Showing posts with label Conferences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conferences. Show all posts

Friday, November 16, 2012

Hurricane Sandy Relief, Crochet Style

Please help my designer pal Amie Hirtes of Nexstitch help rebuild her Jersey shore communities by donating to the causes she blogged about here and here, and by BUYING HER LOVELY CROCHET PATTERNSAmie publishes first-rate indie crochet patterns, so these patterns are collectibles (as well as easy to use). She's donating 100% of pattern purchases to the Union Beach Memorial School’s Amazon Wishlist until November 30.


Her blog post "Jersey Strong" had me in tears. I know only some of what it's like to see my community ravaged by a hurricane. You feel like a refugee in your own country, and it's easy in weak moments to feel forgotten. Every waking moment goes by so slowly. But what Amie is going through in the wake of Hurricane Sandy is much worse. The images she is posting remind me of the devastation caused by monster hurricane Katrina, and Andrew before that. Andrew landed just south of where I was living at the time in Hollywood, FL and the destructive force I witnessed still haunts me.

Here's a photo from 2007 of Amie and me crocheting at 2 am in the Crochet Lounge, which was sponsored by the Tahki Stacy Charles yarn company during the Chain Link conference in Manchester, NH:

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Crochet in Reno: The CGOA Conference Sep. 12-16 2012

On the way to Reno from Lake Tahoe
I've blogged about several crochet conferences since starting this blog many years ago, so by now it feels like a ritual. It was a special conference and here are some highlights:
  • Highlight of teaching crochet in Reno: a surprise caramel mocha courtesy of new pal Laurinda Reddig!
  • Highlight of teaching Tunisian crochet: 3 BEGINNERS were able to keep up in an ADVANCED skill level class!
  • Another highlight of teaching at Chain Link conference: giving Superfine Jelly Yarn® to my jewelry crochet students
  • ...walking to Walmart in the Nevada sun with Doris Chan to get last minute crochet class supplies
    Doris Chan in her new crochet
    Star Trek dress
    CGOA Crochet Design Booth

    • ...and seeing my pretty logo displayed in the CGOA teachers booth that Doris Chan 
      created.
    • Highlight of the Knit and Crochet Show market: The popular Crochet Liberation Front market booth, and seeing Fearless Leader Laurie after so long.
    • I bought reflective crochet-along filament. Can you say...jewelry?
    • At Lake Tahoe with Linda Dean (center),
      Margaret Hubert (right)

    • Highlight of Reno's Grand Sierra Resort: so much free bottled water with electrolytes (especially in classrooms).
    • On our way back from Lake Tahoe, had to
      stop for more pics!

    • Tip from Reno resident via Jenny King: Salty food is your friend in Reno -- helps you deal with the altitude and dryness. IT ACTUALLY WORKED for me.
    • Turns out we were just getting warmed up! Dance Party  
    • ...sharing Mai tai drinks—the real and the fake—with Tammy Hildebrand and Linda Dean 
    • ...discussing brands of crochet threads with Kathryn White and Kathie Earle. Yay threadies!
    • ...seeing crochet free former and moderator Jorel again. We bonded in Stitchdiva Jen Hansen's broomstick lace class years ago.
    • ...a fresh ginger martini and Netflix advice with Myra Wood  :)
    • ...comparing with Darla Fanton shades and amounts of the Newton's tencel-linen blend yarn that we both bought
    • ...discussing with Barbara Hynes and Mirtooli how  Jelly Yarn® is trippy bec one can see a stitch's *innards*
    • ...meeting crochet free formers Fermin and Mirtooli and getting swept along into the grand free form group dinner.
    • Free formers rocked the fashion show banquet

    • ...coming home with a special copy of Laurinda Reddig's new Rowan's Learn to Crochet Sampler Afghan book.
    • ...seeing GoCrochet Ellen Gormley and her new Bruges lace crochet designs SHINE on the runway. Go Ellen!
    • Photo ©Ellen Gormley 2012; L to R: Ellen, Jenny King,
      Vashti, at dance party

    • ...introducing two queens to each other: Crochet Liberation Front's Fearless Leader Laurie Wheeler and CGOA president Amy Shelton of Crochetville
    •  I loved the abundant fresh fruit and coffee in the crochet lounge daily! BIG THANKS to Red Heart Yarns and Kathleen Sams.
      If you're in Twitter, an easy way to see what others have tweeted about the conference is to search the hashtag #chainlink2012 or #knitandcrochetshow.


