teaching – Page 2 – The Crochet Architect

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

November 6, 2015

Annie’s Craft Festival Review

I had a LOT of FUN last weekend! On Thursday, Oct. 29, I flew to Fort Wayne, Indiana to teach 3 crochet classes at the 1^st Annual Annie’s Craft Festival on Friday and Saturday. Yes, you heard that right. Annie’s will hold this craft festival once a year! The next one will be Sept. 16-18, 2016 at the same place, the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne, IN.

I absolutely LOVED teaching my 3 classes: Introduction to Irish Crochet, Polish Stars and Intermeshing! My students were fabulous and really enjoyed learning these 3 crochet techniques! The Irish Crochet class that I taught on Friday morning had the most students. There were 20 or 21 students in that class! I waited too long to take a photo of the class, as the students were packing up and leaving when I remembered to take a photo. Everyone was so patient with themselves and their rate of crocheting. The class project was an Irish Crochet rose, 2 leaves, a background and an edging. You’ve probably already seen it, but here it is again:

There were several things that I taught the ladies how to do in this project. By far the hardest is carrying the padding cord along the edge and working the edging, which turns twice to create the arches. I demonstrated these before the end of the class in small groups of students so everyone could see what I was doing. Also, creating the chain loops BEHIND the previous round of petals on the rose was new to most of the students. I think it’s always much better to learn something like this in person in a class rather than trying to learn it on your own! And working into the back loop of the sc on the leaves to give them the ridges was new to some of the students, as well.

All in all, everyone did great with their projects! One student finished crocheting her piece and another student only got the center rose done in the 3 hour class (she hadn’t done thread crochet before, so it took her a while to get the hang of the small thread and small steel crochet hook, which is totally understandable). Everyone else got to somewhere in between, with many of the students finishing the rose, both leaves and starting on the background mesh around these motifs. It really didn’t matter how fast or slow the students worked, as long as they understood how to work everything correctly.

On Friday afternoon, I didn’t teach a class. After eating a quick lunch, I sat in the Annie’s booth with Patty Lyons (a knitting teacher) and Ellen Gormley (a crochet designer and teacher, as well as the editor of Crochet! magazine), who have lots of videos with Annie’s (I only have 1 at this point in time). Patty took a photo of me wearing the same Japanese crochet cardigan that I wore in my Annie’s crochet video and holding my Annie’s video (she got a kick out of that!). Here’s that photo for you to see:

And here’s Ellen and me in the booth after Patty went to teach her afternoon class:

After being in the Annie’s booth for an hour, I walked around the marketplace and bought some pretty yarn, crochet thread and knitting patterns. Here are the “goodies” that I bought:

First, I bought two 5-packs of size 10 Lizbeth crochet thread. These packs are already color-coordinated for fall and autumn, which I thought were the same thing, but that’s how they’re labeled, so I’ll go with it! I can envision lots of beautiful designs using some or all of these threads!!! And they were on special (normally $19.95 each) for $15.80 each plus an additional 15% off! How could I pass them up at those great prices? Obviously, I couldn’t! I got all 10 balls for just $28.47. They’re normally $3.95 each before taxes!

The 2^nd thing I bought was 3 knitting patterns by Pam Powers. These are fabulous patterns. They’re photographed nicely, they’re laid out well, they’re printed on tri-fold heavy cardstock and they have wonderful charts, too. They were buy 2 (at $7 each), get 1 free! So I picked out my favorite 3 patterns to make or learn from to design other knitting patterns. I bought the patterns named Clair De Lune Shawl, Battenburg Lace Scarf and Brooklyn Boot Liners & Mitts. I really enjoyed meeting Pam in her booth and talking with her at the show. She has a book of knitting designs called “Dress-to-Impress Knitted Scarves” by Stackpole Books. I really like a lot of the projects in that book, so I’ll have to add it to my ever growing “wish list”!

The 3^rd thing I bought was 2 balls of beautiful yarns for knitting or crocheting. They are Louisa Harding Yarns Amitola and Lang Yarns Mille Colori Baby. I have some 1-skein projects in mind to design with these yarns!

