CGOA 2007 Convention...Day 1...07/12/07

Our trip to the 2007 CGOA Chain Link Convention this year was great! Lots of friends and good times. Hubby Brian and I were on the go all day every day till checkout on Sunday, 07/15:

We arrived on Wednesday 07/11 after a 6 hour drive from NJ with an easy check-in at the Radisson Manchester in NH.
Within an hour of arrival we had dinner at JD's Cafe with friends from CGOA chapters Houston H-Town and Crochet Texas! -and surprise to us- Melody MacDuffee! What a gracious lady she is and it was a delight for us to meet her. She talked of her upcoming trip to Africa to teach a village her beaded crochet. A designer and teacher of overlay crochet, Melody has created a site that can be seen here .
Perhaps I'll feel confident enough to take her overlay course next year if it's offered again.

5 FUN Friends: (Back L to R):Bobbi, Christy (Front): Tina, Carole, Saundra

Thursday, 07/12/07:

After a late start on Thursday catching up on needed sleep (already) Brian and I had brunch and bumped into more friends after we registered and received goody bags... yarns I had my first class scheduled with Lily Chin at 2pm in her soldout "Crocheted Tips, Tricks and Hints". Lily is a delight to meet...taking the class was well worth it just for hearing and watching her in action. I sat beside my friend Amie of NexStitch...see her blog for her conference reviews here .
Even though I have Lily's new book "Couture Crochet Workshop" ...some tips were helpful to see visually and questions could be asked right then and there to the designer herself. Lily also graciously signed my book at the end of class :)

Thursday night's Keynote speaker was Cari Clement of Caron International. She did a good job of talking about crochet as a fashion statement and showed pictures of outrageous retro designs from a favorite vintage magazine I happen to have in my collection...Ladies Home Journal, 1976.
After Cari's speech it was time for the preview opening of Market Street. Beautiful and luscious yarns to be seen. Being more an impulse shopper at something like this I would have really done some damage if crochet patterns were seen made out of the yarns. For next year, hoping to attend, I will have some patterns of things I want to make with me and will just match yarns needed to/for them...lesson learned...and no further comment.