Tom at Stitches West

I purchased the crochet bear kit from the Mother Bear Project http://www.motherbearproject.org. It came with the pattern, a Chiao Goo bamboo G-hook, and three colors of yarn for making the bear.

I had a good time at Stitches West. I found some nice washable wool yarn in more sophisticated shades of yellow, orange, and red for another Aztec Sun round ripple afghan. On Friday morning I was at the Warm Up America! booth. I was really surprised at how many people came to the booth and how quickly we sold out of tote bags. We probably could have easily sold 200-300 bags. On Friday afternoon I had a sock knitting class that was very informative. On Sunday I had an all-day class on set-in sleeve construction. Although the class was a knitting class a lot of the information would be useful when designing a crochet sweater. I also bought some DK weight and some fingering weight yarn to make some vests for myself. I think I'll try to use the fingering weight yarn for a crochet vest.
Tom

Cookie on Stitches

I went to Stitches for 3 days. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I took 3 market classes, one each day.  The first one was double knit, the 2nd one was lace knitting and the 3rd one was called Knit one row below.  I purchased a loom in a tube and a book on how to make some of the project using this loom.  I purchased some yarns for my 3 classes and a couple of knitting needles I didn't have.  I can't remember getting anything else.

I only made one rectangle for the Linus Foundation.

I had a lot of fun.

Cookie

Kris's first Stitches West

I had a great time at Stitches West. It was my first time going. I was overwhelmed by all the yarn and accessories available. It was fun sitting in the booth talking to people about WUA.

I was able to sit in on one of the demonstrations about adding beads to your knit and crochet projects which I thought was interesting.

As I was leaving, they had a couple of alpacas out front which was fun to pet. It reminded me of our visit to the alpaca farm.

All in all, I had a great experience at my first Stitches West.

Andy's Take on Stitches West

Well One of the Highlights of my Stitches West was spending time at the Warm Up America Booth.I did get to talk to a lot of people in my breaks around the huge mall. One of the People was Karin Skacel, the owner of Skacel Company and there is some new Skacel Crochet Hooks on the works.I also got to chat with the Founder of Malabrigo yarns and they have come out with a superwash worsted way yarn, I was fortunate to receive a skein to test it myself. I also got the opportunity to give Toot's Le Blac another one of my hats for display with they yarns. Yarn has no distinction whether is crochet , knit or weaved, but I believe that the CGOA could have had a bigger say in the classes that were offered, if they offer to give classes that people could attend. I do not know the details of that, but is all on the Guild. If the Guild would have been able to recruit more people we could have promote more the Crochet part of Stitches West, I
believe Stitches West Would have been a 25 /75 crochet knit Event more than a 1 percent crochet. It is in my experience as a Tapestry Crochet Artisan I promote the Art of Crochet. More and more people need to look at their crochet as art, because it is.  Let's see if in the future we can have more impact on events like this one, but if The CGOA does not motivate crocheters to participate is not going to happen.  Knitters are very enthusiastic for whatever reason, but we can be very enthusiastic as well.  We need to find ways of using yarns in a more creative way in crochet.  As a matter of fact I know we do our part at the Men Who Crochet CGOA Chapter to promote crocheting beyond the basics.

As crocheters we need to get our mindset out of wherever it is and promote crochet.  The attitude to have is HOW CAN I turn this event into a promotion for Crochet.  Don't wait for people to make it easy for you to Crochet, make crochet a priority.  Whatever fiber you use whether is acrylic, superwash merino, angora or plain twine, we need to make every opportunity a Crochet Moment.  Do not try to compete with knitting; instead promote crochet as an Art, because it is.  Even a simple Granny square is a work of art, only you can make the difference, nobody else is going to. 

We are hoping to have a more influential venue in the fiber community by participating in the creative process and making a show in the field.  I hope that all of you get to follow our blog.  We also need to have some guidelines from the CGOA for our blog, I do not know if there is such a thing.  We may also want to review,  yarns, hooks, and interview crocheters that have come to our attention.  Anyway enough for today, but remember that we can only have a presence if we show them we are here.

