Embellishing Crochet: Oct 11 Meeting Preview

We all love bling and this month our meeting is all about bling - those extra touches to embellish crochet projects with a bit of punch and pizzazz! At this month's meeting, we'll start with a brief demo and background information on three embellishment techniques, followed by break-out sessions where you'll get a chance to try your hand at one or more of these techniques. Don't think you're quite ready for embellishments? No worries - we'll also have a beginner table at the break-out with someone there to help as you need on basic crochet techniques.

The embellishment techniques that we'll feature are:

• Embroidery: Tunisian simple stitch makes the perfect background for cross-stitch embroidery - the squares look almost like embroidery cloth. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do the embroidery and in this session you'll learn the difference.
• Flowers: Crocheted flowers are a very versatile embellishment - you can use them to decorate other projects (and those other projects don't have to be crocheted!) or they can be used "standalone" as jewelry or hair ornaments. In this session, you'll learn tips and tricks for making and using flowers for every occasion.
• Beading: Incorporating beading into a simple crocheted item is one way to transform an ordinary project into something extra-ordinary. In this session, you'll learn tips and tricks for two different beading methods.

The meeting will be Saturday October 11 at the Textile Center of Minnesota, 3000 University Ave SE, Minneapolis, with the following schedule:.

• 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 - Crochet Education

Important schedule information: 
The U of M Minnesota Gophers football team has a game at 11:00 AM that same day at TCF Bank Stadium, which is only a few blocks away. The area will be crowded so plan accordingly - take public transportation or car pool and if you drive, come early and allow extra time to find parking.

To get the most out of this meeting, bring along supplies for the techniques you'd like to try:

Embroidery:

• One or more 6" x 6" swatches in Tunisian simple stitch, suggest making with worsted weight yarn
• A yarn needle
• Small amounts of same weight yarn in several different colors than your swatch - this is the yarn that will be used for embroidery, you might want to bring enough to trade colors with your neighbors

Flowers:

• A few ounces of yarn in worsted, DK, or sport weight - as with any new technique, light to medium solid colors work best
• Appropriate size hook for your yarn
• If you want to glue your flower to a simple barrette, or have a barrette that a flower could be slipped onto, bring it with you

Beads:

• A few ounces of heavy worsted weight or bulky yarn
• Appropriate size hook for your yarn
• Pony beads will be provided for samples (which is why heavier yarn suggested) but if you want to bring smaller beads and smaller size yarn and hooks for practice, that's OK too

Beginners:

• We have yarn and hooks available for you, just bring your questions!

We hope you can join us!