      -:---+---:-

      The June Chain Link conference was held in Manchester, New Hampshire this year. 


      Coming up in 2013, I have the months and cities handy for the summer and fall conferences: Indianapolis, Indiana in July, and Charlotte, North Carolina in early October. I'm already planning to attend the Charlotte conference.

      Monday, April 30, 2012

      How a Calligraphy Passion Inspired "Lovepod" Love Knots

      Top half of my first business card
      When I was a teenager some decades ago, I learned how to do calligraphy. The old-fashioned kind appealed to me the most -- gilded ornate first letters and flowery scripts. I learned about fine old parchments and vellums and 'aged' them with tinting. I even tried charring the paper edges.
      Lovepod inspiration


      Lovepod Boa
      I loved calligraphy so much that my mother's friends paid me to "write pretty" on invitations and on framed parchment as gifts. More requests came from their friends of friends, and I soon had the start of a calligraphy business in my little midwestern town.


      When I moved to Seattle in my twenties, I worked first in a flower shop, then at a dessert cafe and catering company where my employers put my calligraphy to new uses.

      1980's promo dessert price list


      When I look back on it now, the spidery lines that I could make with fine pen tips and ink bottles felt a lot like crocheting lace with fine thread. Thinking about where to embellish lace with beads or special stitches is like adding little flourishes on and around formal lettering.

      A big difference between crochet and calligraphy is that I can just rip out a faulty stitch, whereas with calligraphy, I often had to start over completely!

      These love knots have something of a
      botanical look too. Palestrina Lace
      Love Knot Nakshatra Wrap

      The reason my old calligraphy days have been on my mind lately is that I've been bringing together all of my crochet experiments and ideas for my upcoming Love Knot Adventures class
      (Sorry--that class just sold out. But here's the recent newsletter issue I wrote on Love Knots. See the image gallery links in it. Here's another link too, if you're a Ravelry member: I just created a Love Knots-only category of my Ravelry projects, which are the not-yet-published designs.)
      One of my early calligraphy pieces
      The Lovepod Boa is one of the first crochet designs that I was excited to publish myself. It was directly inspired by my favorite method of embellishing my calligraphy, especially the fancy initial letter: I loved adding leafy, budding vines and sprigs, and tinting them. Sometimes I gilded them with a bit of silver or gold, such as the "Irish Lullaby" title at right (the entire poem is embellished like this!).
      Close up of Love Knot network
      Lovepod Boa, 'gilded'
      I remember travelling to another place in my mind while I added these ethereal little sprigs and flowers. When I first crocheted love knots* with fine mohair yarn, the same daydream came over me again. The idea for the Lovepod Boa came from this place. 


      *Here's the usual string of alternate names for this stitch: Lover's Knot, Solomon's Knot, King Solomon's Knot, Knot Stitch, Hail Stone Stitch; in Portuguese ponto segredo). It's used in Turkish Oya crochet too, but I don't know what the stitch is called.

      Friday, March 23, 2012

      Crochet Jewelry Class: Resources

      Tomorrow I teach a class in Sarasota, Florida on crocheting jewelry--a.k.a. "jewellry," "jewerly," "jewellery" and other favorite spellings :-)  
      Love-Latches (convertible crochet jewelry)
      For all of my crochet classes I include a page of resources in the handouts (helpful links, books that I recommend, etc.). However, my jewelry class handout is already several pages long due to so many close-up photos

      The best class handout for jewelry crochet needs to show several close ups of those precious little details and special crochet stitches that make crochet bracelets, necklaces, rings, brooches, and earrings so fun to make and give as gifts. What to do? 
      Irish Pearls

      Today I hit on a great idea: I'm going to post the Crochet Jewelry Class Resources list HERE IN THIS BLOG POST! See below. Cool idea, right? This way they're clickable URLs. Also, crocheters anywhere can refer to it, even if you can't attend the Sarasota crochet class tomorrow. (If you think you can attend, it will be held from 1 - 4 pm on March 24, 2012 at an easy-to-find yarn shop on South Tamiami Trail called A Good Yarn.)

