Monday, December 12, 2011

Meeting Highlights: Destash Swap Meet

Shark Week feeding frenzy?  No, that was us, faced with an almost alarming amount of yarn and books to swap and share.  Everything was put on the table, with each donor giving a brief description and explanation of the donated item.  After everyone had a chance to look at the stash, auctioneer Maxine went item by item through the yarn stash.  If two people wanted the yarn, a quick negotiation was held, with the yarn going to the person who wanted it more than the other; if both people wanted it equally,  a quick drawing was held.  Six people were in on the drawing for a bag of rust-colored bamboo blend skeins.  There was something for everyone, from thread to Christmas novelties to bulky weight yarns.  Someone contributed a small stack of vintage thread crochet magazines and books of doily patterns--too bad we didn't film the wheeling and dealing that took place to divvy those up, as it was amazing!  Almost everything found a home.

(This is a first for us: not one single project was held up for show and tell. Not one! We were so anxious to get our grubby mitts on the swap yarns and books that bragging rights were the last things
on our minds. Check this space in three months time to see projects made out of this stuff.)

After the exhilaration of the swap, we held a brief business meeting.  Pictures of the proposed new meeting space were passed around and the price discussed, as well as all the pros and cons.  We voted to go ahead and secure the space for six months; Carol and Maxine will finalize arrangements.  We have enough money in our Treasury to secure the room for at least three months.  The new space is located in Prospect Park (near the Textile Center), not far from our current location.

We have been very loosely organized (never even elected officers!) but now need a bit more structure, particularly if we have the financial responsibility of renting a meeting space.  It was suggested that we explore the idea of dues; currently, we have a suggested donation of $1 for each meeting attended.  Five people volunteered for a steering committee that will develop a basic outline for our organization, from officers to bylaws.  The committee's recommendations will be presented for approval by CTC members in a month or two.  We have a meeting schedule that goes out through April, so the program committee needs to meet again to work on some new topics.

Please continue to think about how you can contribute to the group's mission.  We already have specific volunteer offers regarding the blog and charity projects, but we need more helpers.

The next meeting will be January 14, 2012 in our new space!  Peggy will lead us through a felting project to produce a handbag.  A materials list and pattern link will be provided in the January meeting preview.  You will need two skeins of 100% wool worsted weight yarn (no super-wash).


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Carol's Moebius

A number of people saw my moebius at the November meeting and asked me for the pattern.  Fortunately or not, I did not use a pattern.  I had done a search for moebius patterns on Ravelry but found nothing that would work with the yarn I intended to use, so I made my own pattern.

There are some interesting facets to the moebius that present some design challenges.  The first challenge is the starting chain.  Once you have crocheted your starting chain, you twist one end 180 degrees and slip stitch it to the opposite end--easier said than done.  Also, in many designs, the beginning chain appears very obvious; unless you want that beginning chain to be a design element, it can look like a flaw.  The second challenge is to design a stitch pattern that does not have obviously different front and back sides--unless you want that difference to be a design element.  As you crochet the moebius, you crochet both edges at the same time, only one edge will show the right side of the stitch pattern and the other the wrong side.  Another challenge was my choice of yarn, which is self-striping.  I didn't want the yarn to fight with a stitch pattern; as the garment grows from the center outwards toward the edges.

I took 2 classes on beginning chains at the CGOA conference; one was dedicated solely to foundation chains, the other to non-chain beginnings.  I used a foundation double crochet (fdc) lattice to begin my mobius.  The fdc is shown on the bottom of the picture at the left, with a second row of dc lattice.  After examining my first completed moebius, I think I should have used a foundation triple crochet (ftc) lattice instead (upper sample).  As you can see by the two samples, the triple lattice ends up the same height as the actual dc lattice of the mobius.

The next picture is of my dc mobius, in which I crocheted into each dc  of the row below.  The green stitches in the center are the fdc lattice. You can see that the stitch height is noticeably shorter.  If doing this pattern again, I would use the ftc instead and use dc throughout the rest of the moebius.  The yarn is Noro Silk Garden with an I hook with 75 stitch units (one unit being a dc and ch, ending with a dc 1, ch1, dc).  I used 2 full skeins.  The stitch pattern was deliberately simple to feature the yarn, not the stitch pattern.  There are some basic moebius directions on Ravelry

My second moebius was made of Noro Silk Garden Sock with an H hook.  The foundation is about 125 stitch units as this garment is intended to cover the shoulders.  The same fdc lattice was used.  Instead of putting a dc in every dc to create a lattice, I put my stitches into the chain space to create a mesh.  I randomly used blocks of  hdc and dc stitches.  DC were put into stitch blocks composed of hdc, and hdc into blocks of dc.  This was done to give a subtle shift to the rows, to de-emphasize the stripey look caused by the finer yarn and the larger moebius loop.  The colorways in the two garments aren't the same, but they are similar.  However, the end result is very different.

There have been some requests to make this moebius the subject of an upcoming meeting.  Web 2.0 is the topic for February, but because of equipment requirements, we might want to schedule that meeting for a later date and do the moebius instead.  Also, basic garment construction is scheduled for the spring.  If we do devote a meeting to the moebius, I will provide a written pattern.  The main focus would be on learning how to create the fdc lattice upon which the garment is constructed.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Chapter Growth: Our Next Phase

The Crochet Guild of America, of whom we are a chapter, defines itself as a “not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of crochet.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines a guild as “an association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards”.

The one thing these definitions have in common is that the purpose of a guild is the organized advancement of the craft itself, and not just practice of the craft. So far, we have been very successful in growing organically by concentrating on practicing our craft with little attention paid to the “organizational” aspects of the guild.

As a group, we are ready for the next phase of growth. However, the lack of space at our current location is hindering us. Last month’s meeting is a perfect example. It was well-attended,  but the room was so packed that no one could move, limiting interaction to those sitting next to each other. We couldn’t look at each other’s projects, and anyone who would have been more comfortable observing the instructor from a different angle was just plain out of luck.

We need to move.   Fortunately, we have located a suitable place to hold meetings for the foreseeable future. It’s centrally located, with ample parking.  It features a well-lit room with a large table (plus room for additional tables), and even space to store materials (such as our attendance book and extra handouts) between meetings. This space is not free but the rent is reasonable.  It is within our budget as long as we continue to provide quality experiences that attract members to our meetings.

If we are to make this move, we need to take stock of our organizational structure and make changes that support the health and growth of the group. This means establishing a steering committee of four to six members who will determine how to take care of organizational tasks on an ongoing basis.  These tasks include:
  • Maintaining the member list, keeping records of member attendance, communicating with members
  • Collecting and dispersing chapter funds
  • Soliciting meeting suggestions from members, producing meeting schedules with topics, arranging for topic presenters, assisting presenters, soliciting meeting evaluations from members
  • Coordinating blog efforts, administering our Ravelry group, training members to author and use the blog
  • Finding community projects, coordinating group efforts to contribute to community projects, publicizing community projects
At the December 10 meeting (2:30pm to 4:30om at Borealis Yarns), we will lay out details about the move and ask for volunteers for the steering committee. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting and look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic.