CHAIN LINK 2012


Good Morning Everyone,


Thursday, Friday and Saturday, were days filled with classes, book signings, visiting the market etc. I have a lot of photos, but not a lot of time, but I will post them all.  The Saturday Night festivities were truly the highlight of so many wonderful times. 

My son took a photo of Kimberly McAlindin presenting me with a beautiful handcrafted glass vase, with a plaque on the bottom stating that I had been inducted into the Jean Leinhauser CGOA Hall of Fame. I cannot even put my feelings into words, it was overwhelming.

 Following the great Jean Leinhauser into the Hall of Fame is a huge honor, and I was "almost" speechless.  I really did not think that I was going to be asked to speak, but I think that I managed to say "Thank You" several times. 

Bobbie Matela, Kathleen Sams and Me, my daughter in law had just presented me with a bouquet of flowers. It was so great having my family there.

After the ball was over, an "after party" took place in the hotel lounge, we are a fun loving group.  Marty Miller, Marcy Smith and Me, enjoying the fun.

Kimberly and Me.

Vashti, Diane Moyer and Me again.

My camera does not do well at the fashion show, but my son managed to get this photo of my long vest. the vest includes motifs from all the classes that I teach, and combines approximately 50 different yarns in shades of black, gold, bronze and many textures.


No more time today, still more photos to come.


Have a great day!


Margaret

Hi Everyone,


Returned home last night from a really fabulous Chain Link conference in Manchester, NH. What a wonderful time, my daughter and grand daughter attended also, that was a first for us.  I was honored at the banquet by my fellow crocheters, by being inducted into the CGOA, Jean Leinhauser Hall of Fame. What a highlight for me, what a night. It is going to take several blog posts to get it all in, so I will try to take it day by day.


We arrived Tuesday afternoon, and it was a fun afternoon of catching up with people that I had not seen all year, there was lots of hugging going on. We had a very brief meeting to prep us for Professional Development Day, then lots of lobby socializing going on.


Bright and Early, and I do mean early, the next morning, Professional Development day got into full swing. It was a day crammed full  of speaking, sharing information, a luncheon, more information, and a huge array of prizes raffled off. I was the last speaker, so by then, I was a little wilted, but I think all went well.  Some attendees looked a little dazed, but I am sure that they recovered quickly.

One of the first people that I spotted was Yvette. Yvette was my inspiration for my Plus Size Crochet Book, (which she is very happy to let everyone know :-), and Yvette is fast becoming my number one fan, she sings my praises to anyone who will listen! I love you too Yvette.

Yvette introduced me to some of her friends. (sorry no names, if you can identify them please let me know)

As you can see, the day was well attended by a large group, all eager to learn about the different ways to become a Crochet Professional. Some of the topics covered were designing, contract crocheting, tech editing, and self publishing.

Karen Ratto-Whooley and Marty Miller checking out their raffle tickets- I won Doris Chan's book, which my daughter quickly claimed for her own.

Some of my favorite people - and fellow chapter members.
Above, Nancy (center), Contract Crocheter extraordinaire and published designer, Deb (right) fellow chapter member, contract crocheter and budding designer, who always makes me smile.


Below - Anna (left), Andrea (seated), also contract crocheter  (sorry there are a few people who I just do not remember their names, if you can help me out, I will add their names.)

That's all for now, lots more photos to come.
Have a great day!


Margaret

Good Morning Everyone,


I had such a lovely day yesterday. I hosted the June meeting of our Happily Hooked on Crochet Chapter of CGOA and the group surprised me with a lovely cake to celebrate my being inducted into the CGOA Jean Leinhauser Crochet Hall of Fame.  We always have fun at our meetings, but I particularly enjoy it when the meeting is at my house. Lots of good fun, food and learning. We learned to do the crocodile stitch yesterday and there were mixed reviews on the results. Most agreed that this stitch is best used for trim, as it is a bit heavy, but would make great collars, cuffs, hat brims etc.

Last month I did a workshop on entrelac crochet and Theresa brought her bag to the meeting to show me her finished project. I love it! Looking on is Candy, Dee and Dee Jr. (showing us her artwork).

Here's Deb really engrossed in her reading.

Everyone is busy working away. 

a real beehive of activity going on here.

Grace, our president, presenting me with THE cake,

isn't it beautiful?

Theresa showing us her blankets, made for twins. She took my workshops on reversible crochet stitches and made these beautiful blankets. As a teacher, students like Theresa make my day. She always takes whatever she learns and turns it into a great project.

Others in the group admiring Theresa's blankets. The pictures do not do them justice as they really are gorgeous.


Running off to teach this morning.


Have a great day everyone.


