Yarn Over, Pull Through

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 8: Passionate Giving

It always amazes me how giving crocheters and knitters are.  We're passionate about our art, and we love to share it with others.  This was readily apparent at this year's Chain Link Conference.  There were three charities that cater to both crocheters and knitters in attendance:  Warm Up America!, Guidepost Magazine's Knit for Kids and Nice Knits.

According to their web site, "Warm Up America! is an organization made up of volunteers who create handmade afghan blanets, clothing and accessories for those in need.  These items provide warmth and comfort to people who have lost thier homes, fled abusive relations, or are being cared for in hospices, shelters, hospitals, and nursing homes."

I mentioned in an earlier post that Professional Development Day attendees crocheted squares during the day which were later sewn together to create a lovely afghan.  This year, a new program was introduced:  "Caps to the Capital".  Warm Up America! is partnering with the Save the Children Foundation to provide crocheted and knitted caps for newborn babies who might die without them. 

Guidepost magazine has a program called Knit for Kids, an outreach program that provides knitted and crocheted sweaters to children around the world.  I decided to try my hand at knitting one of their sweaters.  They have an easy pattern and an advanced pattern.  Of course I chose the easy one.  I had to frog one half of it because I forgot to use the smaller needles for the ribbing at the bottom.  But I was bound and determined to finish.  As usual with knitting, my gauge was off (one half is knit looser than the other), but I think a little one will appreciate my efforts.  The next one will be perfect!

I also started on the crocheted sweater, an intermediate level project, that I found more difficult to  start than the knitted sweater, probably because there is an error in the instructions.  Once I figured it out, things went pretty smoothly.  The yarn I'm working with isn't the best - a little to stiff - but I'm hoping a washing and drying with fabric softener will solve that problem.  This sweater should really be done in a solid color because there's so much stitch detail.  But I decided to use what was in my stash for this one.  Next time, I'll buy a soft worsted weight in a solid color.

Finally, Nice Knits offers a "nice" variety of knit and crochet patterns for sale; a portion of the proceeds are donated to charity.  I bought the pattern for a "spider shrug" designed by Robyn Chachula, a frequent contributer to Crochetme.com online magazine and Nice Knits' nice crochet expdert.   It's they're hottest seller and has raised over $300 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.  Robyn says they have lots of free patterns and links to crafting charities as well.  I can't wait to start the Spider Shrug, but I promised myself I'd finish of my WIPs (about 3 to go) first.  We'll see.

So, if you are inclined to donate some of your time and effort to support these charities and indulge your passion for crochet and knitting at the same time, check out the web sites to find out how you can get involved.

Next time, my final post about the conference.

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 7: A Bra for All Seasons

Crocheted Bras to Fit Any Woman  was my all-day Saturday class.  The instructor, Joan Davis, had lots of information for us on how to create a crocheted bra.  What a great instructor she is!  Never a boring moment in this class!

We learned about two types of cup shapes used to create crocheted bras: the flat triangle and the shape that is worked on the radious of a circle.  We also learned the most important aspect of creating a bra - how to take your measurements so you get the correct  bra size - including cup and band.  You can check out HerRoom, an on lingerie company, for detailed instructions on how to do this plus everything else you ever wanted to know about bras.  We also learned about a concept called "the sister size," a really cool way to make purchasing a bra so much easier. 

Joan shared a little factoid about the bra industry that floored me.  Who do you think engineered the Playtex cross-your-heart bra that lifts and separates?  Would you have guessed Howard Hughes?  Yep, he designed the bra for actress Jane Russell back in the day when he was executive of RKO Studios.  Here's Joan wearing one of her early designs.  No it's not cross-your-heart, but it's a really cute, playful design.

After soaking up this information, Joan had us work on the two shapes for the bra cup:  the flat triangle and the "radius of a circle" cup.  To do the former, she had us work on a lovely triangle pattern in international (aka Japanese) symbols.  I have to admit, I'm a "word" person when it comes to reading patterns, so working from a symbol diagram was a bit challenging.  But once Joan explained a few things (like where to start), it was pretty easy.  Here's my beginning efforts.  I'd brought some #10 thread with me to work on, but I using a single strand a little challenging.  During lunch, I purchased some soysilk bamboo yarn in the market, thinking it would be easier to work with.  When I got back to class, I frogged what I had done during the morning, using the single thread of #10, and doubled up, using two strands instead.  I like this result much better.  I'm determined to finish this triangle, and I think I'll make its mate and then create the straps and band.  I'll probably have to line it though, or make sure the center hole is closed so my "you know what" doesn't show through.

