'70s crochet, Ballerina Quilt, Nesting Cat & can you spot some crochet?

A fellow crocheter posted the link for this blog to the group. I loved the picture of the 1970's...everything seemed so familiar. The "bowl haircut", which was called a pixie when my little sister and I had to sport them in the 1950's and 1960's. The white boots called "go go boots" when my soon-to-be-sister-in-law and I sported them in the late '60's. On to other pictures - like the embroidered linens with crochet edges, every well-dressed bedroom had to have flat surfaces properly covered.
I love all the photos, such lovely quilts, flower arrangements, cups & saucers, and you never know where you'll notice little bits of crochet - lace, granny squares, skirts,...

More Lace Pottery

I've posted before about the Lace Pottery of Maggie Weldon. She uses lace - crocheted, knitted or tatted - and presses it into clay, then glazes and fires the work to create lovely pottery.
This gentleman in New Mexico also makes lace pottery - he uses the doilies that his mother crocheted. His glazes are the bright colors of the southwest. I'd love to see his work in real life. And maybe buy a small piece to complement the two pieces of Maggie Weldon Lace Pottery that I own.

Fair Isle in Crochet

I absolutely love the look of Fair Isle. Look at the lovely designs that Karen Ratto Whooley has created in single crochet. These designs are in a book titled Fair Isle for Crochet. I bought this book recently and would love to dive into one of the designs. I think that my favorite afghan is the lovely snowflakes on light blue. Beautiful!

Hmmm...maybe rather than jumping into a full afghan project (which I don't have the time for now), I could take one snowflake motif and work it into a square or rectangular block for a Warm Up American block. Tomorrow I'll spend some time with the book again.

Some Fabulous Freeform

I have been busy with making swatches and writing lesson plans for the CYCA Certified Instructors Program, and for the Tunisian class that I will be teaching at Knitters Day Out in September. I haven't had much time for writing, but I have been finding some fun things on-line and dropping them into a post and saving them.

Here's a blog that I discovered while checking on the "CGOA Blog Now" site.

Check out the lovely freeform on Shelby's blog. Two of her designs won prizes in the CGOA Design Competition. The awards were announced at the July Chain Link Conference in Manchester, and the items were on display and shown during the fashion show. Shelby's little baby coat won the Grand Prize! My favorite is the Dutch Blue Necklace. Lovely scrumblings, and a fabulous job of joining them into a work of art.

A Humorous look at Crochet

Get your daily laugh from this great video about crochet and crocheters. This was filmed at the Chain Link Conference in Manchester this July. I was in the market while the beginning was being filmed. It drew some attention! "What's going on over there?" Who is that and what's on her head?" At the time all I knew was that it was Gwen Blakley Kinsler, aka the Crochetqueen, and that was definitely a crown on her head.

The project was Gwen's idea. She wrote the script and recruited actors and film crew. Great job everyone!
Read more on "Gwen's blog".

Carving a wooden crochet hook

wow! A tutorial with plenty of pictures and lots of details on carving a wooden hook. My favorite part? It's definitely a tapered head! There are lots of detailed photos. Enjoy.

2011 Chain Link Conferences

Yes, that title is plural. Next year the CGOA is back to having 2 Conferences a year. Previously the CGOA, The Knit & Crochet Show, and Offinger offered 2 conferences, one was National and one Regional. Since the Knitting Guild and the Market were combined with the CGOA, one conference was the Crocheters National/Knitters Regional and the other was the Crocheters Regional/Knitters National. It's sounding like 2011's conferences might be promoted as equal conferences, not one national, one regional.

I know for a fact that the CGOA Board of Directors is busy discussing events to promote at each of these Conferences.
To keep up-to-date with information about the conferences, check out the "CGOA website", the "blog CGOA Now!" and "Ravelry CGOA group".

I've got the dates written on my calendar!

Minneapolis in July
Classes: Wednesday, July 27 through Saturday, July 30
Shopping: Friday, July 29 through Sunday, July 31
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis

Greensboro, NC in September
Classes: Wednesday, September 21 through Saturday, September 24
Shopping: Friday, September 23 through Sunday, September 25
Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center

Crochet as Art

I could spend several days on this subject, but I think I'll just introduce you to several different types of crochet art.
First there is sculptural. The Thread Artist Guild makes miniature animals that will melt your heart. "2009 Contest Winners"
"tiny teddy bears"
While the animals are crocheted, there are also sculptural pieces that apply crochet over another medium or object. This "crab" is crocheted lace over fabric. And the latest thing that I've seen is "lace coverings on river rocks".

Wearable art: Crocheted pieces are made into scarves, wraps, necklaces, or accessories "fashion designer"

Tapestry crochet is a technique that a crocheter can use for sculptural items, or wearables. "Carol Ventura" has a variety of projects including flat art, baskets and bowls, purses and bags

Crochet in Art (not crochet as art)

Thanks to the sidebar of the blog I was reading this morning "Crochet by Catherine", I've discovered some artists who painted crocheters as the theme of a painting, not just a person in the background.
The title link is to a portrait by Mary Cassatt. The picture is a close up of her sister crocheting.

Here is another "Girl Crocheting" This is by another American artist Edmund Tarbell.

What are your impressions on "this painting"? It's titled "Woman with a Crochet". Is that Woman with a crochet hook? Woman with a crochet-ed doily? or simply Woman with Crochet (drop that a)? We will not be able to study this, like the others, to find out how women in Early America held their hook or whether they used yarn or thread, or what types of projects they created. Still, the artist did choose crochet as the subject of the painting.

"Sarah London" has a gallery of paintings featuring crocheters. I thought that it was interesting that half were of individual women or girls, and half were a pair of crocheters, usually titled "The Crochet Lesson". I also observed that all the crocheters were using a "pencil hold".
Take time to look at Sarah's masthead of her blog, she has created a work of art with her crochet motifs.

We started with Americans of the Impressionist period. Let's jump now to current day, here's an American teen who is a talented painter. He's fascinated with lines and structure, and he knits and crochets. Read the newspaper article "The Art of Seeing".

Round Granny pillow cushion

I'm back to collecting links to fun things. Here's a tutorial on creating a round granny pillow cover. Notice the paper with the hand drawn symbols for the beginning rounds. She has even taking the time to write out the instructions twice, once in UK crochet terms, once in US crochet terms, and posted the step-by-step pictures in both. It took more time than just a note saying UK treble = US double, but more helpful for beginners. Great photography. What fascinated me, though, was the beautiful lace in the background.
A lovely entry, I aspire to create lovely blog posts!