Irish Lace Crochet (Part 1): September 14 Meeting Preview

Irish Crochet, also known as Clones Lace, is an intricate and lovely lace crochet technique that is
made by creating individual motifs that are then joined together on a mesh background. Motifs are often worked over packing threads to make them three-dimensional and both the motifs and the joining mesh can be varied by the individual crocheter. This picture shows some of the traditional motifs as well as a completed piece.


This month we begin a two-part series to explore this existing technique. At the September meeting, you'll get a chance to learn how to create motifs and practice with a Wild Irish Rose motif that uses several Irish Crochet techniques. Then at the October meeting, you'll learn all about joining motifs (including the mysterious Clones Knot).

We invite all interested Twin City crocheters to join us Saturday, September 14 from 1pm to 3pm at Prospect Park United Methodist Church for this meeting. You will need to bring the following materials:

• If you want to make Irish Lace in the traditional way, bring a ball of #10 cotton crochet thread and appropriate hook size such as a 1.65 mm steel hook (Boye steel hook size 7). If you're accustomed to working in crochet thread you can (of course) adjust your hook size and/or thread size. For example, if you are used to working in finer threads such as #20 feel free to bring that size thread and a smaller hook.
• If you are not comfortable with thread-work, the motifs can be worked in yarn such as sock-yarn or sport-weight. Just make sure you bring a solid-color yarn (preferably one with a tight twist) and appropriate size hook.

We hope to see you there!

(And don't forget that beginning in October, we'll be in our new meeting location - the Textile Center of Minnesota.)

Blue Moon Coffee Cafe: August 31 Fifth Saturday Outing

If you follow our blog, you know that fifth Saturdays are special. Any time a month has five Saturdays, we plan an outing - sometimes informal, sometimes a special event - but usually at a place where we can crochet and chat.

This fifth Saturday lands smack-dab on a holiday weekend but we're planning a get-together anyway. Our last fifth Saturday CTC internet cafe was so successful, we've decided to do the same thing again. So if you have a laptop or other wireless device, we invite you to bring it and show others some of the crochet-related sites on the web that you've found - or ask questions of the others about crochet-related sites. Of course, if you just want to come along to crochet and chat (or just drink coffee and chat), that's fine too.

Here are the details:

• Place: Blue Moon Coffee Cafe at 3822 E. Lake Street Minneapolis. If you're coming from St. Paul on Marshall/Lake, it's about 10 blocks after you cross the Mississippi - or if you're coming from Minneapolis on Lake, it's about 10 blocks before you reach the Mississippi. (If you open their web page, click on the Contact Us link then click on the Get A Map button for more detailed directions.)
• Time: Saturday, August 31 1:00 PM till approximately 3:00 PM.

We hope to see you there!

If you aren't able to come, have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend.

Project Gallery August 2013

Joan brought a felted royal blue messenger bag that she designed and created for her granddaughter. She took a class at the Northfield Yarn Shop with her daughter and grandkids (ages 7 and 9) on needle felting, and the messenger bag is decorated with a motif her granddaughter made!  It took her from May to August to finish the project, but it is worth it. The bag is awesome. It is made from Lamb’s Pride, a blend of 85% wool and 15% mohair that felts us beautifully.


Jen shared a baby blanket that she made using her grandmother’s magazine pattern from the 1960’s. It is called “Easy Stitch Baby Afghan”, and looks like a granny square although it is mostly chains and double crochets. She made it up with leftover acrylic yarn in pink and green. We love the “easy” aspect of this project.Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the blanket so maybe she'll have to

bring it back again.

Jen also shared some washcloths she made while practicing the Tunisian stitch. She used her double-ended hook to double crochet one way and single crochet the other, creating an interesting pattern.

Gail shared a flower pot with a chevron design that she made in orange, rust and cream using the tapestry technique. She also had a swatch of a “thermal stitch” which was a double thickness done with one stitch which many requested she teach us how to do!  In addition, she reported on the  many classes that she attended at the Knit & Crochet Show in
Indianapolis in July and showed us swatches from all of them.

Carla showed two hats that she created from Pinterest photos her kids provided as “patterns”. She emphasized that the techniques she learned in Crochet Twin Cities were what gave her the skill to create the outstanding hats that she made since she needed to modify the patterns. She had a small, grey and purple felted earflap cap for a toddler (sorry, no pic), and a grey knight’s helmet with a moveable visor and a ridge along the crown for an adult. The knight’s helmet was a hit with the CTC group and her son!



Jo shared her ribbons from the Anoka County Fair for her maroon sweater (Sweepstakes), yellow filet centerpiece (blue ribbon), blue/green shawlette (blue ribbon), and green wire beaded bracelet (white ribbon). All these items have been explained in previous posts. She plans to enter some of these items in the State Fair as well!

We had asked members to bring in Tunisian samples and Joy brought two afghans she made many years ago with the Tunisian simple stitch. Each had cross-stitch embellishments on them. The white afghan was done before she learned to do embellishments properly so the reverse side is messy. The flowered afghan was created in panels, and she did the counted cross-stitch properly on this throw, creating a stunning piece of work.

