Early Bird registration expires on February 15 and that means prices go up on February 16.

Full Registration with 9 hours of classes and admission to the market place, galleries, fashion show and the banquet with keynote address is $280 before the deadline, $305 after.

Mini-Registration with admission to all the events but no classes is $145 before the deadline and $165 after.  You can add one or more classes to the mini-reg if you so choose at $65 per class before the deadline and $75 per class after.

You can see which classes still have openings at this site – click on conference 2012, then click on classes.

Register online at the CNCH website or download the mail-in form – but be sure it is received before February 15^th.

Also, remember to make your hotel reservation at the Oakland City Center Marriott – using the facilities key on the conference website.  Staying at the conference hotel makes your conference experience so much nicer and it helps keep conference expenses down for everyone by ensuring the lowest costs for classroom and exhibit space. Encourage your weaving, spinning and basketry friends to join you at the conference and share a room! Beginner classes still available – bring your students along too.

I am the new volunteer proof reader for CNCH Net.  Learning how to use WordPress is a great experience for me.  I hope I can do a good job as proof reader.

Janet Finch, Humboldt Handweavers and Spinners Guild

Attention CNCH 2012 spinners, it’s time to start thinking about your gorgeous Return to Sender fiber and the yarn it will make! Entries are already being submitted for the competition, so dust off that spinning wheel, let your imagination run wild and watch the fiber fly onto the bobbin. The deadline for entries for Return to Sender is April 30, 2012.  Email r2scnch with any questions.

Return of Return to Sender Guidelines Now Available

For folks entering the Return of Return to Sender Challenge with projects created using yarn from the last conference, the submission date is April 15, 2012.  Guidelines for submitting the projects are now available by emailing r2scnch.  In general, make something where the yarn from the CNCH 2010 Return to Sender Competition is clearly visible and send it in!

The purpose of judging by jury is to enhance the quality of the work being done by the individuals and groups, and to provide exhibitors with an evaluation by impartial experts which might otherwise be unavailable within guilds. Items submitted to be judged for awards shall have been designed and created by the exhibitor. Only work not previously shown at a CNCH conference may be submitted for judging. All entrants must be members of CNCH, Inc., Guilds or affiliate groups such as ANWG or a Southern California weaving, spinning or basketry guild.

The Standing Rules of CNCH, Inc. stipulate the following criteria for a judge’s scoring for awards:
Craftsmanship [including technique]
Aesthetic use of color
Design
Suitable use of material
Creative expression

A work submitted for judging shall be scored for each of the criteria.

Ribbons are then awarded according to a point range determined by the Jury Chair. Blue ribbons are awarded for “Outstanding” individual work as indicated by the highest judging totals. White ribbons are awarded for “Meritorious” individual work as indicated by the next highest point range. Other ribbons or awards can be awarded at the discretion of the Annual Conference Jury Chair.

In other words, the piece is judged against itself, not against other pieces and multiple outstanding and meritorious ribbons may be awarded. So, don’t be intimidated by more experienced weavers, just weave your best and enter it proudly!

Remember:  Entry forms for the gallery shows must be received by April 1, 2012!  Fashion Show entry forms must be received by March 31, 2012!

Anyone who is a member of a CNCH guild may enter items in the Gallery shows.  If a conference registrant is not a member of CNCH or affiliate groups, an additional fee of $30 will be added and they will become a member of CNCH.

In her years as a weaving student and teacher, Peggy has developed a great respect for the traditions of weaving and a deep desire to pass those traditions on to the next generation. Her own weaving shows openness to new materials and possibilities, using clever and innovative techniques to create thoughtful and innovative works of textile art. An exhibition of Peggy’s work will be on display throughout the Conference in the Gallery.

Peggy is well known in the weaving world for her four books on warping and weaving, her articles have appeared in Handwoven, Threads, and Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot. Her DVDs and beginning weaving classes have helped countless weavers to get started. Check out her wonderful blog at www.peggyosterkamp.com where she answers questions, shares techniques, and talks about her own work.  Peggy lives and weaves in the Bay Area.

This event is included with Full and Mini Registrations. Additional tickets will be available to purchase for $65 each until May 1, 2012. They will not be available at the conference. Please indicate your entrée choice when you register.

