CGOA 2007 Conference: Day One

We just finished enjoying delicious glasses of Strawberry wine that Mr. Dee and I brought with us from the Jones Family farm in Connecticut.  Joining us for this nightcap were three Happily Hooked on Crocheting Club members (Connecticut Chapter of the CGOA): Grace, Jennifer and Karen; and then Myra Wood from the International Freeform Group, Jennifer Hansen from www.stitchdiva.com, and Edie Eckman, author of many books, most recently of The Crochet Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face."

Before I turn in for some greatly needed sleep, I thought I'd rewind the day a bit and share all the fun:

• The morning started with going to the CEO suite on the twelfth floor to attend Joan Davis' "Basic Celtic Lace Crochet" class. I met some great people and found the class  quite a lot of fun.  On the left is an image of some of my work.  Does it look familiar?  As it turns out, I started experimenting with this technique when I started working on Hass' design a few weeks back!

• After class it was time to meet up with the HHCC'ers just arriving.  Our plan was to go to lunch together but that did not pan out.  Instead I went on to my next class, "Crochet Tips, Tricks and Hints" with Lily Chin.  I learned some amazing things from her!  I sat next to Rose, the founder of the Chain Gang of Stamford, another CGOA Chapter.  We were laughing so hard; Lily kept us in stitches.  Figuratively and Literately!

• Then it was a dash back to the hotel room to prepare for the Keynote Address.  I dropped off all my class materials and grabbed my Crochet Exchange bag and headed down.  I got there early, as many others did and got a great seat! 

• Cari Clement did a great job of discussing the past and the future of crochet!  Certainly a lot to think about! The Crochet Exchange went very well.  I received a scarf and purse set from Michelle (Thank you Michelle!), and Karen, one of my Chapter members got my Treasure Bag and Clover Hooks.  There were many, many stunning items exchanged tonight -- too many to mention at the moment. We were then off to the Vendor Market Preview.  Insert drool here.                       Wow.

                           Double Wow!                                   

Need I say more?!! Ok, Ok!  I will! ... first, let me thank Mr. Dee and the kids for delivering the "famous tree" to the Freeform booth.  To avoid getting "funny looks" they brought the tree down the stairwell instead of via the elevator.  They did a great job hanging the Ornaments from the Challenge on it and hopefully I'll be able to take a better picture later on to share.   For now, you can see Drew, The Crochet Dude, next to it.  Yes, we REALLY had that tree, that huge tree in our room!  LOL

I bought some yarn, and some notions, but was mostly socializing.  And browsing.  There are items there that tempted me -- perhaps tomorrow, if there's a window of opportunity for me to return to the market, I'll give into that temptation!  As I walked around I couldn't help but smile -- there were many there giving into that temptation and their smiles said it all.  :)

Afterwards we went out to dinner and took a walk in the beautiful evening air.  Then the sharing of wine as I stated earlier.  Now it's late, very late and I have a very long day tomorrow.  It should be as every bit of fun as today was!