While in the marketplace, I also met Linda Krag in the Cast Off Chemo booth. She is working hard to raise awareness and funds for the cancer research of Dr. David Krag that will do away with chemotherapy and cure cancer. For more information about Cast Off Chemo, please visit their website. Here’s Linda and her assistant in the Cast Off Chemo booth (Linda is on the right in the photo):

Cast Off Chemo has some very nice knit and crochet patterns for sale. All of the proceeds from the sale of their patterns go straight to the cancer research. You can see all of their patterns on their Ravelry page here. I got a skein of some really pretty pink yarn (by Wool2Dye4) from Linda to design something for this project. I’ll have to put some thought into what I can design with the 400 yards in the one skein of yarn. Of course I’ll let you all know what I design and when the pattern is available for purchase from Cast Off Chemo!

There was a Gala Banquet on Friday evening with Debbie Macomber as the keynote speaker, but I decided to relax that night and not try to do everything at the craft festival! Often, I try to do too much and suffer the consequences when I do! It’s rough getting old!!!

On Saturday, I taught the other 2 classes: Polish Stars and Intermeshing. Here are photos of the students in each of those classes:

As you can see, these classes were pretty small, but they were enjoyable and went great! All of the ladies in the classes (except for one who left early) learned the techniques. Two of the ladies in the Polish Stars class actually took my Irish Crochet class the day before, too! I was able to sit and demonstrate the Intermeshing to the 3 students in that class, which helped immensely!

At lunchtime on Saturday, I went out to lunch with 2 friends: Beth and Melissa. They both live in Indiana. Beth is one of the senior portfolio reviewers for the CGOA Masters program. She and Melissa work together and they both crochet. We had a delicious lunch at a nearby Irish Pub called J. K. O’Donnell’s. I had the lamb pasty and their potato & leek soup. It was SOOOO good (and reasonably priced, as well)! Here’s a photo of the 3 of us at lunchtime:

After teaching my afternoon class, I went to my hotel room and changed into my Star Trek Halloween costume (yes, it was actually Halloween that day). I met Beth and Melissa, who also had on their costumes, down the hall in the hotel. We went to the Annie’s Crafts & Cocktails Halloween Party. I had a blast! Here we are with our costumes on:

There was another lady there who dressed up in a Star Trek dress, too. She sewed her dress, whereas I crocheted mine. Here we are waiting for the room to open:

At the party, there were some carnival-type games to play to win tickets (like throw a yarn ball into a basket, toss an embroidery hoop onto the stem of a pumpkin and guess the weight of the yarn with the yarn label covered up). After winning tickets, you could cash them in for prizes. Here’s the “loot” that I won that night:

The Denise interchangeable knitting needle set was a bargain at only 8 tickets! And each of the skeins of yarn was just 1 ticket each! Woohoo! I got 13 skeins of yarn, the knitting needle set, some natural wool roving (I might try to spin with it), some yarn bobbins and some cable stitch holders. There was also a photo booth to take your photo for putting on social media (or just for personal use). Here I am posing in the photo booth:

Since my classes that were originally scheduled for Sunday were cancelled, I flew home on Sunday. I really enjoyed the 2 days that I was there and look forward to attending/teaching again next year!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into the fun that I had at the Annie’s Craft Festival. And I hope you’ll consider attending next year! Keep your eyes and ears open for more information about the 2016 Annie’s Craft Festival! I look forward to seeing/meeting you there!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

August 10, 2015August 8, 2015

New Craft Classes Coming Soon!

Are you a crafty person (someone who likes to do crafts)? Do you want to learn more about your craft(s) or learn a completely new craft? I love learning more about crochet, knitting and tatting, as well as lots of other crafts. In the past, I’ve done counted cross-stitch, needlepoint, embroidery, quilting, paper crafts, macramé and paper quilling, which are all lots of fun!

I’m happy to announce that Annie’s is holding a big craft event this fall called “Annie’s Craft Festival” in Fort Wayne, IN from Oct. 30-Nov. 1. There will be classes taught there in beading, cake decorating, crochet, cross-stitch & embroidery, floral arranging, knitting, painting, paper & card, quilting and sewing. If you live in Indiana, anywhere near Indiana or love to travel, this is a great opportunity to learn more about your chosen craft(s) or to learn some new ones!

