CGOA – Page 2 – The Crochet Architect

July 8, 2016July 8, 2016

Crochet Classes on Sale!

Are you someone who loves to learn more crochet techniques? If so, do you take classes on a regular basis? I absolutely LOVE to take classes (and to teach classes)! I’ll be teaching 5 crochet classes at the CGOA Conference next week in Charleston, SC. The classes I’ll be teaching next week are: Let’s Get Writing (crochet pattern writing), Playful Polish Star, Intermeshing, Intro to Irish Crochet and Simplifying Symbol Crochet. To read more about these 5 classes, check out my previous blog post.

I love sharing my crochet knowledge and encouraging other crocheters in my classes! There are currently between 13 and 23 students registered for each of my classes. I can’t wait to meet my students (some I already know, but many I will meet for the first time at the conference) and interact with them! It’s so much fun (and hard work, too, but mostly fun)!!!

It’s great to meet new crochet enthusiasts at the conference and in everyday life (I met one yesterday at the bank)! I hope many of you are going to attend the conference and learn more so you can make bigger, better and more challenging crochet projects! To read all about the CGOA Conference (aka: the Knit and Crochet Show), check out this overview of the conference on the CGOA website. The conference is held in conjunction with the TKGA (The Knitting Guild Association) conference, so there will be knitting classes there, too. You can read all about the whole conference, including the knitting classes, here. Oh, I almost forgot: THERE WILL BE SHOPPING, TOO (lots of luscious yarn, patterns and supplies on the show floor)!

If you can’t make it to a conference to learn in person, have you taken any online crochet classes? I’ve taken quite a few crochet (and knitting) classes online. I love the ability to watch them whenever I want, to rewind and rewatch parts that I didn’t understand or got distracted while watching them, take notes in the video and ask the instructor questions. Craftsy is having a 3 day, 50% off sale on their top classes, starting today! I LOVE SALES, don’t you?

You can check out their sale here. And if you’d like to narrow the list of sale classes to crochet classes, you can click on the “Yarn & Fiber Arts Classes” classification on the left-hand side of the page. This will give you the knitting, crocheting and spinning classes that are on sale. There are lots of other classes on sale, including classes on cooking, painting, quilting, and more (there’s a total of 214 classes on sale)!

I hope you’ll explore ways to learn more crochet techniques and improve your skills. It’s wonderful to be able to read crochet patterns, read symbol crochet charts, learn new crochet stitches or techniques, etc. I can’t imagine crocheting without this knowledge! It really opens up a whole new world of crocheting possibilities!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

March 15, 2016

Announcing 2016 CGOA Conference Classes

Don’t you just love learning new crochet stitches and techniques? I do! And I love teaching others new stitches and techniques, too. I love to encourage others and help them succeed with crochet techniques that may be too confusing to learn through the internet or books. There’s nothing quite like learning something new “in person” from a “real life” teacher!

Well, the class listings are up on the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) website now and I’m very excited to be teaching 5 classes at the CGOA Conference again this year! This year’s conference will be held from July 13 – 16 at the Embassy Suites in North Charleston, SC. I hope you’ll consider attending the conference this year and learning some new crochet techniques from some fabulous teachers!

The 5 classes I’ll be teaching this year are:

Let’s Get Writing on Thursday, July 14 from 9 AM – 5 PM (with lunch from noon – 2 PM)

Playful Polish Stars on Friday, July 15 from 9 AM – noon

Intermeshing on Friday, July 15 from 2 – 5 PM

Intro to Irish Crochet on Saturday, July 16 from 9 AM – noon

Simplifying Symbol Crochet on Saturday, July 16 from 2 – 5 PM

In my 6 hour Let’s Get Writing class, I’ll teach my students how to write their own crochet patterns like a pro! This class is perfect for beginning designers or anyone who would like to learn to write crochet patterns. We’ll go over everything that you’ll need to include in your patterns and you’ll even start writing your first pattern in class! I’ve been writing crochet patterns for close to 20 years now and tech editing patterns for over 11 years. Wow! Where does the time go? I really enjoy teaching others what I’ve learned to help them be successful! It’s a lot of fun to see new designers spread their wings and sell their first crochet design!!! ALL crochet designers were beginning designers at some point in their lives! I wish there had been a class like this when I was a beginning designer!

