Meet Our Members: Carol

This is the first in our bog series where Crochet Twin Cities members get a chance to introduce themselves and tell the group a little more about their crochet background and CTC history. Read through our first introduction - hopefully it will help you know Carol a little better and also inspire you to complete an interview yourself!

Carol, how long have you been a member of CTC?

I'm one of the original CTC members (only we didn't call it that back then). I wasn't one of those who organized that first meeting, I was one of the attendees. I think there were seven of us in all and we met at a local yarn shop. If I'm not mistaken, the first topic of study was hairpin lace. A couple of years later, another member offered to set up a blog if somebody was willing to do the entries--and that somebody was me! I wrote the blog entries and sent out the email notices for a long time before we wrote bylaws and elected officers. And then it was decided that what I was already doing was the secretary's job, and so I officially became the secretary for two years. I've been very involved right from the start. What has kept me coming back all these years is the shared enthusiasm for crochet and all things fiber. I have learned a lot!

Who taught you to crochet?

My Croatian grandmother taught me to crochet when I was in 4th grade. She could not read a pattern but could copy the most complex doilies you can imagine. I mastered the stitches and then I was on my own to create as I saw fit. An aunt later taught me the names of the stitches but I didn't really learn to read patterns until just a few years ago. That is why I like charts best; they make more sense to me. I have collected a lot of books of stitch patterns, which I use as the basis for all sorts of projects. Unless I'm doing thread work, I prefer to create my own designs, like this moebius cowl.


What other crafts do you enjoy?

Two years ago I gave spinning another try, after a hiatus of about 30 years. My major goal now is to produce a handspun yarn that works well with crochet. I prefer to crochet with fingering weight yarn in alpaca or wool, but have yet to spin a consistent fingering weight and have had absolutely no success with alpaca. I might have to reconsider my hatred of all things bulky. I consider myself more of a weaver than a crocheter, based on my fiber output of the past four decades, but in the last decade, I've mostly crocheted. Weaving requires a lot of planning, math, and painstakingly accurate execution. Crochet is so much freer--one loop, one hook, and a lot of instant gratification. My project ideas now center around ways to incorporate crochet into woven items made with my handspun. I'm a multi-fiberist! You'll see me at every CTC meeting, frequently leading the education session on topics related to fiber.

4th Saturday Meetup: September 27

September is flying by - and that means it's meetup time again. This month we're going back to a spot that we tried earlier this year - the Cafe at Barnes and Noble HarMar Mall in Roseville (southeast corner of Snelling Ave and Cty Road B). The meetup will be from 9:00 AM (when the store opens) until approximately noon - the cafe is in the center of the store and we'll just grab some tables when we get there. All area crocheters are invited to drop in at the meetup - no charge for attending.

The Cafe is a great spot for coffee (Starbucks brand), and for informal crochet and chat (which is what meetups are all about). This spot has some extra attractions too - B&N has a fabulous selection of craft books plus there's a Michael's in the shopping center just a few doors away.

The picture is from our last visit to this spot - we just know there's an empty chair with your name on it so we hope to see you there!

Member News September 2014: Social media and more

We mentioned several news items at the last meeting and thought it would be a good idea to recap them here.

Social media: We're actively encouraging members to use Ravelry and Facebook (FB) as a way to get to know each other and connect between meeting. We now have a panel of members - Theresa, Rosemary, and Maxine - who are responsible for daily FB postings and who are eager and willing to help anyone who wants to learn a little more about FB and Ravelry.

All of us love pictures so we're encouraging members to post pictures of their crochet projects in Ravelry and share them with others. Not sure how to post projects to Ravelry? Click on this link for an electronic copy of the instructions that Theresa shared with the group about posting projects. The social media panel members are also encouraging anybody with questions to bring their laptop or tablet to Open Crochet time for some one-on-one help.

On our Facebook page, each day now has a specific theme with two of the theme days designed to highlight member projects and experience.

• Tuesday is Member Project day - the profile picture will change to that of a recent project from a member.Members can help by making their Ravelry project pictures public (see instructions mentioned above) or by sending photos to ctclist@gmail.com.  
• Saturdays will be blog post days with links to our blogs.  Look for Roving Reports, guest bloggers, Meet Our Members and other special posts. Members can help by completing an interview and sending the results to ctclist@gmail.com - you can answer as many of the questions as you'd like or make up similar ones of your own! 
• Members can also help by finding items to share for our theme days, just send a message with your suggestions to the Crochet Twin Cities Facebook page.
• Volunteer to furnish Roving Reports, special topics or be guest bloggers; just email ctclist@gmail.com with your idea(s).  Not only will you have fun, but you can earn an extra raffle ticket!!