Then Joan showed us how to do "short-row shaping" to create the second cup type, made on the radius of a circle.  Another confession:  I had only heard of short-row shaping in connection with knitting and had no idea how to do it.  Now I know how to crochet short rows to create the circular shape for the bra cup.  Actually, you could create a triangular shape as well, depending on how full you need the cup to be. Joan said the best stitch to use for this shape is half double crochet.  Crochet designer, Doris Chan, one of the students in the classs and another woman whose name I didn't get, gave us some tips on how to create the rows with the little holes you see in my sample.  I used the soy silk with this cup.  Very soft.  I'm sure it'll make an extremely comfortable bra.

Another important fact about crocheted bras:  most of the support needs at the sides, so you need to add your connections at the side, under the armpit, as opposed to in the back.  With the information I learned during this class, I'm pretty sure I could create a pattern for a crocheted bra that fits me perfectly. 

That was my final class, so the only other things I need to post about are the charities featured at the conference and some miscellaneous tidbits.

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 6: 60-Odd: A Freeform Odyssey

I think "odyssey" is about the hardest word to remember how to spell.  I have to look it up everytime I write about the fabulous exhibit of freeform crochet artistry that was featured at this year's Chain Link conference.

I know I've talked a lot about the in the past.  There's even a link on my blog under Fiber Arts crochet sites.  But I had to mention it again because we had a booth in the Marketplace, generously donated by Gwen Kinslear and the Crochet Guild of America.  The booth featured the pieces from the exhibit, plus a notebook that included the biographies/artist statements of the contributors to the exhibit.  Sunday, after the fashion show, the Coat of Many Scrumbles was exhibited as well.

I got to have an exhibitor's badge at this year's convention because of this exhibit.  I helped out at the booth on Friday morning, explaining to passersby how the exhibit came into being and answering questions about freeform crochet.  Several knitters who stopped by were amazed that  such fabulous pieces could be created in crochet.  Just goes to show what a lot of people don't know  about crochet's amazing versatility!  Now, it would be wrong to say that all of the pieces consisted solely of crochet.  Some of the contributors added freeform knitting to their pieces as well.  Here's my piece, right in the middle - ain't it cute!!??!!

Here's Myra Wood, co-moderator of the International Freeform Crochet list on Yahoo, who played a major role in setting up the exhibit and "personning" (as opposed to "manning") the booth.  Margaret Hubert and Prudence Mapstone (back to the camera), divas of freeform knitting and crochet, spent a lot of time at the booth as well, signing copies of their books and videos on freeform crochet and knitting and explaining what this phenomenon (another hard word to spell!) is all about.

Isn't that a marvelous freeform vest Prudence is wearing?  I believe she said it  includes freeform knitting and crochet.  She made it out of this incredible linen paper yarn that I thought looked so fragile but, she said, was actually pretty strong.  I forgot to mention that, in addition to the freeform coat that Prudence assembled for the fashion show, she also created a shawl and an umbrella covering.  I didn't get a photo of the shawl, but here's the umbrella.  Isn't it neat!!!

I'm pretty sure a freeform crochet exhibit will be featured at next year's conference.  Please be sure to check it out if you attend.

Ok, next time, I promise I'll talk about the "bra" class.  I think there'll be two more posts after that.  Hope you've been enjoying them so far.

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 5: Even the Math-Challenged Get It!

I've always considered myself "math-challenged."  In junior high school, I got a D in geometry.  My mathematician father was mortified, and I was terribly embarassed.  SoI decided to buckle down and, when I retook it, I got a B. 

It's interesting how motivation can spur you to accomplish just about anything.  Back in the 70s, my love of astrology forced me to relearn how to do logarithms (not saying I actually learned them in high school), which I needed to calculate astrology charts (this was way before someone had the great idea to create software to do it for me).  Today, I think I'm fairly good at adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.  I can figure out my part of a restaurant bill that contains many orders, including the price of my food, tax and tip.  So I figure I'm fairly math literate.

