Monday, July 28, 2025

 


July 26th was our 4th Saturday Meet up At Har Mar Mall, Barnes and Noble. We had a great turn out. Our group melded with two other open craft groups that are Facebook groups, women over 50 and women over 60, they occasionally do a Saturday craft meet up. So we had beaders, knitters and crocheters. It was great fun! You are welcome to join us at any of our 4th Saturday meet ups, they alternate between this location and The Mall of America, at the north 3rd floor food court. They are always 10am to 12noon or sometimes people stay. They are free and a fun way to socialize and share our love of yarn. Look for the group with 🧢 and or hooks. August 23rd is the next 4th Saturday and it will be at the MOA. This will be the weekend between our 2 state fair demo days, see below.  Watch for our events on Instagram, Facebook and our public Facebook Group for details. Or email ctclist@gmail.com for any questions. 




Crochet Twin Cities wants to highlight Theresa Comer, she has been such an asset to CTC and is one of the original members. She has served as our past president, blog writer and keeper of the emails for at least 3 years. She is always crocheting, wearing or promoting crochet every day. She will be having open heart surgery next week and would love any prayers, positive thoughts and energy you can say or do for her. We know as soon as she’s able she will have hook and yarn in hand, she is never idle. She and her daughter Stephanie, who is also going through some health challenges, may need help with rides etc once she gets home, we will update you all. πŸ™ for you Theresa! 


August is going to be busy and unfortunately will go fast. First up will be our 2nd Saturday CTC Member meeting on August 9th. This one you will not have to be a member to attend, so feel free to come check us out. The location is at Edina Public Library, 5280 Grandview Square, Edina MN 55436. The meetings are 10am to 1pm, but most is open crochet and show and tell with an education portion and short board update. This month we will have some kits that show how to bead and crochet a necklace. A great beginning skill we can also take and show state fair goers. Just bring some hooks I believe we have some kits made up. 

Speaking of the State Fair, Crochet Twin Cities gets to have 2 days with an information booth in the Creative Activities Building at the fair. August 21st and 26th are the days we need to staff the booth. You can sign up for a 4 hour shift. You will get a free entry ticket for that day. We are even making an exception for non members to volunteer, so we are fully staffed. You will have experienced CTC members who have done the booth before with you.  We bring a few samples, small kits of yarn and hooks, and little take aways for those really interested. We can do short demos with fair goers and we have gained a lot of members due to the exposure. It looks like we still have one shift from 4pm to 8pm  on August 26 to fill, Sign up Here

August looks to be a fun month and we will be out in the community. If you have any questions about Crochet Twin Cities feel free to comment on our Social media posts or email us at ctclist@gmail.com
Have a safe and fun summer, Lori Madden 🧢😎

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

 Summer with Crochet Twin Cities July 2025

    Midsummer is here and with it a few changes in the workings our group. Theresa, our past president has been writing the blog and managing the ctclist@gmail.com emails, she is finally passing the torch and I’m going to attempt it until we find someone who loves to write and wants to take it over. I’m Lori Madden, a retired nurse who found this group about 10 years ago and the people I’ve met have become my very good friends. It’s also wonderful meeting new members. I’ve learned so many types of crochet over the years from our education sessions. I also love to knit and have 3 spinning wheels, I have a bedroom full of stash and equipment. I am also the social media coordinator for our Instagram & Facebook pages  and the Public Facebook group. 

The  board member changes are: Bree has stepped back as president but is still coordinating the volunteers for the MN state fair and the Fall Fiber Festival. Thank you to Virginia who used to coordinate the FFF. Brenda is our president, Gloria is secretary and an awesome coordinator of the meetings and libraries we meet at. Veronica is Education coordinator, Carla is treasurer, Trudy our 4th Saturday meet up coordinator , Joy charitable donations coordinator and Marissa our newsletter writer! This is such a great group where everyone pitches in and welcomes people who want to try a new role. 