      [Hi, this is FutureVashti from 2018. See the class resources for all of my classes at my new blog!]


      Crochet Jewelry Class: Resources
      All class content ©Vashti Braha. Resources recommended for a three-hour class held March 24, 2012 at A Good Yarn yarn shop in Sarasota, Florida USA; and taught nationally at the CGOA Chain Link conference in Reno Nevada in 2012. Please see this blog post also for more crochet jewellery resources I like.



      Crochet Inspirations Newsletter Topics:
      Issue #16 "Flavor-Burst Crochet" (Get jewelry effects with simple stitches) 
      Issue #8 "Crochet's Commutative Property" (Convertible crochet projects) 
      Issue #18 "Deep Crochet Research" (Foundation Stitches)

      Blogged:
      "How to Crochet Spiky Puff Stitches" (as used for Palmetto Cuff pattern; with video)

      Books I've consulted. The most recently published are listed first with short descriptions of the books I recommend and use the most & why:  Click on a title to go to the book's Amazon page for more information.

      2010. Ann Benson, Tapestry Bead Crochet: Projects and Techniques. Lark Crafts. This is my favorite source for this specific type of bead crochet. Not only is it very inspirational for me, it also is written by someone who is obviously a good teacher. She even created many of the excellent illustrations.     Author's site: beadseast.com


      2009. Pat Harste, Hooked on Jewelry. Sixth and Spring Books. This is my resource for how to use stylish and traditional metal jewelry findings with fiber crochet jewelry designs, and why I might want to. I usually prefer to crochet them, but this author uses them in such an inspiring way. I also love the way the book makes it clear and fun to learn about the jewelry tools and supplies.  Author's Ravelry page.

      2007. Waejong Kim and Anna Pulvermakher, Crochet Jewelry. Interweave Press.  This book combines a creative and exciting array of jewelry designs by several crochet designers. I use it as a resource of other designers' "lab notes" and results crocheting jewelry with eclectic materials. (Scroll halfway down through my other blog post for more on this.)


      Size #20 crochet thread pendant cords;
      some are published in Jewelry With a Hook.
      2007. Terry Taylor, Jewelry With a Hook. Lark. Like the Waejong Kim book above, this book is a wide-ranging compilation of creative jewelry crochet designs and materials. So I use it foremost as a source for "lab notes" (how other designers combined eclectic materials). In addition, I like the "Crochet Basics" section at the back of the book. (I would still value this book the same way even if it didn't include four designs of my own.)

      2006. Carol Ann Ventura, Bead and Felted Tapestry Crochet. Self published, ISBN 978-09721253-2-1. Carol Ventura is the queen of tapestry crochet in crochet circles, and her self-published books are the next best thing to taking her classes at the CGOA conferences. The one I have includes sections specially for left handers, and for working flat vs. in the round. Author's site: tapestrycrochet.com

      2005. Adele Rogers Recklies, Bead Crochet Snakes: History and Technique. This book fascinates me. I had no idea of the history and art of bead crochet ropes as snakes. Beautiful examples. Self published: Reckless Beading Press, ISBN 978-0-9791649-0-3.     Author's site: beadcrochetsnakes.com 

      2004. Bethany Barry, Bead Crochet. Interweave Press. This book used to strike me as odd (like the Neiman book below), but not anymore, now that I understand the differences between beaded jewelry that happens to be crocheted, vs. crochet that is used for jewelry and that may include some beads. In other words, jewellery crocheting lies at an intersection of two industries: the crochet ('handknitting') yarn industry, and that of the beaders and other non-crochet jewelry making hobbies, like wirework/wire-wrapping, micro-macrame, etc. The basic materials, tools, and vocabulary can be very different. It's more obvious when you visit a bead shop and then a yarn shop; or the crochet aisle, then the jewelry aisle in a craft store!  Author's site: bethanybarry.com


      2004. Lily Chin, Knit and Crochet with Beads. Interweave Press.  A masterful reference especially for exploring the choices crocheters and knitters have when incorporating beads into several kinds of projects besides jewelry.  Author's  site: lilychinsignaturecollection.com

      2004. Sherri Haab, Designer Style Jewelry. Watson-Guptill. I enjoy having this one on hand for the techniques I hope to try someday, for example, using resin to create pendants and charms, which would be easy to combine with crochet; or updated possibilities with that "ShrinkyDink®" material I LOVED as a kid. So it has a great list of suppliers at the back of the book.

