Today's post is a long one covering CTC history. The most important bits are at the end. If you're up for a trip down memory lane, read on; if you are short on time, scroll to the end, the last few paragraphs deal with our current news and future plans.
More than 13 years ago, a group of crochet friends started meeting at an LYS (Local Yarn Store). In 2010, Crochet Twin Cities (CTC) set up an email, a blog and established a schedule of second Saturday meetings and 5th Saturday outings. Members of the group belonging to the Crochet Guild of America arranged to have a listing for CTC on the CGOA website. The CGOA's Chain Link conference was held in Minneapolis, in 2011 and CTC presence at the conference helped the group to grow. Our first president was elected in 2012, and in 2013 CTC joined the Textile Center of Minnesota and began hosting regular monthly meetings at the Center.
Over the last decade, the group has grown and evolved, 5th Saturday outings gave way to 4th Saturday meetups. By-laws were created (and revised), a board was established, and membership dues were set at $24/year to pay for the rental of a mailbox, storage space and meeting rooms for 2nd Saturdays, as well as other incidental costs. CTC held an exhibit, "Start Seeing Crochet" at the Textile Center. The Minneapolis Satellite Reef branch of the International Coral Reef project, gave members a chance to learn, stretch and show off their skills in 2014. The MN State Fair, county fairs, fiber festivals and American Craft Council provided opportunities for our group to reach out to the public and share our love of our craft. Members organized retreats, traveled to Chicago and around the country to attend conferences and created a crochet family.
Covid struck the world in 2020, and CTC leadership pivoted to hosting online education and Zoom meet up events, to keep our community connected during the pandemic and quarantine. The leadership even managed to pull off a virtual version of our much-loved annual destash event. Kudos to the team that put so much effort into to keep our group alive and well during trying times!
Edie Eckman kicked off 2022 for us, with a January Zoom education session that was a huge success. By spring many of our members were anxious to begin meeting in person again, unfortunately, the Textile Center was still not open for meetings. No worries! CTC would not be deterred, and 2022 found us meeting in person at local libraries for our education sessions and back at the MOA and HarMar for meetups. CTC welcomed Edie back in January 2023, and tried our hand at a hybrid (Zoom and in-person) meeting in February.
This month, we gave the hybrid meeting another go. The meeting room set up at this library and the education topic make a big difference in how well it works. Going forward, members will be welcome to join us via Zoom for socializing and show & tell, as long as we have the necessary volunteers and equipment in place. If members would like to have an online meeting apart from the in-person meeting, connect with Theresa to set up the Zoom meeting. Details will be shared via the member newsletter. Email us at ctclist@gmail.com to volunteer for April or future meetings.
Our affiliations with the CGOA and Textile Center are changing, due to decisions made by their leadership. A major change in the by-laws of CGOA means it is no longer sufficient for our president to be a member, CGOA wants all of our local members to join the national group to maintain our status as a chapter, that would require members to pay dues to both CTC and CGOA *more to come on this. The Textile Center has changed the fees for room rentals (more than triple pre-pandemic rates) and raised the rate for group membership. As CTC adjusts to a post-pandemic world, our group needs all of our members' input to help inform the direction of our future.
Looking ahead, our second Saturday meetings will return to more casual themes (holiday/seasonal, tips & tricks), project focused (chemo hats, name tags), and fun (yarn tastings, field trips). We'll have formal education 2-4 times per year, bringing in teachers from outside of our membership. Edie's been great, and Suzy's awesome, I bet we can find more fabulous teachers without the stress of creating a lesson plan, handouts or preparing to be camera ready. Meetings (2nd Saturday of the month) will continue to be held primarily at libraries in Hennepin or Ramsey County, unless we're out and about. Meet ups (4th Saturday of the month) will continue to alternate between the MOA (even months) and HarMar Barnes & Noble (odd months).
We'll always send out the meeting information in the member newsletter, or you can check the calendar, email us at: ctclist@gmail.com, or look us up on social media. Members have access to our member roster, I welcome your feedback, suggestions and questions via phone, text or email.
Veni, vedi, crochet! I came, I saw, I crocheted. Theresa
