Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Crocheters Mourn Legend

Today crocheters learned the sad news of crochet legend Jean Leinhauser's passing.Rita Weiss and Jean Leinhauser, 2008  Jean is one of three in the "Old Broads Rule" exclusive club; the other two members are Rita Weiss (pictured with Jean on the right), and Margaret Hubert.  This was an exclusive club they enjoyed; to be a member you had to have been in the publishing business for as long as them!

I first "met" Jean at a local craft store where I purchased my first crochet book on baby afghans -- with her name on the cover.  I had always wondered who she was; it wasn't until a few years later, once I went "public" with my crochet and joined the online movement, that I joined Crochet Partners, then a private group with its own website.  Shortly thereafter, when the group was moved to Yahoo! (where it still flourishes today) did I learn she owned the group!

I finally had the honor of meeting Jean in person in 2005 at a CGOA "Chain Link" Conference, and looked forward to seeing her at every Conference I attended thereafter. Jean will be honored and remembered at the upcoming CGOA Conference being held in Minneapolis as the first member inducted into of the Crocheters Hall of Fame.   She will be greatly missed!

To learn more about Jean, please read the interview on The Crochet Insider:  http://crochetinsider.com/interview/jean-leinhauser

1 comment:

CrochetBlogger said...

Nice tribute regarding this loss for the crochet community.