Skip to main content

Snow Days are Play Days- Chicago

Februrary 23, 2008The Museum of Modern Ice presents unique family friendly activies in Milennium Park and inside the Chicago Cultural Center all during Februrary. Teaming with the city, the Windy City Knitting Guild sponsored a craft event each Sat. in Feb. called "Color your Winter with Crafts." Not only do they have Polly E. (Esther) Cotton on display for stitchers to add their creativity to, but members are sharing their talents by teaching others.

There was a call for volunteers, so I volunteered to teach Free Form Crochet. I was greeted by some enthusiastic crocheters already at work when I arrived and I joined them at their table. I had used my car, the El and my feet to get there from the suburbs, so I was a little late, but that didn't stop me from jumping right in to show these knitters-turned-crocheters the beauty and ease fo "no-rules crochet."

I walked them through the first few steps to get them started then "set them free" to create as they wished. There was ample yarn and hooks available, donated from companies; so anyone who happened by could give it a try.

A mother and daughter team just happened to be in the Cultural Center and saw the enthusiasm emanating from our room, so they came by. The college age daughter wanted to learn crochet and the mother had no interest. In about 30 minutes time, I had the young lady crocheting while another woman set across from us catching up with a non-stitching friend. As they talked and talked, she turned her free form otif into a beautiful pill-box hat!

I found the knitters very open to crochet and friendly and I have been invited to teach Freeform crochet to their members at their monthly meeting in October 2008.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Craft vs. Fine Art: How is Crochet Blurring the Lines

I was awakening to the world of crochet in 1972,a time of immense artistic expression through fiber arts; and crochet was not the “ugly stepchild” at the time. In fact, Ferne Cone Gellar who I admire as a successful fiber artist said in “Knitting: The Stepchild of the Fiber Arts?” ( Fibercraft Newsletter 1978), “Has knitting been slighted among the areas of the fiber arts? The very word ‘knitting’ evokes images of the little old lady in tennis shoes. Over the years, I’ve learned to ignore all those jokes.” Cone Gellar went on to publish Crazy Crocheting in 1981 and encouraged her readers to create more than bedspreads, providing ideas such as “things to play with or to display on a shelf or hang on a wall.” A photo of single crochet from bread wrappers served as inspiration.  In 1972 in her book, Creating Art from Fibers & Fabrics , Dona Meilach wrote: “Why are fibers and fabrics becoming increasingly appealing to artists? Most artists ag...

Wartime Crochet With Attitude, Part I

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Karen Ballard and I have a mutual love of free form crochet. We met for the first time in a class taught by Prudence Mapstone of Australia at the Chain Link Crochet Conference 2011. I admire Karen's vast knowledge of needle work history and am grateful for her willingness to share with us as my guest blogger this week. Karen wearing a World War II-era knitting hat with stubby needles on top Karen's Heritage Heart,  with flowers symbolic of her heritage, is currently on tour with Prudence Mapstone's traveling "Hearts & Flowers Exhibition" in Australia and New Zealand   World War 1 Attitudes About Crochet by Karen Ballard In 2008, I coined that term, "Workbasket Campaigns" to describe the organized efforts during World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII) coordinated through the American Red Cross {ARC} and the Navy League to create needle crafted items.  These items were mostly knitted but also sewn, qu...

Crochet and Society: How Crochet has Contributed

Wednesday, September 4, 2013 Because I am passionate about crochet and because it plays such an important role in my life. I am constantly “thinking crochet.” I want to bring awareness about crochet to everyone in the world. They don’t necessarily need to achieve the level of passion that I have for the craft, but my dream is that our society in general would come to recognize crochet as a valuable art and craft.  I also want to see the entire genre of crochet planted firmly on a continuum with all the other needle arts as a valuable pastime and art, and for the day to come when society stops confusing it with knitting! I have often joked that I am “covering my world in crochet” and that’s because I think crochet can beautify nature as well as contribute to many aspects of my community. I have been covering rocks for years and I turn them into sculptures or decorative o bjects. Claire Zeisler:  Fragments & Dashes , Threads magazine, Oct/Nov 1985 My fi...