I’m going to the Chain Link Conference – the long story

I went to my first CGOA conference in March of 2005. It was a regional conference held in King of Prussia, PA, which is about 3 hours from home. I have had plenty of experience driving to and from King of Prussia, as our younger daughter has been going to a dance competition in the area twice a year for many years. I took 24 hours of classes in 4 days! And I came home with a four-inch 3-ring binder full of class handouts, notes, samples, swatches, and notes. I met a lot of crocheters, designers, authors and publishers.
I went to my first National conference in July of 2006. This time, I paced myself and took one morning and one afternoon off from classes, I spent more time looking around the market, getting together with a sock crochet-a-long group, joining blocks for Warm Up America, talking to publishers about my designs, and crocheting in the hotel lobby. It was a great experience, and by Saturday evening, I was saying “There’s no more room in my head for more information!”
But I was “hooked” on the conference experience, and planned on attending every year if possible.
In the late fall of 206, we purchased a van camper and started thinking about where we might like to take mini-vacations. The conference for 2007 was in Manchester, New Hampshire; just a little too long to drive by myself there and back. Besides we had a lovely new camper just waiting for us to make plans. I tossed out the idea of going to the conference and finding a local campground. Then in April, Hubby lost his job, no money for a conference; and he had to be around for job hunting, interviews, etc. He got a new job in October, less salary, less vacation time. Somewhere in our talks I mentioned the conference and camping, but I figured it was out for another year. Hubby usually takes a week of vacation in the summer to take his scout troop to camp, and uses a few days between Christmas and New Years, as the plant shuts down and he had to take vacation, or unpaid days. We got another item to consider this month, as his Mom went into a nursing home, and may be getting released to go home soon. He was talking about how to schedule his vacation, and said he didn’t have a troop to take to camp this summer, and as much as he enjoys the time off at Christmas; he thinks he’ll take a week off and stay with his Mom when she first goes home, and a week for my conference! Bless his heart, he remembered that I really wanted to go. That was last Monday night, and the registration had opened that morning. I teach on Tuesday, and then go out to Borders for Crocheting in Public. I got home and got on the computer and registered Tuesday evening – there were some classes already filled! Midnight after a long day, and I have to decide what classes I want to take, what I can take- because I wanted several at the same time, and how much I could afford to do. I can spend a little more on classes, and commemorative hook, etc because we’ll be saving so much by camping instead of staying at the hotel.
I’ll write a separate entry on the classes that I’m taking, instructors, and the little extras.
WooHoo Conference!!

To get more information about the Crochet Guild of America's Chain Link Conference, go to "Knit and Crochet Show"