In my Playful Polish Stars class, I’ll teach my students several ways to crochet their Polish Stars: the “traditional” way and my “new, improved” way. Then we’ll weave the chain loops “correctly” to see the stars take shape before our eyes! Polish Stars may look complicated, but once you know how to make them, they’re a lot of fun!

In my Intermeshing class, I’ll teach my students how to crochet 2 layers of intertwined fabric with 2 contrasting colors of yarn. The intermeshing technique is wonderful because you get 2 different designs: one on each side of the fabric. I LOVE this technique and I enjoy teaching others to do intermeshing, as well. As you can see by the photo above, the right side and wrong side are completely different! If you’ve always wanted to learn intermeshing, now is the time! This is the same technique that’s in Tanis Galik’s book, “Interlocking Crochet”. I just have a little difference at the beginning of my pieces than Tanis has, which I like better!

In my Intro to Irish Crochet class, I’ll teach the basics of Irish Crochet, from crocheting the Irish Rose and Leaves to adding the mesh background and the edging to your Irish Crochet piece. We’ll be making the Irish Crochet piece above that I designed last year when I taught this class at the Annie’s Craft Festival. I really enjoyed teaching that class and my students were so eager to learn this crochet technique. I even learned some things from them (which isn’t that uncommon)! It’s great to learn things together!

In my Simplifying Symbol Crochet class, I’ll teach my students how to read and follow symbol crochet charts, which are much easier than following a written crochet pattern. We’ll read and follow charts for projects in rows and in rounds in this class. Once you can read and follow a symbol crochet chart, you’ll be able to make anything you want, even Japanese, Russian, Ukrainian or Spanish crochet patterns, without having any knowledge of the language! Above are some of the many crochet symbols that you’ll learn in the class.

To read about all of the crochet classes at this year’s conference, check out this page on the CGOA website.

If you’ve never been to a CGOA Conference (aka: Chain Link Conference or Knit & Crochet Show) before, you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s a fabulous time to meet other crochet enthusiasts. You’ll learn more crochet techniques and stitches to further your crochet skills and knowledge at the conference and come away with many new friendships to last a lifetime! If you’re not a CGOA member, there’s no time like the present to join! Just go to the CGOA website and check out everything that CGOA has to offer! It’s wonderful to belong to an organization that is dedicated to furthering the art of crochet!

If you’re already a CGOA member and you’ve attended the conference before, what did you like most about it?

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

March 16, 2015March 15, 2015

2015 Crochetville National Crochet Month Designer Blog Tour

I’m thrilled to take part in the 3^rd Annual Designer Blog Tour that Amy and Donna at Crochetville have put together. If you haven’t been keeping up with the blog tour that’s going on all of this month, you can read all about it and visit the many other designers’ blogs here.

One of the things we do for National Crochet Month is have a special charity that we’re supporting. This year the charity is Halos of Hope, which provides handmade hats to cancer centers across America. You can read all about them and find out how you can join in on their mission here.

Another thing that Amy and Donna at Crochetville are doing during March (National Crochet Month) is daily giveaways. If you haven’t checked those out and entered to win, you can find out all about them here.

All of the designers who are taking part for the whole month of March (National Crochet Month) are members of CGOA (the Crochet Guild of America). I’ve been a CGOA member for around 12 years now! Wow! Time really flies! To find out more about CGOA, check out their website here. I’m honored to have been the secretary on the CGOA Board of Directors since June, 2012, as well as co-chair of the CGOA Masters program. I’ll blog more about the CGOA Masters program on my CGOA Now blog post on March 27, as part of this Designer Blog Tour. So if you’d like some information about the Masters program, check out that blog post on March 27 here. I’m also working with Bobbie Matela from Red Heart/Coats & Clark this year to put together the CGOA Design Competition at the yearly conference in San Diego, CA this July! If you live anywhere near the west coast, this is your opportunity to attend an event that’s dedicated solely to the advancement of crochet!

If you’ve never been to the CGOA Conference (aka: the Knit and Crochet Show), you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s so much fun! You can read all about it here. TKGA (The Knitting Guild Association) is the knitting part of this conference. There will be lots of knit and crochet classes to take, a show floor with lots of knit and crochet vendors (with yarns, hooks, needles, patterns, etc to buy), fun events, a Masters Day for both TKGA and CGOA and new fiber friends to make! I love attending the conference each year where I either teach classes or take them (I’m taking classes this year). I love to learn more crocheting and knitting, don’t you? The K&C Show’s class schedule was posted last week and registration should open within the next week, I think. If you’re attending the conference, make sure you register early to get the classes you want to take. Once they’re full, you’re out of luck and you may have to take an alternate class instead of your first choice!

