I'm "In"!!

I've been one of the many thousands of fiberholics standing patiently in line since mid-July to join the explosively-growing community known as Ravelry.  Each week I'd check in to see where I stood, chatted with a few others standing in line, compared projects and thus.  Well, hmmm, that was a virtual line I was standing in, so no, that was wishful thinking on my part.  I really wasn't chatting with my neighbors in line with me, but I know they must be as excited as I am when the golden ticket was presented to get in.

For me, I received my golden ticket to join last night!  Whee!!  I immediately started setting up my notebook and realise it's going to take some time to build it up (and when it has material worth merit I'll post more about it here) -- like what yarn AND how much is REALLY in my yarn stash (will I really come clean to how vast it really is??? eish!).  If they expand the needle/hook section so you can name brandnames -- that would be awesome! (I'll suggest it to the hosts in case no one else has.)  In the meantime I was tickled to stumble upon two friends there ... Pam & Rose!  (Hi Guys!)

If you, my readers, are also a part of the Ravelry.com community and would like to be added as "friends" please leave a comment here or email me as to the user name you are using.  For now I'm going to do some more exploring and play around with it's features.  I can be found at Ravelry as "CrochetWithDee."  :)  

Opening Eyes to New Experiences

When the Knit Together shop in Stamford closed it's doors this past February they gave me the store displays I had created, one of which was a freeform pencil holder I created for use near the registers.  Back in my possession, I gave some thought of what I wanted to do with it and decided to use it in my children's school library in hopes it would get the children wondering about what is art, what is crochet, and how much fun yarn can be.

So from March until June there were a total of two comments on it -- from two different adults. Both had commented that it lent the library a "homey" feel.  The children did not seem to notice it.

Fast forward to this school year and the comments have dramatically changed -- the children have taken notice, and in such a way I can see it will be an interesting year!  Now, as the children await their turn to check out books, I often times see them tracing the crocheted stitches with their fingers, and turning the pencil holder around and around and around to, as they say, "find the beginning and the end" of the work.  Then the questions and comments start: "Mrs. Stanziano? Did you make this?" "Wow, Mrs. Stanziano, I didn't know you can draw with crochet! That's art!" "Mrs. Stanziano, is this something you can teach us this winter?"

Ha!  Mission accomplished! It may have a "homey" feel to some adults, but I have the children wondering about "drawing with yarn," and about "art" all with a little piece of freeform crochet that was inspired by Bonnie Pierces' "One Yarn Challenge."  It's a good feeling to open eyes to new experiences, both with books and with yarn.  :)

Friday Update: 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge

Yesterday various people met with Former US President, Bill Clinton, to commit to make a difference in the world.  The 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge certainly qualifies, as the point of the http://www2.mycommitment.org/ group is that anyone can do something large or small to make a difference -- to make the world better.  Here, we're doing just that -- one scarf at a time!

To recap, participating in the Challenge thus far, we have:

Sandie at Crafty Corral  has three scarves completed  

Sherri at CrochetR is working on her fourth scarf

Tracie at Fibers by Tracie has completed her third scarf

Sheila at Just Another Hooker is working on her first scarf

Bunny from Bunny's Blog

Ellen over at GoCrochet

Haley

Priscilla of http://byhookorneedles.blogspot.com has finished her sixth

Sonia of http://fromthehook.blogspot.com/

Jennifer of www.jaybirddesigns.blogspot.com; has completed on her second scarf

Beata of www.hookandfiber.blogspot.com who has three completed already

Jane of http://janeshookedoncrochet.blogspot.com/ also has three scarves done.

And, joining the Challenge this week is:

Valarie of Chino Valley, AZ; she donated two scarves she crocheted to her local church.  Her Church donates clothing & food to the homeless.

Olga of CT says "I already finished one scarf and started the second, so you can count with two from me."

Lucy, an elementry school teacher in Wisconsin says, "I know that every school could use scarves. There is always a child that comes to school without proper clothing in winter. If it's an adult scarf, perhaps the child's mother needs it. You can count on my for at least one scarf for my school."

Plus the scarf I finished last week, that makes 29 scarves! Whoohoo!! It's not too late to join the Challenge!  All you need to do is go here for the official rules -- and don't forget there's a drawing for a great prize too!

