On the playground at The Big E

I am way behind in updating my blog here -- my apologies.  It's just been a very busy time between attending The Big E, volunteering in my children's school, writing my first "The Crochet Connection" article for the CGOA newsletter, and trying to finish up a design for an upcoming publication (wearing this brace is greatly slowing me down).  Whew!

So let me say this about The Big E experience. There is a joke my children like to share with me: "Hey Mom, why did the chicken cross the playground? Because he wanted to get to the other slide!"  Cute, yes?  I think the joke is a great metaphor of why my group travels to West Springfield, Massachusetts, every year -- because we want boys and girls, men and women to come on over to the crochet side.  We want them to see how much fun it can be to create something with their own two hands.  And thus, we cross the playground to get to the other slide.

What we initally found upsetting is that this being our fifth year in doing so, we're still not able "to play with the big kids."  We were again placed at a separate table away from the "established" fiber arts.  Rather than look at it from a negative perspective, I chose to look at the silver lining -- "Look at us!  We're Special!  We get our own Table & Area! Crocheters Rock!"  It was like being one of the animals showcased at a local zoo -- all the animals are in their respective exhibits except for one.  That one animal was allowed to roam free; that was us.  We crocheters were the beautiful peacocks, the zoo animal allowed to roam free, where we could fan our feathers and strut, strut, strut! 

So strut we did!  We had many wonderful people stop by our table and inquire about crochet.  One lady that I see every year who has difficulty communicating learned the front/back post stitch from me.  I was so proud of her I took my "Get Hooked" rhinestone pin off my hat (you have to see this hat full of crochet-related pins!) and pinned it upon her when she finally grasped the concept.  She was so tickled that she gave me the tightest bear hug!  That alone made the day worth while for me and I strutted like a proud peacock for the rest of the day!  {VBG}

So, why did the peacock cross the playground?  Who cares, it was strutting it's crocheted creations!  :)