Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

Monday, October 22, 2012 Maybe it is because I live in a suburb of the huge metropolis of Chicago or maybe it is because I have more time to notice these days, but I am finding many exciting, educational and fun activities through our library system. Not only can I take advantage of my own library offerings, but I can also attend a program in any other village/city for little or no cost. Recently, we have attended several offerings that I want to share here. It is the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts this year and I have signed on to their alumni site, but had not yet gotten too involved. Last week I attended a program presented by Juliette Low , the founder of Girl Scouts, portrayed by an excellent historic reenactor. She stood in front of a lovely, artistic panel which brought us to the woods with her little tri-pod campfire on the floor. "Juliette" talked to us like she was there on a camp-out with her "girls" as she called them. She was dressed in a GS un...

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 It is really amazing and gratifying to stop a moment and to contemplate how far we have come in the crochet world. To think that back in 1994, when the Crochet Guild was beginning to hatch, we were begging for good patterns, rarely saw a new book, didn't have a conference, didn't have guild chapters...We've come along way baby! During this last week, I've been gasping for breath, running around, busying my mind all due to crochet activity. There is so much to celebrate and October 12 was I Love Yarn Day sponsored by the Craft Yarn Council (CYC) . I had the idea of yarn-bombing as a way of showing my love of yarn. I threw out the idea and 3 other chapter members stepped up to join my effort. I had spied a "delicious" set of 3 bronze statues depicting children holding hands and skipping. "How perfect and easy," I thought, "to string chains of squares from hand to hand to lend color to this wonderful sculpture. Concett...

At his mother's wake, Tom was telling my friend Debbie that his mother was half-way through the ripple pattern afghan slated for the last grandchild to receive one of Grandma's coveted creations. Tom went on to say that he would love to find someone to finish said afghan as a wedding presentfor his niece, Beckee, because this granddaughter was engaged to be married in October. Serendipity took over and Deb told him she knows just the person, Crochetqueen , who might take on the job of finishing the afghan. The rest is "history." Beckee's Ripple Afghan: 120 rows, 40 hours I haven't done the ripple pattern in years and crocheting afghans is not my thing, but the sweetness of the tradition intrigued me. Sixteen grandchildren had already received blankets and the bride-to-be was anticipating her afghan. Only 240 rows left to be completed were preventing the circle of love from being closed. No one in the family apparently has crochet skills, ...

October 10, 2012 I've only just realized that it has been five years since I started blogging. I remember so clearly because my blog started as a way to journal during a fabulous trip I took with my husband, Alan, for his work to Chile, Argentina and Uruguay in May 2007. at the time, I called my blog "Chile-Argentina Dreams" because it was truly a dream trip for me! If you'd like to read the whole story on that blog, cut & paste this:http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2358905162839317966#editor/target=post;postID=2005703797218376963 It was right around the time of my 60th birthday so it's easy to remember. But even more memorable, the day before we left, Alan brought home a BMW 325i for my birthday gift! (I thought the trip was my gift!) Now granted, he got the car on Craig's List and it was 4 years old. But who cares...I had admired that car since the 70s when I worked with a young lady who drove on. I alwasy thought hers was cute and admired ...

Monday, August 13, 2012 My long-awaited "Preservation Art: A Vintage Motif Freeform Necklace" and accompanying article: "Irish Crochet: The Original Freeform Crochet" has appeared in Crochet Traditions magazine . Published by the folks at Piecework magazine, this is a yearly publication. It has grown in content this year, it's second. Here is the necklace I created: It has been so hectic lately that I had to check the calendar to be sure of today's date!Summer is traditionally very busy crochet-wise for me and for my Northern IL chapter of CGOA. We have earned the reputation of being a very capable and willing chapter here in the Chicago land area, so we are called upon to help out at shows and events. Each year in July, we are invited to demonstrate Irish crochet at the Arlington Heights Irish Fest . We bring a display of fine old and new Irish lace and we work on Irish crochet projects so visitors can learn a little bit about it. We also...

Wenesday, July 18, 2012 You know what they say, "A day without crochet is like a day spent in Hell!" I had a few days last week without crochet but it wasn't "Hell," it was exhaustion. My husband and I were babysitting our grandchildren at their house and they are two busy little bees! From Monday night until Saturday, I just got one bracelet done. However, here's what filled my time and gave me great joy in spite of the lack of crochet! No complaints! Chloe, almost three and Jack,almost one! This week the folks at Interweave released a new free booklet on bead crochet. A design that I had published in Beadwork magazine quite some years ago is included. I am honored to be featured with 3 other well-known bead-crochet designers in this booklet. Get your for free here: http://www.beadingdaily.com/bead-crochet Another sweet "blast from the past" happened this week. A student that I had years and years ago in class search...

Monday, July 10, 2012 Last week I blogged about my presentation of a slide show at the CGOA crochet conference Design Competition awards ceremony. There is a slide show running here on my blog of the crochet art that has been exhibited by CGOA from 1994-2004 . Today, I want to highlight some of the art in that slide show and give you more details. From day one of the crochet guild I was very determined to showcase crochet art. The very first conference held in Chicago in 1994 had a marvelous juried exhibit and I thank Susan Kenyon for co-chairing my idea with me.I believed that crochet art is the best way to jolt pre-conceived notions of what crochet is. Back then we were battling stereotypes of being grannies who sat around in our rockers making doilies. Eighteen years later, I am closer to being a "granny in a rocker" than I was then! But I still think I am young at heart and crochet art still remains a passion. We've come such a long way and with the advent of...