I hope you’re enjoying National Crochet Month and getting in lots of crochet time each day! I crochet year-round, so there aren’t too many days that go by without a crochet hook (or knitting needles) in my hands! I’ve been celebrating National Crochet Month by posting a photo and link to a FREE crochet pattern every day this month. Please check out my other blog posts to see the FREE patterns that you’ve missed! I hope you enjoy many of them and will keep watching my blog each day during the rest of March to get links to more FREE crochet patterns.

In honor of National Crochet Month, I’m giving a 25% discount on all crochet patterns on my website, from today through March 31. So you have just over 2 weeks to purchase any Crochet Architect patterns that you want with this “special” National Crochet Month discount. The discount is only available on this website, not in my Ravelry, Craftsy or Etsy shops. To purchase your patterns with this discount, just input the discount code of “NatCroMo2015” when you check out. You can see all of my patterns here.

I love lots of crochet techniques and one of my favorite techniques is Wiggly Crochet. It’s one of those crochet techniques that is so interesting and fun to do! If you’re a fan of Wiggly Crochet, like me, you’ll find many exclusive Wiggly Crochet patterns right here on my website. If you’re curious about Wiggly Crochet, check out my tutorial here and my blog post here with a link to a FREE Wiggly Crochet pattern! You can see all of the Wiggly Crochet patterns available on my website here.

I hope you’ll enjoy the blog posts, tutorials and crochet patterns on my website. If you’d like to follow my blog, simply subscribe to my blog with your e-mail address. Your e-mail address will not be shared or sold. It will remain confidential, I promise!

In my crochet designs, I strive to create classic designs that are pleasing to the eye, well-balanced and color-coordinated. I hope you enjoy them! If you ever have a question about one of my crochet patterns, please send me a message at the bottom of my “About Me” page and I’ll answer your question ASAP!

I’ve been a crochet designer for over 15 years now. It’s been a blast doing what I love to do! I look forward to the next 15 years of designing and teaching crochet!

Happy crocheting,

Susan Lowman

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

July 17, 2014

We have a winner!

The winner has been drawn for the free copy of Tammy Hildebrand’s new book, “Crochet for Baby All Year”. Congratulations to Karen H. for winning this book! I know you’re going to love it!

Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway. Stay tuned for more book reviews, crochet news, new crochet patterns and tutorials coming soon.

I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a few weeks. I’m heading to the CGOA Conference in Manchester, NH next week. The conference is always so much fun! I’ll be teaching 3 classes (2 crochet and 1 shuttle tatting). I’m also going to take 2 knitting classes to learn more about knitting and improve my knitting skills. I had my first 2 knitting designs accepted for publication 2 months ago. You’ll be able to see them sometime next year when they’re published (designs are always kept “secret” until they’re published).

To read all about the CGOA Conference (aka: The Knit and Crochet Show) and to see what goes on there, check out this link.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of this month.

Happy crocheting!

Susan

April 25, 2014

The Yarn Over and CGOA Videos

If you’re new to crochet or you learned to crochet from someone else, how do you know if you’re crocheting correctly? Do you hold the hook correctly? Are you holding your yarn correctly? Are you yarning over correctly? These are some of the questions you may be asking yourself. Whenever I’m doing something in crochet incorrectly, I really appreciate someone telling me the correct way to do it so I can improve my crochet skills and knowledge. So I thought I’d share with you the correct way to do a “yarn over” in crochet.

Every stitch in crochet uses a yarn over at some point in time, whether it’s at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the stitch (or in all 3 places). There are many good crochet books written that explain and show how to do the yarn over and the crochet stitches formed by the yarn over correctly. Also, in this age of the internet and internet/website videos, there some great crochet videos to watch that will show you a multitude of fabulous crochet stitches and techniques. I think it’s wonderful to have so much helpful information at my fingertips to learn more about crochet. You probably share this enthusiasm for learning new crochet stitches and techniques, too!

But you know the saying: “Buyer Beware”! Disclaimer: NOT ALL CROCHET VIDEOS ARE CORRECT!

