Category Archives: events

Show Me The Crochet…NOW!

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The Crochet Guild of America awaits your entries for the CGOA 2012 Crochet Design Competition. Our entry form is now live, ready for you to fill out, hit the submit button and then ship your design entry to the receiving location in time for the deadline, 6 June 2012. Thanks to the generous support and crochet love from our magnificent sponsors we have over $5000 in cash prizes to award. The competition is open to CGOA members only. For more details, see and download this information package.

Check out this post for a look at winning designs from past competitions.

Such an  uncharacteristic thing for me to get that out of the way first!  This makes two blog posts in a row where I have placed the lead, the most important bit of news, in the opening paragraph rather than burying it in a pile of inconsequential verbage. It’s like there should be a VIEW pull-down tab at the top of the page, with clickable choices for “normal cluttered view” and “cut to the chase view”. Can WordPress actually do that?  You think the FAQ section would have tips? Having the option of skipping the fluff might be useful if you’re pressed for time as I imagine there are other sites you need to be surfing.  Hey, aren’t there new cat videos that you haven’t seen yet? For that reason alone you might appreciate better efficiency here.

SO not gonna happen.  For those who might click the “normal cluttered view” we return now to catch up on the fluff.

In my role as producer of the CGOA 2012 Design Competition I have the responsibility of keeping the progression of events on schedule. This means I have to say, write and think “deadline”.  YIKES! You have no idea how conflicted I am about having to make the keystrokes to spell that dreaded word, much less presume to enforce the aforementioned date. Among my faults… well, fault is such a judgmental term, let’s call them my personality quirks…. is that I am forever late. Tardiness is nothing I plan or calculate; it just happens.  You can ask any of my employers which crochet designer has the worst on-time record for turning in design work. It’s gotten to the point where editors actually faint if materials arrive from me in time to meet their deadlines.  Overnight shipping is my way of life.

That doesn’t mean you should do as I do. True chronic tardiness is nothing to which one aspires. And there is no excuse for it, only the mitigating factor that creativity can neither be scheduled nor can it be rushed. Only partly in jest  have I suggested to editors that they NEVER tell me the real drop-dead deadline for any project. I’ve begged them to make up fake early dates just for me and then, perhaps, my designs would be done by the same time as everyone else’ stuff. But this is merely a mind game; lateness isn’t about not knowing or caring when things are due.

Tardiness bleeds over into my personal life as well.  My family and friends can count on my being at least a few minutes behind no matter what the occasion. I’d have to check with my mom, but, heck I think I was even born late. Well-meaning loved ones have never complained to my face, and yet often they gift me with time stuff, watches and clocks and calendars. I must have a staggering number of wristwatches, not a working battery among them, stuffed in a drawer somewhere. The thing is, lateness isn’t about not knowing what time or what day it is.

Put into perspective, tardiness doesn’t seem so awful. It doesn’t rank up there among the seven deadly sins of wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony (my favorite!). What possibly makes tardiness worse than gluttony is that the former is a public sin and the latter is often a secret one. Mercifully, gluttony can be hidden.  You will never know, nor will it impact on anyone else if I inhale an entire box of Pop Tarts. My bathroom scale will undoubtedly know, but it isn’t talking.

However, when I am late turning in my design to a magazine it could throw off the smooth running of a chain of events, like cascading dominoes. It puts pressure on all those who in turn have to handle my work: editors, technical editors, art directors, illustrators, graphic designers, photographers and could eventually trickle down to the printers, publishers, shippers, distributors and retailers. OMG! Could it be that you got your magazine subscription issue in the mail a few days late because I procrastinated about writing the sizing for a garment pattern and missed the deadline?

Not to lay any guilt on you, dearest competition entrant, but that’s why I gently urge you to submit the form, prepare your design package and ship it to arrive by the aforementioned date, 6 June 2012.  Don’t make me type the D word again, please.

For those not involved in the design competition, it would still be a wonderful thing if you’d visit our sponsors’ sites and let them know that you know that they love and support crochet as much as you do.

Hope to see your designs and best of luck!