You can see Andy's crafts at
1. http://www.CraftyAndy.net
2. http://home.earthlink.net/~apnevarez

Stitches West

Wow! What a weekend of total sensory overload! Our guild chapter manned the Warm Up America booth at Stitches West. We had a great time, met lots of really nice folks and had plenty of time for classes and shopping.
The Warm Up America booth was in the first aisle amidst very good company, The Lace Knitters Guild, CGOA, TKGA, The Embroiders Guild, WUA, then the Foxyknits booth finished off the aisle.
Peter and Cay arrived around 3:30 on Thursday evening to find Tom already in the booth. He wasn't even on Thursday's schedule. We opened the boxes from WUA and found one afghan for display, some squares for assembly, brochures and some Vanna's Choice yarn to work with. We had a long table and 2 straight back chairs. We requested an easel for our poster and a couple more chairs. Thursday was a market preview for folks signed up for classes over the weekend, so it was a short evening.
Friday morning, Peter and Cay arrived with a small folding table and a laundry rack to use as a quilt rack. We hung the completed afghan on the laundry rack and used the small table for the overflow for squares and yarn. By the time Cay & Peter arrived, Tom had already scoped out the blocks and had planned a layout for assembling what we had to start. People dropped by all day picking up brochures and buying the special bags and dropping off more blocks.. We were completely sold out of the bags before noon! How great is that? When we told them to pull the bag from the fashion show, they told us we had sold more bags in the first half day than any other Stitches event had for their whole weekend. We had 50 and could probably have sold 200. Maybe next year. Tom and Andy were our folks taking turns in the booth Friday..
Kris arrived bright and early on Saturday for her turn in the booth. By noon on Saturday, we were completely out of the brochures that were provided by WUA. So, we asked for 200 copies. We must be good! We ran out of both bags and brochures less than half way thru the weekend. Audrey and Kitty relieved Kris in the booth mid-day and we continued to spread the word. Andy was back at Stitches with some friends and popped in and out during the day as did Cookie, who was taking market session classes.
Marikka had everything under control Sunday morning when Cay arrived. Tom popped in and out a couple of times during the breaks in his all day class. People were fascinated with the method of joining that Marikka was using, so she demo'd her method as she passed out literature on WUA. Audrey came back in the afternoon and stayed until the final bell!
Recap: we sold all 50 tote bags. We passed out probably 400 brochures. We assembled one complete ghan and most of a second. Very productive weekend, both for Warm Up America, and Men Who Crochet.

Small but Lively group

Our group was small today, but very lively. In attendance were Peter, Andy, Audrey (new kid on the block), Cay, Tom and Cookie.
Audrey has dual citizenship between CA and GA, so she will attend our meetings when she is in CA. Welcome aboard!
Since Stitches West is next weekend, we discussed picking up credentials, helping out in the booth anytime that can be spared from other activities. Cay brought in some sample rectangles from the suggested patterns provided by the Yarn Craft Council. She also had handouts with info on Warm Up America, joining the rectangles, and suggested crochet and knit patterns. We can use any pattern, but they had a few suggestions. We will have handouts for both Warm Up America and our guild chapter. The chapter has pocket calendars, bookmarks, and a post card to let the world know we are here and ready to crochet!
Peter talked about the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) and some of the benefits of being a member. He handed out copies of the ChainLink newsletter from the latest copy of Crochet! magazine, which is the official magazine for CGOA. This insert is not available either on the newstands or subscriptions. It is for CGOA members only. Peter explained that it is not a requirement to be a CGOA member to be a member of our chapter, but there are definite advantages and discounts available to CGOA members.
We briefly discussed the San Mateo County Fair and how we anticipate being involved this year. We have not heard back from the lady in charge of the Home Arts Dept, so we are guessing that the email we have is for fair use only and she has not checked it recently.
March is National Crochet Month, and Bente of Piedmont Yarn is letting us take over her front window for at least part of the month. She will be displaying crochet items that she has the patterns for sale (local designers), and items that are in the store on consignment will be spotlighted. Crochet classes are being increased for the month. Thanks so much, Bente, for your support.
Show and Tell: Peter is crocheting his Key Tab Vest for a friend in Baby Ull yarn. He is also working on an Aran sweater for commission. Andy was sporting a new hat that he has the pattern for sale on his Ravelry page. Cay had an afghan done in sunrise colors and a wave pattern for Project Linus. She also brought in some flowers to leave for Bente for the class she is teaching in March. Tom brought in 2 afghans for Project Linus. One was a large granny square that he did when snowbound in New Jersey without another project to work on. The other is a Tunisian mitered square afghan in bright purple variegated yarn. He is currently working on a 32 point round ripple  named Aztec Sun. Cookie is working on a scarf made with some silk yarn that she spun herself.
We did not do a lesson or technique today, so we finished the meeting by having coffee, cookies and conversation.

Project Linus 2/9/10

Penny, Kris and Cay attended the Project Linus meeting yesterday evening. It was held at a cute little quilt shop in Fremont, Sisters N Stitches. We turned in 14 afghans this month. Kris also contributed one quilt. Good job! Here are the pics for your pleasure.