I’d love to be able to say that all of the crochet videos I’ve watched on the internet are sharing the correct information, but that’s simply not true. I’ve seen some videos where the person demonstrating the stitch is saying “yarn over”, but she’s simply grabbing the yarn (with the yarn in front of the crochet hook) and isn’t doing the yarn over correctly. To do a “true” yarn over, you must bring the yarn around the back of the crochet hook, over the top and to the front, like this:

If you’re not making your yarn overs in this manner, then you’re doing them incorrectly. Here’s the incorrect way to do your yarn overs:

Do you see the difference? When you’re doing your yarn overs correctly, the yarn goes over the top of the hook from the back to the front. It doesn’t just sit in front of the hook to grab it: that’s NOT a “yarn over”!

To see some crochet videos, including the correct way to do a yarn over, please visit the CGOA website here if you’re right-handed or here if you’re left-handed. In each of these videos, Kim Guzman, a respected crochet designer, teacher and author, shows how to do a yarn over correctly. The yarn over is used for making the chain, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet and treble crochet. It’s also used for many other crochet stitches and techniques, including Filet Crochet, Bruges Lace, Wiggly Crochet, Tunisian Crochet, Hairpin Lace, Broomstick Lace and more. As a CGOA Board member, we discussed adding crochet videos to the CGOA website last year and Kim was enthusiastic about doing them for us (thank you so much, Kim). Kim is a wonderful crochet teacher with lots of knowledge and patience! So check out the crochet videos on the CGOA website to make sure you’re doing your yarn overs correctly! And if you don’t know about all that CGOA (the Crochet Guild of America) has to offer, then check out the rest of the updated CGOA website while you’re there!

As one of the co-chairs and a portfolio reviewer in the CGOA Masters program, I enjoy discussing crochet stitches, techniques and patterns to find out how some people work their stitches (correctly and incorrectly). I learn so much from these discussions! They help me to understand how the written crochet instructions can be interpreted in different ways, which in turn helps me improve my pattern writing and technical editing skills! I’m all for improvement throughout my life!

Are there any crochet stitches, techniques or patterns you’d like to discuss?

Until next time…

Happy crocheting,

Susan

March 19, 2014April 16, 2014

2014 National Crochet Month Designer Blog Tour

I’m thrilled to be taking part in Crochetville’s National Crochet Month (NatCroMo) Blog Tour again this year. Thank you very much, Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka, for putting together this year’s blog tour. I hope you’re enjoying each stop along the blog tour, learning more about crochet and getting your creative crochet juices flowing! Please check out the other stops along the blog tour on the Crochetville blog.

All of the designers and participants in this blog tour are members of CGOA (Crochet Guild of America). I’ve been a member of CGOA for over 10 years. It’s a fantastic organization with giving, caring, sharing, encouraging members. I’m also the secretary on the CGOA Board of Directors, as well as Co-Chair on the Masters Committee and a senior portfolio reviewer in the Masters program. For more information about CGOA and all we have to offer, including the Masters program, visit the CGOA website and the CGOA blog.

As you may already know, we’re supporting the charity, Halos of Hope, during the blog tour. If you’re not familiar with Halos of Hope, they’re a non-profit organization that collects and distributes donated hats for cancer patients who have gone through chemo and lost their hair. Please check out their website for more information about them. You can find out where to donate handmade hats on their website, as well. If you don’t knit or crochet, you can also get involved by donating monetarily to help pay for shipping the finished hats to cancer centers across the US.

To celebrate National Crochet Month, I have a free crochet pattern for you: my “Button Flower Pin”:

Click here to get the free PDF pattern download, available for free only until April 15, 2014. After that date, the pattern will be available for purchase for $2.95.

I hope you enjoy making this flower pin with your favorite button in the center! You can use crochet thread or yarn, it’s your choice! So get creative and whip up some quick Button Flower Pins to adorn your wardrobe or to give as gifts! What woman or girl doesn’t love a pretty pin to wear? And what crocheter doesn’t love a quick project? It’s a great way to use up some scraps of yarn or thread, too.

You can even use this pin as a shawl pin to help hold your shawl in place, like I’ve done here with my knit shawl and crocheted shawl pin (You can see a close up photo of this pin in the following photo with multiple pins):

The shawl and button flower pin were made with Patons Lace (the free knit shawl pattern is available on the Patons website here). This button flower pin was made with only the bottom layer of petals, since I didn’t have enough yarn to make both layers. I stacked some buttons in the center and added some beads around the buttons. I also used some size 10 crochet thread for working the edging around the petals. So mixing and matching colors, yarns, threads, buttons, beads and fibers is definitely allowed (and encouraged) for these pins!