I’m thrilled to be teaching 6 crochet classes at the Annie’s Craft Festival this year! Here are the 6 classes I’ll be teaching, along with some information about these classes:

Intermeshing 101

Learn the fascinating technique of intermeshing (or woven crochet). Intermeshing produces a reversible fabric with two different looking sides. During this class you will learn to intertwine two different colored layers of crochet mesh while making 3 different swatch designs. This technique can be used to create almost anything you can imagine. Come and let your imagination run wild!

Introduction to Irish Crochet

Do you love the look of Irish Crochet, but are intimidated by it? Don’t be! In this introductory class, you’ll learn to make the basic Irish Crochet rose and leaf motifs. You’ll also learn to make a background for joining your Irish Crochet motifs together into a project. To finish it off, you’ll work a simple Irish Crochet edging around the edges of your assembled project. Irish Crochet is typically worked with cotton crochet thread, but if you’re not comfortable using crochet thread and steel crochet hooks, cotton yarn can be used instead. Come and learn this beautiful crochet technique!

Playful Polish Stars

Polish Stars may look hard to make, but they’re really quite easy once you know the secret. No special skills are needed, just an eagerness to learn a new technique. Learn to work the basic stitch pattern in several different ways and weave the chain loops to see the “stars” take shape before your very eyes! It’s “almost” magic!

Reading & Understanding Crochet Patterns

Do you keep making the same crochet item because you don’t know how to read a crochet pattern? Do you long to be able to read a crochet pattern, but don’t know where to start? In this class, you’ll learn the “rules” for reading a crochet pattern accurately, plus some extra tips on making your crochet work even better! Bring your crochet pattern questions to be answered by Susan Lowman, a crochet designer and technical editor with years of experience deciphering crochet patterns. After learning to read a pattern, start crocheting that project you’ve been dying to make in class!

Round and Round We Go!

If you know how to work in rows, but working in rounds scares you, then this is the class for you! You’ll learn many different ways to start a round, when to turn or not to turn, where to place your stitches, and more. Leave your fear behind! Come and learn to crochet in the round so you can tackle that amazing pattern worked in rounds that you’ve been yearning to make!

Wonderful Wiggly Crochet

Have you seen it? It’s 3-dimensional! Wiggly Crochet is all the rage now in crochet. From hot pads and coasters to plush rugs, this crochet technique will be a wonderful addition to your crochet repertoire. Learn the basics of Wiggly Crochet while making a flower coaster in this class. You’ll soon be addicted and won’t want to stop! Susan Lowman has dozens of published wiggly crochet patterns, including leaflets called “Hot Stuff for the Holidays”, “Wiggly Crochet Rugs” and “Wiggly Crochet Dishcloths”. Come and learn this fantastic crochet technique.

There are some other events going on at the Annie’s Craft Festival, too, like a gala dinner with keynote speaker, Debbie Macomber, a Halloween party and a marketplace to purchase craft supplies! I hope you’ll consider attending this event. You can check out all the classes, read about the special events and register early for the best prices on their website here.

I’d love to see/meet you there!

Happy crocheting,

Susan Lowman

May 22, 2015

Jetlag is No Fun!

Have you ever taken a trip to somewhere very far away (like on the other side of the world) and had major jetlag? Well, I think I’m finally over the jetlag and things are looking up (at least I can think mostly clear again!). Let me tell you about my trip and the fun that I enjoyed there!

My husband and I just returned last week from a 2 ½ week trip to China. That’s right, we were on the other side of the world! It’s so amazing to me that you can get in a plane on one side of the world and arrive 10-12 hours later on the other side of the world! That just blows my mind!!! We stayed with our 2 sons and daughter-in-law who are currently living in Beijing. We had so much fun there with all 3 kids (they’re actually young adults in their 20’s)! The food was amazing and the people were very friendly (at least all of our kids’ friends were). We went to the great wall (at the Badaling location) just outside Beijing and saw the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi’an. Both of these were amazing!!! Here are a few photos of those two places:

