Hooks In Texas!

Maps for San Angelo Inn

2011-10-18T19:34:00.001-07:00

Well, there were a few of you who were going to try the San Angelo Inn, on Rio Concho Street.

It should have been an easy drive from this hotel to the conference hall... that is... until the city decided to replace/repair the only bridge on that street for miles.

Luckily, there is a back door to this hotel, and our conference hall.

Here is a Map from San Angelo Inn to Santa Fe Crossing.

The street you turn off Rio Concho, is Surber.

Friday Dinner Update

2011-10-17T10:40:00.001-07:00

I sent out a mass email, but over the weekend it has come to my attention that some folks didn't get that email.

The Mesquite Bean Grill would have to charge us for 50 people, regardless of the number of people, and that was going to add $2-4 extra, per person. I didn't want to add to the financial burden of those from out of town, so I switched resturants.

We will be eating at RJ's Barbeque and Catering on 1405 North Bryant. This is just a few blocks from Inn of the Conchos, the location of last year's Hooks In Texas.

The Map is Here.

I will be at RJ's at 6pm for those who want to Register early, but our reservations are for 6:30pm.

You can order from the menu, but RJ's sells out of certain menu items, so I ordered extra Brisket and Ribs for our group.

ARNie MIA....

2011-09-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

My apologies folks for disappearing in August, but my body hit the wall and I stopped functioning.
I did some alternate testing, and my health care providers now know, what I've thought all along: my critical hormones were way too low, including hormones controling heart functions.

I'm on a completely new vitamin and supplement regimen, as well as a cocktail of hormones... and have more changes to make, but we have to do this in stages.

I am feeling better, but this will take some time. We are addressing all the issues I've been concerned with, and have a solid plan to regain my health.

Consequentially, I've extended all the deadlines for the conference. Feel free to contact me with your class choices and reservations.

Hooks in Texas 2011

2011-06-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here are the details for this year's Hooks In Texas Crochet Conference. As I finalize these plans, I will post updates to this blog and contact the Texas CGOA Chapter Presidents

October 21 -23 2011
San Angelo, TX

I'm excited to announce that we have a new meeting place! We have reserved the entire building of Santa Fe Crossing, the local Senior Citizen's Center. Although it has stairs into the building, it also has a wheel chair ramp.
All of Saturday's classes, and activities will be in this building, and we will be the only people in the building.
I will post photos of Santa Fe Crossing in the future.

Friday: I'm working on a new Field Trip, but haven't finalized plans, yet.
Friday Night Meet and Greet at Mesquite Bean Cafe for a Buffet dinner including: Beef Tips with sauteed mushrooms, onions & au jus, Fried Chicken, Corn, Green Beans, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Macaroni and Cheese.
We will be the only folks in the cafe that night; cost is $12 per person, plus tax.

Saturday:
2 Classes in the Morning- TBA
2 Classes in the Afternoon- TBA
A yarn shopping time in the afternoon with local yarn merchants.
Sorry, but there isn't time or space this year for a full vendor's room, but I'm still hoping we can do this at a future conference.

Sunday has no definitive plans, yet.

Teachers: Vannessa Emmons is returning to teach a crochet class; ARNie will teach another Corner to Corner/Crazy Block variation; Kim Guzman is returning to teach two more classes, but she is finalizing her lessons plans at this time.

Lunch Saturday will include a buffet of finger foods: vegetable and fruit trays, cheese ball trays, chips, cookies, salad greens. There will be roast beef, turkey and ham sandwiches, plus chicken & ham salad sanwiches and pimento cheese sandwiches. Saturday Lunch is included in the Registration Fees.

Tea, Coffee and bottled water will be provided all day- free of charge, but there are soda machines in the building.

Fees:
Registration Fee is the same as last year: $40, and includes Lunch Saturday, but no class fees.
Class Fees are the same as last year: $10 per person, per class, but class fees are not included in the Registration fee.
This means all of your class fees are extra this year, but for most folks, this will increase your fees by only $10 over last year. I'm hoping the vast improvement of the building and class rooms is worth that extra $10.

Deadlines and Payments:
Like last year, please bring your payments with you to the conference, and individuals will be responsible for bringing their payments. The CGOA Presidents will not be collecting the payments from their chapters.
Money Orders and Cash only, NO personal checks, please. With us in a building by ourselves, I won't mind bringing a cash box this year, for those folks who prefer to pay with cash.

