symbol crochet – The Crochet Architect

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

April 17, 2018

Teaching at the 2018 CGOA Conference

Now that I’m back from teaching at the Interweave YarnFest in Loveland, CO last week, I thought I’d write a blog post about my next teaching engagement this year.

I’ll be teaching at the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) Conference in Portland, Oregon from July 25-28, 2018! I always LOVE teaching at the CGOA Conference! There are so many lovely, friendly crocheters at the conference, both professionals and hobbyists! It’s great to meet new crocheters there and spend time with so many of the crocheters who attend every year (or almost every year)! I’ve been attending the CGOA Conference since 2003 and teaching there since 2009. It’s so much fun! If you’ve never attended, I hope this will be the year you make the decision to go and meet like-minded crocheters who all speak the same language of crochet!

To read all about the conference, check out the CGOA website here. To register for the conference, go to this page.

Here are the classes I’ll be teaching in July:

Wed, July 25, 6 – 9 pm:

SIMPLIFYING SYMBOL CROCHET

About the class:

Symbol crochet diagrams are much easier to read and follow than written crochet patterns. Once you learn symbol crochet, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it! You’ll learn what each symbol means, thus enabling you to read and understand symbol crochet diagrams from any pattern, even foreign crochet patterns with international crochet symbols! You’ll even try out your symbol crochet knowledge by making 2 small projects from symbol crochet charts in class. This class includes instructions on starting/working in the round and making motifs, both techniques found in the CGOA Masters of Advanced Crochet Stitches and Techniques program.

Thur, July 26, 9 am – 12 pm:

MULTIPLE MOTIFS

About the class:

Do you love the look of projects made with crochet motifs, but don’t enjoy weaving in all the ends? Then this is the perfect technique for you! With this method of crocheting motifs continuously, instead of separately, the number of ends is decreased dramatically, saving you time and energy! In this class, we’ll make continuous crochet motifs worked in joined rows. You’ll learn how to follow the necessary symbol crochet charts with this motif method. Once you’ve learned how to make many motifs using one continuous strand of yarn or thread, you’ll feel confident tackling any continuous crochet motif pattern.

Fri, July 27, 9 am – 12 pm:

INVISIBLE REPAIRS

About the class:

Do you have a crochet project that’s gotten cut, torn, chewed, etc? Do you want to learn how to professionally repair it? Then this is the class for you! In this class, you’ll learn how to repair all sorts of crochet projects, replacing the “bad” stitches and making your repairs “invisible”! You’ll learn how to replace stitches and chain spaces in the middle of a row, locking the top of the new stitches to the bottom strands of the stitches in the row above. Your work will look as good as new! Learn how to bring your damaged crochet projects back to life again! This technique also works great to “invisibly” seam the first and last rows in a crochet cowl!

Fri, July 27, 2 – 5 pm:

BEGINNING BRUGES LACE CROCHET

About the class:

Bruges Lace Crochet mimics the decorative Bruges Lace made with bobbins in Bruges, Belgium. Bruges Lace Crochet is a fabulous technique and is easy to learn. In this beginning class, we’ll make several different styles of Bruges Lace, as well as curve the lace and join it to make circles, squares and triangles. Once you’ve learned the basics of Bruges Lace Crochet, you’ll be ready to tackle more complex Bruges Lace patterns. If you’re not a “threadie”, don’t fret! Bruges Lace isn’t just for thread crochet. It can be done with yarn, as well. Come and learn to make basic Bruges Lace in crochet.

Sat, July 28, 2 – 5 pm:

Intermediate Bruges Lace Crochet

We’ll take Bruges Lace Crochet to the next level in this intermediate class. You’ll learn many more variations of the lace itself, more joining techniques, and how to curve the lace over itself for more variety. We’ll explore more intricate Bruges Lace designs and you’ll learn how to achieve them in this class. Prerequisite: Beginning Bruges Lace Crochet class should be taken before taking this intermediate class (or have knowledge of the Bruges Lace technique).

I’m excited to be teaching these classes. Last year, my Invisible Repairs class sold out and I was able to add a 2nd class for this “technique” of repairing crochet projects invisibly. This year, I’m teaching Multiple Motifs for the first time (this is also called Continuous Crochet Motifs, which I’ve blogged about before)! I always enjoy teaching Bruges Lace Crochet and Symbol Crochet!