These 2 places were some of the highlights of our trip. But we went to see so many more places than just these two. We saw the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City, both in Beijing. We also went to the National Museum of China in Beijing, just across the street from Tiananmen Square. And we rode bicycles on top of the city wall in Xi’an, too! There were so many interesting things to see and do. We rode the subway in Beijing most days (sometimes like sardines at rush hour!). We took buses and trains, too (including a sleeper train from Beijing to Xi’an and back). We walked and walked and walked! My husband had an app on his smart phone that counted our steps. We walked between 10,000 and 17,000 steps most days!!! We really got our exercise! And speaking of exercise, our kids live on the 6^th floor of a building in Beijing (with no elevator), so we walked up and down the 84 steps to get to their apartment every day (and sometimes twice a day!). The soles on my new shoes got a year’s worth of wear in just 16 days!!! But I’m not complaining. The trip was fabulous and we enjoyed the time we spent with our kids tremendously!!! We wouldn’t trade it for the world! We even learned to use a “squatty potty”! If you don’t know what that is, here’s a photo of a clean one at the Great Wall:

Believe me, they weren’t clean everywhere we went, especially at the train stations! If you’ve never used one before, it’s very interesting! They aren’t terribly comfortable and easy to use like our “western” toilets, but you get the job done and get out right away! And hopefully you don’t lose your balance while squatting (ask me how I know)!

Here are some of the “delicacies” that we saw in Beijing and Xi’an:

These are scorpions, starfish and squid on sticks! Some people actually eat these in China! Yuck!!!

Anyway, I did a few “fibery” fun things while there, too. First, I taught about a dozen Chinese women to crochet. My daughter-in-law helped set up the dates for me to teach the women while I was there. These women have been exploited in the past and are finding new ways to earn a living, like making jewelry to sell. It was a huge blessing to be able to teach them to crochet. They all loved it and 2 men there learned to crochet, as well (one of the men was very excited to crochet a necklace). I can’t show you photos of the women (for their own safety), but I can show you some of the projects they made during the 2 classes.

Chinese Women's Coasters — Chinese Women’s Coasters

Chinese woman with her necklace and coaster

I taught them to make some beginner projects. We made chain necklaces and single crochet spiral coasters. Some of them had crocheted before and some spoke English, so they could help each other and translate for those who didn’t speak English (I only know a small amount of Mandarin; just enough to be “dangerous”!). They all enjoyed learning to crochet and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them. I’m so glad that I could play at least a little part in these young women’s lives.

I took a suitcase full of yarn and crochet hooks for them. Before I went, I asked my local knit & crochet group if anyone had some extra H, I or J crochet hooks for these women. The ladies in my group donated over 80 spare crochet hooks! Wow! I was blown away by their generosity! So I took all of the hooks, along with a few extras of my own, and left all of the hooks and yarn with the women in China! I pray that God will bless these women through this small act. Here’s a photo of the donated crochet hooks for China:

The other fun “fibery” thing I did was buy some Chinese knit and crochet books (I can’t decide which one I love more: yarn or patterns!). One day while we were in Beijing, my husband, youngest son and I went to a Chinese book store that was many floors tall. After looking around for a long time, we found the knit and crochet section of the store! I felt like a kid in a candy shop!!! I bought 6 knit and crochet books that are fabulous (and cheap!). All 6 books cost only $39.50 total! They would have been more than double that price here in the US! Here’s a photo of the books I bought:

No, they’re not written in English! But they have knit and crochet charts that I can read just fine (well, I’m still learning to read knitting charts, but I’ll learn more about those very soon). The projects inside these books are very nice. Here are just a few of my favorites:

There are so many beautiful garments and stitch patterns in these books. I know I’m going to get lots of designing inspiration from them!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into my trip to China! Until next time…, zàijiàn!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

August 30, 2014March 16, 2015

New Easy Scarf Pattern is Available

I’ve been busy designing lots of scarves this past 6 months and I’ve had a blast with them! I have one of the patterns ready for your crocheting pleasure. This scarf is called “Easy Rainbow Scarf” because it’s an “easy” pattern and because of the rainbow colors I used to crochet it! I just love rainbows, don’t you? Here’s a photo of the scarf:

As you can see, the scarf is completely reversible, thanks to the special stitch worked in the black rows. This scarf, as shown, measures 4 ½” wide x 54” long, plus the fringe. However, the size is adjustable in width by working more or less rows and in length by working more or less repeats across the rows. So you can make your scarf whatever size you desire!