I was eager to take Marty Miller's Crochet By the Numbers, my second class on Thursday afternoon of the CGOA conference just to see how math literate I am.  Marty presented some pretty simple math concepts even I could understand that can be used to create crocheted items, although I have to admit, my eyes started to glaze over when she discussed quadratic equations. 

She showed us how using various number sequences, such as the Fibonacci sequence, could help you make striped patterns, either of different colors or different stitches.  I've always wondered how some designers create their fantastic striped patterns; now I know.

This is the Fibonacci sequence:  0. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 ... and so on.  You get it by starting with 0 and 1, adding them together, which gives you 1.  Then you add the last number you got to the number before it.  That gives you 2.  Now add 2, the number you just got, and the number before it (1), and you get 3.  Keep doing this and you get the sequence. 

You don't have to  use the entire sequence to create your striping pattern.  You can use the first 5 or 6 numbers in the sequence and repeat them over and over.  Marty gave us patterns for four swatches which used variations of the Fibonacci sequence.  Here are examples of the three swatches I created in class.   The first one is a simple, two-color Fibonacci sequence created from 112358.  The second swatch is an interwoven Fibonacci sequence created by crocheting an ascending and descending sequence as follows:  1 5  2 3 3 2 5 1.  The numbers that aren't underlined represent the ascending sequence; the underlined numbers are the descending sequence.   The third swatch is a simple Fibonacci sequence crocheted in 3 colors.  Thank goodness Marty gave us those little tags to label our swatches, or I would have had a hard time figuring out which was which.

Other number sequences you can use:  Lucas numbers; prime numbers; Euler's numbers; fractals; "the golden string," a really cool sequence you can use to hide the fact that you're using skeins of different dye lots; quadratic equations; Pascal's triangle; and the birthday sequence.  Luckily again, the nifty little handout includes instructions for creating all of the sequences, certainly enough for lots of variety.

Next Marty showed us how to create a Moebius strip which she describes as "a two dimentional object that has only one surface and edge."  Here's my blogging buddy, Judith, wearing her Moebius shawl at the fashion show.  It was created from a pattern interpreted by Bonnie Pierce.  You can just see how it's essentially one piece of fabric that has a twist in it.  They are really easy to make.  I made one a while back and gave it to a friend who hosted a crochet class for me at her condo.  I used worsted weight yarn and double crochet, with a scalloped edge - pretty simple - and my friend said it got rave revieiws at work.

Then Marty showed us how to create a "hyperbolic plane crochet flower," way easier than I thought it would be.  Simply work some sc's in a round.  Then in each succeeding round, work 2 scs in each stitch.  There are a couple of mathematicians who have created an entire web site demonstrating this concept.  My little flowers were very easy to create, and Renee, my table mate, providede some plastic pins to hook on the back of the flower.  I pinned the purple one to my sweater and sported it around for the rest of the day.  I made the white one in my room that evening.

We didn't get to this, but our handout included instructions for how to figure out how much yarn you need for a project.  All in all, Crochet by the Numbers was an excellent class.  Hope they offer it next year so you can take it.

Next time, I'll talk about the "bra" class I took on Saturday.  Still a couple of posts to do after that. 

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 4: Unspun Fibers

Yes, I know I was supposed to post something yesterday, or maybe it was Monday.  I don't even remember now.  But jury duty and "work work" kept me from blogging.  But now I'm back and eager to tell you about the first of three classes I took at Chain Link.

But before I do that, I wanted to do an update on my fashion show post.  If you want to see even more great photos from the fashion show, check out:  Crochet with Dee and My Hooks and Needles, blogs sponsored by Dee Stanziano and Margaret Hubert respectively. 

Ok, now on to unspun fibers.  The class title was "Knitting and Crocheting with Unspun Fibers," taught by Janet Rehfeldt.  I decided to take it because I'd bought all this roving at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival back in May, with the intention of teaching myself how to spin it with a drop spindle.  Well, that project never really got off the ground, so I figured if I can knit and crochet the stuff, then I'll be able to use it instead of having to sit and stare at it, wondering what to do with it.  I have done a little drop spindling recently, but it's harder than I thought it would be and a little frustrating.  So it's good to know I can knit and crochet with it as well. 

