Category: Crochet News and Events

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Crochet Booth 203 Finalized (Day 8 of 50)

Crochet Booth PAID IN FULL

Every year CGOA’s Chain Link conference has a market with knit and crochet booths, in addition to a full schedule of classes and special events. I’ve attended these conferences every year since 2002 (except in 2003). It’s always fun to walk the show floor between classes.

As a teacher now, I look forward to seeing what students bring back from the market during a class break. This is often how I first hear about something I need to go buy before it sells out! (I can imagine other teachers nodding their heads when they read this.)

Doris and I had our first crochet booth in this market last year. (The event is also known as the Knit and Crochet Show because it also includes the TKGA/knitting guild.) That was in San Diego; this July it will be in Charleston SC.

It’s Officially All Ours: Booth #203!

Today I finished paying for the DesigningVashti booth space—well before the late June deadline. I paid first half of the fee ($300) in April to get a great location. It’s also one of the few corner spaces. I love the location. People will be able to see our crochet booth from the entrance, and I’m going to enjoy being right across from Crochetville’s booth. Not will it be fun to be near Amy and Donna the whole time (like last year), the market opens with a strong crochet presence.

 

 

It’s Friday and this is my last businessy item to cross off for the week. This is also Day 8 of the epic 50 days I have left to get ready. I’ll be teaching five classes at CGOA‘s conference and have a crochet booth on the show floor.

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Day 4: Completing Special CGOA Forms

Blog it to Do it? It’s Working!

I’m already seeing that blogging these 50 steps in 50 days helps me do them sooner. Here’s one: filling out special event forms. A few months before every CGOA conference, decisions must be made about fun opportunities. There’s probably a form for it.

DONE: Forms for Teachers and for General Attendees.

All CGOA members are encouraged to enter something in the design competition and in the fashion show. The fashion show takes place during the big gala banquet at the end of the conference. There’s a simple form for that. (Of course attendees also need to fill out the registration form for classes and special events. Reserve this year’s commemorative pin! It’s only $5.)

CGOA teachers filled out most teaching forms back in the fall when they submitted class topic proposals. Other than that, teachers need to:

  • Make sure they’ve registered for the fashion show banquet.
  • Look for the email with the deadline for shipping class materials to what address.

I’m up to date here.

HALF DONE: CGOA Forms for Exhibitors.

I found out last year when I had my first show booth that exhibitors receive two packets of forms and information (in PDF format). The first packet comes from the CGOA staff and the other one comes from the hotel/convention center management. Each usually has handy check off lists.

(Pictured: In this 2015 photo I’m wearing the exhibitor badge that I filled out a form for again this year.)

Last year I read all of the fine print. ALL of it. This year I only need to skim it. I don’t feel overwhelmed with all the information, choices, and deadlines this time. I still have decisions but not the detail overload. It’s easier to prioritize.

I’ve received the first of these two packets so far. The Exhibitor Badge Order Form is the most important one in it. DONE well before the June 15 deadline! And so happy to be able to list Doris Chan and my husband as two of my seven fabulous helpers to receive badges.

Printed out the Grand Prize Donation Form so that I can mull it over. That’s it! If I don’t get to the rest of the first packet (advertising options, etc.) it’s ok.

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CGOA Show opening 2015 San Diego
In this 2015 photo I’m wearing the exhibitor badge that I filled out a form for again this year.

[If you need more information about attending, teaching, or exhibiting at this event, email [email protected] or call 740.452.4541 .]

-:——-:-

 

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Crochet Along Shaping Thoughts (Jempool CAL)

Jem CAL: Crochet Along Announcement for the Jempool Scarf methodThere’s a crochet along (CAL) going on right now for the Jempool Scarf. All the posts are public and it’s free (the pattern and technique info is $5), so anyone can join in any time.

While I was crocheting Jempool, I wondered if I should complete it as a traditional rectangular scarf. Maybe it would like to be something different?

I quickly discovered that when you stack each color of a variegated yarn, you can’t just increase or decrease stitches to shape a sleeve or neckline. The color repeat sequence becomes the pattern repeat.

Below are some sketches from when I was working this out. I needed colored pencils to help me see if there might be a 2-skein version I’d prefer even more than the simple 1-skein scarf.

Sketched ideas for other shapes of the basic Jempool Crochet Along rectangle.
A few ideas for shaping with a fixed-width rectangle.

If one complete color sequence gave me a 9″ (22.86 cm)-wide scarf, that 9″ is a fixed pattern repeat. That means I could double it (or triple, etc). In this case the colors are symmetrical, so I could also halve it; a 4.5″ pattern repeat is easier to design with.

So as part of the crochet along, if you try a Jempool and you’re loving it but you don’t need to end up with a scarf, you could think of it as a repeatable motif. A handy seam here or there could yield a ruana, poncho, shrug, etc.

Jempool is reversible, so it could easily be turned into a möbius. I’d just need to add a half twist then seam together the two ends.

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National Crochet Month Specials

Sister filet scarves: Antoinette Sparklescarf, Emdash, and Cantina Party Flounces

Welcome, Natcromo Blog Tour Visitors!

In honor of (Inter-)National Crochet Month, I’ve added a lacy spring scarf pattern to my Ravelry shop: the double-flounced Emdash Scarf. It’s free for one week.

I thought I’d show you Emdash’s crochet story in pictures. National Crochet Month is for crochet stories, right? Especially about lacy spring scarves. First, the design sketches:

Emdash has two design sisters.

There they are all together at the top of this post. It’s easier to show some alternate views of them this way.  Antoinette is the eldest (I published her popular pattern in Nov. 2011). She loves lace weight metallic mohair with sequins and other holiday party yarns. Cantina is the youngest, even though her pattern was published before Emdash’s (in Dec. 2015). Cantina is a freewheeling hippie girl who likes color parties, scrap yarns, and beads.

How did Emdash get her name?

While I was exploring special characters on my keyboard, I kept seeing the scarf draped on my mannequin. The columns of tall stitches are grouped with vertical spacers. (I like the slightly different crocheting rhythm of it.) They started reminding me of emdashes, yes—a type of punctuation. It shortens so nicely to “Emmy.”

The last part of her design story is that I learned how to format and print out kit patterns with the Emdash Scarf, for the show booth I had last summer. This means Emdash is also available as a printed pattern while they last.

Happy National Crochet Month!

 

 

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NatCroMo Winner of DesigningVashti Lotus Yarn

We have a Lotus yarn winner of our National Crochet Month giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered to win some Lotus yarn by leaving a new color suggestion at the previous blog post. I received a total of 69 unique suggestions. One was by email on the first morning before the link was fixed on the Crochetville post: Debra Bostron, who suggested orange and a bright sunny/golden yellow.

The winner of two skeins of Lotus yarn is… Edith Smith!

Edith suggested, “Lilac, orchid, and emerald green would all be nice additions.”

Congratulations Edith! I’ll be emailing you.

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My method: First, I renumbered the comments slightly by eliminating my own comments and adding Debra Bostron’s emailed comment; Debra’s was the first I received, so it became the new #1. I also needed to number Dianne’s comment because it shows as an unnumbered response to Ann G’s comment. Using the true random number generator at Random.org, I generated Edith’s winning comment number.