this year. And a big “CONGRATULATIONS” to all the winners in each category of the competition!

Now it’s time to get those hooks busy designing entries for next year’s CGOA Design Competition!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

June 5, 2015

2015 CGOA Design Competition

Do you love a good contest/competition? I certainly do! How about a crochet designing contest?

Well, it’s that time of the year for creative CGOA members to enter the CGOA Design Competition! The entry form is live on the CGOA website, so what are you waiting for? If you’ve been working on a design or two to enter, don’t put it off! The deadline to enter and ship your entry/entries to me is July 1, which is fast approaching!

The entries will be judged at the CGOA Conference in San Diego on Wednesday, July 22 and the winners will be announced on Friday night, July 24, during the CGOA “Excellence in Crochet Celebration”. All entries will be on display on the show floor during the Knit & Crochet Show on Friday and Saturday, July 24 and 25, from 10AM-6PM, at the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego, CA.

Here are a few Design Competition entry photos from previous years:

2014 Design Competition grand prize winning entry by Dot Drake

Some Winning Entries in 2013 Design Competition

2013 CGOA Design Competition 3rd Prize winner for Artistic Expression by Deborah Bagley

Good luck to everyone who’s entering the competition this year! I look forward to seeing your fabulous designs!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

August 18, 2014August 18, 2014

2014 CGOA Conference Afterglow

Have you ever attended a conference that was so inspirational and fun that you wanted to go back every year? Well, I have. Let me tell you about the CGOA Conference that was held in Manchester, NH last month, from July 23 through July 27.

First of all, I taught 3 classes there (Shuttle Tatting, Symbol Crochet and my Faux Tatted Necklace). All 3 classes went great and my students were very eager to learn! A few of my students actually finished their projects in class or during the conference! And two of my shuttle tatting students really took off with their shuttle tatting! Here are photos of some students and/or their projects:

Jennifer Ryan with her Faux Tatted Necklace

Juanita's tatted necklace — Juanita’s tatted necklace

Jennifer Ryan is modeling her Faux Tatted Necklace that she finished during that 3 hour class. Isn’t her necklace beautiful? This necklace is actually crocheted to look like it’s tatted. Check out Jennifer’s website if you’d like to see some of her fabulous designs and photos of the yarn bombing at the conference! Jennifer headed up the yarn bombing and it was amazing! If you don’t know what a yarn bombing is, it’s a special display of crocheted pieces that are wrapped around stationary items, such as benches, poles, etc. The yarn bombing was wonderful, thanks to Jennifer’s hard work!

The light blue necklace was made by Juanita. This is a real tatted necklace, not a faux tatted crochet necklace. Juanita had it almost done on Sunday after taking my shuttle tatting class on Thursday. She really took to tatting like a duck takes to water! Juanita took my Faux Tatted Necklace class, too, and finished that necklace shortly after the class.

One of my tatting students wrote a short blog post about learning to tat. You can read Lindsey’s blog post and see pictures of her finished and/or in-progress tatting projects here.

I’m very proud of all my students. They all learned the subject of the class, whether it was shuttle tatting, faux tatting or symbol crochet. They each worked at their own pace and understood what I was teaching them. I had a blast teaching and enjoyed meeting all of my students! They were fabulous!!!

When I wasn’t teaching classes, I was taking classes. Since I learned to knit last summer, I decided to take 2 knitting classes this time. Both teachers were excellent. The first knitting class I took was “Russian-Style Continental Knitting” by Galina Khmeleva. Obviously, Galina is Russian! She had some fantastic stories and her laid back style of teaching was refreshing! I learned a few things in that class that will help me with my knitting, including an easier and faster way to cast on stitches with the long tail method (I was doing it the hard way before, but not anymore!). Here’s a picture of Galina:

The 2^nd knitting class I took was by Michelle Hunter. It was called “Spice Up Your Stitches”. Michelle is/was an elementary school teacher and it showed in her fabulous teaching method, which left no one behind and kept the whole class on task! She did a lot of demonstrating and encouraging, which was wonderful! I learned many different stitches and stitch patterns in that class. I’m even using one of them already to design a knit cowl with some gorgeous yarn! Here’s a photo of the swatch I made in Michelle’s class:

I haven’t blocked it and I don’t intend to block it, since it’s just a swatch for learning purposes. As you can see, I learned many new knitting stitches and techniques in Michelle’s class, including bobbles.

Now, lest you think that’s all I did at the conference, I’ll tell you about the other things I did. I took the Wednesday morning event called “Get Your Geek On”. There were a bunch of us there discussing various “geeky” things about crochet, such as how we hold our hook, yarn, etc. It was fun!

On Wednesday afternoon, I was one of 3 presenters at the first CGOA Masters Day (it was half a day, but you get the idea). We talked about the CGOA Masters program in general, reviewed some swatches, talked about gauge, reviewing your own work, organizing Masters portfolios, as well as joining smoothly, finishing off and weaving in ends neatly. We had a great turnout with around 30 attendees. They were all eager to learn more and get their questions answered. I think it was a big hit!

On Wednesday night, I was one of 3 judges in the CGOA Design Competition. The other 2 judges were Karen Manthey and Jenny King. There were 82 original, inspirational entries and it was sometimes hard for the 3 of us to agree on the first, second and third place winners in each of the 5 categories. To see a list of the winners and photos of their winning entries, check out this blog post on Doris Chan’s website. Doris Chan heads up the design competition. She works tirelessly and does an amazing job of organizing everything before, during and after the conference. Thank you so much, Doris, for all of your hard work! The grand prize winner was by Dot Drake again this year. Here’s a photo of her gorgeous top:

There were tons of fish, a mermaid, seashells, an octopus, a seahorse and lots more in this fabulous crocheted top. The photo doesn’t look quite as good as the actual piece up close and personal!