But a little story first:  As the class was ready to begin, a woman came in and sat down beside me.   We didn't immediately introduce ourselves, just kinda said "hi" to each other.  A few minutes later, she looked at my name tag, looked at me and said, "Yarn Over, Pull Through?"  When I nodded, she beamed at me and said, "I'm Judith!"  She could tell the name didn't register, so she added, "Knit a Garden!"   Oh, that Judith!  You see, Judith is a blogging buddy of mine.  I knew she was coming to the conference, but had no idea how I'd meet her.  Well the fates (or whatever) took care of that.  We hugged and laughed.  What a way to meet!!  Check out her blog.  She has the most gorgeious nature photos I've ever seen, as well as photo albums of her crocheted pieces.

Ok, back to the class:  I assumed that Janet would be working exclusively with wool roving.  Well, you know how assumptions turn out to be wrong most of the time.  I was pleasantly surprised when she began the class by introducing us to unspun silk, you know the stuff that the silk worms spin into cocoons?  It's really great and, unlike roving, in my humble opinion, fairly easy to "spin."

You start off with a "silk hankie" (although it comes in other forms as well).  The photo to your left shows a batch of silk hankies - not quite sure how many there are here.  The individual hanky (photo on the right0 is very thin.  So there are several ounces, six I think, of silk in the batch.  Janet explained how these hankies are made, starting with the silk cocoon.  I'm not going to go into that here, but it's a fascinating process if you want to do some research on it.  These hankies have been dyed, and yes, Janet explained how, but I don't remember.  Sorry.

So you take one hankie and start stretching it from the middle out, until it looks like an elongated circle.  Then, when it breaks at a weak spot or you break it apart, you start pulling it from the end until you have the thickness you want.  When you get a long length of it, you wrap it around the little cone; now it'sready for kntting or crocheting.  Janet also showed us how to join ends so you have one continuous thread.  I know I'm not explaining the process very well, but the photos help a little.  Plus, I just want you to get an overview of what's involved.

Some people were able to start crocheting and knitting their silk pretty quickly.  Janet supplied us with enough silk hankies to make a small project like a scarf or hat.  Actually, her handout included several neat knitting and crochet patterns that we can use once we've prepared our fiber to work with.

Next, Jannet introduced us to unspun wool and other fibers in the form of roving and showed us how to draft or pull it out.  She then gave us samples of corn silk, soy silk, merino, mohair, alpaca and about 5 different kinds of sheep roving.  She explained how the wool is processed from animal to roving and identified how the fiber looks in different stages of processing.  I thoroughly enjoyed this class; if it's offered at next year's conference, I highly recommend it.

I also meta young lady sitting on my other side, Debi Light, who owns a yarn store, the Whole Nine Yarns, in Woodstock, GA.  Here's Debi working with silk.  You can actually see various stages of the process of creating the pulled silk here.  Be sure to isit her web site.  I'm not sure if she sells online, but if you are in the Woodstock, GA area, check out her yarns, classes and other events.

So, you have an idea of how you process unspun fiber for knitting and crochet.  Next, I'll talk about how to use higher mathematics in your crochet projects.  No, you don't have to go back to school to brush up on anything.  It's easier than you think.

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 3: PDD

Ok, I have to admit.  Professional Development Day went by in a blur. 

My plan was to get up early and leave home by 7 a.m. so that I'd get to PA and the conference by 10 am.  But the best laid plans of mice and men .... you know the rest.  I didn't leave the house until 7:45 a.m. which put me in PA closer to 11.  Once there, I had to register and then find where PDD was beng held. 

While registering, Yvette came up to me and introduced herself, a big  smile on her face.  She was wearing a fabulous purple, pineapple-motifed skirt that she had crocheted.  Nope, no photo of the skirt (that's her at the fasion show).  I probably couldn't have found my camera anyway.  I was flustered and anxious to get to PDD.

