Meeting my #1 crochet designer!!

While on vacation my husband and I made a detour on the way home. We stopped in Wichita, KS and spent the night so that I could meet my favorite crocheter and designer, Tamara Gonzales. Ever since I first started reading her blog: Tamara's Take on the Crochet Soiree website I have enjoyed her work. She is a very talented woman. The photo above was taken at Tamara's favorite yarn shop. Tamara is on the left, me in the middle and Tamara's best friend Rosina is on the right. The name of the yarn shop is "Twist" and it's located in the heart of Wichita. What a fantastic yarn shop! The girls CGOA groups guild "KS My Stitch" holds their meetings there. They have wonderful spots to sit and crochet or knit, rooms to hold your meetings in, knit and crochet patterns, accessories and tons of yarn of every type!!! It's a yarn lover's dream place to be!!! It was like a mini-vacation to get to talk to Tamara and explore all the yarns and stuff they have there and the ambience was just heavenly. Tamara, Rosina and I checked everything out there, and I found a pattern of Tamara's (which I just had to have and got autographed) went to lunch a short way from the shop where we met up with Tamara's sister and then on to a store to look for a purse like the one the Tamara's sis had (crocheted of course). Then it was on to Michaels where I found some more yarn on sale and we just shopped 'til I was ready to drop! I found a super (barely used) sweater that I'm going to repurpose into a pillow at a consignment shop, actually I found several items to repurpose into pillows. I was really wearing down (I'm disabled) and Rosina had a "babysitting" appointment with her grandchildren and so they delivered me back to the hotel where my hubby was waiting on me. I had a fantastic time and a wonderful day with a person that I admire very much. What more could you ask for? Well, I had that too but we'll leave that for a blog of hubby and myself's trip.

Tamara recently attended the CGOA Summer Knit and Crochet Show in Buffalo, NY. This is the CGOA's Annual Chain Link Conference. Tamara attended as a representative of Leisure Arts and the new Crochet Soiree website. Tamara entered an afghan in a contest sponsored by the CGOA and won honorable mention. The name of her afghan was Tamara's Tale Aren't the colors just gorgeous? I have been entranced with this afghan ever since I first saw the picture. What talent and what an artistic creation! I can only aspire to be as talented in the crochet world as Tamara Gonzales. Everyone needs to keep their eyes and ears open for her work because I for one can see her becoming a top of the line designer and I don't want to miss any of her stuff! Keep in touch with her on the Crochet Soiree website and be the first to obtain any new patterns that she might have published!