I really enjoyed making these pins and found it hard to stop! Here are the button flower pins I’ve made so far:

I’m sure you’ll come up with ideas of how you can make some of these pins and customize them to your wardrobe, or give them as gifts throughout the year.

Aren’t buttons wonderful? If you’re like me, you have a stash of buttons that are just waiting to be used. I have some fabulous old buttons and some newer buttons. Some of them are quite interesting and unique! If you’ve bought or inherited some vintage buttons, what better way to use them than by wearing them as a pin on your favorite outfit! Crochet mixes well with many other mediums and buttons are one of those mediums.

One of my favorite things to design and crochet is jewelry, such as these button flower pins. Crocheted jewelry is a wonderful project that doesn’t have to “fit” like garments, so it’s right up my alley! And buttons are great to use in crochet jewelry, too. Check out the free crochet necklace pattern that I designed (with buttons) for Red Heart Yarn on their website here. I used simple, new buttons in that necklace, but the buttons add so much visual interest to my Mod Flower Necklace!

If you’re a button lover and a crochet lover, you may even want to use a bunch of buttons to make a unique “Faux Tatted Crochet Necklace” (the pattern is available here at The Crochet Architect.com). This fun-to-wear necklace is crocheted to look like tatting. Size 10 cotton crochet thread, a size 7 (1.65mm) steel crochet hook and 21 buttons are used to make this necklace. I’ve made many of these necklaces over the years with some vintage buttons from my stash! Here are photos of a few of my necklaces using those buttons:

If you look closely, you’ll see a black Navy peacoat button with an anchor on it at the bottom, center of the black necklace! My middle son was in the Navy a few years ago, so that’s a special button to me!

You don’t need to have vintage buttons to make a Faux Tatted Necklace, though. I’ve made some with an assortment of new buttons and they look great, too! The secret to these necklaces is the “assortment” of buttons you use. I try to use different sizes (the largest size should be at the bottom center and the smallest size should be at the top left and right of the necklace), as well as several coordinating colors in my necklaces. Here’s one that I gave away as a prize during National Crochet Month last year for you to see:

And don’t limit yourself to using buttons in these necklaces. You can use beads or charms just as easily instead of buttons. Here’s a Faux Tatted Necklace that I made with some beads from my stash:

Faux Tatting Crochet Necklace with beads

One of the nice things about this necklace is that it’s big enough to fit over your head without needing a clasp. If you’re like me, fastening a necklace clap can sometimes be very difficult! And this necklace is easy to clean, too. When the necklace gets dirty, simply soak it in water in the sink with some liquid laundry detergent added. If needed, use an old, clean toothbrush and dab the laundry detergent directly on the dirty spot to remove stubborn dirt. Then rinse and let dry. Voila! It’ll be clean again and ready to wear in no time! These necklaces take just a few hours to make, so they’re also great to make and give as gifts.

If you’d prefer a whole set of crocheted jewelry, why not make a Faux Tatted Necklace, Bracelet and Earrings (this pattern is available here, too)?

If you’ve never crocheted with crochet thread before and would like to learn, I would love to have you in either of my online classes with Annie’s: “Crocheting With Thread” or “Beginner’s First Doily”. You can find out more about these classes by clicking on the picture of me near the top right-hand corner of the screen. Once you learn to use thread in your crochet projects, you may become a “threadie” and not want to go back to using yarn!!!

If you’re new to my blog, I’d like to say “thank you” for visiting and I hope you’re enjoying this designer blog tour. I regularly post book reviews, crochet news and more. I have a few tutorials with plans to add many more tutorials (and crochet videos) in the coming years. If you’d like to receive updates, including when new patterns are available for purchase, please subscribe to my blog by inputting your e-mail address in the field to the right. As you can see, I don’t blog all the time, so you won’t be inundated with e-mails from me (I respect your privacy and your time)! And if you have a request for a crochet tutorial, I’d be happy to work on that for you (as time allows). I love teaching others more about crochet and learning more myself, too.

