Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

"Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." Samuel Ullman

The Northwest Chicago suburbs had been my home for over 30 years when we moved to Indianapolis in 2015; I am always ready to return for a visit to play "tourist." My friend Sue from Boston comes to conferences but not for crochet.

Sue and I have known each other since 1988 when our children were at the American School in Quito, Ecuador together; and we began to connect more regularly when the CGOA conferences were in Manchester, New Hampshire. It is an easy drive from Boston for Sue and her sister, Claudette, who registers for knit and crochet classes. We also "hooked up" when the conference was in North Carolina where Sue's daughter was living. This year my friendly duo decided to come to Chicago because they had never been there. Yay, we met again!

From having dinner with my dear neighbor, Gerry; to taking the Metra to the Art Institute to meet my Moderator (tw…

You may have already read some other blog summaries about the CGOA-sponsored crochet conference that took place July 26-29 in Itasca, Illinois, but everyone's perspective is different. So, better late than never I share my reactions to our fun and fabulous weekend. "Fun & Fabulous;" that's one reaction I would say ALL attendees would have in common!

This book just goes to show that "there are always 2 ways to skin a cat"! I've done a significant amount of tapestry crochet work crochet during my "crochet life," and have also taken classes from the experts at Crochet Guild conferences. Alessandra has solved some quandaries for me that I have had about the technique.


Full of good information about tapestry crochet, beautiful photography and twenty, mostly fashion projects, that explore the basics of the technique, the reader will be inspired and encouraged to do more complicated projects after trying some of these patterns. Aptly named, every project inside is gorgeous and on-trend for the fashionista and the home!


To avoid the usual bulkiness of tapestry crochet, which is not desirable in clothing, the author makes a point of only including 2 colors in each row of her fashion motifs. Her design rows line up perfectly with her unique suggestion of stitching in the black loop only. Alessandra suggests crochet…