Amy Shelton, CGOA President, and Karen Whooley, CGOA Secretary, appeared on the March 14 episode of the Getting Loopy podcast with host Mary Beth Temple to talk about CGOA. Karen and I enjoyed talking with Mary Beth and sharing information about the benefits of being a CGOA member, our upcoming Chain Link conferences, and our Master of Advanced Stitches and Techniques program.

CGOA donated a tote bag to the Getting Loopy weekly giveaway. Congratulations to our winner, Laura R. of West Allis, WI, who is interested in starting a CGOA chapter in her area. If you live near that area, please contact CGOA so we can forward your contact information to Laura.

Listen to the Getting Loopy CGOA episode:

Listen on BlogTalkRadio

Listen on iTunes (This link goes to a web page, with a link that will open the episode in the iTunes program. You'll need to have iTunes installed on your computer to listen via this option.)

CGOA 2011 Design Competition Celebrates (and rewards) Crochet

Be a part of this singular event celebrating the beauty and artistry of crochet, the only competition of its kind. Thanks to a bevy of magnificent sponsors we have thousands of dollars in cash prizes to award to our winning guild members for the best of the best in crochet design. With a huge grand prize plus first, second and third place prizes of $300, $200 and $100 respectively in each of seven judging categories plus special prizes, this promises to be the most rewarding event ever.

Here are the design categories for 2011 and their sponsors as of this writing:
1. Fanciful Fashion (sponsored by Tulip Co, makers of exceptional tools including Etimo cushion grip crochet hooks and Carry T)
Fancy adult garments and accessories, including gowns, dresses and evening wear.
2. Fashion (sponsored by Tahki Stacy Charles, bringing you fine yarn lines Tahki, S Charles, Filatura Di Crosa and Loop-d-Loop)
Garments for women or men, including sweaters, tops, jackets and skirts.
3. Accessories (sponsored by WEBS, America’s Yarn Store)
Wearables including shawls, socks, scarves, hats, bags, belts and jewelry.
4. Small Wonders (sponsored by Boye and the Crochet Dude brand of crochet tools and accessories)
Anything small scale, including baby items, toys, amigurimi and small décor items.
5. Afghans (sponsored by Caron International and BuyCaron.com)
Any and all afghans, throws, blankets and bed or sofa covers.
6. Thread Crochet (sponsored by FaveCrafts/Prime Publishing, offering diverse crochet e-newsletters, e-books and patterns at FaveCrafts.com)
Anything made with crochet thread, including doilies, décor and accessories.
7. Artistic Expressions (sponsored by Leisure Arts, bring you the art of everyday living)
Artistic rather than functional in nature, including free-form and mixed media pieces, hangings, sculpture and wearable art.

Special Prizes
Grand Prize, sponsored in part by Interweave Press
$100 Special Technique Award from DesigningVashti for outstanding use of alternate crochet techniques and construction including Tunisian, Broomstick and Hairpin
$100 Peoples’ Choice Award from the Crochet Liberation Front to be chosen on site by attendee voting

Judges
We are thrilled to welcome this year’s panel of judges: Marcy Smith, editor of Interweave Crochet magazine; Kathleen Sams, ambassador for Coats & Clark; and Drew Emborsky, the Crochet Dude. Judging will take place on location at the CGOA Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, 21 September 2011 and winners will be announced during the Awards Ceremony on 22 September 2011. You do not have to be present to enter or to win but you will want to be there to marvel at the awesome display of entries and unveiling of the winning designs.

Please use the links provided at www.crochet.org to download the complete Design Competition Information package and access the electronic entry form. Deadline for entries to be shipped to the receiving location is 31 August, 2011. Please do not submit a form until you ship your entry in August.

Hope to see you there!

Submitted by Doris Chan, Chairman, CGOA 2011 Design Competition Committee

Downloads:
Design Competition Info (pdf file)

Entry Form

National Crochet Month Crochet-Along (CAL)

Join us for an exciting crochet-along (CAL) here at CGOA Now! during March to celebrate National Crochet Month. How does it work?

Pick a project to work on for the month or even just part of the month.

Add a comment to this post and share information about your project: pattern (give a link if you can or tell us where it was published), yarn you’re using, why you chose to make this project, anything you want to share.

Add photos to CGOA’s flickr photo pool. Then add links to your photos in your comment.

Update us on your progress as often as you like by making new comments.

Now I’m off to pick my National Crochet Month CAL project!

Amy Shelton
CGOA President

Help CGOA celebrate National Crochet Month!

Did you know that March has been designated National Crochet Month? Your CGOA Board of Directors invites you to help us celebrate! We will be sponsoring a Crochet-Along in March (check this post [insert link] for all the details). If you joined CGOA or renewed your CGOA membership during or after our 2010 Chain Link Conference last year, you were given access to 'Across the Board Crochet', a pdf pattern booklet featuring patterns designed by the 2010 CGOA board members. Perhaps you’d like to work on one of these projects. Or perhaps there’s a pattern from Crochet! magazine (which you receive as one of your member benefits) that you’ve been anxious to try. Don’t forget all the other countless crochet patterns available in books, magazines, and on the internet.

Do you plan on doing anything special in March to help promote awareness of just how awesome crochet is? Please post a comment and let us know your plans. Feel free to post links to your activities!

If you need help deciding how you’d like to help promote crochet during March, here are some ideas:

• Promote crochet.
• Teach someone to crochet.
• Offer to create a crochet display at your local library.
• Write a book review of any crochet book. (Post it here on the blog!)
• Expand your own crochet skills.
• Learn a new crochet stitch or technique.
• Experiment with a new yarn.
• Visit your local library to see what crochet books they have.
• Crochet for charity.
• Select a special charity to crochet for during March.
• Explore new charities you might like to crochet for. A good resource for finding charities is Lion Brand's Charity Connection.
• Make new crochet friends.
• Attend a local crochet meeting.
• Join or start a local CGOA chapter.
• Strike up a conversation with someone you see shopping for yarn. You can break the ice by asking if they know March is National Crochet Month!

Let’s make National Crochet Month 2011 rock!