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2013 Chain Link Conference Report

Sunday, July 28, 2-13-So, I found the camera in the refrigerator in the bag with corn on the cob, but that's a whole other post in itself!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
I was a teacher of 4 classes at this year's Knit & Crochet Show in Indianapolis last week and I did book signings during the lunch breaks at both the Indy Chapter of CGOA and at Crochetville. So, it was pretty intense and I really didn't take the time to do many photos.

Anyway, with or without photos, it was an amazing conference. The registration numbers were high at this wonderful venue, Sheraton Hotel at Keystone Crossing. there were many familiar faces of the CGOA loyal fans, Past Presidents, Amy Shelton, Marty Miller, Karen Klemp, Tosca Mark, Pam Oddi and me! Delma from Alaska has now attended her 19th conference without missing a single one!! She deserves a reward. There were faces from the past and faces I get to see once a year: Nancy Nehring, Joyce Wyatt, Mary Harris, Joan Davis, Jenny King (from Australia), Lily Chin, Nancy Smith, Kate Steinke, Andee Graves, Shari White, Kathryn White, B. J. Licko Keel, Susan Lowman, Edie Eckman, Don and Jean Neff and quite a gang of people who went on the first CGOA trip to Ireland in 2000 with me.
Carol Alexander, Ed. of Crochet! magazine shown here

I got to meet a lot of the members of the Indianapolis chapter and they are an amazing group. They were meeting and greeting and promoting their meetings to any crocheters who like to meet with like-minded enthusiasts.  I wish I lived closer to this vibrant and enthusiastic group of crocheters!

I had wonderful students in all my classes! They were enthusiastic and there because they wanted to learn. No doubt about it, Crocheting with Wire is tough on the hands. I had a few complaints in that class just because it is tough to do if you are not used to it. One woman who suffers from arthritis had to take some breaks to rest her hands, but she really didn't complain. Others really enjoyed the look of adding beads to wire and sooner or later they will develop some callouses and be just fine crocheting with wire!

Current President of CGOA, Cari Clement, was in two of my classes and she is a joy to talk to. During the Thursday night business meeting, Cari described a lot of work that is being done in the "background" to our website and for the benefit of chapters. Be watching the CGOA website, Cari is going to end her term as in style come Dec. 2013! During this meeting, I reminded everyone that next year marks the 20th anniversary of CGOA and unveiled the winning logo for our celebration.
This wonderful design was created by Donna Wolfe and she won $250.00 from Crochetville! Thank you Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka for your Crochetville generosity and big congratulations to Donna for this winning design. You will be seeing it all year long during 2014 as we celebrate "Proud Past, Brilliant Future," our theme conceived by Pam Oddi. The 20th anniversary colors are emerald green, platinum and white; and as you can see, it will be a brilliant future as we use this logo to get the word out about the celebration of 20 years of CGOA!

I was so pleased that all the people in my Crocheting with Cabochons class had experience working with thread and steel hooks! They took to the bead-crochet easily and were very excited about their new skills and being able to embellish the exciting and colorful cabochons.




















Some of the cabochon pins created in class. Good job!

"Patience" was the name of the game for the Flatwork Bead-Crochet (tapestry bead-crochet) class. Everyone DID have patience and after the first hour of tedious bead-stringing while following a graph, they were pleasantly surprised at how, like magic, the design in 2014 celebration colors began to appear as they crocheted.

Students in the Bead-Crochet Primer were obviously there because they wanted to expand their skills beyond the scissor fob we made in class.
They were interested in jewelry making and came decked out in creations they had made in other needlework techniques, like peyote stitch, polymer clay and bead stringing for necklaces.

There's nothing more elegant than hands crocheting!

Our banquet and fashion show was held on  Friday night this year which is a departure from the usual Saturday night. Over 150 were in attendance and it seemed like almost everyone got a door prize! Our sponsors were generous. We enjoyed fashion show creations modeled by the makers , and Rita Weiss was inducted into the CGOA Jean Leinhauser Hall of Fame but sadly she wasn't even present to enjoy it! It was announced that she will be attending the next conference in Concord, NH in October.

My local chapter had a great showing this year with 9 in attendance: Bonnie, Ellen Sindy, Jeanee, Pam, Robin, B.J. (who we hadn't seen in months), Annie (at another table), Nancy Nehring (honorary chapter member)













It was also announced that our summer 2014 conference will take place again in Manchester, NH where we will kick off the festivities for the CGOA Anniversary celebration.
(Blogger note-when I find my camera, I'll add pics)

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