Julie had a number of scarfs to show us, all of them made with various Tunisian techniques. The first was from the Wingspan pattern on Ravelry - made with Hoops & Threads Woodlands colorway yarn (wool, nylon and polyester) in a lovely mix of oranges/rusts/reds.

She made two examples of the Cool Waves Shawl by Sheryl Means (Interweave Crochet Summer 2010); one in maroon and one in grey and green. Both used the same hook but one turned out much bigger so she must have started with more stitches.

This navy scarf is Misti alpaca yarn and the pattern is a Tunisian pattern that Julie designed herself. Finally, she showed a beige and grey heathered basketweave Tunisian stitch scarf which is so heavy that it can stand on edge with no support.

Speaking of Tunisian, Maxine modeled a shrug she made for last year's CGOA Design Competition - made in twelve colors of perle cotton and over 3,000 beads. The main body of the shrug is made by alternating rows of extended Tunisian knit stitch with rows of extended single crochet. She also passed around her entry for this year's design contest (a cape with felted yoke and lots more beads) but, due to rules of the competition, would not let us photograph it.




Last but not least, Betsy shared an amigurumi mouse that she made from a Ravelry cat toy pattern. It was bright pink with a sparkly tail and sparkly whiskers, and everyone loved it!

Meeting Highlights: Tunisian Workshop

The Publicity Committee kicked off the meeting with role playing to provide ideas about how to promote Crochet Twin Cities during our “Crochet In Public” project this fall and how to hand out business cards.

During the discussion afterwards, the following ideas surfaced:

• The “hostess” for a “Crochet In Public” session will pick a spot where she would like to crochet for a few hours.  Several members who live near each other may want to work together. Your goal is to interest people in crocheting and invite them to visit our group. 
• Let the CTC officers know if you want to organize a group by sending an email to ctclist@gmail.com. Include the date and place of the meetup so that the officers can update our event calendar with your meetup information. 
• Offer business cards to people you meet who seem interested in crochet.
• Keep track of how many cards are handed out and report on the experience at the next meeting.
• When you offer a business card, point out the blog and let the person know they can look at pictures of our projects there as well as get details about upcoming events.
• Put your Ravelry name on the back of our CTC card if you’d like to communicate with them.
• Offer to bring someone to a meeting with you or connect with a CTC member who lives near them.
• “Like” the CTC Facebook page so your friends will see the group.
• Our overall goal for all publicity activities is to increase membership by 5%-10% next year.

After Show and Tell, Jo and Carla took over to share information about stitch variations in Tunisian and Double-Ended Hook crochet. This picture shows some of the samples they made of these stitch

variations.

Carla made samples from Annie’s Attic “101 Double-Ended Hook Stitches. The Essential Stitch Guide” of the ripple stitch, single crochet loop stitch, puff stitch which made bobbles on both sides of the swatch, bobble stitch which made a bobble on one side and the long double crochet post stitch which created a 1-sided ripple.

Jo used Annie’s Attic “101 Easy Tunisian Stitches” to create swatches for the Tunisian Puff Stitch, Tunisian Shell Stitch, Tunisian Lace Stitch, Tunisian V stitch and had information on embellishing Tunisian crochet.

Announcements at the end of the meeting included:

• We'll meet at the Prospect Park United Methodist Church in September.  This will be our last meeting at the church.  We move to the Textile Center in October.
• In September and October, we will learn about Irish Lace crochet.
• Jo will be sending out a survey to gather ideas about future meeting topics and instructors.  We will follow a format of learning a new technique one month, and practicing with it the next month. The Program Committee will soon be actively recruiting teachers for future meetings; they will be glad to help write and prepare handouts, assist in making samples, brainstorm about how to teach the class, assist during the class, and help in any other way to make your teaching experience a success.

Tunisian Workshop: August 10 Meeting Preview

We're on a roll here, a Tunisian roll! No, this isn't some kind of new deli sandwich, it's the third and last meeting of our series on Tunisian crochet; all Twin Cities crocheters are invited to join us Saturday, August 10 from 1pm to 3pm at Prospect Park United Methodist Church.

At this month's meeting, everyone will have an opportunity to expand on the Tunisian and double-ended Tunisian skills that we've covered in the last two meetings. Jodi and Carla, workshop leaders, will start by showing us additional stitch samplers and projects. They will have handouts of the stitch patterns so during the practice part of the meeting you can try the new patterns - or you can work on other Tunisian or double-ended projects - with coaching from Jodi or Carla as needed.

You'll need to bring the following materials to the meeting:

• Tunisian or double-ended Tunisian hooks
• Appropriate yarn for the hooks. If you want to practice double-ended stitches, be sure to bring two solids colors of your yarn (light or medium colors are easiest to work with)
• Tapestry needle and scissors

(And if you don't have the hooks, there will be a few extras on hand that you can borrow.)

If you have Tunisian or double-ended Tunisian projects that you've done (even if not recent), please bring them to inspire others! Here's a sample of one that you'll see: just a close-up, the type of project and who made it will remain a mystery until the meeting!




Before we get started on the workshop, we also plan to have a lively follow-up discussion (with role-play) about how to use CTC business cards to promote our group as well as finalize our plans about this fall's crochet-in-public - CIP - project so be sure to bring your ideas about good meetup locations in your local area.

We hope to see you there!