Tag Archives: Vashti Braha

Taking Pictures….Having Images

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ScannedImageI realized I am bad at taking photos. Not that I take bad pictures, I just do not take photos as often as everyone else, and often forget about doing it at all. For example last week I was in Concord, North Carolina at the Fall Knit and Crochet Show, I had a wonderful time, but do I have any photos to show for it? Not really, I was too busy doing to think about recording. I met so many wonderful people, visited with new and old friends, learned lots and became so engrossed in crochet and yarn that I forgot about my camera.

MP900305796There were so many events to get to meet people that I was completely engaged for long periods of time (for those that have met me, you understand that I do tend to talk a bit).

I enjoyed helping with Professional Development Day. I had excellent instructors throughout the event, that I highly recommend, (Vashti Braha, Mary Beth Temple and Dora Ohrenstein), I enjoyed the banquet dinner and playing in the fashion show, I had a blast at the Fun Night (I even won the speed crochet competition and went head to head with Lily Chin, the renowned fastest crocheter, I didn’t dethrone her but had a lot of fun). Even the simple things like meeting new people over breakfast or appetizers were great highlights, but I have not a photo to show for it.

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Photo at my pattern signing

I did manage to pull out my camera on the show room floor, but only to take a couple of shots of design competition winners (I had some friends that couldn’t make the event, that placed in various categories), and I got a shot of me at my pattern signing. But really the memories I have are well secured in the stories that I lived, I may not be able to show you, but they are there in my heart and mind. I cannot wait to go back again and immerse myself in the experiences again, maybe next time I’ll think about the camera.

If you would like to check out pictures of the design contest entrants I highly recommend checking out Doris Chan’s blog post, she highlights all the winners (that is mine at the top of the page), as well as a slide show of all the entrants (there was so many great designs, I feel blessed to have placed at all, I am really I did not have to be a judge).

Photos may help share memories, but mine are quite vivid for me.

A Class of Crochet

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ScannedImageI am a self taught crocheter; I learned from a long out of print book when I was about 10. However only recently I have learned the benefit of actually taking a crochet class.

My first class was at a Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) Chain Link Conference (aka Knit and Crochet Show) in July 2011, with Karen Ratto-Whooley on Savvy Singles, learning new approaches to single crochet stitches. (This conference changed my life, but that is a story for another day)Usually I read through class listings and think “I have seen that in a book, what else they can be showing me”, but after taking this class I realized that there are more than the words in a pattern or book that created my hobby. Being in a room of fellow crocheters getting more detailed instruction then I thought was possible was an eye opening moment.

The designer doesn’t talk about the inspiration or thought process behind a pattern in any book that I’ve found, but in the class I was hearing the “background” of how the stitches work and the dynamics of how they work with the pros and cons of each stitch.  The fellow students offered more then I would have thought by bringing up questions I would have not considered. Even after crocheting for nearly 30 years, this old dog was learning new tricks.

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5 Peaks Shawl class by Vashti Braha at Fall 2012 Chain Link, Reno

 

This experience has encouraged me to take a handful of classes every year, and the new ideas and concepts that have opened up new worlds to me. (The 5 Peaks Shawl by Vashti Braha gave me a whole new outlook on Tunisian Crochet) Just because I knew the stitches, could read a pattern and complete the fabrics I desired, I didn’t realize there was another world within the one I knew. How often this happens in life; there is more depths in that we love than ever imagined.