I hope you’ll consider attending the conference. If you attend for the first time because of reading my blog, please stop me at the conference and let me know (or leave a comment below)!

If you’ve attended the CGOA Conference before, what do you enjoy most about the conference?

See you in Portland in July!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

August 16, 2013August 16, 2013

New Book – Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet

Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet book front cover

Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet book back cover

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a new book, so I thought I’d review a new book for you. This one is special to me because I did a lot of the work in it (and my name is on the cover, too). The name of this book is “Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet” and it’s published by Leisure Arts. I worked on this book, on and off, with Rita Weiss over the course of 5 months during the last year. It was another one of those “labors of love”, just like another book I worked on with Rita Weiss and Jean Leinhauser 5-10 years ago called “Crochet Lace”. I love working on crochet books, whether I’m designing projects, tech editing patterns, writing patterns, making filet crochet charts or symbol crochet charts for them.

This book is special because it teaches how to read crochet symbol charts, which I absolutely LOVE!!! I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t know how to read symbol crochet charts. They are a visual representation of the crochet project and if you’re a visual person, like me, I’m sure you’ll love them, too. I learned to draw crochet symbol charts a few years ago with Adobe Illustrator. It’s really quite fun (and challenging sometimes) to draw them. But since I love a good challenge, it’s right up my alley!

Our symbol crochet book includes symbols for 47 crochet stitches (or combinations of stitches, such as clusters, popcorns, etc) as well as instructions and diagrams for how to work each of these stitches. It also includes photos, symbol charts and written instructions for 9 projects: 8 of the projects are “easy” and 1 is “intermediate”. Here are photos of the 9 projects in this book:

This book is a digest size book (8.5” x 5.5”), so it’s perfect to take along anywhere and it will fit in just about any size of crochet bag, too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this new symbol crochet book and you’ll give symbol crochet a try. Some of the current crochet magazines include symbol crochet charts in them, such as Crochet Today. And some good “older” magazines with lots of symbol crochet patterns in them are Magic Crochet and Decorative Crochet. They are/were both published in France and have lots of thread crochet patterns in them. Each pattern starts out with some written instructions, but then says to “follow chart”. And if you’re really adventurous, you can purchase some Japanese crochet books or Russian crochet magazines. Both of these have symbol crochet charts in them. I have many of each, but I can’t read a word of Japanese or Russian to save my life! However, I can follow the symbol crochet charts in both of them. In fact, I crocheted a cardigan several years ago (the one I’m wearing in my Annie’s videos) from a Japanese crochet pattern. The symbol charts were fantastic and the cardigan turned out really nice. I used 2 strands of size 10 DMC Cebelia thread to make my cardigan. Here are photos of the project in the book and me wearing it:

Isn’t it beautiful? I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Because I have gauge issues (I crochet too tightly quite often), I had to block the heck out of it so it would fit me! I added some waist shaping to my cardigan, too, which wasn’t in the original pattern. My cardigan came from this book:

It’s a great book and was well worth the $20 or so that I paid for it (directly from Japan).

To celebrate the publication of the Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet book, Rita and I would like to give away a free, autographed copy to a lucky winner. To enter this contest, you’ll need to leave a comment on this blog post (like if you know how to read symbol crochet charts, if you’d like to learn how to read them or something like that). You’ll also need to be subscribed to my blog. Both of these are quick and painless! To leave a comment, you’ll need to be registered on my website (this cuts down on “spam” comments, so registering is necessary these days). There’s a tab at the top of each page of my website that says “Login”, then a drop down tab that says “register”. Just fill in the blanks and click on the button at the bottom. After you’re registered, you can leave your comment on this blog post (and you can comment on any other blog posts here, too). To subscribe to my blog, simply scroll down a few inches and type in your e-mail address in the field that says “Subscribe to blog via email” on the right-hand side of the page. Now wasn’t that easy? Oh, this contest will end on August 28^th (my youngest son’s 21^st birthday). So enter today for your chance to win!

I wish everyone the best of luck in winning a free copy of this new book (although, realistically, only 1 lucky person will win). And if you don’t win, I hope you’ll consider adding this new symbol crochet book to your crochet library.

Happy crocheting,

Susan