CrochetingWithDee.com

Saturday, August 9, 2008

"With a rebel yell, she cried more, more, more"

For those looking for more details and more pictures from the CGOA National Conference that was held in Manchester, New Hampshire, check out the following blogs, podcasts and shows -- but, before you do, may I suggest you right-click on the link(s) you are interested in checking out and then selecting the option to open a new window? It's way easier than flipping/reloading to get to the next link you're interested in. Enjoy!

BlogTalk Radio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Mary-Beth-Temple/2008/07/29/Getting-Loopy-Mary-Beth-Temple-talks-crochet
          http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Mary-Beth-Temple/2008/07/24/Getting-Loopy-from-Chain-Link

Cara: http://fireliz.blogspot.com/2008/07/last-day-of-conference.html
         http://fireliz.blogspot.com/2008/07/dudes-yarn.html
         http://fireliz.blogspot.com/2008/07/free-yarn-in-end-zone-go-team-go.html
         http://fireliz.blogspot.com/2008/07/knit-crochet-show-rocks-new-hampshire.html

Cari: http://blog.naturallycaron.com/2008/08/06/it%e2%80%99s-easy-being-green/

Crochetville: http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=82699
Crochetville, the PodCast: http://www.crochetville.org/forum/podcast/crochetunraveled004.mp3

Darla: http://darlafanton.com/fiber-events/a-lobster-comes-to-class.php
          http://darlafanton.com/fiber-events/friday-saturday-at-chain-link-2008.php
          http://darlafanton.com/fiber-events/sunday-at-chain-link-2008.php

PSS: If you're thinking these Conferences sound like a lot of fun, then consider going to one and experiencing it for yourself! The next Conference, CGOA's Regional, is taking place soon -- details can be found here: www.KnitandCrochetShow.com (no, sadly, I will not be attending the Regional.)

Friday, August 8, 2008

CGOA Conference: The Graduation

During one of those special "after hours" gatherings in my hotel room, we had a conversation about how some of us can never go back to being just conference "attendees" as we were five years ago.

Five years ago; wow. Five years ago we were looking up at the big name crocheters & teachers, aspiring to be just like them. And now, this year, as Vashti stated in her blog entry, this Conference broke the mold -- and in so many ways!

For me, it was a sort of Graduation. A graduation from being a local crochet teacher in the tri-state area to becoming a national crochet teacher. For others it was a graduation of being a crocheter who designs for fun, to being a newly discovered designer, such as Nancy who sold five of her designs.

There was no formal ceremony for this graduation. No caps, no gowns. No marching on stage to shake a hand. No receiving certificates. No parents in the audience to snap a few pictures for the family album. So how would this special moment be captured and remembered?

At the Conference I was approached by Anne and Brian, both wearing the biggest smiles I've ever seen. "Go ahead," Anne urged to Brian with an elbow nudge, "give it to her."

Brian reached into his purse he had won at a former Conference auction and pulled out a huge black tube and held it out to me. "This," he said, "is our gift to you to commemorate your graduation of becoming a teacher at the CGOA."

"Go ahead, open it!" Anne directed.

I opened the tube and was instantly teleported to Cloud Nine. Inside I found the world's most beautiful Pink Ivory Tunisian Hook, size P/11.5 mm, with Morado Finial, Bone and Bali Sterling Silver Accents, with a 7mm Gaboon Ebony Sphere and Captive Ring. It is 19 3/8 inches long, with 16 1/4 inches of working length.

How can I thank Anne and Brian enough for this truly wonderful gift? Their reply? "Make Something Special!" I will always, always treasure this hook, their generosity and thoughtfulness to this moment!! I have graduated!
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In the picture above are the Giraffe Hooks I showed in my "Crochet Your Knit" class. Under the Giraffes is the special Pink Ivory Tunisian Hook Anne and Brian presented to me. The smallest hook is the Limited Edition 2008 CGOA Commemorative Crochet Hook. All of these wonderful crochet hooks were made by Brian of www.Brainsbarn.com

Monday, August 4, 2008

CGOA: The Final Day

Ah, Sunday. This was the day I was to have met up with crochters from Connecticut for breakfast. I woke up early and went down to the hotel's Cafe, our arranged meeting place. I looked and looked but could not find anyone who said they were going to attend this breakfast; I thought they were all sleeping in! So I waited and waited in the lobby ... until I was rescued by a NYCCG member who showed me the way to Dunkin' Donuts just a few blocks away. Here is one of the pictures I took that I thought was pretty cool (on right):

Well, yes, that picture on the right was cool, but it's not the one I really enjoyed taking ... this is it, on the left. It's a shoe with crochet on it that I saw in one of the store windows we passed. I didn't buy it because I can't wear heals due to tearing & ripping muscles & ligaments in my feet a few years ago (long story, and no one likes to discuss their feet, right?). Still, it was pretty cool to be at a Crochet Conference and then spot crochet pumps in a shop window!

