CGOA 2010 ChainLink Conference: Tuesday

Today was our Family Day. We got up early and decided to go to Settler's Green Outlet Center. Had we consulted a real map before heading out we may have been inclined to change our minds and head to Kittery, ME as that would have been closer. Did it really matter? No. We enjoyed the ride; we enjoyed the scenery. We barely noticed the heatwave. And, gasp, had we been here once before? It looked sooo familiar!

Indeed, in retrospect, we had. Back when the conference was first held in Manchester (in 2004 I think) we had decided to trek out and visit the Patterworks store (Patternworks used to be in Poughkeepsie, NY, before being sold and moved to NH). We didn't stop for any yarn shopping; there would be plenty of opportunity once the Vendor's Market opened...

We had a fantastic time shopping and returned to the hotel late in the evening. Dee Jr. claiming he wasn't tired and wanting to utilize his new laptop decided he'd join me in the lobby for some cro-celebrity sightings while I snuck in some stitches. I signed into my Twitter account and let him tweet every time he recognized someone from the crochet world:

12:12 AM Jul 7th via web @WoolMountain spotted!!
12:12 AM Jul 7th via web .Dee Jr. tweeting... Melanie Mays spotted!!
11:51 PM Jul 6th via web .Dee Jr. tweeting... Doris Chan (designer) spotted!!
11:47 PM Jul 6th via web .@CrwKnitWear spotted!! (Karen)
11:12 PM Jul 6th via web .@RebecaVelasquez spotted!!
11:11 PM Jul 6th via web .Dee Jr. tweeting... NAncy Smith spotted
11:06 PM Jul 6th via web .Dee Jr. tweeting... Lily Chin (designer) spotted
11:03 PM Jul 6th via web .Dee Jr. tweeting... Amy Shelton (founder of Crochetville) spotted!!
11:01 PM Jul 6th via web .Dee Jr. tweeting... Tammy Hildebrand spotted!!
10:57 PM Jul 6th via web .Dee Jr. tweeting... Marty Miller (president of the CGOA) spotted!!

Dee Jr.'s last Tweet of the evening read:

12:56 AM Jul 7th via web was fun chillin' in the lobby, meeting new peeps & (mom) getting some stitch work done. 8:30 arrives early; calling it a nite.

I think he did an excellent job!

Tomorrow would be an "all day-er" ... I was greatly looking forward to attending Professional Development Day, having lunch with the Professionals, and later taking an evening class.

CGOA 2010 ChainLink Conference: Monday

Yes, I know, you've all been waiting for the juicy details from the 16th Annual ChainLink CGOA Conference (also known as The Knit and Crochet Show) ...

First my explanation for the delay: last week, in the middle of unpacking & trying to get caught up, my vehicle lost all power ... steering, breaking, you name it ... and I had a tailgater. When I get an inconsiderate driver behind me like that I slow down as a safety precaution, eventually finding a safe place to pull over and let the idiot jerk pain-in-the-yarn pass me. On this particular day, I believe this practice of slowing down saved my daughter and I! ... when my power steering went out it took every fiber of my being to maneuver my van safely off the road -- and in doing so I put tremendous stress on my spine (I have 2 ruptured discs) causing instant pain that required being iced -- A LOT! Sitting at my computer was very uncomfortable. I'm now down to one icing a day, so I am improving.

Service Announcement: Remember folks, that vehicle in front of you can run into trouble at any moment! It is always best to leave a safe distance, just in case!

Then the throat of fire began; I don't recall it ever being this sore, during the summer, since the summer before 9th grade ... sigh.

Did I mention I'm starting to feel better? :)

So, ChainLink 2010. Where do I start??? At the beginning, naturally.

Of all the CGOA ChainLink's I've attended (Chicago, NH, PA, NH, NH, NY, NH), I would say this was the most RELAXED I felt -- PRE-conference. I owe a lot of this first to my great husband, Mr. Dee, who took care of all the auto details (tire pressure, fixing 2 flat tires -- on the same day!, cleaning my van, and removing the rear seating to accomodate all my class supplies and our luggage). And second, to my children, Mini~Dee and Dee Jr. as they worked so diligently in assembling the class supplies & handouts for me. True, they've done this for me in the past, but this year it seemed to run so much smoother. Maybe with the kids being older and more responsible had a lot to do with that, or maybe it is because I bribed them? Also, add to this that having my items for the Fashion Show completed BEFORE actually leaving the house for the conference could have been a big factor too! (lol)

Since we were leaving mid-afternoon we were concerned our commute from Connecticut to New Hampshire would involve hitting 4th of July "going home after the long weekend" traffic. Sweetly, we didn't. It was smooth sailing driving the entire trip!