      2004. Mary Libby Neiman, Bead Crochet Basics. Design Originals booklet, ISBN 978-1-5742153-4-2. This slim book is a good reference for me because I'm a newbie when it comes to a particular type of crochet jewelry: "beaded ropes" a.k.a. "tubular bead crochet." The idea is to see all seed beads, no crochet stitches. (Also see Ann Benson's Tapestry Bead Crochet, above.) Like I described Bethany Barry's Bead Crochet book above, this one used to confuse me as a crocheter. Part of the confusion is that both titles use "bead crochet" in a much more limited way than I would with the crocheters I know. Both also seem to be written by and for a general beading/bead shop audience rather than a crocheting audience.   Author's site: d-originals.com

      1997. Lydia F Borin, Beadwrangler’s Hands On Crochet with Beads and Fibers. I was happy when a copy of this book fell into my lap because I'd tried to locate a copy for several years, after learning so much about the topic at the author's site, below! Self published: Lyden Enterprises, ISBN 1-891302-01-9.     Author's site: beadwrangler.com

      Tuesday, July 05, 2011

      Crochet Designing and TNNA 2011

      If I'm a sailboat on a sea of creativity, the waters have been choppy lately! The schedule of my son's summer camp is like a big speedboat that leaves a big wake for my sailboat. He loves the camp and I'm getting the hang of those waves. There's also the TNNA conference I've just attended: it's an unexpected air current that keeps catching my sails! (OK, I'll stop the analogy here.)


      'Twas great to see Linda Permann, Doris Chan, and
      Ellen Gormley crocheting simultaneously!
      (Click here to see one with me in it.)
      I've attended and blogged about The National Needlearts Association trade shows ("TNNA shows") every June since 2006. The attendees are primarily needle arts and yarn shop owners, and the exhibitors are businesses that offer yarns, tools, books, etc. for these shops. As a crochet designer I experience the yarn side of the show much more than the needlepoint-cross stitch-embroidery side. 


      This year, warm appreciation and abundant new opportunities flowed toward designers! It was wonderful. Almost every business responded with a sparkling 'Yes!' when I asked if they work with indie {crochet} designers, which wasn't so much the case in previous years. I think that as social media and other online resources develop, helping each other succeed just keeps getting easier.
      Fun picture of Marly and me taken at the
      Ravelry Ice Cream Social, TNNA 2010.
      Click here for Marly's original photo
      (less grainy resolution than mine)


      At a designer dinner I received a remarkable goody bag of everything from a stylish Namaste messenger bag to a coveted skein of pure buffalo yarn. Like I told Marly (see photo at left) who organized the dinner, it's had a great effect on my creativity. 


      I'm already using and loving:

      Looking forward to using: 


      In addition to the buffalo yarn, I'm looking forward to swatching up: 

      I have more experiences with new tools and yarns to report when time permits. Until then, I have issue #22 of my Crochet Inspirations newsletter to prepare this week (it won't have anything to do with TNNA, unlike issue #20), and my first-ever crochet videos to upload! 
       
      Plus, the usual stream of crochet patterns to complete and publish. 
       
      I've been adding charts to some published patterns and I announce stuff like that in my newsletters so please subscribe here.

      Wednesday, August 26, 2009

      Chain Link Crochet Conference: SPARKLY


      CGOA's 15th annual
      national Chain Link conference, held Aug. 5-9 in Buffalo, NY was simply amazing. I have so much to blog about it that I haven't known where to begin. In the meantime I uploaded photos and tweeted about it. My tweets always show in the right hand column of this blog.

