Midtown Global Market: March 31 5th Saturday Outing

Looking for a nice relaxing way to end National Crochet Month? Come to our Fifth Saturday social gathering on Saturday March 31 at Midtown Global Markets. We'll meet from noon to 2PM for casual crochet, chat, and food - we'll gather on the south side of the building, facing Lake Street.  There is a seating area near the windows overlooking the street.  (Just hunt for it, it isn't hard to find.). There's no planned class - but if you want to bring your baby sweater from the last meeting for some extra help, please do.

If you've never been to Midtown Global Markets, you're in for a treat. The Market is a collection of ethnic restaurants and shops with something for everyone. It's located in Minneapolis near Chicago and Lake Street in the old Sears Building, just two blocks away from Abbott-Northwestern Hospital. There is a parking ramp to the east of the building on 10th Ave East and Lake; if you purchase anything in the Market (no minimum purchase), they will validate your parking stub for up to 3 free hours of parking. Click here for a map and parking details.

Hope to see you there!

Community Service Projects

At our last meeting, several members gave us information about community service projects related to crochet. Carla gave us an update on three that she has researched.  Carla is also willing to collect any donations and drop them off to the collection spots for these organizations - just bring the items to a meeting.

• Local need:  Harriet Tubman Center - Chrysalis, part of the Harriet Tubman domestic abuse shelter for women and children, needs hats, mittens and scarves.  They need all sizes.  They can use these items from October all the way through to the end of March/April.  The CGOA has several patterns to choose from on its website under "Charities".
• National need: Warm Up America! is collecting 7" x 9" afghan squares to be made into afghans.  The CGOA has patterns on its website under "Charities" for specifics on these squares.  Michael's craft stores has drop-off boxes for any completed squares.
• Worldwide need:  The Mother Bear Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children, primarily those affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations, by giving them a gift of love in the form of hand-knit or hand-crocheted bears.  One of the drop-off sites is Borealis Yarn Shop in St. Paul.  Carla has the pattern and a yarn kit; please let her know if you are interested in seeing the pattern for this project.

Gail is involved in a non-profit called Bundles of Love that provides basic needs (clothing, bedding, diaper bags) to infants and their families in Minnesota. The crochet pattern area of their website details the items that the group accepts.

Jody let us know that there is a prayer shawl ministy at Prospect Park Methodist Church (where we meet) and that donations of both crocheted and knitted shawls of any type and size are welcome.

One thing to remember when picking out yarn colors:  some of the recipients will be male, so darker or "masculine" colors are appreciated.

Meeting Highlights: Shaping Garment Pieces

We began with a short business meeting:

• The Board proposed dues of $24 per calendar year, prorated to begin with the April meeting. The membership approved. A fair number of March attendees have already paid for the full year. A huge thanks for that! We now have our rent covered with a few bucks to spare.
• Cathy’s efforts with our Ravelry presence are paying off; more people are learning about our group through Ravelry.
• March is both National Crochet Month and National Craft Month - so if you see any local discounts, be sure to update the Raverly posting to let others know.
• A membership form was distributed. Some of the information on it updates last year’s membership survey, as we continue to gauge what topics most interest our members.
• Carla spoke to us about community service projects and has found opportunities on the local, national, and international level. The local opportunity is the local Harriet Tubman Center, which always needs hats, scarves and mittens during the colder weather months. Carla has volunteered to drop-off any of our donations for the three selected projects - watch for any upcoming blog post with details.

After our lively business discussion, Maxine started off our meeting series on garment construction by teaching us about shaping garment pieces. One of the main differences between sewing garments and crocheting garments is that in crocheting (and knitting too), we are making the fabric and shaping the pattern piece at the same time - in sewing, the fabric is already made for us.

In crocheting, there are four ways to shape pieces: (1) Using increases and decreases, (2) Varying the hook size throughout the piece - for example, starting with a smaller hook and then changing to a larger size as the piece grows, (3) Varying the type of stitch (stitch height) within a row or round, and (4) Working short rows within the piece. This picture shows wrist warmers made using technique (3) - varying stitch height within a row. (Sneak preview: Carol will teach us about short rows next month.)

For a class exercise, everyone then worked on some swatches (in dc) that showed how placement of decreases and increases (spaced throughout the row vs. "stacked" to one end of the row) affected the final shape of the swatch.

The next topic was gauge and Maxine challenged us to master gauge rather than letting it master us and gave us these guidelines:

• Swatches really need to be larger than the traditional 4" by 4" square (at least 5" x 5") so that you can measure in the middle of the swatch instead of all the way to the edges. (Edge stitches can be tighter or looser so if you measure over them, the results can be distorted.)
• For accurate results you need to block and finish your swatch the same way that you will be blocking and finishing your garment.
• It is rare for two crocheters to have the exact same gauge, so the most important questions to ask are: "What will the finished size of my piece be if I make it in this gauge?" and "Will I be happy with the size?" Rather than the more traditional: "Does my gauge exactly match that the designer's gauge?" To help answer this new question, everyone worked through an exercise where we were provided the number of stitches and rows in a finished piece but had to calculate the finished size (in inches) of the piece based on a sample swatch. It was a different way of looking at gauge - but very intriguing idea to everyone. 