Volunteers make this sale a continued great success.  Just weave 5 to 10 identical samples roughly 4” x 5” ” in size.  Obvious exceptions are braids and inkle or card woven bands.  Putting on a little extra warp is the perfect way to participate with practically no extra effort.  Remnants from a project are fine.  Enclose a sheet of clearly written instructions including weave draft, materials, sett, finishing, proposed use and your name.  The Sample Service Committee will make enough photocopies to accompany each sample.  They will even cut the samples for you and reimburse you for materials if you ask them.  Please send your samples and instructions by April 1, 2012 to Sue Fandel, 67 Harper Street, San Francisco 94131.  You may contact Sue at (415) 641-9239 or at seesuerun2004 at yahoo dot com.

At the booth in the vendor area at CNCH 2012 you may choose and buy samples from other weavers – one or many for a small fee.  Samples from previous years will also be for sale!

A set of samples from each year’s booth is available for loan from the Library for no more than the cost of return shipping. The Sample Service has been re-done, all new binders and archival plastic sheet protectors. These sample notebooks circulate nationwide and are the most requested books in the entire textile library.  Individuals or guilds can arrange for the loan of these books by contacting Sue at the above addresses.

The success of the Sample Service depends on individuals donating samples of their weaving – this year’s or items from previous years, just send your extra bits off to Sue with draft and other data!  Then be sure to stop by the Sample Service Booth in Oakland in May!

Look at all those pillows!

The Oakland Marriott City Center is directly connected to the Oakland Convention Center where the conference will be taking place.  This makes for the ideal stress-free conference!  Your classes and the vendor’s hall are just an elevator ride away from your room – you can zip upstairs with your purchases and still get back into your classroom with plenty of time to spare.  There are lovely hotel lobbies and gathering places to catch up with friends – or to make new ones.

The Oakland Marriott offers well-appointed, newly-renovated hotel accommodations featuring allergy-free guest rooms and stunning views of the San Francisco Bay Area, Lake Merritt, Berkeley Marina, and the Golden Gate Bridge.  There are many restaurants and coffee shops within a 3 block radius – including Oakland’s Chinatown. In addition, the hotel offers the Level Two Restaurant, Twelve Bar Lounge, and a Peet’s Coffee on the second level lobby, as well as a fitness center and heated outdoor pool.  If you are bringing along a non-weaving significant other, the hotel is convenient to public transportation and many enjoyable sights and activities in Oakland and San Francisco (more details on the restaurants and activities closer to the conference!).

The special CNCH group rate is $119.00 plus tax for one or two people!

To get the special conference rate follow these instructions:

A lounge area in the hotel

Hotel reservations are made directly with the Oakland Marriott. For reservations phone (510) 466-6417 or better yet, you can make your reservations online at http://tinyurl.com/cnch2012hotel . Note: When registering online through the link above, don’t change the group code.  It will be preset to “hanhana” and that is correct.  If making your hotel reservation by phone, you can still use group code CNCH2012.

Double rooms offer two double beds. Four people can stay in a room. And if something comes up, lodging cancellations should be made directly with the hotel and are subject to their cancellation policies.

The more attendees who stay at the hotel – the less expensive the classroom spaces are for the conference – allowing this and future conferences to bring in the most wonderful teachers and to offer other enhancements to the conference. So, plan to book a room and make the conference stress and commute free!

Remember to make your hotel reservation for CNCH 2012 soon.

woven jacket with embellishment

The Winter issue of CNCHnet is now on line.  In it are many articles on clothing construction with handwovens,

a good way to get your creative juices flowing and your ‘inner designer’ motivated to construct and enter a piece or

two in the CNCH Conference Fashion Show coming up in May.

To access CNCHnet, press the button on the menu bar above.  Read and enjoy!

Due to the success of the 2010 Return to Sender challenge and the beautiful batts provided this year, we have had a surge in participation.  In response people purchased their fiber early for next Mays conference and we have officially sold out of batts for Return to sender 2012!

Mary Finley and Roger Salter dyed and prepared the fiber this year.  They will have a booth at CNCH if members missed out on this year’s competition but still want to purchase naturally dyed batts in similar but not identical colors.

Let the spinning portion of Return to Sender begin……

Wendy

All these batts will become wonderful yarns on display in the Return to Sender Gallery at CNCH 2012 Oakland, May 18 – 20, 2012.