      I love the anniversary theme: Crystal Jubilee! It inspired me to crochet a special bling coffee cozy in case Buffalo had great espresso.

      In fact maybe I loved the theme a little too much :) Each time I pack for a conference I get a little crazy. I suddenly invent projects that make me pack too much yarn. This year I threw together materials for crocheting a variety of Crystal Jubilee Tiaras, in case I found the time during the conference, LOL. (I never did.)

      At the last minute
      on my way to the airport, I made this Crystal Jubilee Bracelet (turns out it's a 20-minute project). Later at the conference
      I crocheted a bangle version with glittery Jelly Yarn in honor of Mary Beth's birthday (see end of Tracie's blog post about the Chocolate Bar birthday; also see Dee's pics). I'm crocheting the birthday bangle in this photo taken at the Friday evening annual members' meeting. You can kind of make out the big pink crystals. It makes Little Loopy's eyes twinkle.

      Speaking of twinkling eyes, how could I not wear new eye bling for the occasion? My
      rainbow glitter eyeliner was so sparkly that along with the bracelet, folks at my dinner table nominated me for the Bling Contest!

      See
      Dee Stanziano's post for the best play-by-play of the contest. Basically, at the Fashion Show dinner each dinner table seated about 8 people. The people at each table nominated the person at their table who displayed the most bling. These nominees went on stage together and then voting by applause began. Congratulations to First Prize Winner Joan Davis!

      All this
      Crystal Jubilee talk might be ringing a bell if you saw my last-minute pre-conference blog post about the silk vest. I'm happy to report that a) I completed it! I was weaving in the last ends at the dinner table; and, b) so many people asked for the pattern that I'll have some good photos when the pattern's ready. You might get an overall sense of it from this conference photo. Also, c) turns out it that embroidering crystal beads all over it would have been overbling, so it's a good thing I had the bracelet and eyeliner to ramp it up a notch, tastefully ;)

      Sunday, August 02, 2009

      Just Back from the Craft SuperShow in Orlando!

      Good thing I brought my camera! Here are some pics from the Craft SuperShow, a Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) event that was open to the public. All photos were taken on July 31.

      The highlight of the day for me was when I discovered that Todd Paschall was there with some of his amazing crocheted portraits! I've been following Todd's posts in online crochet forums for years. It was fabulous to finally meet him in person.

      My son had Obama in stitches (har har).

      The Mary Engelbreit booth was mobbed. I was able to snap a pic of some Mary Engelbreit crochet.

      The whole show was
      mobbed actually! We had Disneyworld-like lines of people waiting to pick up their pre-registered tickets!! The show organizers were great at keeping the line moving quickly. I loved seeing so many people interested in crafting.

      Another highlight of the day was finding out that one of my new designs is coming out soon. A photo of it being modeled was projected on a big screen. Why oh why didn't I take a photo of it?

      You can see more photos from the big event in my Flickr album. You'll see some new crochet and knit fashions for children. I remember also seeing great new patterns for wraps and shawls and afghans and throws but didn't get photos of those.

      Isn't it funny how you can be holding a camera in your hand and not think to use it? Except for when you do?

      Sunday, September 28, 2008

      Tunisian Panels: The Marco Jacket


      This one's fresh off the hook because I wanted to wear it to the Portland CGOA conference two weeks ago. It's really 4 experiments in one!

      1. I used an obscure stash yarn that worked out great for tunisian crochet. It's Austermann Marco Stretch in "Winterberry" (a warm heathered rose). I've never used a bulky wool with a lot of lycra in it for a sweater so I didn't know what kind of drape I could expect, and whether I'd even be able to block it to my measurements. (Not much info on the 'net from users of this yarn, not even in Ravelry.)

      2. The yarn is discontinued so I had a finite amount: would 10 skeins be enough for a jacket? To be on the safe side I went with cropped and shaped sleeves, cropped length, and minimal collar and front overlap. The yarn seemed sporty to me so I pictured a zip-front hoodie style, and would add pockets and a hood with leftover yarn. It ended up reminiscent of a boxy Chanel jacket style when I edged it. That's Yvette trying it on backstage after the conference fashion show.

