Winning Crochet on the CGOA Runway

Posted on September 27, 2011 by dorischancrochet

I tried to hang off the edge of the group so maybe I’d get cropped out of the photo for being… well… too out there. But no dice. Here’s a group shot of the Parade of Design Competition winners, all the entries that could be modeled, backstage at the CGOA 2011 Fall Fashion Show in Greensboro, NC.

From left to right:

Linda Skuja’s Queen of Fall modeled by yours truly.
Victoria Johnsen Carrington’s Modern Victorian Black Dress modeled by Vashti Braha.
Diane Halpern’s So Many Motifs, So Little Time, modeled by Carlotta Craig.
Rasta Rose Jacket, designed and modeled by Tammy Hildebrand.
Shari White with her two winning afghans, Happy Hexagons and Wild Irish Roses.
Stephanie Hatfield’s Stonecrop, modeled by Karen Klemp.
The always fabulous Willena Nanton in her design Flower Princess.
Sandy Gold’s Lucy Shawl, worn by Edie Eckman.
Laurinda Reddig’s Mystery Machine Afghan, paraded by Andee Graves and Bonnie Barker.
Susan Lowman showing off her Spa Tunic.
And Kathryn White’s Birds N Blossoms Shawl on the lovely shoulders of Jenny King.

Congratulations to all our winners and a big salute to all our intrepid models for the evening.

Oh, and FYI, I had formerly believed that CGOA conferences were fueled by chocolate. Nope. Twizzlers. Definitely Twizzlers.

What Happens at Chain Link….

Posted on September 24, 2011 by dorischancrochet

Stays at Chain Link. Except today. 🙂

Last evening’s CGOA Fashion Show offered a wealth of crochet wonderfulness… and a few ROFL moments.

I had to share with you the dangers and consequences of: a) too much Shiraz, b) too little sleep, c) friends who are bad influences, d) all of the above.

Be prepared to not believe your eyes.

I leave you to contemplate this image and all the possible conclusions that may be drawn from it. We explain soon. Needless to say, Vashti Braha is going to kill me. Hopefully she won’t see this blog post until I am well away from her blistering mean left hook.

CGOA Design Winners

Posted on September 23, 2011 by dorischancrochet

Be prepared to be impressed and inspired by the winners of the CGOA 2011 Design Competition.

In the Category Accessories (sponsored by WEBS)

$100 Third Prize: #108

Poptastic Purse

$200 Second Prize: #69

Lucy Shawl

$300 First Prize: #43

Birds N Blossoms Shawl

In the Category Small Wonders (sponsored by Boye and the Crochet Dude brand)

$100 Third Prize: #102

Vegetable Garden Playmat

$200 Second Prize:#12

Baby Cardigan

$300 First Prize: #81

Hope, the Christmas Angel

In the Category Fashion (sponsored by Tahki Stacy Charles)

$100 Third Prize: #39

Stonecrop

$200 Second Prize: #70

Spa Tunic

$300 First Prize: #60

Rasta Rose Jacket

In the Category Afghans (sponsored by Caron International and BuyCaron.com)

$100 Third Prize: #52

Wild Irish Roses Throw

$200 Second Prize: #50

Happy Hexagons Throw

$300 First Prize: #103

Mystery Machine Afghan
In the Category Thread Crochet (sponsored by AllFreeCrochet.com and FaveCrafts.com)

$100 Third Prize: #48

Chantilly Doily

$200 Second Prize: #46

Irish Mystique Doily

$300 First Prize: #84

Christening Dress

In the Category Artistic Expressions (sponsored by Leisure Arts)

$100 Third Prize: #26

Lady of Marrakesh

$200 Second Prize: #66

Split Infnitive

$300 First Prize: #113

Patricia’s Tree of Life

In the Category Fanciful Fashion (sponsored by Tulip Company)

$100 Third Prize: #94

Flower Princess

$200 Second Prize: #38

Queen of Fall

$300 First Prize: #09

Modern Victorian Black Crochet Dress

The winner of the $100 Special Technique Award from DesigningVashti for outstanding use of alternate crochet techniques and construction: Poptastic Purse, designed by Janice Lonnroth.

And the winner of the $1000 Grand Prize, sponsored by Crochet Partners and Interweave Press:

So Many Motifs, So Little Time

Here’s praise from the judges:

Marcy Smith said: “Deliciously Vintage garment that’s ripped from the runway”

From Drew Emborsky: “Amazing blending of freeform and on-trend fashion…. Exquisite!”

And Kathleen Sams sums it up: “Beautiful use of freeform suitable for all. Runway fashion at its best”

Red Circle Crochet Dates

Posted on September 17, 2011 by dorischancrochet

How we mark the passage of time is a function of how we think about time and, more to the point, how we mark our calendars. Most people dance along the path of time from marker to marker, from important date to the next important date. For most people the primary markers are holidays. Conveniently most calendars come factory-loaded with the generally recognized, politically correct holidays on-board. Isn’t it grand how practically every month of a new calendar already has at least one red-circle day already on it.

The exception is August. Poor August has nothing to commend it. (I think that’s why most people including the entire population of Europe take the entire month of August off for vacation since nothing else is going on.) Granted, not every date so noted is a true holiday or cause for reverence or celebration. Those official temporal high-points are strictly for the unimaginative and for the purveyors of greeting cards.

We tend to red-circle our own personal important dates. Birthdays. Anniversaries. These markers serve merely as reminders, and do not necessarily indicate any joy or anticipation for the dates. I stand in awe of those busy people who are compelled to micro-manage their time dances; those for whom a monthly calendar does not provide sufficient space for the noting of stuff, meetings, calls, reminders and admonitions and they have to keep an hourly appointment book or journal. Me, I’m good with the twelve pages a year.