I finally arrived, and of course all the seats at the tables were taken, so I had to sit on the sidelines in a chair against the wall.  No problem.  The speaker, lawyer Tammy Browning-Smith, was discussing the intricacies of copyright.  She had lots of excellent information to share, I'm sure, but it basically went in one ear and out the other.  I was just trying to get settled and scoping out the room to see if I recognized anyone.  I saw Margaret Hubert almost immediately.  Couldn't miss her in her fabouslous, organge freeform sweater.  I also recognized Drew Embrosky, the Crochet Dude.  Couldn't miss him since he was the only male participant in the room.

I noticed that all of the tables had piles of yarn stacked on them and everyone was crocheting away.  I discovered that the yarn had been donated and everyone was making 12" squares for Warm Up America afghans.  One young lady struck me immediately because it was clear she was "freeforming" her square.  "I bet that's Myra Wood," I thought to myself.  Myra is a co-coordinator of the International Freeform Crochet list on Yahoo.  Sure enough, it was her, I later discovered, when we bumped into each other on the elevator on my way to dinner.  Here she is with Joan Davis, modeling Joan's 3rd-place-People's-Choice-Award-winning Bravo bra after the fashion show.

The lunch spread was very nice - salads, sandwich makings, fruit, and of course desert.  I sat at a table with, among others, Robyn Chacula of Nice Knits and designer-instructor extraordinate, Joan Davis (sorry, no website or blog).  While we ate, Brett Bara of SoHo Publishing previewed the new Crochet Today magazine, which premiers August 8 (my daughter's birthday!).  It's going to be a very well formatted magazine, with patterns, tips and hints that are easy to understand and read.  BUT ... I was very disappointed when she said that they would be focusing on easy to make, trendy home decor items, with a few garments now and then. 

Joan Davis, exuberant as ever, asked if, once they featured some easy to make home decor items, they would then feature more easy to make garments (I'm paraphrasing here).  Brett said, no, their market research is driving what the magazine will include.  Oh well, can't have everything, but at least there will be another high quality crochet mag out there.

After lunch, the tables were set up to accommodate "break-out" sessions.  I attend Vashti Braha's session on Trends in Crochet, then Nancy Nehring's on making multiple-sized patterns.  That session was pretty technical so, by then, I was starting to wear around the edges.  Plus it was a bit too noisy for me, highly sensitive person that I am, so I settled in at Marty Miller's "quiet" afghan squares table and sewed some squares together.  Actually, I slip stitched them together.

After dinner, I settled into my room and conked out at 10 pm.  What a first day!!

Next, I'll post about my first class on Thursday morning, Knitting and Crocheting with Unspun Fibers.  Yes, that's unspun fiber.  Can you guess what it is??

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 2

I have finally created a photo album of some of the fashions showcased at the Saturday night Chain Link Fashion Show. 

I tried my best to create a sequence of photos that made sense, but Typepad had another sequence in mind.  In any event, you shouldn't have a problem figuring out what's what. 

The cover photo of Lily Chin is a bit large, isn't it?  As I explain on the album cover, I think I zoomed in on Lily because I couldn't see her very well.  Guess I need a little more practice operating my camera.  If any one can help me size the photo, I'm all ears.

I'm trying to post about every other day because I'm back to my "work work" project.  But it's ALMOST DONE!!!!!  So, the next post about the conference will probably appear on Friday.  In the meantime, enjoy the fashion show photos.

CGOA Chain Link Conference - Part 1

Yes, that's me in the incredible freeform crochet coat featured in the CGOA Chain Link Fashion Show on Saturday night of the conference.  No, I didn't model it.  That honor went to Myra Wood, Co-Moderator of the International Freeform Crochet list on Yahoo.  Prudence Mapstone (read more about her below) invited a group of us to her and Margaret Hubert's hotel room Thursday evening, I think it was, to see the coat and try it on.  As you can see, it is absolutely fabulous.

The coat was created from motifs and scrumbles submitted by members of the list in a project orchestrated by Prudence Maptsone, Australian freeform knitter and croheter extraordinaire.  Prudence put all the pieces together in a "swing coat" that fit EVERYONE who tried it on, no matter how tall or short, thin or full they were.  We all marveled at how Prudence was able to put all the scrumbles together in such a beautiful design.

Trying on the coat was one of many, many fun things I did during the conference.  I'm going to be creating an album shortly of photos I took at the fashiobn show.  I'm also going to be posting about my experiences during the conference, including classes I took and people I met. 

So stay tuned for more!