Saturday, February 23, 2008

More MALL OF AMERICA






Here are 2 more photos from the fashion show.

I am totally frustrated in trying to get the photos to upload.
Good thing Pam Gillette has a wonderful array on her blog
http://www.knottygeneration.com





Getting ready to head for the airport.  One more gathering
in the lobby. From Left to right Miriam Tegels, from Holland, me,
 Jennifer Stafford, and Miriam's husband.

You might know Jennifer from her book WHIP YOUR KNITTING INTO SHAPE http://www.domiknitrix.com

It really is such fun meeting so many other authors, but also great
fun just meeting all the people who come out to participate.

There were a lot of freebies given away.  I'll try to take a picture
of all the great stuff that I came home with.

Have a great weekend everybody,

Margaret

Thursday, February 21, 2008



MALL OF AMERICA 2008

Good Morning Everyone,

There was so much going on at the
 Knit/Crochet Event at the Mall, that it is hard for me
 to keep the photos in any kind of order.
 I'm just loading them in and trying to show you
 as much as possible.


Pam Gillette and Me, we kept bumping into each
other while running to our various "need to be" places.





Hazel Tindall (left) from the Shetland Islands, the fasted knitter 2008,
represented the UK Craft Council. Miriam Tegels (center) from
 Holland, Guinness Fastest Knitter title holder.
Wannietta Prescod (right) Canadian Fastest Knitter champion. 
France was also represented,
but I did not get her name or photo.




International Champions competing in fastest knitter
contest.  Hazel Tindall, from the Shetland Islands won.
From left to right Wannietta Prescod, Canada, Miriam Tegels,
Holland, Hazel Tindall, The Shetland Islands,
Lisa Gentry, US, and
the woman from France is far right.


For some reason I cannot add the fashion show
pictures.  I managed to get this one in, and the others
will not download.  No time to figure it out now.  I'll
try again later.



Have a great day.

Margaret

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

MALL OF AMERICA 2008

Good Morning Everyone,

I still have lots of photos from the Mall to share, here are a few more.



The Rotunda, where most of the activities took place





Vicky Howell introducing the authors



Nicky Epstein COVER UP WITH NICKY EPSTEIN and NICKY EPSTEIN'S CROCHETED FLOWERS, Edie Eckman , THE CROCHET ANSWER BOOK, Annie Modesitt and Drew Emborsky, MEN WHO KNIT & DOGS WHO LOVE THEM,  Karen Thalacker, KNITTING WITH GIGI, Melissa Morgan-Oakes 2 AT-A-TIME SOCKS., Susan B. Anderson ITTY BITTY NURSERY, Kristin Nicholas, KRISTIN KNITS, Antje Gillingham, KNITTING CIRCLES AROUND SOCKS, Isela Phelps, LOOM KNITTING PRIMER (I hope I got that all right)





More  photos from the demos

Have a great day

Margaret

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

MALL OF AMERICA 2008

Hi Again,

After being out again all day today, I decided to try to get a few more pictures up from the EVENT at the Mall Of America.





Lots of fun going on in the hospitality room.  Somewhere
in my notes I really did jot down names to go with my photos,
but so far, I have not found them :-)



Nicky Epstein, Me, Lisa Gentry hanging out in the hospitality
room.  Nicky has two new books coming out - COVER UP WITH NICKY
EPSTEIN and NICKY EPSTEIN'S CROCHETED FLOWERS.  I love both books, but COVER UP is a really beautiful book of some of the most spectacular afghans that I have ever seen.  http://nickyepstein.com
I love this book.

Lisa's new book is I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M CHAIN KNITTING, a great technique to add some zest to your knitting http://lisagentry.com
Lisa showed some of us how she creates her chain knitting.  Lisa
also holds the US Yarn Council  and Guinness Book records for
the Fastest Crocheter, her fingers fly!



Barbara Hillery-Van Elsen  http://www.PlayingwithString.com
and Evie Rosen, manning
the Warm Up America Booth.  Evie is founder of
Warm up America http://warmupamerica.com
and Barbara is founder of
the New York City Crochet Guild.  They spent 2 days
collecting and  assembling the thousands of squares that
were donated for the project.  Throughout the day, others
stopped by to help.  I even got to assemble some of the
squares.



Between demos, I volunteered at the teaching center.
My star pupil was Hayley, who learned to knit pretty quickly.
Hayley is nine years old and an enthusiastic student.  I taught
her grandma how to crochet, so it was a delightful afternoon.



At my afternoon demo we had a great crowd, and if you
look carefully on the right, you can see Hayley and Grandma
in the crowd.

I missed the fashion show on day 1, because my demo was at
the same time as the fashion show.  On the second day, I was so
 far back that my pictures are not too good.  If you go to  http://www.knottygeneration.com/
You can see some great photos, taken by my friend and fellow
crochet/knit enthusiast, Pam Gillette.

Still more to come, maybe tomorrow.

Have a great evening.

