Happy National Crochet Month! It’s great to have a whole month to celebrate crochet! Since CGOA is an integral part of National Crochet Month, it’s fitting that the CGOA Board members participate in Crochetville’s National Crochet Month Blog Tour again this year. Many thanks to Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka for putting together this blog tour. We’re supporting the charity, Halos of Hope again this year. For more information about Halos of Hope, visit their website here: www.halosofhope.org.  

I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Susan Lowman. I’m a professional member of CGOA, working as a freelance crochet designer, technical editor and teacher. I’m the secretary on the CGOA Board of Directors again this year, the liaison to the CGOA Masters committee and co-chair in the CGOA Masters program. I’m also one of the 2 co-chairs of this year’s CGOA Design Competition. But I’ll let the other co-chair (Bobbie Matela) tell you about the Design Competition in her blog post tomorrow! I love being involved in CGOA!!!

I’m very excited to tell you about the first full-length CGOA Masters Day that we’ll be presenting this year at the CGOA Conference (aka: Knit & Crochet Show or Chain Link Conference) in July in San Diego, CA. Our first CGOA Masters Day was held last year at the conference in Manchester, NH, but it was only a half day. Our full-length CGOA Masters Day this year will be loaded with helpful information on how to improve your crochet, including such topics as getting gauge, weaving in ends invisibly, joining smoothly, fastening off neatly and much more. We’ll also be reviewing swatches in the program to teach you how to review your own work and we’ll explain what we’re looking for in the portfolio reviews. The day is split up between the morning session and the afternoon session, so you can pick the session you’d like to attend or attend both!

Jane Rimmer (the other co-chair of the CGOA Masters program) and I, along with some of the other Masters Committee members (aka: portfolio reviewers), are very excited about this Masters Day and we hope you are, too! We’ve got a lot planned for the day and look forward to sharing it with all those in attendance to help further everyone’s crochet skills and knowledge!

If you’re currently enrolled in the CGOA Masters program or you’d like to learn more about the program, you’ll want to attend the CGOA Masters Day on Wednesday, July 22 from 9 am – 12 noon and 2-5 pm. To read more about this year’s conference, including the schedule for the CGOA Masters Day, please check out this page.

For more information about the CGOA Masters program, visit the CGOA website here. This is the main page for the Masters program on the CGOA website. From here, you can go to other pages on the CGOA website to find out even more about the program.

For more information about the Knit & Crochet Show, check out this website. The complete show schedule, including more specific information on the classes, is all there for you to read and plan your conference experience, along with registering for a fabulous time!

Happy National Crochet Month and happy crocheting!

Susan Lowman

www.TheCrochetArchitect.com

Book Review: Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet

Title: Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet

Authors: Rita Weiss and Susan Lowman

Book Review by Reneé Rodgers (www.crochetrenee.com)

Have you ever attempted to crochet a project from a chart and found it difficult? Have you coveted the Japanese stitch dictionaries that have become so popular, but didn’t feel that you could interpret them?

Weiss and Lowman break down how to successfully work from symbol crochet charts. Each stitch symbol is well-defined and line drawings take the reader through the formation of each stitch, making this not only a good guide for the experienced crocheter wanting to learn symbol crochet, but also a great reference for new stitchers who are looking to expand their stitch repertoire.

Forty-seven symbols are represented and explained; but Weiss and Lowman don’t stop there. In the back of the book are nine small projects, designed for the stitcher to grow his or her skills as they learn to work from symbol crochet, including a hat, snowflake earrings, a scarf and several small home décor items.

For those making the transition from written instructions to symbol crochet, both sets of instruction are provided side by side for ease of translation. By the time you work through the projects, you will be an expert at crocheting from symbols!

The booklet is digest-size, which is perfect to keep in your work bag in the future, should you happen to need a little help when you see a symbol in which you're unfamiliar. Grab your own copy of the Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet and set your stitching free!

(Leisure Arts, 2013; 97 pages, $9.99, ISBN: 978-1-4647-1208-1)

Full disclosure: A free review copy of Complete Guide to Symbol Crochet was provided by Leisure Arts. Although I accept free products for review, I do not accept additional compensation, nor do I guarantee a positive review.  My reviews are based entirely on my honest opinions.