Our June meeting Veronica taught us how to do the linked or joined double crochet. By linking the new stitch to the previous one it makes a denser fabric. Which is perfect for hats, scarves, bags and garments. She went around individually to make sure everyone caught on. A simple technique but one that is so much easier to be shown how to do it. 

July’s member meeting we had London Kaye a professional Yarn Bomber talk to us on zoom. She was so inspiring, she has done many installations even in Times Square New York on a huge billboard. She has written two books the latest, is a colorful board baby book called Crochet Baby available for purchase on her website! Check out her site

She got our creative juices flowing and we will have future discussions about doing a CTC yarn bombing somewhere. Look at her website for ideas, they are simple shapes with yarn and a crochet hook, she even has free patterns. 

  



Our 4 th Saturday meet ups are open to the community. June was at the Mall of America in the North 3 rd floor food court, our members helped a new to crochet person get started and helped her at the yarn store too. We alternate monthly so July 26th will be at the Har Mar Mall in Roseville, we meet at the Starbucks seating area inside Barnes and Noble. Meet ups are always 10am to 12pm, you can bring any fiber craft or just come for the social time. We encourage members to offer help or answer questions and let folks know about our group.

The August 9th 2nd Saturday member meeting is at the Edina Public library, 5280 Grandview square Edina, MN 55436. We have some beaded necklace kits that will be the education portion. 

Meetings can be attended by someone who wants to check us out, but any zoom education classes with paid teachers, our November Destash, the newsletter and volunteers at our state fair booth  are only open to paid members. Dues are only. $24 a year. They are prorated half way through the year and scholarships are available on request. Meetings are 10am to 1pm with plenty of time for open crochet, show and tell, education and board updates. 

The Minnesota state fair is coming up August 21-September 1. Crochet twin cites has been lucky to host a booth in the Creative Activities building. This year it’s August 21st and August 26th 8 am to 8pm. You have to be a paid member to volunteer , but you will get a free state fair ticket for that day, they will be sent to the email you sign up with. We still urgently need  volunteers for both days for 4 hr shifts, you can sign up for more. We have veteran members who will help you once there. We offer teaching simple crochet skills and warmly welcome anyone showing interest in our craft and our group. We bring a project to work on and display many items. We’ve been handing out a few small items made by members, we will discuss more at the August meeting. You are expected to stay for the entire shift you signed up for. Check out our sign up genius and please take a shift so we don’t lose our ability to host a booth next year. CTC state fair booth sign up

Thanks for sticking with me and reading through all these updates! It’s been a busy summer, but so very fun. We can finish it out strong at the state fair, we have gained many new members from the friendships we forged at the booth. People are wanting to find their “people” who love crochet like we do.

For those of you on our social media platforms thank you for liking and sharing. Our meetings, meet ups and the state fair booth, are all Facebook events to keep you informed. Watch all our Crochet Twin Cities  pages , FB group and stories , You can share them to your sites or your friends.  The public Facebook group is open so you can post your questions, show us your projects and send funny crochet memes. If you have questions you can message us on the socials or email ctclist@gmail.com. 

Grab your hooks and yarn and let’s crochet this summer!πŸ’ͺ🧢😎⛱️ Lori 



Saturday, April 26, 2025

Planning for the 2025 State Fair

April 26, 2025 MOA Meet Up

First, let me apologize.  I haven't written a blog post in a while.  I've been dealing with a lot of family & health related issues. *Not my health, but family member's health.   March and April have been very busy months for me.  I feel so blessed to be surrounded by the support of this creative, caring group!

Kate's cool bag
Looking back, the Yarn Shop Hop van was full, with 9-10 members & friends participating each day. I really hated missing it this year, but I heard lots of great fun was had by all.  Our April meeting was a smaller group (only 10 members), we talked about the Shop Hop and had winders & swifts available.  

Cas's bag
The meetup today had 14 members & friends show up and the highlight was the bags! One of our guests, Kate had a very cool bag, and our newest member, Cas (joined today) shared the scrappy bag she made for carrying items to our meetups!  If you've been a member for a while, you've probably seen AJ's chicken bag, but you may not have seen the new hat & kerchief he has added.