 Program planning: At the August meeting, everyone present participated in a quick note-card survey to help us start planning for future meetings. Julie gave us a quick summary of the results - one of the things that came through loud and clear is that almost everyone equally values the fellowship and the learning that our group provides. A small group is meeting on Saturday, Sept 20 to do some serious brainstorming about programs for the next year so we can keep our fellowship and learning opportunities strong. Stay tuned for more information that comes out of that meeting.

Chapter business: The officers are in the process of revising the bylaws to make changes to makeup of the board - watch for details and an email two weeks before the October meeting. Julie also announced that the Treasurer slot has been filled - Maxine will serve in that role for the remainder of the year.

Upcoming events: Our next meetup will be on Saturday, November 27 at the Barnes and Noble Cafe at Har Mar, watch for the blog post. And a reminder that football season is here - the Gophers have home games scheduled in both October and November on our meetings date - everyone is cautioned to allow extra time those days and consider car-pooling or riding in on the Green Line. At this point, game time has not yet been announced; we will continue to monitor and post more information when it becomes available.

Finishing Techniques for CAL Sweater: Sept 13 Meeting Preview

Our sweater CAL (crochet-a-long) project is nearing the finish line.  Can you believe it?  It seems the time just flew by. When you get to the end of a crochet project, there are lots of tips and tricks for finishing your item to make it look professional. At this month's meeting, you'll get a chance to learn various finishing techniques for completing your sweater or other crochet projects you are currently working on.

At this hands-on class, you'll be able to learn about and practice one or more for the following techniques:

• Blocking: We'll have tools and materials available for you to try several blocking techniques with your own swatches. Never tried a hand steamer for blocking or seen blocking wires? This is your chance to try these tools and see if they will help with your crochet projects.
• Trimming: We'll show ideas for finishing edges of your sweater - including the crab stitch and other options.
• Ties: There's more than one way to make a pretty drawstring tie for this sweater - we'll show you several ideas.

The meeting will be Saturday September 13 at the Textile Center of Minnesota (3000 University Ave SE, Minneapolis). Beginning this month, our schedule changes slightly so that we have more time for the hands-on education part of the meeting:

• 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Open Crochet
• 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM - Show n Tell and Business
• 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM - Education

To get the most out of this meeting, you need to bring:

• Swatches from the CAL project (or other swatches that you want to use for practice)
• Your CAL sweater or other project
• Worsted weight yarn and appropriate hooks to try out trimming and ties
• Your questions 

And remember, we're still working on the CTC banner made of 2" white squares for the letters and 2" purple squares for the background; the squares are a wide variety of stitch patterns to show the versatility of our craft. The banner squares will be available to play with so you can try out your ideas for arranging the squares. We're still not sure if we have enough white squares to spell out Crochet Twin Cities or if we'll just use CTC - but the end result will look fabulous either way.

We hope you can join us!

Roving Crochet Reporter: MN State Fair 2014

We couldn't have asked for better fair weather on September 30, our first-ever CTC State Fair outing day! And ever though there were only a few of us we managed to persuade a fellow fair-goer to take our picture for posterity. As you can see, it's bright and sunny and, even though you can't see the sign, we are right in front of the Creative Activities building.

Right away, we headed for the area where most of the crocheted items were displayed - and to see the ribbons that Carla and Julie had been awarded for their items. This is Carla's filet crochet, beautiful presentation and beautiful work!

And this is Julie's purse, showing her mastery of Tunisian and her knack for pairing the right yarn with the right pattern! And isn't it kinda fun to display a pinwheel purse hanging from the ceiling? Gotta admit though, it did take us a few minutes to find it there!

One thing that's really fun about the State Fair and the Creative Activities building is that there is SO MUCH to see - you can walk through it and think you've seen everything but then five minutes later, go back and find something you've missed. It truly is inspirational.  This is a detail from a machine-knitted dress, just look at those lovely pleats! Betcha somebody could use that as inspiration for a crochet project.





It took us almost the full two hours to tour the exhibit and then it was time for everybody to go their separate ways - strolling back through the fairgrounds to the new transit hub, or meeting family and friends to make a day of the fair, or walking back across Snelling Avenue for the bus. As always, there were sights on the way, this is one of my favorites!

So it's goodbye till next year. We are so fortunate to live in a place where we can look forward to the Great Minnesota Get Together - it's a great way to end summer and say hello to fall!