National Crochet Month and the CGOA Masters Program

First of all, I want to thank Amy Shelton at Crochetville for putting together this National Crochet Month Blog Tour: “A Tour through Crochet Country”! Please consider supporting Project Night Night, the charity we’ve chosen to support during March, 2013, for National Crochet Month. For more information about Project Night Night and this crochet blog tour, please visit the Crochetville blog post here: http://crochetville.com/a-tour-through-crochet-country-natcromo-blog-tour/.

I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Susan Lowman. I’ve been a professional member of CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) since 2003. In July, 2012, I was asked to join the CGOA Board of Directors as the secretary and Liaison to the Masters Committee. In October, 2012, I became one of the two Co-Chairs of the CGOA Masters Committee (the other Co-Chair is Jane Rimmer). I’ve also been a Masters portfolio reviewer since September, 2010.

I thoroughly enjoy being an active member of CGOA, which is comprised of members of all ages, skill levels and nationalities. We’re all very supportive of each other and help each other improve our crochet skills and knowledge. Corporate, professional and individual members mingle effortlessly at the annual CGOA Conferences and on the CGOA website. We support and encourage each other in our crochet endeavors, whether we’re professionals or hobbyists. We all love crochet and we speak the same crochet language!!! Joining CGOA is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. Many professional opportunities have opened up in my crochet career (and in many other crochet designers’ careers) because of being a CGOA member and attending the annual conferences. My crochet skills and knowledge have improved through CGOA, too. I can’t imagine not being part of such a fantastic organization with members who are dedicated to the advancement of crochet!

As Co-Chairs of the Masters Committee, Jane and I work to improve the Masters program, correct errors in the program, oversee the portfolio reviewers, train new portfolio reviewers and answer questions about the program. I am passionate about teaching and helping others improve their crochet skills and knowledge. I consider it an honor to be part of the CGOA Masters program and to carry on Jean Leinhauser’s vision for the program.

The Masters program is a way for CGOA members to assess their crochet skills and knowledge, as well as to show their mastery of crochet stitches and techniques. Once enrolled in the CGOA Masters program, each candidate receives the written instructions for the course, which is comprised of making 48 crochet swatches and answering 13 questions. The Masters candidate compiles all of their swatches and their answers to the questions into a portfolio. When they’re all done, they notify Offinger Management Co that their portfolio is ready to be reviewed (Note: Because of the huge response to the program, there is currently a waiting list for reviews). Once the candidate reaches the top of the waiting list, their portfolio is reviewed by 2 volunteer Masters portfolio reviewers and returned to the candidate with a detailed written review of the work in the portfolio. If the candidate passes the program, they receive a certificate of completion and a Masters pin, as well as recognition in the CGOA newsletter and at the CGOA Conference. If the candidate has too many errors in their portfolio to pass, they are given the option to correct the mistakes and resubmit the new swatches/answers for another review. Hundreds of CGOA members have enrolled in the Masters program, testing and increasing their crochet skills/knowledge through the Masters program.

CGOA has had several Masters programs in the past, which are no longer offered. In 2010, the late Jean Leinhauser created the current Masters program, “Master of Advanced Crochet Stitches and Techniques”. For more information and/or to enroll in the Masters program, please visit the CGOA website here: http://www.crochet.org/?page=MastersInfo.

When I’m not working on the CGOA Masters program, I’m busy blogging and designing crochet patterns for publication on my website at http://www.TheCrochetArchitect.com, as well as in crochet books and magazines. To see all of my published crochet patterns, please visit my Ravelry designer page here: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/susan-lowman. I also tech edit crochet patterns (to find the mistakes and correct them before the pattern is published) and teach crochet classes, as time allows. I’ve taught crochet (and shuttle tatting) classes at the CGOA Conferences in 2009, 2010 and 2012. I’m scheduled to teach 6 crochet classes at the upcoming CGOA Conference in Indianapolis this year in July. I’d love to meet you in one of my classes at the conference this year! You can see the full list of crochet (and knitting) classes offered at the conference here: http://www.knitandcrochetshow.com/. I’m not sure when registration begins, but if you’re a CGOA member, you’ll receive an e-mail when it’s time to register for the conference.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look inside the CGOA Masters program. If you’re not a member of CGOA, I hope you’ll check it out and seriously consider joining. And if you can’t attend a CGOA Conference, please look for a local CGOA Chapter to join so you can connect with other crocheters in your community! The CGOA website is http://www.crochet.org.

I’ll be blogging again on my website on March 26^th for my “designer” stop on the National Crochet Month Blog Tour. Please stop by and see what I’ll be giving away that day!

Happy crocheting,

Susan Lowman