I had, by all measures, an excellent crochet day today.

The weather cooperated completely with my plans. After a brief downpour last night, the day was predominantly sunshine, with an occasional cloud cover and light breezes thrown in for relief; perfect for plying my craft in my outdoor office:

As for the project that is currently bedeviling me, I was (for the most part) able to look past most of the temptations that crossed my path and focus on the work at hand.

Of the 118 pieces that needed attaching, I got 58 attached, and of the 70 remaining, I only need to make 13 (my personal lucky number). Additionally, the weaving in ends situation has improved to the point that as of this posting, there are only 120 ends left that need my attention.

Having said that, there was one temptation that I was able to resist during daylight hours, but once the sun had set, I succumbed and began thumbing through the pages of a brochure for the Annual Chain Link Conference scheduled for September in Greensboro, North Carolina, that arrived in today’s mail.

The Annual Chain Link Conference has both a summer and fall session. This year’s summer session in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while the fall session is in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is, in a geographic sense, practically in my backyard.

While lots of interesting and accomplished crochet educators will be in Greensboro, I am hoping to get into a class taught by the inimitable Jenny King.

I first became acquainted with Mrs. King’s work through various crochet publications. Then, in July of 2008, I got to meet her (briefly) when I signed up for a class she was teaching in Manchester, New Hampshire at that year’s summer Chain Link conference.

The reason I met her only briefly was that there had been tremendously bad weather the previous day, and my flight was canceled. As the day dragged on and the cancellations and delays grew, it became increasingly less likely that I would make it to New Hampshire that day. So at some point, I decided to take the earliest flight I could for the next day, went home, and tried not to think about what I would be missing.

What I ended up missing was the first five hours of a six hour class. However, Jenny King is a very skilled instructor, and despite the fact I missed so much of the class, I still had the opportunity to learn. The written materials she provided to the class were of the highest quality, and even though I missed a lot, based on the instruction I did get along with the course materials, I have been able to make projects from the materials provided.

Jenny King has a delightful and infections sense of humor, so if I do manage to register for one of her classes, I don’t want to miss even one minute.