I used 6 colors (plus black) of Caron Simply Soft yarn to make this scarf, but you can use as few as 2 colors to make your scarf, if you wish. I used worsted weight yarn for this scarf, but feel free to use a heavier or lighter weight yarn instead to make your scarves. This is a great pattern for using up scraps of yarn, since only 25 yards of each color are required (for each colored strip in the scarf), plus 175 yards of black, to make the scarf the size shown. You can use whatever colors you like to coordinate with your outfits, coats or jackets.

This scarf is quick and easy to make. The skill level is “easy”, so if you haven’t been crocheting for very long or simply want an easy pattern to make, this scarf fits the bill!

If you’re new to working more than one crochet stitch in a pattern, have no fear! The pattern is easy to follow and includes full instructions for making the scarf with the fringe. It also includes close-up photos of the scarf and fringe, instructions and step-by-step photos for working in the back bump of the foundation chain, making a Long double crochet (Ldc), starting a row (joining) with a sc or a hdc and making the fringe. And there are no yarn tails to weave in, since the tails are included into the fringe!

If you already know how to make a chain, single crochet, half double crochet and double crochet, as well as how to read and follow a crochet pattern, you’re ready to make this scarf. If you’re eager to learn something new and enjoy making new, unique projects, it’s time to get started on this fun scarf today! And Christmas is coming, so this is the perfect time to get started on those Christmas gifts for the loved ones on your list!

This pattern is available right here at The Crochet Architect as an instant PDF download for $4.95. And, as always, I’m available to answer any questions you may have about any of our patterns while you’re making the items. If you find a mistake, please let me know right away so I can correct it. I strive to create fun, error-free patterns for your enjoyment!

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:

2014 Design Competition grand prize winning entry by Dot Drake

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

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

October 18, 2013

Happenings at the CGOA Conference

It’s been almost a month since my last blog post! Wow! Where does the time go? It’s been a busy month.

Earlier this month, I attended the CGOA Chain Link Conference at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Charlotte/Concord, NC (from Oct. 2-6). It was fabulous, as always! There’s too much to tell you about in one blog post, so I’ll tell you about the classes I took in this post and save the other information for another blog post or two later. I love teaching at the conference, but I also enjoy being a student and stretching my crochet knowledge and skills, too.

I took 7 crochet classes at the conference. The teachers whose classes I took are Margaret Hubert, Jennifer Hansen, Vashti Braha and Dora Ohrenstein (I took 3 classes from Vashti and 2 classes from Jennifer). All of the classes were fantastic! And there were many more classes with other great teachers, too.

Margaret’s class was Freeform Knit and Crochet. Since I can now knit, as well as crochet, I thought this class would be a good fit for me. However, I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a freeform person (I might be too analytical and black/white). But I truly love the freeform look and would like to be able to do it someday (perhaps in Irish crochet with crochet thread instead of with yarn). Maybe with a little practice (or some wine to help me relax!), I might learn to do freeform well. But I enjoyed the class and drooled over Margaret’s gorgeous freeform pieces. Here’s one of them:

Margaret Hubert's freeform jacket — Margaret Hubert’s freeform jacket

Isn’t this gorgeous? Margaret is a wonderful teacher and designer. Here she is in the class showing us a jacket that she made from purchased doilies to inspire us:

Margaret Hubert's doily jacket — Margaret Hubert’s doily jacket

I was truly inspired (the photo doesn’t do it justice)! All of Margaret’s freeform pieces are inspirational! You can read more about Margaret and see her fabulous creations on her website here.

The 2 classes I took from Jennifer Hansen were on Hairpin Lace and Tunisian Crochet. Jennifer is a “Master” at both of these crochet techniques. She has boundless energy, too! In the Tunisian class, we learned to do cables and make a keyhole for her wonderful Tunisian Keyhole Cravat pattern (see pattern on her website here). Here’s a photo of this fantastic design:

Jennifer Hansen's Tunisian Keyhole Cravat from Stitch Diva Studios — Jennifer Hansen’s Tunisian Keyhole Cravat from Stitch Diva Studios

I crocheted my cravat from some extra Naturally Caron Spa yarn that I had. I haven’t blocked it, yet, so I hope it turns out as nice as the one in the Stitch Diva photo. Here’s a photo of that for you to see:

In the hairpin lace class, we learned how to make many different types of hairpin lace strips and many different ways to join them together. It was great! Here’s Jennifer in the hairpin lace class:

Jennifer Hansen (aka: Stitch Diva Studios)

I learned a TON in both classes! Thanks so much, Jennifer.