Major Sponsorship for Crochet Competition

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By major sponsorship I mean grants now totaling $5500, with every dollar going toward cash prizes for the winners of the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) 2012 Design Competition. There is no other crochet design event like it, and judging from the support from our magnificent sponsors, they know it, too. Please join me in thanking and congratulating them for helping us recognize, celebrate and reward crochet excellence in 2012:

2008 marked the first year that this event took shape. Few records and little information concerning the winners and sponsors is available.  But for three years since, readers here have heard about my involvement with the competition, first as a judge in 2009, then as the committee chairman and producer of the event 2010 and 2011.  I have seen the event grow and prosper, gaining in numbers of entries, in amounts of cash prizes and in prestige. We are gearing up for a quantum leap in 2012 and invite all crochet enthusiasts to join in the fun and excitement.

Here’s a look back at the awesome winners from the past three competitions:

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Information about the 2012 competition, rules and entry form will be available soon, so stay tuned here and at the CGOA website, CGOA Now blog, and on the CGOA Design Competition page on Facebook.The competition is open to members of CGOA only.  So if you’ve got crochet game you should really join, huh? 🙂

Proof of Crochet at VKL

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My friends don’t believe that I taught beginning crochet at Vogue Knitting Live a couple of weeks ago in New York.  Not even my mom believed it when I told her today how it went.  You see, my mom understands too well how much like my dad I am.  He was a great person, kind, generous, honest and true.  Dad was not a tyrant or control freak,  but he did live by the words “my way or the highway” and he expected us to respect that.  He did not suffer fools nor did he waste time and effort on fools errands.

Today, over a lunch of long noodles to bring longevity in the New Year, Mom and I laughed about our experiences learning how to drive…. from Dad.  I never knew until today that he considered Mom too stupid to drive.  Honestly.  Too stupid.  He made her such a nervous wreck that eventually she paid to go to driving school.  Within two weeks she had her license and some validation.

In my case, I drove only once with Dad riding shotgun.  That was enough to send me running to Mom.  Wanna know how I learned how to drive?  Mom took me to the parking lot at the mall on Sunday, empty because in those days the mall closed on Sunday, and she sat there while I drove round and round and practiced parking.

Anyway, it appears that I have infinite patience for crochet, but not for people crocheting.  My worst fault as a teacher is that I am so tempted to snatch the work out of a struggling student’s hands in order to ” fix” it.  So I forced myself to keep my hands to myself and I think the lessons I gave at Vickie Howell‘s Caron Beginner Lounge went well.  For the unbelievers, here is photographic proof.

Me teaching crochet

I am so sorry I did not record nor do I recall the name of my wonderful student here.  If you recognize yourself, please make a comment below and I will make it right! The lounge was well attended throughout the two day event and Vickie, a team of Vogue Knitting Live event volunteer teachers and I were kept pretty busy dispensing guidance and praise. It pleasantly surprised the students that the Tulip Etimo crochet hooks (or Tulip bamboo knitting needles) that we used for the lessons were theirs to take home along with their practice skein of Vic’s yarn, Sheepish.  Thanks to Caron for the tools, yarn and for sponsoring such a successful Beginner Lounge.

Looking more closely at that image, it’s funny how my hands are blurry (moving fast?) and her hands are in focus.  That’s the second of my major teaching faults.  I move too fast and probably talk too fast as well.  But I think the lessons stuck with many of those intrepid newbies and I hope they are happily hooking still.
More suited to my temperament and easier on the attendees’ nerves was my book signing.  This year Knitty City set up two tables in their market booth so we authors wouldn’t be climbing over each other.  Brilliant.  As ever,  Pearl and the staff were wonderful, thank you all.  When I wasn’t signing books I was working on a special hoodie version of my DJC Designs Snow Day mobius cowl, the pattern for which I handed out to any who wandered by showing their crochet.

Me and my Snow Day at book signing

Kudos to my publisher Potter Craft for their support and to Publicity Director and sweetheart Kimberly Small for the above photos.  Oh, and, Kim… that poster of Crochet Lace Innovations next to me… I took it home  as it was so beautifully done.  Thanks!

In summary, I feel I did not unduly torture any newbies.  But then again, you must really ask them. 🙂

Calling Vogue Knitting Live Crocheters

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Vogue Knitting Live may have the K word in the title, but don’t be put off.  Although the events, classes and sessions are overwhelmingly tipped toward knitting interests, this is an exciting event for all fiberazzi (lovers of yarn). I expect to see plenty of crochet and crocheters in New York this weekend.

