I've had a lot of fun following blog hops, collecting free patterns and celebrating the yarny goodness of March, National Crochet Month. I hope you enjoyed the celebration of all things crochet. Unfortunately, we're not really getting another National Crochet Month, but April is going to be a busy month for Crochet Twin Cities. I am NOT going to talk about Mother Nature's little April Fool's joke, because, seriously?
I've always had a love/hate relation with the granny square. The first afghan I ever made was a colorful black edged granny square design. As a 13-year-old, I didn't understand the fine points of leaving long tails and weaving them in and it didn't take long for the afghan to begin to unravel. Years later, pregnant with my first child, I made an over-size granny baby blanket. I guess you could say it was my first time creating my own design. My plan had to be add a few rounds every year for her birthday, so that she would eventually have a blanket big enough for a double bed. I kept it up until her 4th or 5th birthday, but by her 6th birthday I was too busy with her and her 2 brothers under 2 years old. *This story will make sense as soon as you learn that the topic for April's meeting is granny squares.
We'll kick April off with our regular "2nd Saturday" meeting on Saturday, April 8th, at a St. Paul library. Suzi will be joining us to show us her own take on and technique for the classic granny square. There will be plenty of time for show & tell and social time before and after education (11am-noon). Details can be found in the calendar or April newsletter sent to members. The granny "square" rectangle afghan in pictured isn't one of Suzi's. One of our members, Virginia, made it about a year ago and I found it posted in Ravelry. The pattern is available free here:
Caron Rectangular Crochet Granny Afghan Pattern | Yarnspirations.
Jumping to the next weekend (see what I did there?), Friday & Saturday, April 14 &15, CTC will be Yarn Shop Hopping! Our current plan is to split the 12 participating shops equally between Friday and Saturday. If you want to ride along, contact us at ctclist@gmail.com to confirm space is available and get the details. Non-members are welcome as long as there is space available, so if your bestie isn't a member of CTC you can still bring them along! If you can't commit to a full day or prefer to drive your own vehicle, we'll send the schedule out to all members after the April 8th meeting. You can find out more about the hop on their website at: Minnesota Yarn Shop Hop.
Finally, our April 22 "4th Saturday" meetup will be at the MOA in the North Food Court as usual. We had 21 people attend the March meetup in Roseville, I'm excited to see how many show up this month. With 4 days of events, I hope we see you at one or more of them in April.
A spot has opened up at the June fiber arts retreat in Hudson, WI. The cost of the retreat is $120 for Thursday, June 22 through Sunday, June 25. Bedrooms are shared, linens & towels are provided. There's a fully stocked kitchen and we all bring plenty of food & beverages. Since we're close enough to town for delivery, we'll order pizza one night and some will choose to check out local restaurants. If you are interested reach out to me (Theresa), via the email/phone number listed in the member roster or ctclist@gmail.com The fiber arts retreat welcomes knitters, spinners, weavers, and I think we've even had a quilter at one. All of that to say that the fiber arts retreats are not sponsored or endorsed by CTC in any way. Attendees include former members and non-members. The retreat weekends often include field trips to a LYS (Stillwater's Darn Knit Anyway is not far) and other spots of interest, but mostly involve crafting and socializing, and of course, there is always time to admire each other's handiwork.
Speaking of which, did you see my FB post about the Crochet Retro Stripe Hexagon Cardigan - Repeat Crafter Me? I've been thinking about making the sweater and posted a link to the free pattern. Several members and other fiber friends commented, and a couple of members posted pictures of the versions they had made (Lori's longer version above and Peggy's appears below). I am hoping to see a fashion show at the June retreat as several more of the attendees have them. I love that people are willing to show me how they customized the pattern for themselves and share the joys and trials of a pattern.
See you soon!