Margaret

Good Morning All,


I arrived home last night to find that my aol email addy had been hacked. What a major nuisance to get it straightened out. I am going to start using my other email address, mhdesigner1@gmail.com and I will notify my whole list of the change over the next few weeks.


On to more pleasant things. I have been teaching over the past few weeks and that is always fun for me. I have a few photos to share, and will get to that soon. Yesterday, a friend sent me this link and I thought that you all might enjoy seeing it.
http://www.harakka.fi/virpi/pitsibussi.html

Have a good day


Margaret

Good Morning Everyone,

I am so honored, happy and excited all at once. I just read this on the CGOA Digest

It gives us great pleasure to announce that Margaret Hubert has been elected to
the Jean Leinhauser Crochet Hall Of Fame for 2012. Margaret will be recognized
at Chain Link in Manchester New Hampshire at Chain Link.

Kimberly McAlindin and Cari Clement


The Jean Leinhauser Crochet Hall of Fame was started last year, and to be the second recipient of this honor, and especially to follow Jean Leinhauser, is overwhelming to me. My thanks to all who voted for me, it is truly the highlight of my long and varied career in this industry.

Free Form and Entrelac

Hi Everyone,


It has been a while since I posted but with good reason. I had a serious health issue, but I am on the mend and trying to get back to my normal routine.


I finished my latest book, and believe it or not, have started another, so like the energizer bunny, I just keep going and going.


Last week, I resumed my teaching schedule.  Last Wednesday, I started with a Free Form talk for the Skyllkill Chapter of the EGA in Hyde Park, NY. We had quite a large group, around fifty members, and we had a great time. I covered my three methods of creating free form pieces, and also covered combining knitting and crocheting in the same piece. Lots of enthusiasm from the group. I usually bring a box of cookies to my workshops, but when I entered the room where the chapter meets, I saw a table laden with goodies of every description, I was embarrassed by my little box of cookies, so I never took them out of my suitcase. :-)


The next day, we did a workshop on Entrelac Knitting at the East Fishkill Community Library
in East Fishkill, NY. As this workshop was also sponsored by the Skyllkill Chapter, many of the students were also at the previous program.  Before the workshop was over all students were well on their way to making a lovely Entrelac Bag.

                                                         Such concentration

                                                           Busy, busy working

Look what I did!!!

Here's the bag that they hope to complete on their own.

Have a great day!


Margaret

VOGUE KNITTING LIVE

Good Morning Everyone,

Brrrr it is really cold this morning, 2 degrees here, but the sun is shining and no snow. I'm sorry for the skiers and the ski resorts, but I am truly loving not having to deal with snow.

I attended Vogue Knitting Live in New York City, yesterday. All I can say is WOW!!!

The energy in the market was electric. Two market floors filled with delights for every knitter and crocheter and you could feel the excitement in the air as crowds surrounded every booth. Vogue Knitting Live has been primarily a knitters show, but this year there was an effort to include lots for crocheters. I spotted Drew Emborsky, the Crochet Dude, conducting a crochet fashion show, and demonstrating at the Boye Booth. He was so busy, but he looked up long enough to say "hi". Doris Chan and I were invited by Knitty City to sign our respective crochet books. Pearl, Phyllis, Dana and all the staff at Knitty City were so delightful and even gave us a gift for being there. Vickie Howell stopped by to say "hello". I always love seeing Vickie's bright smile.

I did get to stop by the Lion Brand Booth. Patty Lyons and Zontee Hue always make everyone feel so welcome, then Zontee introduced me to the truly amazing AMAZING MAN, what fun! Lion Brand always has the most wonderful displays.

I did not get to shop too much but did buy a "much needed" skein or two of yummy yarn.

One of the highlights of my day was meeting Yvette again. Yvette spotted me while I was on a lunch break, came over to say "Hi" and introduced me to all her friends. I first met Yvette while attending CGOA in King of Prussia, PA, a few years ago. At that time, Yvette told me that she was a little upset with crochet designers for not designing more styles for plus sizes. Yvette did not know this till yesterday, but she was the inspiration for PLUS SIZE CROCHET. She was so bubbly and confident, had designed her own outfit for the fashion show, and was the belle of the ball. I went home from that conference so inspired, started to put together a proposal for a new book, which was accepted and a short time later published. Thank you Yvette.

The Book that I was there to sign was my newest THE GRANNY SQUARE BOOK, so in honor of the Granny Square, I baked some Granny Square cookies that I had seen on line. Mine were not as pretty and perfect as the on line ones, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.

All in all a really fun day.

The photos

1. The cookies

2. Me Doing my thing

3. Zontee with the Amazing Man

4. Mr Amazing again

5. Me with Dana from Knitty City

6. Yvette, me and Yolanda

7. Doris Chan and Me

Keep Warm and enjoy the rest of the day

Margaret