Join us in making a difference with creating & donating a scarf!!  :)
Tags: 60 scarves in 60 days challenge, knit, crochet, dee stanziano

Crochet Bling Bling

I'm still feeling blue about not being able to dive into my crochet stitches with the fever, flavor, and speed I'm accustomed to.  I'm told, "just a few more weeks, just a few more weeks." Ack! Anyone have a time machine I can borrow just for a moment to zip into the future, be declared "good as new" and then zip back to today again?? 

While I await, I did what any girl feeling a little blue would do -- I went shopping for some bling bling!  I thought back to a conversation I had with the ever-wonderful Rita Weiss when we were at the National CGOA Conference this past summer.  She inquired, "Dee, with all your crochet pins, you must know where I can get some custom rhinestone pins made."  At the time, I didn't.  It was sheer luck that I'd find yarn vendors selling the pins at I now covet.   I decided to do a little research and found a vendor willing to create a custom pins.  Check out one of the custom crochet bling bling pins I'll be wearing at future crochet/fiber demonstrations/events:

How fun!  I think I'll wear it to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival next month!  For those interested, the pin cost about $32 to have made and shipped (which arrived delightfully early this morning).  This pin will now go with my "Get Hooked," "Yarn Diva," "I(heart)Hooking," and "I(heart)Crochet" rhinestone pins.  (Rita, I'll be contacting you!!)

Keeping the language clean, I'd love to order more custom rhinestone pins.  Any suggestions??

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!  :)

Friday Update: 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge

I was chatting with a parent from my children's school the other night during Open House.  She was telling me of a local man who recently passed away. At his Mass the gathering of friends, family, and neighbors discovered he loved to quilt.  And he used this hidden passion to aid those in his community by learning of various people need, bundling up one of his quilts and delivering it in the cover of darkness.  He left no card, or tell-tell sign that he was the anonymous donator.  And he did this for years.  They discovered at least 50 people in that gathering had received his gift of love.

I thought that was a touching story and decided to share it here because some people who want to participate in the 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge have emailed me that they don't have local charities that can use them, or have the financial means to ship them.  So in light of the man who gave his beautiful quilts anonymously, I ask, is there someone local that could use an anonymous scarf donation?  Even if the scarf has it's ends folded up to make pockets -- a nursing home resident can use it to keep track of things when sitting in a wheel chair.  Or it can be tucked under a bed mattress with just a pocket end sticking out -- just enough so a child under-going cancer treatment can reach over and grab a book tucked inside.  You see, scarves can do more than just keep the neck warm.  :)

To recap, participating in the Challenge thus far, we have:

Sandie at Crafty Corral  has three scarves completed 

Sherri at CrochetR

Tracieat Fibers by Tracie is on her way to completing her third scarf

Sheila at Just Another Hooker

Bunny from Bunny's Blog

Ellen over at GoCrochet

Haley

Priscilla of http://byhookorneedles.blogspot.com has finished her sixth

Sonia of http://fromthehook.blogspot.com/

Joining the Challenge this week is:

Jennifer of www.jaybirddesigns.blogspot.com; she's working on her second scarf

Beata of www.hookandfiber.blogspot.com who has three completed already
and

Jane of http://janeshookedoncrochet.blogspot.com/ also has three scarves done.

 

... and I managed to squeek one out while wearing my wrist brace.  This means we have completed 21 scarves thus far!!!  Whoohoo!!

It's not too late to join the Challenge!  All you need to do is go here for the official rules -- and don't forget there's a drawing for a great prize too!
Tags: 60 scarves in 60 days Challenge, Dee Stanziano, crochet, knit, weave, charity

Meet Dee & Members of The HHCC!

If you're in the New England area and planning to attend the Eastern States Exposition (known as "The Big E"), in West Springfield, Massachusetts, then be sure to visit The New England States Building tomorrow where I will be joining members of The Happily Hooked on Crocheting Club, Connecticut Chapter of the Crochet Guild of America, to promote the Art of Crochet!  The New England States Building is located near the Avenue of the States and the Firehouse.

We'll be there to answer your questions about crochet, and about our CGOA Chapter.  For more information about The Big E, click here.  This is our FIFTH! year participating in the United States ninth largest fair on what is known as "Connecticut Day" -- come join in on the fun!!