Please let your CGOA Chapter president know if you want to come, and if you are interested in Friday's Buffet Dinner.

OR, you can contact ARNie personally at XXhooksintexas@XXchezcrochet.comXX
(Remove the XXs.)

Weekend Schedule for 2010

2010-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome! To Hooks In Texas!

2010-07-21T10:23:00.001-07:00

This is the easiest way for me to keep folks informed on the State Wide Crochet Conference in San Angelo October 15-17, 2010.

Hooks In Texas! is a Crochet Conference open to all crocheters. If you Crochet, this conference will offer tours, presentations, private shopping at a local yarn store, and classes on standard crochet, Tunisian Crochet, and spinning.

Members of the Crochet Guild of America and their Texas Chapters will be there to share their experiences with those who have never been a member of the CGOA. They will also offer guidance on how to join or start a chapter of CGOA.

The easiest way to use this blog is to view the various pages from the Links at the Top of the page.

Marketing: Hooks In Texas Poster

2010-07-21T10:18:00.001-07:00

Marketing: Hand Out Business Cards

2010-07-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Angela 'ARNie' Grabowski- HIT organizer

2010-07-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

ARNie has been online since 1999, promoting crochet through a variety of online communities, message boards, her site and blogs. She has taught crochet and Tunisian Crochet locally through Angelo State University's Extended Studies Department for several years.

Her site, ChezCrochet.com has over 100 pages of information, stitches, tutorials, and free project patterns on classic crochet, and Tunisian Crochet.

Her blog, CrochetCoalition.blogspot.com, contains tutorials, editorials and a few free project patterns. She discusses her journey in self publishing, making money at craft and art shows, her theories of teaching crochet to a modern stitcher, and more.

ARNie is the author of Encyclopedia of Tunisian Crochet, and has sold copies world wide. She also has a couple dozen smaller booklets. She is working on the remaining 8 volumes of the Encyclopedia of Tunisian Crochet, as well as, a similar series of books on classic crochet Corner to Corner stitch.

ARNie's crochet books are all available for purchase through her site and several retail shops in the states, England and Australia.

Tunisian Crochet Basics and Short Row Scarf- Kim & ARNie

2010-07-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

THIS CLASS IS SOLD OUT.

Saturday 3:30 pm - 6 pm in the Banquet Hall
(Locations of classes may change depending on enrollment.)

Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Class fee: $10 (in addition to Registration fee)

Description:

ARNie will start this session teaching students the basics of Tunisian Crochet- including the two stitches used in Kim Guzman’s scarf. Then Kim Guzman will take over and teach students two Short Row techniques. This is a favorite of Kim's online classes.

Self-striping yarn and Tunisian crochet join together for the perfect combination of color and texture in this Tunisian Short Row Scarf.

Tunisian Short Rows, just like in knitting, create wedges. The scarf is made using two different stitches and two different short row techniques. Once learned, the pattern is easily adaptable to make a project any size you like.

Kim designed this scarf to avoid the annoying curl so often associated with Tunisian crochet, and the technique is perfectly adaptable to any yarn.

Instructional materials and pattern are included in class fee.

Supplies Needed:
• Yarn- student’s choice in weight and fiber content. For the class, medium colored yarn or pastels is suggested due to the lighting of the room. Although, designed with variegated/self striping yarn, participants are encouraged to use a solid colored yarn during the class.
• An afghan or long hook that is 2 or 3 sizes larger than what the chosen yarn label recommends.
• For most of us in Texas, our hook choices are few and far between. ARNie suggests looking at Sport or Baby Weight yarn and a J or K (6-6.5mm) hook, since these sizes of hooks are more readily available.

The scarf shown is made with 3 balls (575 yards) of Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in colorway 113. It is a fine weight yarn. Kim used a size J afghan hook for the main pattern and an F crochet hook for the trim.

Diagonal Magic- Angela 'ARNie' Grabowski

2010-07-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

Wonders of the Corner to Corner Stitch- Angela ‘ARNie’ Grabowski

Saturday 1 pm- 3 pm in the Banquet Hall

(Locations of classes may changed depending on enrollment)

Class Fee: $10

Skill Level: Beginner--Student should be comfortable with double crochet.

This class is standard crochet, not Tunisian Crochet.