At the hotel it was like deja vue, only about a foot taller (the kids had grown!), and we were tree-less* -- yep! we were in the same room we were in during the 2007 CGOA Conference ... and we were already star-struck with Mr. Dee having spotted Rita Weiss & Jean Leinhauser! As this was only Monday night, we wondered: Who would we see next?????

We unpacked, and since it was late, we decided to call it a night. Tuesday would be our Family Day.

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*tree-less: in 2007 we were asked to haul a tree to the Conference for a Free Form display. Story is here. In 2009 I brought some tree branches to the Conference to give to Brian of Brainsbarn for some future hooks; you can see one he has made for me thus far here.

Question from Reader: Short On Yarn?

Last week I received an email from Susan:

Dear Dee,
I found a crochet pattern I love and bought yarn for it, only to discover I didn't have enough yarn! I bought the exact yardage the pattern called for. Do you know why I ran out? Baffled, Susan

Yes, Susan, I do!

I've discussed this "yarn shortage" issue on my blog here a couple of times, and I think it is always a good topic to keep coming back to as there is nothing worse, imho, than being short on yarn!

There are a few reasons why we would be short on yarn:

1. our gauge is off. Not all crocheters crochet alike. Some make tight stitches, some make tall. Some even "rob" yarn from stitches by yanking on the (feed) yarn as each stitch is made. After teaching crochet for a number of years and watching others crochet, I came to label these styles as "Riders," "Lifters," and "Yankers." In 2009 Doris Chan wrote an excellent article, called "Gauge Crashers" for Interweave Crochet magazine, and followed it up with this blog entry. We also discuss these crochet styles often over at the Ravelry.com website. Knowing what type of crocheter you are AND matching the designer's gauge is important, so if your gauge is off, you could be burning through more yarn than you should.


2. not all yarn is created equal. This has to do with the actual dye that brings color to our yarn. The more dye used, say for a red, blue or black yarn, the less yardage you will get per skein/hank when compared to a white, cream or yellow yarn because the dye adds weight to it. When the yarn is weighed, the dye used takes up the weight of yardage; the more dye, the less yarn we get per skein/hank. And certainly, this can differ from skein to skein, even within the same dye lot. (in the picture is a project I am working on (ignore the color variance as that is sunshine poking through the tree leaves when I snapped the picture) -- using the same yarn from a factory sealed bag, one piece is short 3.5 rows worth of stitches! This is why I'm happy I have more yarn!)
3. knots, knots, knots, otherwise known as "unwanted gifts from the yarn manufacturer." Since we need to cut the knots out of our skeins/hanks rather than work them into our projects, we could find ourselves short on yarn with each rejoining we need to do. (OK, why do we want to cut the knots out? Because knots eventually come undone and will cause a big hole in our work. And prior to the knots coming undone, they'll keep popping up in our work like big ugly pimples. And who wants ugly pimples in their crochet work? Eww!)
   Are the knots in our yarn legal? Yes. Yarn isn't the same as say Ben & Jerry's ice cream where when they mess up they sell the goofs as "Seconds." Are the knots a pain in the neck? Yes. Fortunately, if you find a skein/hank with WAY too many knots (hey, it happens!) most yarn manufactures will be happy to replace it. Unfortunately, not always are they able to match the dye lot.

What this means, Susan, is that when you shop for yarn for a given project ALWAYS buy one or two skeins/hanks more than what the pattern is called for. This will ensure the dye lot matches AND that you will have enough to finish your project.

Thanks for writing in! :)

Coffee, Stat!

Today's blog entry is more of a mental check-list for me ... I need a caffeine IV drip to function today after last night's wee-in-the-hours-can't-sleep-until-you-acknowledge-this-inspirational-idea hit me. Has that ever happened to you? You get an idea late in the evening, or even while you are sleeping, and you try to make a mental note of it, or even write it down to return to later, only it eats at you, much like this seemingly endless sentence, until finally you grab your favorite crochet hook and ball of yummy yarn and finally set the inspiration free, into physical motion, weaving its magic with each yarn over, until it begins to take shape to the point where you can say, "ahhhhh!"

