Granny Squares Everywhere

AJ's Sweater

Joy's purse

 Let's face it, love 'em or hate 'em, the granny square is a crochet classic. Right now, the granny square is also in fashion.   From home decor to runways, grannies can be found all over social media.   The thing about granny squares is weaving in ends: every round has two ends, and each square is typically 4 or 5 rounds, now multiply that by the number of squares, the joining and border, and that is a lot of ends.  Ends that must be crocheted over, woven in or you will pay the price.  *My first large crochet project was a granny square afghan I made for my mother from a kit, I purchased when I was 14.  It was lots of work and I was very proud of it, until I learned what happens when you don't leave long enough tails and weave in ends with eye for longevity,   

Tony's herd of llamas for Peru - a group effort

Jeni's doll dress

You may already know that Red Heart came out with All-in-One Granny Square Yarn, which is designed to create 14 - 5 row granny squares per skein, with only 2 ends per square.  Many CTC members have seen Gloria's Market Day Cardi.  Gloria agreed to share her experience with yearn for our May meeting.  There were a dozen members at the Wescott Library on Saturday, 5/11, (including one brand new member - Welcome Deb!), and everyone one of us was able to complete a square by meetings' end.  Of course we all had fun with show & tell - I've included a few pictures.

Max's mosaic purse 

We had a surprise visitor today! For those of you who don't know Maxine, she was one of the founding members and is much missed at CTC.  Max dropped by at the beginning of the meeting to do a little de-stashing, which was greatly appreciated.  Of course, we had to know what she was working on lately, and she told us about Icelandic designer Tinna Thorudottir.  Max was carrying a gorgeous mosaic purse, based off of a design by Tinna.  Your president has your back!   I asked Max if she might be willing to come to a meeting as a guest instructor.  With this technique, the zipper is built into the finished item.  

Gloria shared a slideshow with inspiration for many projects using granny squares and has graciously agreed to share it with the group.  Members can access the slide show here..   There are so many options for granny square projects, from solid colors to the new yarn, scrap-busting, to classic colors, you might want to give it a try.  Whether or not you attended the meeting, you are welcome to participate in the Granny Square project challenge issued by Gloria; we'll share our projects at the September meeting. I'm looking forward to seeing you all in the upcoming months - we will have such a fun summer!  Theresa

Chilling with Edie

BRRRR, BRRRR, BRRRR I know it's Minnesota and it's January but BRRR!

We had 14 members brave the cold to participate in-person at the Oxboro Library for A Gathering of Grannies. At least 8 members also joined us virtually. While we had thrown Edie for a loop by having a hybrid class as opposed to virtual only, she did a fabulous job of instructing us on a variety of ways to join granny squares (and any motifs, or wearables that require joining). If you attended the class, you should have received a follow-up email from Edie with links to additional resources from the class. Please reach out to ctclist@gmail.com if you haven't received a copy, so that we can ensure we sent the correct email address to Edie. Edie's policies prohibit us from sending this email to members who did not attend.

After education, we held our first board meeting of 2024. The board and members in attendanced voted to award lifetime membership status to members in good standing for 10 or more years. Lifetime membership status is primarily an acknowledgement of your longstanding membership and participation, however, if you are a lifetime member who is also retired, you will no longer be required to pay dues. If you have questions about lifetime membership, please send an email to ctclist@gmail.com.

We'll be meeting at Rosedale Center on January 27 for January's fourth Saturday meetup. I hope to see many of you there. February's second Saturday meeting on February 10th will feature thermal stitch, and is open to the public. Oh, I nearly forgot the most exciting news: We're having a baby! Well, okay we are not ALL having a baby, but one of our member's will be having a baby in July. I'll be organizing a CAL baby blanket, with each member who wishes to participate contributing a square or motif that will be joined together to create a one-of-a-kind gift. I'll be figuring out the details regarding size, yarn, etc, and sharing by the February meeting. If you have any ideas and/or are already sure that you would like to participate, reach out via ctclist@gmail.com.