After returning to the hotel, I decided to take a nap and recharge my batteries. While I was sleeping someone called the room and asked Mr. Dee where I was earlier in the morning -- they were waiting for me to join them for the Connecticut breakfast! It turns out they were placed at a table way in the back, out of sight. Drat!

After the battery recharge, I packed up my materials for the last class I was to teach. Hand Jive. This class was held on the Vendor's Market show floor, curtained off from those shopping. The kids helped me decorate a page to announce the class -- I think they did a rather colorful job! If you've heard that this class involved doing some dancing, it is true! But it also involved learning how to finger weave, and all my students quickly caught on! :)

After the class was over, I had 40 minutes remaining to do some shopping before the official closing of the Vendor's Market. I found a woman selling pretty glass buttons, so I bought some with no project in mind. And I found another vendor selling bamboo yarn -- I bought two "10 packs." Then, with my family in tow, I stopped by Jean and Rita's booth where they presented my children some autographed copies of their books. That was very sweet of them, and the children are looking forward to showing the books to their friends in the Hooks'n Needles club once school starts up again!

We decided to stay another night before heading to Maine for a day, so we ordered a movie (Spiderwick), popped some popcorn and later had more people pop in for one more glass of wine. It was a great way to cap off a very wonderful Conference.

Any Conference regrets? Yes. Two. The first is that there just was not enough time to photograph everything, and this means I have no pictures of the CGOA's first Crochet Design Contest. The second regret is that 40 minutes is not enough time to shop the market!

The best highlight? A most special gift. Details tomorrow.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

After Hours ~ OR ~ Lizards on the Ceiling

Let's discuss the "Night Life," or what is becoming known as the "After Hours" at the Conference: it is true that every night while at the Conference, we had guests in our room to enjoy a glass of Jones Family Farms' wine called "First Blush." (The wine had a nice light fruity taste having been made from a blend of Connecticut apples, pears, and black currants. Long-time blog readers will recognize the name of Jones as I have blogged about them several times in the past.) We held these little "after hour gatherings" last year and they were a fun way to unwind with friends while discussing the experiences of the day. So we decided to do it again this year, and with a slightly larger room, we were able to have more friends pop in.

Let me state that everyone (that I know of) drank responsibly. Mr. Dee was the designated "walker/parent" sticking to just drinking water. Let me also state that with our children in the room, everyone that joined us was well behaved.

There were many funny moments, such as Margaret doing a little dance for us after the Fashion Show (and step and turn, and step and turn); Vashti showing off her jelly yarn, glow in the dark, panties; and Joyce Wyatt (who was only drinking water!) finally admitting she was seeing lizards on the ceiling. (Seriously, she did. I included a photo as proof!) She wasn't sure what to make of those lizards, and she, telling us about being brought up proper, wasn't sure how to approach the subject. Does she say something, or does she keep quiet? It wasn't until I asked the kids to stop throwing their toy jelly lizards (which stick to almost everything!) on the ceiling did Joyce express a huge sigh of relief! Very funny moment indeed!)

We were able to do this because for us the Conference was within driving distance. This made bringing the case of wine and the wine glasses fairly easy. We were also able to bring extra chairs!

I know I said yesterday that today would be the "wrap up" blog entry, but that's not true. I still have thefinal day, Sunday, to discuss. :)

Saturday, August 2, 2008

CGOA Fashion Show: The Kids Edition

CGOA Conference/Fashion Show: Cannon : In my Friday blog entry I stated I did not have video footage of the children modeling ... well, I was wrong! I found some footage this morning; it was on the disks I've been looking at for the past several days! So, after hours of tinkering with the video software, I'm happy to be able to retract those words and present to you the four children who did a great job modeling the five designs on the CGOA's runway...

CGOA Conference: Helping Hands

From the time the Vendor's Market opened to about halfway through the Fashion Show attendees were encouraged to bid to help raise funds for the Helping Hands Foundation. Some of you may recall the Jay Leno head I created a few months back, as well as other heads I have given sneak peeks of here in past blog entries from time to time -- he was part of our CGOA Chapter's contribution. Unfortunately I did not have all the heads sewn in by the time we arrived at the Conference, so I want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to Margaret for helping with the assembly -- actually, Margaret had sewn on a lot of heads getting the project completed!! She did a lot of the sewing in the lobby which generated a lot of interest. :)

Image 4 is the "Leno" side of the bag. Our Chapter members had a lot of fun crocheting the little heads, often times getting caught up giving them personalities by adding hair ribbons and jewelry to make the look complete. Both sides of the bag were "headed," and there was a crocheted "thumb" on the side to hold a cell phone.

