Natioal Crochet month

I have the honor of being the last blogger for the crochet month of March.  You have the honor of reading my first ever blog!  Since the topic is crochet I think I’ll share with you how much crochet means to me. 

I first taught myself to crochet (over 50 years ago) when a cousin moved out of state and gave me an unfinished granny square afghan.  Not wanting to waste yarn I taught myself to crochet and finished the afghan and I was hooked! (Pun intended!)  I was just starting motherhood and over the years my five children had many crocheted items to wear and play with.  I have lost count of how many afghans  I’ve made, but a few years ago I went out of state to help a daughter with her kids when she was having health issues.  One day I opened the linen closet and saw LOTS of afghans.  At first I didn’t recognize them but then realized I had made them all and she certainly didn’t need any more!  The same goes for my other children!

Like lots of crocheters after I was comfortable doing crochet I started playing with published patterns to make them to my ideas-longer, shorter or even a different stitch.  I entered several magazine crochet contests and actually was a finalist.   I’d see designs in publications and realized that they were very much like ones I had designed. That awakened a desire in me to be published but was too timid to do so.

Fast forward to 1993.  I saw an announcement in a crochet publication (can’t remember which one) that someone named Gwen Blakley Kinsler was trying to organize a national crochet guild.  She was organizing a conference in Chicago at DePaul University that next summer.  Was I excited!  My kids were on their  own by that time so I was able to afford to go.  What an experience!  I took classes and met people who’s names I had seen in publications as designers.  I was rubbing shoulders with the crochet world elite!!!

 This was the chance to become a founding member of the Crochet Guild of America.  Well I’ve attended each summer conference since then and besides taking LOTS of classes I’ve had the opportunity to meet with publishers and have been published in various books and magazines.  If not for the CGOA I never would have found the courage to approach publishers with my designs.  I now have crochet friends all over the US as well as Canada, Ireland, England and Australia.   I’ve even had the opportunity of going to Ireland on a crochet tour.

I’ve also helped to found the Ididachain Crochet Guild in Alaska.  We are now 16 years old.  Several of us met on the internet at Crochet Partners and that was the start of our guild.

To sum all this up, crochet and CGOA has given me the opportunity to grow both as a person and of course as a crocheter.  Thank you God for crochet!!!

Delma Myers