The 3 classes I took from Vashti were on Love Knots, Tunisian Filet and Slip Stitches. Vashti is a wonderful teacher with lots of patience. She’s a very laid back teacher and puts a lot of thought into her classes and her designs. Here she is in the love knots class explaining something to Shari White:

Vashti Braha (on right) and Shari White (on left)

If you’ve never seen love knots before, here’s a photo of some:

And here’s Vashti in the Tunisian Filet class deep in thought:

The Tunisian Filet class was based on her Aero Wrap. Here’s a photo of that wrap:

Aero Wrap by Vashti Braha of "Designing Vashti" — Aero Wrap by Vashti Braha of “Designing Vashti”

You can see the pattern and read about it on her website here.

I wasn’t able to attend all of the Slip Stitch class because the Board meeting ran late (I’m the secretary on the CGOA Board and we have our annual “face-to-face” Board meeting on Saturday morning at the conference). But I enjoyed what I got out of the class and would like to learn more about it in the future.

Dora’s class was on grading garments (something I don’t like to do and I still need to learn more about it). Dora was very informative, but her class was on the last day of the conference and I was battling “conference brain”! Here’s Dora explaining something about garments:

Dora Ohrenstein of "Crochet Insider" — Dora Ohrenstein of “Crochet Insider”

I took good notes during the class. I think that between my notes and the handout, I’ll learn more when I get a chance to read through it all again. Dora has written several crochet books and they’re all fabulous! To read more about Dora, check out her website here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the 7 crochet classes I took at the CGOA Conference. If you’ve never attended a CGOA Chain Link Conference before and you’re curious about it, check out the CGOA website here, or the CGOA blog here or the CGOA Facebook page here.

Remember, “When you think crochet, think CGOA”!!!

Until next time!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

July 26, 2013

CGOA Conference Afterglow

Five days after returning home, I’m still basking in the afterglow of last week’s CGOA Conference (aka: the Knit and Crochet Show) in Indianapolis, Indiana! It was 5 days of fun, fun and more fun! I taught 6 classes there: Mosaic Crochet, Crochet Pattern Writing, Beginning Bruges Lace, Intermediate Bruges Lace, Wiggly Crochet and Reading/Understanding Crochet Patterns. The times of my classes were: Wednesday night from 6-9PM, Thursday from 9AM-5PM with a 2 hour lunch, Friday from 9AM-noon, Friday from 2-5PM, Saturday from 2-5PM and Sunday from 9AM-noon. It was a busy schedule, but I endured and actually had enough energy to teach each class. I had between 5 and 16 students in each class, which is ideal for me (and for them). Every student was a joy to have. They were all eager to learn what I had to teach them during the class. And I believe that they all enjoyed the class(es) they took, which is always a plus! I took 2 photos in the Beginning Bruges Lace class (I tend to forget to take photos when I’m busy teaching). Here are the ladies on the left-hand side of the room and the ladies on the right-hand side of the room:

Ladies on left-hand side of room in Beginning Bruges Lace class

Ladies on right-hand side of room in Beginning Bruges Lace class

Don’t they look focused on their work?

Also at the conference, I did my first book signing (in the Annie’s booth) on Thursday night, during the Shopping Floor Preview. I should have a photo of that soon (hopefully). It was a lot of fun and I will probably do it again at the CGOA Conference in Charlotte, NC in October of this year. I signed my new “Jewelry to Crochet” book, published by Annie’s, that I blogged about on June 30^th. The folks from Annie’s were giving copies of my new book away during the book signing. I met many nice ladies (and a few men, too) at the book signing.