On Saturday morning, I attended the CGOA Board meeting, since I’m the secretary on the CGOA Board of Directors. It’s always nice when we can have our board meeting face-to-face instead of through conference calls! The CGOA Board members make decisions on how to improve CGOA and where we should be heading each year. It’s an honor to be on the Board and to help steer CGOA in positive directions! This past year, we’ve updated the CGOA website to add crochet videos and to update the look of the website with a new banner, which I had the privilege of creating for CGOA.

On Saturday night, we had our banquet and fashion show. I enjoy modeling in the fashion show and being part of the “behind-the-scenes” of the models backstage!

I met 2 wonderful ladies at the conference: Samantha and Kristin. I also met a lot of new people to me in my classes (both the classes I taught and the classes I took). I love meeting new people. That’s one of the nicest things about the conference. And we all speak the same language of crochet!!! Here’s a photo of Samantha wearing an amazing vintage crochet dress at the CGOA Banquet/Fashion Show and a close up photo of some of the stitching in this amazing dress:

close up of Samantha's vintage dress — close up of Samantha’s vintage dress

All in all, it was a fantastic conference. No, not everything went perfectly. When does it? But we all enjoyed ourselves and learned more about crochet by attending.

I would be remiss if I didn’t show you the beautiful tiered cake that one of my mentees, Carlotta Craig, crocheted for CGOA’s 20^th Anniversary this year! Isn’t this fabulous? Here’s a photo of Carlotta and me, too. She is one very talented and humble lady!

Carlotta's fabulous CGOA cake — Carlotta’s fabulous CGOA cake

Next year’s CGOA Conference (aka: Knit & Crochet Show) will be held in San Diego! I can hardly wait!!! My husband and I used to live there back in the 80’s, in our “BC” days (before children). We had a little sailboat and sailed around Mission Bay on some weekends. My brother and sister-in-law still live in the area and my mother-in-law lives just 2 hours north of San Diego. It’ll be great to see all of them again (who can resist staying longer to get together with relatives?)!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into my week at the 2014 CGOA Conference. I hope you’ll be able to attend the conference soon. You won’t regret it!!! For more information about the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA), check out the CGOA website here.

Happy crocheting,

Susan

November 6, 2013

Design Contest at the 2013 CGOA Conference

Last month, at the CGOA Chain Link Conference in Charlotte, NC, there was a design contest, open to all CGOA members. We have the design contest each year and I always enjoy seeing the fabulous designs that are entered. This year was no exception! There were some fantastic entries and the winning entries were spectacular!!! Here are some photos from the design contest:

3rd Prize Artistic Expression by Deborah Bagley

1st Prize Artistic Expression by Sachiko Adams

To see a full list of the winners in the design contest, please visit the CGOA blog here.

We also had a fashion show at the conference. Some of the garments in the fashion show were in the design contest and others weren’t. The fashion show has lots of “eye candy” and is part of the dinner at the conference! It’s a lot of fun! If you’d like to see lots of photos from the fashion show and the design contest, visit the CGOA Flicker page here.

I entered 3 designs in the Design Contest this year. I didn’t win a prize, but that’s okay. At least I tried my best! I LOVE the designs that won, so that’s what counts! Here are the 3 designs I entered:

This is Brandyce from Lion Brand Yarn Company modeling my Kauni Poncho in the fashion show. I love the looks of this poncho because the yarn does all the work (well, most of the work!). If you’d like to make a Kauni Poncho of your own, the pattern is available for purchase here on my website, as well as on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy. It takes 140 grams (612 yards) of Kauni Effektgarn yarn to make this poncho. This yarn is 100% wool fingering weight and I LOVE the colors it comes in. To see all of the colors of this yarn, please visit the Kauni website here.

This is my Alexandria Shawl, modeled by Vashti Braha. This shawl is made with 100% cotton yarn. The large triangular section of motifs and the inset of motifs are made in the Continuous Crochet Motifs method, with less ends to weave in because the motifs are made continuously, not separately. If all goes well, I’ll have this pattern available for purchase on my website within the next year.

This is my Triple Delight Pillow. It’s made with 3 shades of size 10 DMC Cebelia. I made it in 3 techniques: Irish Crochet motifs (the flowers and leaves), Filet Crochet (in the large center section) and Bruges Lace around the edges (hence the word “triple” in the name!). I also added small beads in the center of many of the flowers. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this design, yet.

If you’re a CGOA member, you’ve tried your hand at designing crochet projects and you haven’t entered them in the CGOA Design Contest, you should consider entering your designs next year. Who knows! You might win! And you don’t have to write the patterns to enter your designs (of course, if they’re going to be published, you’ll need to write the patterns eventually!). The prizes are $100 for 3^rd place, $200 for 2^nd place and $300 for first place in each of the 6 divisions, plus $1,000 for the grand prize winner! That’s nothing to sneeze at!!! And the designs remain yours to do with as you please after the contest.

Keep watching the CGOA website for more information on the design contest as the 2014 conference gets closer. Next year’s CGOA conference will be July 23-27, 2014 in Manchester, NH. It’ll be the 20th Anniversary of CGOA next year! Yahoo!!! There will be lots of celebrating going on, I’m sure!

Good luck! I hope to see your designs in next year’s CGOA Design Contest.

Happy crocheting,

Susan