Margaret


MALL OF AMERICA 2008

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE,

After a trip with delays, snow, rain, and traffic, I am home from MN and the great Knit and Crochet event at the Mall Of America.  Totally exhausted and so glad to be home.

The trip to MN was much more pleasant.  No delays at all, wonderful flight, great landing.  The passengers even applauded the captain on landing.   I discovered Barbara Hillery Van EIsen  and I were on the same plane and lots of others from the NY area also.  One of my seat mates was Zontee Hou, from Lion Brand Yarns, and it was great meeting Zontee.   I arrived Friday afternoon, snow on the ground and minus 2 degrees.  The cold was really something. 

Some photos from the wonderful trip.
Upon checking into the hotel, I spotted a sign just down
the hall.  Upon investigating, I found that the yarn council
had set up a hospitality room, and it was already filled
with attendees.


Every one was chatting and knitting or crocheting.


Nicky Epstein center, Lisa Gentry right.


There was lots of sharing of ideas and techniques
going on.  Everyone getting to know each other
was great fun.

I have only been here a very short time and the fun
has started.



Much more to come later.

Have a great day!

Margaret

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

HAPPILY HOOKED ON CROCHET FEBRUARY MEETING

Good Morning and Happy Valentine's Day,

I know its a little early, but I may not get back to posting
again till its too late.

Sunday, we had a Happily Hooked on Crochet guild meeting in Danbury CT, and what a lively meeting it was.  We had several guests and four of them signed up as new members.  We are really growing by leaps and bounds.  If more people join, we will have to find a bigger place to meet, isn't that wonderful!



Joining me as a guest, and now one of our new
members, Phyllis Sandford.  Phyllis, along with her
co-author Sharon Mann have a new book called
CROCHET KID STUFF, which is available on amazon.com



Grace, our president, arranged to have one of Phyllis' books
for a raffle.

,
Phyllis and Me, posing again :-)

Dee Stanziano, http://crochetwithdee.com
taught us how to do a Clones Knot, and I taught
Bullion and Limpet stitches.  There is something going
on at each meeting, and there is always something new
to learn.

You can see a you tube video of the bullion st at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciaJwMW3Wys

Dee was one of the original founders of the group
and still works very hard at helping our
president, Grace Gardiner.  Besides being a tireless worker, and a fun person,
Grace is an avid crocheter
and keeps our group lively and fun, always thinking
of ways to make the meetings interesting.



,
Pat Shea, another new member brought her
beautiful felted bags to share with us
www.canthisbefelt.com

,
Hinda Ader, joined us a few months ago.
Hinda brought her beautiful window pane
afghan for "show and tell"

,

One of the most wonderful things about our group
is the fantastic charity work that wedo.  116 Chemo
Caps for Danbury hospital, were brought in to the meeting
and these were added to the 75 brought in last month, for
a total of 191 Chemo Caps.  Is that not amazing or what?

Have a great day Everyone

Margaret

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Ravelry etc

Happy Sunday Everyone,

I know that I absolutely overwork the word "amazing" when it comes to the Internet.  I cannot help that I am constantly blown away with each new thing that I learn.

It goes without saying that the network of friends made around the world is truly unbelievable.  Several years ago, I contributed to an exhibit, which took place in Israel, and my theme was exactly that subject, and I named it "Connections".
Several of us, on the International Free Form Crochet list, contributed to the Fiber Exhibit that took place in Haifa.

The funny story behind my piece is, that I was attending a lecture on literature.  The lecturer was Rock Brynner (son of Yul of movie fame).  Any way, Mr Brynner is an avid conservationist, and he started off the lecture by giving his point of view on how we could all help save the planet.  He went on to liken our world to a sweater, and there was a little pull here, and a little snag there, and a moth hole somewhere else, and soon the whole darn sweater would unravel.  Someone in the audience, knowing I was there, said "give it to Margaret, she can fix it", everyone laughed. 

Shortly thereafter, when I was asked to participate in the exhibit, and the theme had to be fiber related, and had to have figures in it.  They could be lifelike or they could be abstract.  Well figures are not my thing, and I could not come up with an idea.  I kept thinking of our world as a sweater, and the germ of an idea began to take place.  If we all did our little part, then we could save the planet, and I envisioned women the world over coming together to help - and Connections was born.  I always felt that it was kind of child like, but others seem to like it, and that little piece has traveled more that me.



When I received my first computer, as a gift, I never imagined the wonder of it all.  And now we have Ravelry http://ravelry.com 

If you do not know about ravelry, please check it out.  It is the most wonderful site for all things knitted and crocheted and more.  I am still "baby stepping" my way around, because there is a lot to learn, but each day I make new strides and more new friends.  I did have lots of help from my friend Dee, http://crochetwithdee.com
who taught me how to get my pictures up on ravelry, along with some other important things, like joining new groups etc.

Dee is a great friend to have when you need help, especially technical stuff, and is single handedly responsible for me having a blog, and now helping me navigate around ravelry.
Thank you Dee.

Have a great day.

Margaret