AJ's bag
Now, on to the May 10 meeting, Christmas in August and the Minnesota State Fair!  I know, it's only April, but the State Fair will be here before we know it. Many of our members enter the competition, and the Premium Book is due out on May 5.  The details will be on the website: Creative Activities | Minnesota State Fair. As usual, we'll be demonstrating in the Creative Activities building. Members who volunteer to demonstrate will receive admission into the fair for the day.   

CTC will also be entering the Christmas competition in the Ag-Hort building. For details, you can check out the Christmas Trees | Minnesota State website.  With all of the State Fair activities, we'll be spending our meeting making plans for our display.   If you've never entered a fair competition, state or county, we have members who will be able to share their experiences and expertise.  A number of our members have received ribbons at the local county fairs as well as the State Fair.  And of course, CTC will be sponsoring 2 ribbons this year.  In addition to our award in the garment category, we'll be sponsoring an award in the granny square category.   

Sunday, March 16, 2025

What's next at Crochet Twin Cities?

AJ's Emotional Support Chicken
Our March meeting had 14 members attend, including 1 new member!  If you are a member, you will receive the monthly newsletter, which is sent out approximately 1 week prior to the second Saturday meeting. If you are not receiving the email, please reach out to ctclist@gmail.com *Note: be sure to check your spam/junk folders and whitelist ctclist@gmail.com

Now, onto the upcoming fun!  Our March 22 meetup will be at HarMar Barnes & Noble in Rosedale. Members of Crochet Twin Cities will be hopping together on Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5. There's still plenty of room in the van, in you are interested in joining us, please email ctclist@gmail.com or reach out to Brenda or Joy using their contact info from the member roster. *Note a link to the member roster is included in every monthly newsletter.  There is a $5 fee for gas, payable in cash to Brenda at the hop.  Below is the schedule we typically allow approximately 25 minutes per store and there will be a break for lunch each day. Don't forget your lunch money!

Gloria's mascots for this year's hop

Friday:
     We meet at Lunds/Byerly's on France avenue in Edina at 9:00am. 
     Drive time is 35 minutes to 
     A Sheepy Yarn shop, 20 minutes to 
     Darn Knit in Stillwater 23 minutes to 
     Knitting from the Heart.  24 minutes to 
     Muse, 34 minutes to 
     Northfield yarn, 27 minutes to 
     Rose Yarn Co.  then 25 minutes back to Lunds.
2024 Friday Shop Hop crew
Saturday:
     We meet at Lunds/Byerly's at 9:30am     
     Drive time is 10 minutes to 
     Harriet and Alice, 5 minutes to 
     Needle and Skein, 23 minutes to 
     Amazing Threads, 12 minute side trip to 
     beWoolen, 25 minutes to 
     Knit and Bolt,  14 minutes to 
     StevenBe, 14 minutes to 
     the Yarnery, then 20 minutes back to Lunds
2024 Yarn Shop Hop Saturday group



Sunday, February 23, 2025

Hop into spring with Crochet Twin Cities

February 8 virtual meeting
17 members attended our February 8 virtual meeting. The topic was continuous join as you go, which was an excellent follow up to our recent granny square class.  Veronica did an excellent job teaching in her debut as our Education Chair. 


February 22 meet up at the MOA


Carla's CJAYG
Looking ahead our March 8 topic will be a follow up to our January Layering Granny Squares with Edie Eckman.   Edie won't be returning, but bring your handouts, your questions and your projects and several of excellent members will help you tackle any challenges you encountered!

We're getting closer to April and the Yarn Shop Hop.  Once again, CTC members and friends are invited to join us on Friday and Saturday.  Brenda's driving, Joy is navigating and the van has room for you!  All that's required is that you let us know you'll be attending, and a $5 donation for gas. We'll stop for lunch both days, but feel free to bring your own, if you prefer.  Gloria has already created mascots to join us as we explore the 12 local yarn shops and the 2025 theme: In the Garden.  

In the Garden mascots by Gloria

Crochet minds think alike!