Another way I’d like to celebrate National Crochet Month is to give away a free crochet pattern (of your choice) to 2 lucky winners. I’ll pick and notify the winners on March 31st. To enter this contest, you’ll need to do 2 things: 1) leave a comment on this blog post, 2) subscribe to my blog. Because of “spam” comments sometimes being a problem, you’ll need to make an account before commenting, but that’s quick and painless. With an account, you can leave comments on any of my blog posts now and/or in the future! And if you ever want to unsubscribe, you’re free to do that, as well. There are no strings attached!

I wish everyone a very happy National Crochet Month and good luck in the giveaway!

Happy crocheting!

Susan

March 7, 2014March 7, 2014

2014 CGOA Conference Classes

Don’t you just love learning new crochet stitches and techniques? I do! And I love teaching others new stitches and techniques, too.

I’m very excited to be teaching classes at the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) Conference this year! This conference is special because 2014 is the 20^th Anniversary of CGOA!!! This year’s conference will be held from July 23 – 27 at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH, where we’ve had the conference many times before.

The 3 classes I’m teaching are:

1) Tatting the Old-Fashioned Way on Thursday, July 24 from 9 AM – 5 PM

2) Simplifying Symbol Crochet on Friday, July 25 from 9 AM – noon

3) “Faux” Tatting Crochet Necklace on Sunday, July 27 from 9 AM – noon

You read that right, I’m teaching tatting, not crochet for one of my classes! From time to time, we have a few classes that are similar to or related to crochet and knitting, but not crochet or knitting. In 2011, the fall conference was in Greensboro, NC and Maggie Weldon taught a class on lace pottery. I took that class and LOVED it! My pottery didn’t turn out as nice as hers, but I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the class! Since Maggie lives near Greensboro, she took our class projects home the first night of the class and fired them in her kiln. Then she brought them back the next day and we finished them up in the 2^nd half of the class. You can see Maggie’s amazing lace pottery on her website here. I absolutely LOVE her lace pottery!!!

There have been some classes taught at the conference on making buttons from Fimo clay, too. Of course, many crochet and/or knitting projects use buttons, so buttons are related to the needle arts!

Okay, back to my tatting class. I’ll be teaching shuttle tatting in this class, not needle tatting. If you’ve always wanted to learn to shuttle tat, I’d love to have you in my class. You’ll learn everything you need to be successful in tatting, from how to wind the shuttle through making rings and chains to create your first tatted piece. Two tatting shuttles are included in the class fee, so you’ll only need to bring the appropriate sizes of crochet thread, along with an eagerness to learn! If you want to take this class, please sign up early because this class fills up quickly and I’ve limited it to only 20 students. Here’s a look at the tatted necklace you’ll be making (starting) in the class:

In my Symbol Crochet class, I’ll teach my students how to read and follow symbol crochet charts, which are much easier than following a written crochet pattern. We’ll read and follow charts for projects in rows and in rounds. Once you can read and follow a symbol crochet chart, you’ll be able to make anything you want, even Japanese, Russian, Ukrainian or Spanish crochet patterns with crochet symbols, without having any knowledge of the language! Here are some crochet symbols that you’ll learn in the class:

I love making crocheted jewelry and my Faux Tatted Necklace is one of those pieces of crocheted jewelry that I love to make! I designed this necklace about 5 years ago to look just like the tatted necklace that is part of my shuttle tatting class. But you don’t need to know how to tat to make the necklace in this class! The necklace is crocheted with size 10 crochet thread and approx. 23 buttons, beads or charms of your choice. I think it looks great! I’ve made many of these necklaces in various colors to go with different outfits in my wardrobe. The wonderful things about the necklace are that it’s completely washable and there’s no clasp to fiddle with, since the necklace is big enough to go over your head! The class fee covers the cost of the pattern. You choose (and bring) the thread color and buttons, beads or charms that you’d like to use for your necklace. Here’s one of the necklaces that I’ve made:

If you’ve never been to a CGOA Conference (aka: Chain Link Conference or Knit & Crochet Show) before, you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s a fabulous time to meet other crochet enthusiasts. You’ll learn more crochet techniques and stitches to further your crochet skills and knowledge at the conference and come away with many new friendships to last a lifetime! Check out the full schedule of crochet and knitting classes here.

If you’re not a CGOA member, yet, there’s no time like the present to join! Just go to the CGOA website and check out everything that CGOA has to offer! It’s wonderful to belong to an organization that is dedicated to furthering the art of crochet!

Happy crocheting,

Susan