Vogue Knitting magazine, that bastion of high-concept/fantasy fashion knitting, has never given crochet more than a glancing nod. But its publisher, SOHO,  has a special VK issue in the works.  2012 heralds the return of Vogue Crochet, not seen since the legendary 1994 issue.

Vogue Crochet Special Issue, 1994

Yes, that’s a granny square design on the cover.  No, I don’t know what they were thinking.  Certainly there was much more in this issue than meets the eye with the cover image.  The bold text promising “easy” and “basics for beginners” hint that the instructions are targeted to knitters who might want to learn crochet and to other newbies to the craft. But there was plenty of inspiration to be found within for hard-core crocheters.  All I can say is the 2012 reboot should totally rock your hooking senses.

Anyway, I’m inclined to believe that crochet has a definite place at Vogue Knitting Live, and that we and our work will be welcome.  So let’s give them all something to think about.  If you’re coming to the event, please have your most brilliant crochet on display and wear it proudly. As an extra incentive, any fan who shows up at my Potter Craft book signing wearing crochet will get a little gift from me, a free pattern pdf from among my DJC Designs self-published patterns, available exclusively at DesigningVashti.com. Please stop by the Knitty City booth in the marketplace at VKL, from 4 to 5 pm on Saturday, 14 January, show me your crochet and claim your present.  Hope to see you there.

Crochet Resolution #1

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If I’ve learned anything from my lackluster performance concerning New Year’s Resolutions for 2011, it’s that the key to greater success in 2012 is to keep the list really really short… and absolutely doable.

DoubleDogDangit, I had some brilliant but unfulfilled resolutions from last year, for example: “screw not with deadlines, you procrastinator”, “lose those horrible, lingering five pounds”, “blog more often”, “exercise, you slug”, “organize the stash, you slob”.  Similar hopes for a better self have populated my list of resolutions for the past decade, ever witness to the foolish belief that I could change my nature in the span of a year. So I’ve decided to shift all of that stuff into a Ten Year Plan. Knowing that I don’t have to obsess over any of those things yet has instantaneously lifted my mood.

You’re not supposed to begin a numbered list if there’s only one thing in the list.  By labeling this “Crochet Resolution #1” I am implying, promising that there will be a #2 and perhaps even more.  No.  There can be only one. I should go back and change the blog post title, but it sounds better as is, so I think I’ll let this slide.

My number one and only one resolution for 2012 is deceptively simple: teach someone to crochet.  Many crochet professionals wouldn’t need to make a big deal or special resolution out of this because teaching happens to them as a matter of course. But those four words scare the hell out of me.

Teaching beginning crochet isn’t about one’s own expertise or experience or how many books you’ve written, how many designs you’ve published or how many awards you’ve garnered in your career because none of that matters to someone who doesn’t speak crochet. It’s about understanding exactly what’s happening every time you pick up a crochet hook.  It’s about breaking down the complex, compound motions of crochet into their constituent elements and then effectively communicating them to a total newbie who may very well be silently cursing you. I am in fear of being reviled.

Most of what I do with crochet is… well… rather complicated and leaves beginners flinging their hooks and projects against the wall in frustrated disgust.  I am best received by experienced crocheters who are conversant in the language of lace and aren’t put off by long, convoluted crochet patterns.  In other words I can teach techniques and constructions to those who already have crazy skills. This is easy compared to teaching beginners, trust me.

In order to succeed at teaching someone to crochet, I need to find the right victims… uh… students; I needs me newbies who are gung-ho but not too scarily so, as well as dedicated, self-sacrificing and patient beyond belief. Toward that end I have volunteered to join Vickie Howell and other noteworthy instructors at the Beginner Lounge at Vogue Knitting Live, 14 and 15 January in New York.  Throughout the weekend I’ll be that small person with the crochet hook lurking among the many knitting teachers, cringing in terror. If just one person shows up, looks me in the face and says “Yes, you can do this”, then I’ll be on the way to making my one heartfelt resolution for 2012 succeed.  Come and help me learn how to teach you how to crochet. 🙂