Description:

Angela ‘ARNie’ Grabowski is better known for her work in Tunisian Crochet, but a close second in her heart is the Corner to Corner stitch. ARNie has developed a variety of techniques using the basic mechanics of Corner to Corner.

Corner to Corner has many names, including Crazy Blocks. Based on ‘clusters’ of Double crochet worked into Chain 2 Spaces, this stitch is fast to learn and easy to master.

In this two hour class, participants will get their choice of two tutorial booklets from ARNie’s unique methods that include: scallops on the edge, work from the center out and connecting panels of DM as you stitch.

Supplies Needed:

• Yarn- student’s choice in weight and fiber content. For the class, medium colored yarn or pastels is suggested due to the lighting of the room. Scraps would be perfect for these techniques.

• A standard crochet hook in the appropriate size for the chosen yarn

Yarn-anza!

2010-07-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

Presented by the Wool and Cotton Shop
Saturday 1 pm-3:30 pm in the Conference Room
Locations of classes may change depending on enrollment.
No Class Fee

Description:

For many of us in isolated areas of Texas, we simply didn’t have access to top quality yarns to use with our crochet. We grew up with cheap acrylics and simply learned to accept their weaknesses.

Vanessa Emmons will share a variety of fiber products from Judith Lester’s Wool 'N' Cotton Shop, giving us an opportunity to see beautiful and affordable yarns and threads for our crochet projects.

Since these types of yarns are more commonly knitted, Judith and Vanessa will provide crocheted samples to illustrate how lovely our needlework looks with these amazing fibers.

A selection of these wonderful yarns and fibers will also be available for purchase during a 30-minute break following the Diagonal Magic class.

Drop Stitch Ripple -Kim Guzman

2010-07-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday 9am-11am in the Banquet Hall

(Locations of classes may change depending on enrollment.)

Skill Level: Beginner--Student should be comfortable with single crochet.

Class fee: $10.00 (in addition to Registration Fee)

This class is standard Crochet, not Tunisian Crochet.

Description:

Developed by Kim Guzman, this broomstick lace variation is quick, easy and fun! In the class, participants will start a shawl or scarf with this lovely technique.

The complete pattern to make the shawl- with the alterations for a scarf- are included in the class fee.

Supplies Needed:

• 2 skeins Caron Simply Soft yarn, or approximately 630 yards of a comparable soft worsted weight or yarn of your choice

• G crochet hook

• Small yarn needle

• Size 50 broomstick lace pin (needle); size 35 or 50 knitting needle can also be used

The project photos are used with permission from student, Karen Drouin, after taking this class.

Yarn used in her project is Schoeller+Stahl Morea, a sport weight wool/microfiber blend.

Sheep2Yarn

2010-07-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

Presented by Vanessa Emmons & Mary Page
9am to 11am in the Conference Room
Locations of classes may change depending on enrollment.

Class fee: $10

Description:
Vanessa Emmons is a San Angelo area Alpaca rancher, spinner, and designer. She and her husband are in the process of building a woolen mill to process yarns from locally raised fibers.

Vanessa and Mary Page (another area spinner) will explain and demonstrate the entire process of taking raw wool and turning it into yarn - by hand.

In the second half of this 2-hour session, participants have the opportunity for hands-on experience with spinning roving with drop spindles- that are included in the class price.

Participants will also learn how to wind yarn into a center pull skein.

Guest Designer HIT 2010- Kim Guzman

2010-07-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

Kim Guzman has been designing crochet for 28 years and her designs have been featured in Crochet Fantasy, Crochet with Heart, Annie's Crochet to Go!, and she recently wrote a history of Cro-Hook Crochet for Interweave Crochet (summer 2010.)

She has also had designs published in leaflets from Leisure Arts, Aleene's Creative Living, and Annie's Attic. You can also see her designs at yarn company websites such as Caron and Coats and Clark (Red Heart.)

Kim has a solid online presences which includes her website CrochetKim.com (since 1998), along with her Blog (WIPS and Chains) & her retail site, KimaneDesigns.com.

She teaches online classes at Crochetville.com, and other online sites.

She owns a group at Ravelry & Yahoo, and co-owns the 'tunisiancrochet' Yahoo group with Angela ‘ARNie’ Grabowski.

Kim has been a member of the CGOA for several years.