Every year, I am grateful for Crochet Twin Cities.

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is this week. The holiday season is upon us. As hectic and stress-inducing as it can be, this time of year also offers the opportunity to find much joy.  Saturday at our destash was a perfect example: I love it when I can make people smile and I saw more than a few smiles today.  I am so thankful for a successful destash and all of the members who helped make it happen! 

The amount of yarn passing through the destash just never fails to amaze me.  Words don't do the event justice, so I'm just going to give you bunches of pictures while I give you information on a few items of note.  I like to do this thing where I put the "important" stuff in amongst my musings - so you'll have to read through to the end to get the most important bits, but if you skip to the end...you might miss something. *Power goes straight to my head!

Firstly, the 4th Saturday meeting this weekend will be at Rosedale Mall this weekend.  We'll be on the lower level, SW entrance D (Fairview side).  If you're familiar with the mall, it's where the Burger King had been located.  We hope you can find time to join us for a break during the holiday / shopping season.   

Did you miss the destash?  Maybe you were there, but you didn't get one of the coveted key fobs or magnets? Are you planning a 2024 temperature project?  If so, you are in luck! You can order swag with the 2024 CTC Swag Order Form. Print the form and bring it with your cash payment to a meeting or meet up or email your order to ctclist@gmail.com.  Note: Neither CTC nor any of it's officers or members receive compensation for these items. *If you're looking for a unique Christmas gift, there's a link on the form for What I made design's website.  

Fun story: One of our members who had received one of the fobs as a door prize, wound up giving it away on her way home.  You know this story, stop at a store, strike up a conversation over a handmade item, one thing leads to another, and CTC has a new friend, and the new friend has a new key fob.  Joy does a much better job of telling the story, but you get the idea. 

Wait...you do know this story, don't you?  It's not just me, I hope?  I know Carla's there with me. I am shameless in promoting CTC to people I meet.  I'm not one of the original members, but I joined fairly early, so I've been a member for over 10 years.   My first ever crochet retreat was with CTC members. There may have been a couple of years that I only made it to a couple of meetings (try not to ever miss the destash, though), but the group has been a touchstone for me.  

Don't forget to renew your membership for 2024 to ensure that you continue to receive the newsletter.  While you can always visit the blog, or our FB page, your best source of information is your monthly newsletter, available only with a paid membership. You can get the membership form under "About Us" and "Member Policies". Our treasurer will greatly appreciate you bringing exact change to pay your dues, as we are still a cash organization.

There will be a special guest educator for our December 2nd Saturday meeting (December 9th).  As usual, when we have a guest teaching, the meeting is open to dues-paid members only.  In addition to the supply list (recommended yarn is Red Heart Super Saver - so if you don't have any on hand, you should be able to find a substitute) for the project, the December newsletter will have the information you'll need for connecting virtually. We'll be at Highland Park Library and have a "watch party" for all members who are able to join us in person.  I'd say you can bring popcorn, but maybe something a little more crochet friendly would be better.  Of course, if my bribe paid off, there could be scones or other delicious homemade treats. 

I don't know about you, but generally speaking, there isn't enough yarn in the world to get me to the Mall of America just before Christmas.  We're cancelling the 4th Saturday meetup on December 23 and will hold a 5th Saturday meetup on December 30th instead. Details will be on the calendar and meetups are always open to the public.

2024 kicks off with Edie Eckman for our January education (Saturday, January 9, 2024). Since it's an odd number month, we'll also have a board meeting.  Members will again have the option to joining us in person at the Oxboro Library in Bloomington or virtually.  Edie's been kicking off our new year for a few years now and I'm looking forward to "A Gathering of Grannys: Seaming Methods for Granny Squares and Other Shapes".  You can check out Edie's website for class information.  Our details will be in the newsletter.  Dues must be paid on or before the date of the January meeting to receive the link or to attend in person.  

Whatever 2024 brings, I know it will be filled with fun, fiber and friends thanks to Crochet Twin Cities!   Until next time, your president, Theresa.