We had our CGOA Members Meeting on Thursday night before the Shopping Floor Preview. Since I’m a CGOA Board member (I’m the Secretary), I was seated at the front tables with the other Board members. Here’s a photo of Jane Rimmer (the CGOA Treasurer) and me there:

Jane Rimmer and me at the CGOA Member Meeting

Jane and I are also the 2 Co-Chairs of the CGOA Masters Committee. We make the policies for the Masters program, make corrections to the program, as needed, and answer questions from the Masters portfolio reviewers (I’m a portfolio reviewer, too). Six out of the ten portfolio reviewers were in attendance at the conference. We all met and had lunch together on Thursday. Here we all are:

CGOA Masters reviewers at conference in Indi

From left to right are Phyllis Nabakowski, Beth Hall, Jane Rimmer, Kathryn White, me (Susan Lowman), Linda Dean and Patti Giorgi. We have 2 levels of portfolio reviewers (junior and senior) and each portfolio is reviewed by 2 reviewers (one from each level). To find out more about the CGOA Masters program, check out the CGOA website here: www.crochet.org.

On Wednesday, Jane Rimmer and I went to the TKGA (The Knitting Guild of America) Masters Day, which was an all-day event. We took this day to find out how TKGA runs their Masters Day so we can put on a CGOA Masters Day at the CGOA Conference next year. It was time well-spent! We learned a lot and will be starting to prepare for our very first CGOA Masters Day soon.

On Friday night, we had our Fashion Show and Dinner. The food was excellent and the fashion show was great, as usual. I laid low and didn’t have to model this time, so I enjoyed the show. Here are a few photos from the fashion show:

Shari modeling her Ebb & Flow shawl design

Also at the Fashion Show Dinner, I met Donna Stinson and Terri Geck from Coats & Clark. Here’s a photo of the 3 Coats ladies at the dinner:

From left to right are: Donna Stinson, Terri Geck and Bobbie Matela (who I met years ago and enjoy seeing each year at the conference).

I spent some time with several friends at the conference, too. Here are some of my friends and me with big grins on our faces:

This is Shari White, who is my first mentee in CGOA and my roommate at most conferences.

This is Kathy (Kathryn) White, who I met at the CGOA Conference in 2011 in Greensboro, NC. Kathy lives 2-3 hours away from me, in Arizona, but it took going to the conference in NC to meet her!!!

This is Marcella Clayton, who I met in the Crochet Pattern Writing class I taught on Thursday. Marcella showed me her design in class and I encouraged her to show it to an editor at the Meet & Greet on Saturday morning. Needless to say, Marcella sold her first crochet design that morning! Go Marcella!!!

At the CGOA Conference last year in Manchester, I encouraged another new designer, Patricia Ritchie, to show her designs to the editors at the Meet & Greet, too. This is the first published design by Patricia Ritchie:

Petite Spring Hat from Crochet World magazine, April 2013, designed by Patricia Ritchie

Candle cover - a "thank you" gift from Patricia Ritchie — Candle cover – a “thank you” gift from Patricia Ritchie

Isn’t it gorgeous? Patricia is so sweet and her design is fabulous!!! She gave me a little “thank you” gift in one of my classes this year. That was very nice and totally unexpected! Here is the candle cover that Pat made and gave me last week:

On Saturday morning, we had the Board meeting at 7AM (I’m sure glad I’m a morning person!). It went well and we got a lot accomplished. I can’t tell you what we discussed because it’s still a “secret”! But all will be revealed in time.

On Saturday night, we had the first ever “CGOA Fun Night”! It was great!!! Amy Shelton, of Crochetville, was the emcee. We had “Show and Tell” throughout the room. We also played “Let’s Make You Squeal”, where Amy called out an item’s name and the first person who had that item in their crochet bag (or purse) squealed with delight to win a prize. There were lots of prizes given out that night, as well as prizes at the Member Meeting and the Fashion Show Dinner (we love prizes in CGOA!).

We also love all the goodie bags filled with fiber goodness that are donated by many sponsors of the CGOA Conference. A big “thank you” to Lion Brand, Red Heart and Annie’s for the fabulous goodie bags! We really appreciate your support of the CGOA Conference!

On Sunday afternoon, the conference was over (boo hoo!). But I made lots of fabulous new memories of fun times with lots of wonderful people. I always feel so energized after a CGOA Conference!

