Chain Link 2010

On Professional Development Day, there was a raffle to raise money for Lyme Disease. Here Kimberly McAlindin and Amy Shelton of Crochetville are busy vogueing....I mean selling tickets for the awesome door prizes. I won a copy of "Crochet Bouquet" by Suzann Thompson in the drawing. It's a beautiful book with LOTS of beautiful crochet flowers. Suzann kindly agreed to sign it for me. There was nearly $1,000 raised!

Here is a shot of many of the folks who participated in PDD. We heard from Kristin Ohmdahl and Lily Chin. Then there were break-out sessions for further education. It was all very informative. Participants were also given hooks and their choice of yarn to crochet blocks for charity.( was able to make 2!)

Here are Rebecca Velasquez, Ellen Gormley and Lindsey Stephens. We were all just hanging out in the 24 hour crochet lounge. It was great to have a place to hang out and create with each other! There were so many beautiful things that folks were working on.

One of the more unusual entries in the fashion show included a dress made entirely of plarn (plastic yarn) from recycled, or upcycled shopping bags. The gentleman's vest if made of upcycled VHS tapes!

The designer of this pretty sweater was told by the members of her knitting group that crochet was only good for trim on knitted sweaters. She found a tongue-in-cheek way to make her point, by crocheting the sweater and knitting on the trim!

Here is Vashti Braha, modeling her prize-winning Weightless Tunisian Wrap. She created it with and all new Tunisian stitch she calls the Wicker Stitch. Beautiful! 

 Finally, I couldn't NOT show the Grand Prize Winner, a beautiful confection of fibery arts goodness. It's a little kimono by Shelby Allaho, called Kyoto Coat. Shelby did a fabulous job of fusing several fiber and needlearts together to come up with this creation. Click on her link to read more about her creative process.

There were so many wonderful entries, both in the design contest as well as the fashion show. There is not enough room here to show them, but if you like, you can visit my flickr photostream to see the rest!
 If you have never been to a Chain Link Conference, I highly recommend that you do so in the future. I promise you will learn lots, meet lots of interesting people and come home with lots of inspiration to fuel your own creative spark!