You’d think that as a free-lance crochet designer I would dance to the tune of design deadlines, an endless progression of due dates. You’d be mostly correct. When, like me, you’re massively disorganized, flying solo and blind and work at home in your pajamas, you must have blatant, harsh, hard copy reminders of what’s owed to whom and when they expect it. Certain times of the year all I can see are angry, inflamed due dates to the point where actual holidays are obscured by the red ink. But since I have little respect for deadlines (ask any of my employers!) there are no longer any red due date circles on my calendar because, as peripatetic as they tend to be, the circles keep getting crossed out and moved. Trust me, it becomes a mess. Shouldn’t there be split rings for calendars?

What then, you might ask, are my current markers? Non-due dates, naturally. Happy dates. I gleefully red-circle the season premiers of my favorite TV shows as well as the few cherished times when I am allowed, even required to run away from my work at home. In other words, crochet road trips.

So it is with giddy guilty pleasure that I approach the next red circle, the Crochet Guild of America conference in Greensboro, NC. WOWSERS, only a few days to go and I’m not even packed. This conference, 21-25 September, hosts the CGOA 2011 Crochet Design Competition, which I am producing. I will be arriving with a sleigh… uh, station wagon… full of 115 wildly creative, potentially award-wining design entries as well as my own seriously over-packed luggage. Keep watching here and at the CGOA Now blog for the announcement of the winners following the Awards Ceremony on Thursday evening.

My goal is to load the car in such an efficient manner that I’ll be able to see out the rear hatch. Yeah, right. That’ll be me waving fond farewell to my drudgery and my dog as I tool down the interstate and head for the bustle and camaraderie (and yarn and wine and chocolate cake) that never fails to accompany every CGOA conference. If you’ve got a red circle around the date, too, then I guess I’ll see you there.

The Passing of A Crochet Legend

Posted on June 15, 2011 by dorischancrochet

It is with terrible sadness that I am speaking now. Earlier today marked the passing of a wonderful friend, Jean Leinhauser.

It will not be her status as legendary crafting-crochet-publishing-icon-empress that I’ll be thinking about today. Neither will I dwell on the awesome empty place she leaves in the crochet firmament. Nor should I speak with regret on behalf of the Crochet Guild of America that Jean will not be at the CGOA Chain Link Conference next month to be inducted into the Crochet Hall of Fame. Why did we wait so long to extend her that honor? Hey, never mind that last bit. I said no regrets, didn’t I?

Rather, I will be bravely grinning broadly. Perverse, you might judge me. But if you knew Jean you’d totally understand.

I met Empress Jean in 2004, at my first CGOA Chain Link conference, held that summer in Manchester, New Hampshire. Jean and her publishing business partner Rita Weiss (the Other Legend!) were scouting crochet design talent for their latest publishing venture, Crochet Partners. My crochet career had just begun the year before with not much to show. This would be my first time meeting editors and publishers and hawking my wares. I had arranged an appointment with Jean and Rita and brought along a sack full of my crochet pieces, hopeful of finding a slot in one of their future books. Yes, I was pretty cocky.

I was mightily afraid of both of these women, as their reputations were so huge. I arrived at the appointed time and waited in the conference hotel lobby for a good while, expecting to be met and shepherded into a meeting room or something. Anxious and horrified that maybe I had messed up the schedule and missed my slot, I started pacing around and around.

It was Jean I spotted first, seated in one of the high-backed upholstered chairs in the lounge area adjacent to the lobby, backlit by the hotel’s entrance windows, holding court. Yes, it was as though the entire room was at her feet, paying court. I think I scurried over, introduced myself as the two o’clock appointment and sat down. I also think I burbled a lot.

Jean was actually immediately warm and welcoming, but that’s not how it seemed to me in the moment in my petrified state. She had a way of peering at you over the tops of her glasses with a stern, piercing stare. Even though her face was smiling and kind, her eyes were always keen and observant, ever watching you, know what I’m saying?

Of the two, Rita presented the bigger personality, the glibber tongue, the louder voice. Jean appeared to be the more reserved, but in retrospect that’s only because everybody seems reserved next to Rita. I answered a few questions from the ladies, then pulled my stuff out of the bag for them to examine. Eventually I reached the bottom of the bag, where I had these Hat Heads.

Without hesitation, Jean snatched up the lot and pulled them onto her own head. At the time I thought that the whole world had busted out laughing at the absurdity. Maybe it was only me and Jean laughing out loud. From that point on, I knew I had found a kindred crochet spirit.

Jean and I would cross paths many times from that day. Here we are at the 2006 CGOA Chain Link conference, with Jean at the center.

Clockwise from me at 9 o’clock, that’s Tammy Hildebrand (before her hair was orange), Jean Leinhauser, Vashti Braha (before contacts), Rita Weiss with her head turned away, and Marty Miller (most recent past President of the CGOA Board of Directors). That was some power lunch! As you can see, I am not actually having lunch with them. I sort of wandered over with my coffee and was allowed to sit down. I can’t for the life of me recall who took this shot.

From 2008 through 2010 I called Jean my “Center Square” of the Crochet Design Competition. Her steady guidance, discerning eye and impeccable taste made her the perfect anchor on the judging panel for three years. Funny, she must have known she wouldn’t be available to fill the center square for the 2011 Competition this September because she asked me to find another judge. Lord I will miss her.

But I am smiling right now about one of the last moments I shared with her. At the close of the 2010 Chain Link event, the last thing she said to me, peering down at my mismatched high-top Chucks and chuckling, was “You are so adorable!”.