If you’ve ever thought about attending a CGOA Conference, you really should. It’s almost a week of fiber-loving events spent with like-minded people. We speak the “language” of crochet all week! Everyone is so friendly and encouraging of each other. If you can’t make it to a CGOA Conference, I hope you at least have friends who you get together with regularly to crochet together and encourage each other with your crochet projects.

Happy crocheting,

Susan

July 13, 2013

CGOA Conference Preparations and Crochet Hint

I’ve been getting ready for the CGOA Conference (aka: The Knit and Crochet Show or the Chain Link Conference) for weeks and I’m almost ready to go (except for packing on Monday)! I’m teaching 6 crochet classes at the conference next week in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is a lot to prepare for. It’s going to be a blast…it always is!!! For more information about the conference, check out this website. The things I love about the CGOA conference are (in no particular order):

1. The friendly crocheters (and knitters) that I meet there.
2. The wonderful classes I get to take (when I’m not teaching) and the new things I learn about crochet (I love to learn more to expand my crochet knowledge and ability).
3. The market (show floor) with lots of gorgeous yarn, crochet hooks and patterns!!!
4. Professional Development Day where we learn more about earning an income through designing, technical editing, teaching, contract crocheting, etc.
5. Seeing and spending time with crochet friends that I’ve made over the years.
6. The Fashion Show dinner.
7. The design contest.

I’ve been a CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) member for over 10 years and I’m hooked (pun intended)! There are so many wonderful, friendly, helpful crocheters in CGOA who are happy to share what they know with each other (mostly about crochet, but sometimes about life in general, too). I’ve made so many really good friends by attending the CGOA Conference each year. I am truly blessed to know so many crocheters from every walk of like, whether they’re professionals, associate professionals or CGOA members at large (these are the nicest people)! I love to encourage new crochet professionals and share my crochet knowledge with others through my classes. I certainly don’t know all there is to know about crochet, but I’m learning more all the time (and that’s what CGOA is all about…learning about crochet).

I’ve been working on a shawl for this year’s CGOA Design Contest for several weeks. I can’t show you a picture of it because one of the judges might see it before the contest and the entries are supposed to be kept secret. But I can share with you the struggles and trials I’ve had designing this shawl (it’s confession time!). First, I made countless mistakes in this shawl and had to rip out a lot of stitches several times to correct the mistakes (I really should have been paying closer attention to what I was doing!). Oh well. Live and learn! Second, I ran out of yarn before the end of the shawl, so I had to frog (rip out) hours and hours of work on it so I can redesign it a little differently to use just the amount of yarn that I purchased last year at the conference (about 950 yards from the Newton’s booth).

One of the “challenges” with this design (besides all of my mistakes and ripping out so many stitches) was the stitches that I worked into the chain spaces sliding around and not staying evenly spaced. The yarn I’m using is a rather slick mercerized cotton (not all mercerized cotton is slick like this one). I do enjoy the sheen this yarn has and the lighter weight of the yarn, so I’m willing to overlook the sliding stitches “challenge”!

I’d like to share a hint to help your stitches stay in place and not slide around, like mine were doing. I normally work my stitches in a chain space into the space and not into the chains. But with some slippery yarns (like the one I’m using), the stitches can slide around and not be evenly dispersed across the chain space. So I decided (after ripping out a huge chunk of my work) that I’d work into the chains themselves instead of into the chain spaces. Here are a couple of photos showing the difference between working into the chains themselves and working into the chain spaces:

Can you see the difference? The photo on the left shows the center 5 red double crochet stitches worked in the blue chain-5 space below. The photo on the right shows the center 5 red double crochet stitches worked in the chains of the blue chain-5 space below (one double crochet is worked in each of the 5 chains). Can you notice how the red stitches are more evenly spaced in the right-hand photo? And they don’t move around anymore. Of course, working into the chains themselves works best when you have the same number of stitches to work into the same number of chains (like 5 chains and 5 stitches).

Well, I’d better get back to preparing for the conference. I hope you all enjoy the rest of this month and are able to enjoy many relaxing hours of crochet!

Happy crocheting,
Susan