You know, I'm surprised. With Lily Chin out there and then all the celebrities that admit they knit or crochet you think more younger people would be excited about it.

I agree with everything said Kim. Any pictures I've seen have shown much older women. One group of pictures showed old women on a runway modeling stuff. The audience was older too. So when I hear people saying "The main myth is that knitters and crocheters are largely old ladies" I think, "Sooo, then where are the younger ones?" LOL. I'd love to go, but I'd feel weird being a complete minority there. Maybe they do too. So then maybe next year, we should loosely organize a bunch of younger people to go.

I was at the Fiber Arts Market on Saturday and I saw a wide range of ages, old,middle and young. Some women came with their grandmothers and mothers, some men came with wives and some men came for themselves! Maybe Mr.Man just came on the wrong day? Or maybe he just wasnt paying attention. I do have to say tho that the quality of some of the crochet that people were wearing was better than I expected, there was still the occasional red heart striped poncho, but I saw this older woman with a beautiful pink and grey spiral motif shawl that I plan on trying to emulate. Keep Crocheting!

I've met several younger knitters and crocheters online and here on the college campus where I work, they have a crochet club - but most of them can't afford to pay the CGOA dues and travel to the conferences and worskhops, etc.

You know, I just said those same thoughts on a post on the CGOA Board. Some people can't afford the dues and flight. It's too expensive. And, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but when you get to the conference, you have to pay for every little thing you want to do/see. Do they charge an admission fee? Should that cover some things? That doesn't make sense. Again, correct me on the parts that I'm wrong.

Amie, you're not wrong. It's pretty expensive to go to these conferences. Between flight, hotel room, classes and conference-related meals, this trip cost me near a fortune. But it could definitely be worked out to be far less expensive. With three conferences a year (2 smaller regionals and one larger national), it's possible that one could be reached by car. My $105/night hotel room could have been way more affordable had I shared with 3 other people. I definitely could have skipped a couple of the conference-related meals in favour of grabbing a sandwich for under $10. The classes are pricey, but are less expensive if you're a member (to the point that you pretty much end up saving your membership dues if you take 2 classes, I think), and they're fantastic.I totally know what you mean about fearing feeling like a minority by being young (I definitely was one, but I got over the weirdness pretty quickly), but I believe wholeheartedly that the guild is in desperate need of active young members. We have a year until the next national conference (to be held in Valley Forge, PA next July). I think we should get as many of our friends into it as possible...

WAIT. I thought it was held every year in Cali? I live in JERSEY. Valley Forge is not bad for me at all! I'll def. be at that one. COOL.

In a perfect world, there would be master knitters/crocheters in every major city in America. They would hold meetings/classes every month/week/day(lol) in that major city and the surrounding areas. I believe people would pay for these classes/info. meetings if they could reach all populations. Wouldn't that be paradise?!?

Interesting article. It's funny when someone who doesn't knit or crochet writes about it. I'm so into the crocheting and knitting worrld that I find it funny when a "outsider" writes about it. I guess I feel in the middle since I just turned 43 since I'm neither young and hip nor elderly. I just love to crochet.Also I've never been to a conference, but I really should join CGOA.

I attended the CGOA annual conference in 2002. It was held in Palm Beach, Florida that year - which was a mere 4 hour drive for me. Rooms were expensive, but my husband and son came with me and made a vacation of it. The classes were definitely pricey, even being a member, but I picked carefully and enjoyed. I didn't go to all the meals - a lot of them are business meetings that I wasn't interested in. I went to the banquet/fashion show. They had young ladies from a local modeling school model for the fashion show. I was in my early 40s at the time and was one of the younger ones there. Actually, two of my designs won "Best of Show" and "2nd Place" in the 3- Dimensional contest. Check them out at the CGOA, past conferences, site. I am hoping to go to the one in PA next year - time to start saving now!

I just saw your little ol' self on the Stitch Diva newsletter. Great photo and great company.