The next topic was a brief discussion of substituting yarn and matching your skill level to the pattern level. The information for this topic came from the Yarn Standards guidelines, developed by the Craft Yarn Council. The last topic was a discussion of garment-making terminology. A raglan-sleeve baby sweater pattern was then provided as a practice garment. This sweater has five pieces that can be used as the practice garment for our May meeting, which will be on blocking and finishing. Maxine shared a tip that she'd recently read in Lily Chin's Crochet Tips and Tricks - reel off enough yarn to finsh the seam for each piece before making the starting slip knot. This length of the seaming yarn varies, depending on the type of seam you're using - Lily says one and a half times the length of the seamed edge for a mattress seam or three times the length of the seamed edge for a backstitch.  

In addition to the class, we held our first "Beginner's Corner" this month. We are beginning to reach out to newer crocheters who are developing their skills and in need of help. We will develop a simple basic skills test (that is, crocheting a swatch) and a simple knowledge test to assess what the new crocheter knows about the craft. This will make it easier to for mentors and teachers to build on what the crocheter already knows. Sometimes it is hard to diagnose project problems when we haven’t a good idea of where a person is coming from. If you are an experienced crocheter who doesn’t mind sitting out the class portion of a few meetings, think about volunteering for this service. Keep in mind that we might not have newer crocheters at every meeting.

Chapter Organization

If you've been to our last four meetings (December 2011 through March 2012), this post is old news for you. But if you haven't been able to attend, this post summarizes all the exciting changes that have been taken place in our chapter recently.

• At our December meeting, we formed a steering committee that met to create a draft set of bylaws for our chapter.
• At the January meeting, members approved the bylaws.
• At the February meeting, members elected officers who will serve from March 2012 until February 2013.
• President (Maxine), Vice-President (Peggy), Secretary (Carol), Treasurer (Jodi)
• At the March meeting, members approved the dues schedule for 2012. 

We encourage everyone to review the bylaws and dues schedule, which are short and simple. If you would like to become a member, click this link for the membership form - we have copies at every meeting but if you'd like, you can print it and fill it out in advance. The form and dues will be accepted at any meeting but if you would like to mail them, please send an email to ctclist@gmail.com and ask us to send you the mailing instructions.

Please note that our Ravelry group and our email reminder list are open to members as well as other interested crocheters.

Project Gallery March 2012

One of the best things about learning new things at meetings is seeing what people do with them.  Last August, we had a class on granny squares that expanded the idea of granny from square to triangle to rectangle to hexagon.

Joan made a sweater out of two large hexagons (check out the August meeting summary for links to patterns and youtube videos).  She added some extra length to the bottom and made a decorative edge that was a combination of small pendants and ruffles.  This sweater was literally "hot off the hook--Joan hadn't even had time to block the sweater yet.  When she does, that fancy edging on the bottom will show off nicely.

If you look closely at the back view, you see the sweater is seamed down the back.  There are seams on the upper side of the sleeves as well, with the seams starting at neck edge and going down to the bottom edge of the sleeve.  Joan chose an interesting wool blend yarn for this project (I've already forgotten the name--it was something new to me).

Really nice job, Joan!

Last month's class focused on Carol's moebius.  So this month we got a chance to see what others
could make of the concept.

Peggy used the same Plymouth Encore yarn for two different moebius projects.  This is a good illustration of how a change in stitch pattern can make the same yarn look entirely different.

The first was the pattern as Carol taught it.  It needed only one skein and yet produced a garment that could cover the shoulders.


The second was a purchased pattern that used a shell pattern stitch.  This garment was larger than the first and covered not only the shoulders but upper arms as well.

Jeanne also made two garments, both using Noro yarns.  The second moebius was still in process, as you can see by the hook and ball of yarn.  This shows how a simple stitch pattern makes the most of boldly colored yarns.

Maria Ann's moebius was made of a cotton multi-stranded yarn, with each strand being a different color.  This picture does not do the garment justice (it's hard to photograph dark colors if you don't have the right light).









Gail's moebius was intended to be worn just around the neck.  She used an interesting novelty yarn that had a lot of texture and glitter to it.  This moebius was shorter and narrower than the others, but was the perfect length for Gail.

And yes, we are still working on felted purse projects.  Jean made this one, which she said was "felted within an inch of its life."  No kidding--it lost all stitch definition and turned into a perfect felt!

Hilary finished this lace-weight alpaca shawl made from the Interweave Crochet Dahlia pattern.  Since she intends to wear this shawl with jeans, she did not pin out all of the edging to block.  This photo shows the lace edge detail.

Jody with a Y used an iPad to show us her latest project--the crocheted representation of Terry Pratchett's fantasy world, "Discworld," which is a flat planet riding on the back of 4 elephants standing on the back of a tortoise that is flying through space.  Jody say if you haven't ever read any of Pratchett's books, check them out!  They are hilarious fun and also good social commentary.

Patterns for the elephants and the tortoise are available on PlanetJune -  http://www.planetjune.com/  There are also suggestions for how to make the Discworld, but you're left pretty much on your own for that piece, since it is based on Pratchett's copyrighted map of his Discworld fantasy world.  Moptop is the name of this little character. This little guy (gal?) on the right is from a free pattern on PlanetJune. Lots and lots of wonderful amigurumi patterns (some free, mostly to purchase) on that site.