Yeah. That's exactly what happened to me last night and I have the bags under my eyes to prove it. And in looking at the amount of stitch work I got done -- I am happy I listened to my muse. Since I am spending my time getting my materials ready for the conference, I can tell it will be another late night working on this project. Maybe now is the time, just until I get everything done, I give up my one-cup-of-coffee-a-day rule and drink it like a flowing river ... I'm just saying...
OK, the mental check-list... the following people are to be added to the "Waiting to be Confirmed" list as Famous Crocheters (technically the people below will be easy to confirm; I need to set aside time to actually write up their confirmations and then add them to the growing list of Confirmed...):

• Louisa Calder, wife of the sculptor Alexander Calder. (Thank you Leslie)
• Daina Taimina, Cornell University mathematician . (Thank you Barbara)
• Ruby Dee, actress. (Thanks again Barbara; and Colleen)

and, Jennifer Crusie, who is already confirmed needs the spelling of her name corrected.
OK, that's it for now. My coffee cup is empty and there is more work to do...

Counting Down...

What do you think this picture means?

If you've guessed we have a monkey on the loose, you are partially right. Technically it would be Dee Jr.'s stuffed money, and yes, I know, it has no relation to crochet. What does, however, is the box of supplies that just arrived ... the AMAZING NEEDLES!!

Amazing Needles are speciality crochet hooks, and they are for one of my sold out classes I'll be teaching at the CGOA's 16th Annual Chain Link Conference next month!! Are you going?

If you missed the opportunity to take my Crochet Your Knit class at the Conference and want to learn how to knit with a crochet hook on your own, then this hook is the tool you will need to learn how to make true knit stitches with the ease of a single crochet hook. Once you learn the technique you can join the debate of what is knit, what is crochet -- is it how it is made, or the end result? ;)

You can order this speciality crochet hook from Andrea, a really nice lady, over at AmazingYarn.com -- and don't forget, if you are a CGOA member, let her know to get a discount!!

OK, I'm headed back to work -- lots to do! ...

Ling Dynasty Grows

It is true. I finished my fifth Doris Chan Ling Collar yesterday -- and that includes steam blocking with a new iron/steamer surprise gifted to me by my good friend, Grace. :)

I actually made this Collar, using Kraemer' Sterling Silk & Silver fingering weight yarn (63% merino, 20% silk, 15% Nylon and 2% Metallic). The coloring in the picture is a little washed out; in reality is more like a dark charcoal with silver hightlights. I had purchased this yarn from a vendor at last year's Chain Link Conference, when it was held in Buffalo, NY -- and it was Mini~Dee who heard the yarn exclaim from deep within my yarn stash that it was ready to "grow up" and become a Ling Collar (more proof that yarn WILL tell you want it wants to be!).
And, using one of my Graydog "H" crochet hooks, it worked up beautifully!

The dangling charms was another of Mini~Dee's decisions. She selected the beads to match the dress coloring and I did all of the wiring twisting. I like that this project was a collaboration!

If you decide to add charms to your own Ling Collar, or any other of your crochet works, I highly recommend steering clear of split jump-rings. Eventually the split jump-rings will open, ever so slightly, and then fall off your work.

How about you? How many Ling Collars do you have in your dynasty thus far?

Summer is Ready When You Are

As today is the first official day of summer, how (and pardon the pun) cool is it I officially get to announce lead guitarist for The Breeders, Kelley Deal, as a Famous Crocheter! Having been taught how to crochet by her mom, and has a twin sister -- I'm waiting to see if Kelley will enlighten us if she (or other band members) also crochet. Kelley also knits, and in 2008 published the book, "Bags That Rock."

I am delighted Nanda of Ravelry brought her to my attention. Funny thing is, I happen to have been listening to this band for years! I just never put 2 & 2 together. Thank you Nanda!

I think the lyrics to the above song, Saints, is appropriate. I've been busy gearing up for the Conference, and thinking of the summer (& fall) fairs I'll be entering my crochet work in. What about you? What projects do you have planned for the summer?