By: pamgrushkin
Uncategorized,

CGOA Professional Development Day

I attended The Knit and Crochet show in Manchester, NH for the first time.

Upon checking in I received a Coats & Clark goody bag. Yeah! Presents. We also got tickets for ongoing door prizes to be given out during the day. In my hurry to get there I nearly ripped my ticket in half the wrong way. The nice ladies jumped forward and ripped the ticket the right way.
The Crochet Guild of America Professional Development day was sponsored by Lion Brand Yarn. We received a bag of yarn with a crochet hook and patterns from Lion Brand. On the table was a pattern for “Maggie’s Square” by Drew Emborsky, aka The Crochet Dude. So while we listened to the presentation we were able to crochet squares for Heartmade Blessings.
The morning presentation was “The Dollars and Sense of Being a Published Author” and was moderated by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss of Creative Partners. Their combined experiences and expertise was enormously informative and Jean and Rita were very funny.

The guest speaker at lunch was Amy Shelton, the co-owner of Crochetville and I learned how great and vast resource this website is.
In the afternoon there were many break out discussions to choose from all related to the business side of designing and publishing crochet.

The first class I took was with Edie Eckman author of the Crochet Answer book and the soon to be released book, Crochet Motifs. She’s wearing the amazing shawl she designed that was on the cover of Interweave Crochet.


I ran into Dee Stanziano of Crochet with Dee. Dee used to teach at Knit Together in Stamford and then briefly at Knitting Central. Dee taught me how to crochet several years ago, she’s a terrific teacher and very creative crocheter. Dee taught me to crochet when I worked at Knit Together.

Next I met Robyn Chachula, the author of the soon to be released book, Blueprint Crochet.
I’m looking forward to her book which is based on crocheting visually.

The third session I attended was led by Mary Beth Temple, author of the Secret Language of Knitters.

During the final wrap up and after hearing the numbers of people who had either come in just before me or after me, my ticket number was called and I won yarn. I was a happy camper!