There were a good number of gloves & mittens to bid on. Mr. Dee did not take photos of them all as he ran out of time (he was helping them set up for the Fashion Show). The biggest chuckle was the "Do not peek if you are easily offended" mittens. They were contributed by Lily Chin. You all know she's from New York City, right? And that I consider this to be a "Rated G" blog ... so that means you won't be seeing them here. LOL

During the Fashion Show they announced the winning bidders; I don't recall who won our "mitten purse," but it is a good feeling to know it helped raise needed funds.

Some of you have emailed me about pictures from the CGOA Design Contest. Unfortunately I don't have a single picture other than what I posted for the Fashion Show a few days ago! I'll explain why in tomorrow's wrap-up.

Friday, August 1, 2008

CGOA Conference/Fashion Show: Cannon

This is not a commercial for one camera over another. I have separated the images to help keep ME organized. Just how many pictures between the two cameras are there? Lets just say I'm flipping through about 6 GB (gigabits!) of photos. So many, so many! (Well, maybe not that many pictures as I had my class hand-out files on one of these lil' pups of a disk, just in case! and some of the pictures are of the kids playing in the pool, attending the Fishercats game, and so on.)

So, these photos I am uploading today (except one, where noted) were taken by my Mr. Dee:

1. Myra Wood's crochet class just for kids. This is the first time the CGOA had offered an exclusive crochet class just for kids -- and this was the first time my Mini~Dee attended her first official CGOA class; she reported back to me that loved it! My Dee Jr. thought about taking the class but decided not to in fear of being called a "cutie" by the girls (give it a few years, that will change for sure!); I think he's secretly wishing he had taken Myra's class!  Many thanks to Myra for ensuring the kids had a great time, for inspiring the kids, and for helping decorate my home with jelly yarn; yes, she had goodie bags for all the kids, including Dee Jr! LOL I do hope that the CGOA will continue it's efforts to bring more classes to our next generation of tomorrow's crocheters!

2. The lounge. No, we're not talking about my hotel room in the "after hours." That's another post for another day.  What I am referencing is the lounge that was sponsored by ... um, drat. I can't recall at the moment. But I'm sure many of the folks who attended and utilized it will remember! ~~If so, please email me, or leave a comment here so we can properly credit the folks who provided this lovely space to us. Thanks!~~ Edited to Add: Thank you, Doris! It was Tahki Stacy Charles who sponsored the Knit & Crochet Cafe!

3. The kids practicing their runway moves, with my guidance, before the start of the Fashion Show. This is when they tried their 'attitude' walks, swirls, and twirls to show off the garments.   There were actually four children modeling this year, a total of five garments -- the MOST in children models and garments ever -- at a CGOA Conference Fashion Show! If these numbers continue to grow, I'm wondering if there would be a need for a Fashion Show for Children's Wear?

I want to thank Kim Kotary, who has a new crochet sock book coming out (CGOA members, don't forget to use your CGOA member discount when ordering it from AnniesAttic!), for helping to sparkle up the girls; I know my Mini~Dee loved it! (Jean Leinhauser, if you're reading this, Mini~Dee's "disco" shoes -- the shoes she wore that had a variety of different colored lights lighting up with every step -- we got them at Kohls department store. For those who inquired at the show, Mini~Dee's "Love to Crochet" T-shirt is custom. I purchased the Tee, and found the rhinestone iron-on on eBay about a year ago or so. As promised, I searched for their website and found it here, just scroll to the bottom of the page to see it/order your own iron-on.)

Unfortunately, I do not have good pictures of the kids actually strutting their stuff during the Fashion Show (see yesterday's post on why), nor do I have any video footage of it, but I did manage to snag the camera from Mr. Dee and take this picture while there was a break later during the show (prizeswere being drawn). Missing from the photos below is Christian, but you can see him in all his cute-ness here:

Little Loopy, on the left, is wearing an adorable pair of knitted shorts designed by Mary Beth Temple. My Dee Jr. is wearing a vest he designed two years ago for a special occasion, crocheted by me. When Drew, the Crochet Dude, announced Dee Jr. was the designer, Jr. did a "right back attcha" move to Drew; attendees can attest my son is not shy on the catwalk! LOL Mini~Dee wore a pineapple peek-a-boo skirt perfect for wearing over leggings. I used a bamboo yarn, and designed the skirt by exploding a section from a doily pattern before adding my own personal touches, including using the Pushmi Pullyu join technique my students learned, and built in belt loops! (This was the secret project I mentioned prior to the Conference, and I finished crocheting it while in Lily Chin's class two days prior to the show!).

In the picture next to the group shot is Mini~Dee wearing a Doris Chan design that Nancy Smith reconfigured to fit her young daughter. (Thank you, Nancy, for sending me this picture!)

Does this mean this is the end of photos/details from the conference? I think not! Tune in tomorrow for more! :)