Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

Monday, June 16, 2014 Since I am still basking in the glow of my chapter's 20th anniversary party on June 14, I will include a few photos from the event. Our committee, chaired by Barb Collister and including me and Dorothy Hansen, worked for about a year planning this event to celebrate the very first CGOA and our members. The 3 of us on the committee attended the very first chapter meeting in June 1994. The Celebration Committee Our guest artist, Pate Conaway  An array of the unusual materials with which Pate crochets! Members enjoying each other's company I created a rather amateurish video the best I could during the party and it will be posted to the CGOA website sometime after the conference in Manchester, July 24-27. We hope you will enjoy hearing the voices of some of those who were there at the very beginning! Now, on to the CGOA Pattern Line we go! Back in 2000, Jackie Young designed the very first pattern for the line, Crochet...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014 I am not a hook collector, per se, but I sure do love special crochet hooks: antique, whimsical and commemorative. I have quite a few that I treasure and I am a member of the CGOA Hooks Collectors' Group . Over the years, I have purchased my share of the Commemorative Hooks that the collectors' group finds and offers each year. They are available at our annual Chain Link Crochet Conference . Here's a look a the CGOA Commemorative hooks that I have in my collection: 2001-Turn of the Century, turned Brazilian tulipwood: size I 2003-Celtic Swan Forge, forged brass: size D 2004-Craft Designs for You, aluminum/acrylic, size F 2007-Dodo's Designs, teak, size I 2008-Brainsbarn, chakle kok, cloissonne bead, size I 2012-Knitting Glass Guy, glass, size J For a look at the entire collection of CGOA Commemorative Hooks which started in 2001, go to the very informative website of  Nancy Nehring. I keep my special hooks in...

Saturday, May 3, 2014 From the very early days of the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA), I depended on willing volunteers to give of their time and talents. For me, it was also so exciting to findvolunteers with artistic talents willing to work on such things as our first organization logo, the newsletter masthead and crochet-themed notecards! This is our first logo, designed by Brian Muecke, a budding graphic designer and high school friend of my daughter's. It was presented at our Chain Link Conference in 1995 in Somerset, NJ.   Also that year, another volunteer designed a new masthead for the Chain Link newsletter. It has had many incarnations, especially when Carol Moore was the editor and added color. It has, though, essentially remained the same for all these years. During the first conference in 1994 , participants were invited to design afghan squares that depicted their inspirations from that first amazing experience. By 1995 at our 2nd Chain Link Conf...

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 Today I  honor the very first chapter of CGOA: The Northern IL Chapter . Our current logo This year, along with CGOA, we will be celebrating a twentieth anniversary: that of our chapter! Thanks to Dana Kahan Benjamin, who I met while planning the first Chain Link conference, we had a meet-up for what was to become the first CGOA chapter in June 1994 at the Mt. Prospect, IL library. Dana insisted that we make an effort to meet other crocheters before the conference which would take place in August that same summer. She made the arrangements with the library and announced it in the paper. Together we taught the participants an introduction to free form crochet. We were quite pleased that seventeen enthusiastic crocheters showed up. We charged $3.00 to pay for the library room and refreshments; and that day The Northern IL group was formed. Many of our chapter members have gone on to hold volunteer positions with the national organization, CGOA: ...