Interviews

Barbara Hillery Van Elsen, Founder of the New York City chapter of CGOA

Interview with Barbara Hillery Van Elsen

Barbara is the founder of one of the largest and most active local crochet guilds, the New York City chapter of the CGOA.  She is also a gifted crocheter. Because the New York City Crochet Guild has been such a success, I interviewed Barbara to make the story of its founding available to anyone with a desire to start a local chapter.  

DORA: What was your impetus for starting the New York Guild?

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Kathy Merrick

Kathy's wonderful crochet designs stand proudly on the cusp of art and fashion.  In this lively interview, she shares her background, influences and thoughts on crochet today.

DORA:  Tell me about how your interest in crochet first began.

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Daina Taimina: Crochet and Math Meet in a Beautiful Mind

Click on the audio icon above to hear the interview.  Daina Taimina's unique work creating hyperbolic planes using crochet has garnered much attention and acclaim.  It's opening the eyes of mathematicians and crafters, and was a direct ancestor of the Coral Reef Project. Her new book "Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes," just published, is brilliant (and is reviewed in this issue).

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Nancy Nehring

Designer and author Nancy Nehring tells about her life, and work, her antique hook collection, why she believes crochet was invented in the 19th century, and why plus sizes are so tricky.

DORA: Nancy, you are one of the most revered people in the industry, for many reasons, one being that you do so many different textile crafts.  Tell us which ones you do.

NANCY: I do several types of embroidery, sewing garment-making and crochet.  The one I do least is probably knitting.

DORA:  Where did your interest in needle arts come from?

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Anni Kristenson

ANNI KRISTENSEN, founder of Himalaya Yarns, has a truly socially conscious view of her business.  She has  travelled in the Himalayas for many years and has a deep understanding of the people and their crafts.  Plus, her yarns are beautiful.

DORA:  Tell about the origins of the company and why you started it.

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Nicky Epstein

"My least favorite thing is when someone says to me, “Everything’s been done.” The world would be a boring place if everything had been done.  Of course we have our knit and purl, our cable, but don’t say that nothing new  can be done."

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Myra Wood

"We spend so much time rushing from one thing to the next, with the endless to-do list replaying in our heads all day long, that sometimes we forget to just sit.  As soon as I sit with hook in hand, I fall into a place of peace to just be, and the creativity flows.  I lose track of time completely.  When I am fianlly finished, I'm always amazed that every thread holding the whole thing together was deliberately set by my own hand."

-- from Creative Crochet Lace

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Alice Riehl

www.aliceriehl.com
www.annettepetavy.com/

Alice Riehl is a French ceramist who explores the association between porcelain and textiles. Dora was impressed by her work incorporating crochet, and asked me to find out more. Alice agreed to talk to me from her home in Paris. It was a fun and fascinating conversation about needlework and emotion, and how a hostile corporate world forced Alice to connect with the artist she always was deep down.
Annette Petavy

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Karin Skacel-Haack

"Natural fibers are a current trend, but I think it’s a trend that’s here to stay.  Natural fibers have always been around, and they’ve become more and more incredible.  A wool of twenty years ago is not a wool of today.  Now they know the proper processing, whether they should comb it off the underbelly, how it’s much softer that way than if they shave it off the sheep.  They understand a lot more about the different animals."

Karin Skacel phone interview June 2007

DORA:  I understand you recently took over the company from your parents.

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Margaret Hubert

"I was attending a series of lectures being given by Rock Brynner (Yul Brynner's son).  His lectures were on literature, but he started his first lecture with a speech about conservation.  He described our planet as a giant sweater, and here and there and everywhere people were picking at stitches, and soon the whole thing would unravel.  Some one in the audience, knowing that I was there, said 'give it to Margaret, she will fix it.'"

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