Crochet Guild of America

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy sunny warming up Sunday!

As most of you know, I am a member of the Crochet Guild of America, our goal is to keep crochet alive and well. We teach others to crochet, do charity work, such as contributing crochet items for cancer care, Warm up America, Preemie Caps and Blankets, etc. In addition to charity work, guild and chapter activities are many and varied. There are the yearly conferences, special workshops, parties for special occasions, fashion shows, crochet contests etc.

Many of our Chapters have local charities to which they contribute on a regular basis.
My chapter, The Happily Hooked on Crochet group, which meets in Danbury Hospital, Danbury, CT, is a very active group in charitable donations. We donate hundreds of Chemo Caps, and baby items to Danbury Hospital, and Hats, Scarves and Gloves to the Salvation Army each year.

One of our members, Candy, has been trying to start a chapter closer to her home, in Dutchess County, NY. Candy had fliers printed and posted them in local yarn shops, and around town. She asked the Barnes and Noble in Poughkeepsie, NY, if she could hold meetings there. Candy invited me to attend, to help her try to get this new chapter started. We met on Thursday, and had a wonderful time. I hope that some of you who live in the area will join us. As of right now, the group plans to meet on the third Thursday of every month from 2 - 4.

Shown in the picture, clockwise from the left, Galina , Me, Candy and Marilyn. We named our group HOOKED ON DUTCHESS, Please come join in the fun.

For more information contact Candy at dochevita@gonowmail.com,

Margaret

More on MAGIC WANDS exhibit in Israel.

Hi Everyone,

Mirjam Bruck Cohen has been sending me photos of pieces that she is collecting for her wonderful exhibit called MAGIC WANDS. I have posting them as she sends them. Here are a few of the newer ones.

The last one is Margit's newest work for the exhibit, I just love this piece.

Have a great evening everyone.

Margaret

Handmade with Love

Good Morning Everyone,

I am still playing catch-up.

More years ago than I care to remember, I taught my daughter to knit and crochet, luckily I still kept a photo from back then, not a great photo, but I love it. Now she is passing on her skills to her daughter and it makes me so happy that she loves doing it. Each one teach two, and the needle arts live on.

One of my nicest surprises, in a very happy holiday season, was a hand knit scarf from my grand daughter. She just turned 9 yesterday, and this was her very first knitting project. I was so thrilled that she gifted me with her first project and that she was so excited to have completed it. She chose the yarn herself and it was a very fluffy chenille. When I asked her why she chose such a challenging yarn for her first project, she said that she loved the soft feel of it. I then said, "but it was difficult to see if you made a mistake, she said "Grandma, I could feel it!" Don't you love it!

Have a great day,

Margaret

Catching Up

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE,

I Have been absent again for quite a while, life keeps getting in the way.

One thing that was keeping me very busy was another of my loves, besides Knitting and Crochet,was my Shakespeare club. I made my "acting debut" with a small part in the club's production of When Will Met Geoff, a spoof on a possible meeting of Shakespeare and Chaucer at the inn. Part of the spoof was, the pilgrims were a motorcycle group. I was Cressida, dressed as a motorcycle groupie, lots of fun. I actually remembered my lines.

Two weeks ago, my friend Prudence Mapstone, fellow free former and author, teacher
etc etc, visited our area, from Australia, for a short, whirlwind stay, I managed to meet up with
her in New York City for lunch. Several members of The Happily Hooked on Crochet
Chapter joined in on the fun. Around the table, Me, Phyllis S, Grace G, Stephen Mapstone, Prudence and Dee S. After lunch, we visited several bead and trimming stores in NYC. It was a very, cold bitter day, but we managed the visit between snow storms. Prudence then went on to Washington DC and Philadelphia, where the snow finally caught up with her. She is safely home in Australia now, after a marathon 40 plus hours of travel.

I had a birthday last month, and my daughter-in-law had a wonderful cake
made for me. She actually asked the baker to check out my website and make
me a free form cake, that looks like my free form work. Wow-what a spectacular cake
and such a thoughtful, innovative idea. It actually looked like my crochet and knit scrumbles and was delicious too. I LOVED IT.

I am currently working on 3 designs for magazines, plus another still hush, hush project, so I am still very busy and loving every minute of it.

Huge snowfall yesterday, I am getting plowed out and shoveled as I sit here, so I will be able to get out today. Lovely, sun shiny day, but still in the 20's and lots of wind.

Have a great day!

Margaret

Happy Holidays

I want to wish every one a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Healthy
New Year.

Enjoy

Margaret

Free Form, Lemons and Stars

Happy Sunday Morning Everyone,

I guess you are wondering what Free Form, Lemons and Stars have in common, well let me tell you an incredible story.

On Thursday afternoon, I left Pawling to attend a holiday celebration of the Soundview Knitting Guild. Some of you might remember that I did a series of workshops for them a short time ago. They invited me to their celebration and asked me if I could do a short talk on Free Form Knitting and Crocheting. I was looking forward to going back to the group, as they were really very enthusiastic students and I had so much fun with them.

As we drove up the country club, where the event was to take place, it was totally dark, one or two cars in the otherwise empty parking lot. Oh, oh, did we get the date wrong, where was everyone? Two women were huddled at the front door (it was a freezing, bitter cold evening). Someone finally answered the door and told us that there was no event scheduled for that evening. By now, most of the fifty expected guests were arriving. The banquet manager was finally reached, and, we really do not know what happened, but signals got crossed, they had us down for a totally different date. What to do now? Fifty, hungry, dressed for a party, disappointed woman, all wanting answers. Someone in the group suggested we try to find a restaurant that could help us. Someone remembered a restaurant not too far away that had a small banquet room. Phone calls were hastily made, arrangements worked out,and they said that they could help us.

Here"s where the "stars" come in. The restaurant is called Stella's, it is in Stratford, CT. Stella means star, and let me tell you, Stella and her staff, were
definitely bright stars to us that night. When we arrived at the restaurant, less than an hour after all the hastily made phone calls, the tables were set with white tablecloths and flowers. Very quickly, salads were served. Shortly afterward, huge bowls and platters of wonderful Italian food and crusty bread appeared on each table. I don't know how they did it, but they did. Everyone had a ball, and we gave the staff a standing ovation at the end. Any one who lives in that area should give Stella's a try, I wished that I lived closer.

The evening went on as planned, we had our free form talk, some of the guests shared their finished projects from the class,we played our gift exchange game and visited with old friends and new. Everyone was laughing and talking and having a grand time.

No, it was not the country club, but the setting did not matter, we were all having fun and enjoying each others company - Lesson of the day, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade!

Have a great day,

Margaret

The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet

Good evening Everyone,

I am taking a little break from posting all the photos from the Magic Wands Exhibit, to tell you about my newest book, THE COMPLETE PHOTO GUIDE TO CROCHET, It will be out very soon, but it is already available on amazon.com for pre order.

You can get a sneak peek at Craftside Blog, http://craftside.typepad.com/craftside/2009/12/how-to-crochet-a-4-color-spiral-from-the-new-book-the-complete-photo-guide-to-crochet-by-margaret-hu.html

Have a great evening,

Margaret