Can you tell I watch too many police procedurals on the tube?  Be on the lookout for this crochet stuff in the coming week: 1)  the unveiling of CGOA 2014 Design Competition winners, 2) a side-trip to a crochet happy place, and 3) a lucky do-over.

1) I’ve been involved with the CGOA Design Competition since 2009; for 2014, the year of the guild’s 20th anniversary, I am producing the event. This means that ALL of the entries are currently in my house, having been photographed, bagged, tagged and otherwise prepped for judging, and are now ready for transportation to the CGOA Conference in Manchester, New Hampshire.  This means I get to tetris all of it into my car (a big, fat car) at the crack of dawn tomorrow (22nd July) and drive a few hundred miles without being able to see out the back windshield. Oh, what we won’t do for love of our craft!

But mine is not actually the hardest part.  This year’s judges, Jenny King, Susan Lowman and Karen Manthey, have the most difficult task of choosing winners.  Wouldn’t want to be them.  Nope.  You see, I have been handling and processing entries for nearly a month and I have seen crochet designs that made me gasp, laugh, cry (in a good way), and made me seriously envious.  The why-can’t-I-design-like-that sort of envious.  Therefore I know all too well how impossible it’s going to be for the judges to decide.  No worries.  I’ll withhold food and drinks from them until they come up with the right answers. 🙂

During the Awards Ceremony on Thursday evening, say around 6 pm eastern, while we are announcing the prizes on site, I’ll be posting the winners list here on this blog, along with images of all the designs. So, there’s your first BOLO.

2) On my way back from Manchester on Monday the 28th, I’m scheduling a little side-trip to visit my friends at WEBS, America’s Yarn Store.  My car will still be tetris-ed to the roof with Design Competition stuff, but if I work it just right there should be a bit of room for new yarn.  If you’re in the area, Northampton MA, look for me around midday.  But do not, I repeat, DO NOT drive or park your car anywhere near mine, as I still won’t be seeing out of my back windshield!  So be on the lookout for me…. REALLY!

July 30, 2014, 1:00 pm Eastern

3) It’s not often that we are offered a do-over. My Interweave live webinar, Chainless Foundations, was so popular the first time around that I’m presenting it live again, Wednesday, 30th July at 1:00 pm eastern. Preregister here.  I love a do-over.  It gives me the chance to do it… well… better.  Address all those little things that embarrass and annoy you about the way you talk.  The tiresome strings of run-on sentences.  Losing your train of thought and not being able to get back on the rails.  Umming too often. You know what I mean.  I can’t promise that this time will be any different.  My brain and my mouth are still the same.  But there’s always hope.  At least it gives you the opportunity to join in the live event in case you missed it. I will be on the lookout for you in the audience then!