Knit & Crochet Show Part 3

 As I mentioned, my first class during the Knit & Crochet show was double-ended tunisian crochet with Darla Fanton.  I was excited to try this out.  All 3 of these swatches are made using a double-ended tunisian hook, but with slightly different placement of the hook, or in the case of the ripple stitch, there are increases and decreases worked into the fabric to create the ripple.  Very cool technique!  It was very fun to try.

The next class I had was “Design Your Own Stitch Pattern” with Marty Miller.  She made us all raise our right hands and take an oath to not tell anyone how to alter stitch existing stitch patterns to make our own, so I can’t tell you how to do it, but I will say that I cam up with a few new stitch patterns that I really like.  I will probably use them in future patterns.

My third class was “Fine Shaping in Stitch Patterning” with Lily Chin.  This class was really great and has already proven very helpful in designing.  Lily also taught a class on pattern draping during Professional Development Day that was very helpful and insightful.  I enjoyed getting to know Lily a little bit during these classes and during events.  She has a sarcastic sense of humor that I appreciate.  That sarcastic humor is definitely something that I grew up with in my family.

On Saturday there was a meet & greet between designers and editors.  I was VERY nervous about this.  It was, for me, the most anticipated part of the conference.  I was very hopeful that this would help me get my foot in the door to more publishing opportunities.  I can’t share specific details, but I will say that I was very pleased with how the meet & greet went.  I look forward to sharing the details as I am able.

My last class was Tunisian Entrelac – also with Darla Fanton.  I really enjoyed learning this technique!  We made these little bowls.  I decided to felt mine, so I started off using a very large hook, an M, with my worsted weight wool yarn.  I tossed it in the washer today with some towels, soap, and nearly boiling water I heated up on the stove.  I’ve tried felting before and never had it turn out very well, but this time was different.  My previous failures are the reason that I heated some water on the stove to add to the washer.  It definitely worked this time, and I am very happy about my successful felting!

And now, finally, details on the giveaway!  I received two copies of this book All About Crochet written by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss.  They were donated by Rita Weiss.  You may remember from 2 posts back that I mentioned that Jean Leinhauser, who recently passed away, was just named as the first inductee to the CGOA Hall of Fame.  This is an encyclopedic (read, alphabetical) style guide book to crochet.  It would be pretty helpful to a beginner or intermediate-level crocheter.  I am very happy that I got 2 copies of it so that I can keep one, and share one.  So, to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this blog post.  You can get a second entry by tweeting an @ reply to me BananaMoonStdio with a link to this post.  I will conduct a random drawing on Monday August 8th and announce the winner.  Good luck!

Happy crocheting!