Crochet Articles & Tips
CYCA Education Program Offered at FIT
The Craft Yarn Council of America
The Craft Yarn Council of America (CYCA), the yarn industry's trade association, recently announced that beginning in February 2003, its Certified Instructors Program (CIP) will be offered in association with the Center for Professional Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology's (FIT). As part of this training course of study, students who successfully complete the program will earn continuing education units (CEUs) for the first time.
"We are pleased to be associated with FIT," says Mary Colucci, CYCA's Executive Director. "The college's reputation for training professionals in the marketplace and providing ongoing training to advance careers and businesses is respected nationwide. FIT is also affiliated with the State University of New York. The Center for Professional Studies is a unit of FIT's School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
"Our goal with the CIP program," continues Colucci, "has been to train knitting and crochet teachers and to raise these studies to a more professional level. Now students who are able to take the courses through FIT will obtain nationally recognized validation of their training at an internationally respected institution. We are pleased that Arnetta Kenney, an adjunct professor in FIT's Textile Surface Design Department and a CIP teacher who helped to forge this new affiliation, will teach the first courses."
Joan Volpe, Managing Coordinator for The Center for Professional Studies, commented, "We have seen a resurgence in quality hand crafted item demand, coupled with a renewed interest in obtaining high level artisan skills. The Craft Yarn Council's program insures quality instructor training and through our partnership, people who wish to learn knitting and crochet will have the benefit of knowing that their instructor has nationally recognized credentials."
Since the Council created its CIP program in 1981, it has trained thousands of teachers around the country. The program includes technique and teacher training in both knitting and crochet. Both courses require 17 hours of class work, the completion of projects and student teaching. More details about the program can be obtained from the Council's web sites: www.teachknitting.com and www.teachcrochet.com or by contacting Council offices.