      3. The yarn was like felted spaghetti to work with and looked lumpy in every crochet swatch I tried except tunisian simple stitch (tss). The tunisian fabric came out stretchy, smooth, and soft & spongy enough for my kitten! I was not in the mood for long or cabled tunisian hooks, so....panels, right? I haven't seen many sweaters done this way lately. Making the panels was great fun, but how did I want to join them? I decided to make the seams a decorative element, so more swatching! (But check out ARNie's join-as-you-go tutorial) Correction added 9/30: See ARNie's comment on this entry; this link is part of Cindy's Crochet Pages. Great job Cindy! Thank you.

      4. The last experiment concerned shaping. I wanted to do it all--tapered set-in sleeves, back neck drop, shoulder slope, waist. I knew it would help streamline the yarn's bouncy bulk, but this amount of shaping and shortrowing in tunisian was new to me. Using a 12mm hook and big yarn made it fun because some shaping was accomplished with merely adding or subtracting a few jumbo stitches.

      I'm very pleased with the results, although I wish the yarn blocked better. There's a pic of me wearing it on Margaret's blog--scroll down to the 2nd photo. At the conference people especially liked the contrasting stitch textures, and some thought the seams were cables :-)

      I would definitely construct a garment with tunisian panels again. I created a way to make "panel maps" in Garment Designer, which should simplify writing the pattern for many sizes. (Here's a hazy pic of the map I worked from.)

      I had about 1 ball's worth of yarn left over. I paid $3.19/ball for this yarn about 4 years ago at http://www.elann.com/, so not bad for a $30 sweater, huh?

      Sunday, September 21, 2008

      The Ins and Outs of INTERMESHING

      I took Margaret Hubert's class on Intermeshing at the CGOA regional conference held in Portland, Oregon last week. Intermeshing is like crocheting two separate pieces of fabric, usually simple filet (chain 1, double crochet in the next double crochet), but you are interweaving them as you work a row of one piece and then the other, so it's a whole new way of experiencing filet crochet. The possible variations are infinite!

      Although I had learned how to do this intriguing technique months ago thanks to Bonnie Pierce's downloads (scroll halfway down) and James Walters' excellent material generously made available via the internet, intermeshing is a type of crochet that is also exciting in a class setting. When I saw that Margaret was offering this class, I knew I had to be there.

      I brought enough yarn for two very different swatches: one is that new Glow in the Dark yarn (white) by Bernat paired with a ball of blue discontinued Debbie Bliss yarn; my son loves how brightly the Bernat yarn glows in the dark, so I plan to turn this swatch into a small pillow that doubles as a nightlight. This yarn glows all night long! It glows brighter and less green than my camera captured here.

      Margaret's class project was a simple bag and that's what I'll turn my second swatch into, so I brought colors for me: a deep rich red chenille (discontinued Reynolds Paris) paired with charcoal Lion Brand Cotton Ease. (see first photo, above.)

      Intermeshing requires a certain kind of focus at first. I find that after awhile I can get into a comfortable rhythm, but until then, the logic of it is tricky for me--especially the beginning and ending of rows. Can you spot all the errors? Keep in mind that the edge is meant to end with a solid vertical bar of blue....

      Below is my first swatch from months ago, in size 10 threads, turned into a wrist cuff. I was curious how it would look to pair a variegated thread (Manuela) with a solid neutral color (Cebelia). I wear it often because it goes great with jeans, but as a jewelry design I think it would have more punch if both colors were solid instead of variegated. Photos of it "in action" can be seen here.
      I recommend Margaret's class to anyone interested in learning intermeshing. She brought some inspiring samples and her class handout is first-rate. I haven't shown any variations here, but Margaret had an afghan with a combination of intermeshing variations. Check out her blog entries about the class (scroll down to Sept. 16 and Aug. 3).

      Update: see also this site about "Double Filet" as intermeshing is called in the UK (thank you, nic): http://www.craftgroupsevenoaks.co.uk/dfCrochet.php
      In the US for 2010, Susan Lowman will be teaching a class on this technique at CGOA's Chain Link conference (July, Manchester NH).