Oh What A Night ...

Dashing out into the cool autumn air, Grace, Linda, Priscilla and I, members of The HHCC (Connecticut Chapter of the CGOA), met at our local Borders bookstore last night.  Our goal was to match up hats, mittens/gloves, and scarves -- sorting by color, by size -- and labeling each bag to make it easier for our local Salvation Army to distribute to those in need.

When we were done there were three sweater sets for infants and 64 completed sets of hats, mittens, and scarves.  We also found that we were in need of a dozen scarves to complete 12 more sets, so the Challenge was sent out to our members to see if we can complete them before December 7th, our official date to donate all the sets along with new toys we donate each year.

I think we can do it ... and I think this Challenge will be interesting to see how it effects Priscilla's contest.  I told her last night, before knowing we needed a dozen more scarves, that her official personal "Creating for Charity" goal would be beat by six items (making it 106) ... now I'm rethinking that. LOL   If you haven't entered her contest yet, there's still time.  But not much!

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From the Mouth of Babes...

Since tonight is the night my CGOA Chapter will be gathering at our local Borders bookstore to group together the scares, mittens/gloves, and hats we've been collecting to donate to our local Salvation Army next week, yesterday I decided to see if I could whip up one more hat for the cause.

As I packed up the trumpets for my children's music lesson, I selected a pretty lavender colored yarn for the hat, and then headed to my children's school.  Since I am one of the "band Mom's" I figured I had plenty of time to work on it, and I was right.  (I have just a few more rows for the rim of the hat and it will be complete.)

Getting back to my story, as I awaited for the band members to come to the school gym to prepare for their lessons I started working on the hat.  Across the gym was the Kindergarten class awaiting to take their buses home.  I sat, tuned in to crocheting my hat when suddenly my ears perked up.  What was this I was hearing??

It was the little youngsters debating about what it was that I was doing:

"She's knitting."

"She's sewing."

"It's not knitting, it's a new type of sewing."

"It's not sewing, it's knitting with one stick."

"No, no, she's knitting. I saw my Grandma doing it once."

"No, she's knitting."

"No, knitting is with two sticks, like this..." 

"No, that's not what she's doing.  She's sewing, you just can't see her needle."

Then one child raised her voice above all the others,
   "I know what she's doing!  She is crocheting!  I've seen it done before, and it's fast!"

I looked at the little girl and beamed her a huge smile.  She smiled back.

All her little friends looked at her.  "Whoa," said one little boy, "how did you know that? I thought she was sewing."

She went into her school backpack and pulled out a little pink hat, then put it on her head, saying nothing.  Even from where I was sitting I could see that the hat was crocheted! 

Before I had the chance to cross the gym to inspect it closer, and to inquire who she had seen crocheting, it was time for her to board her bus and head home.  At that same time all the band members started filing into the gym.  Still, it was cool to hear that at least one youngster in the bunch knew her fiber arts!  :)

Get Your Bid On

You can bid from now until 8:00 PM (PST), Sunday, December 2nd, for ornaments from the Tree Of Life Tree of Peace 2007 International Freeform Show.  The silent auction will benefit Women to Women International.

The ornaments are great for every faith and any occasion.  Each ornament is unique, and you can see them by visiting here: www.freeformcrochet.com/pages/auction.html  To get a better view, including figuring out who the creator of each ornament is, by clicking onto each one.

I placed my bids earlier this morning -- it's for a great cause -- AND it places me (should I win) one step closer to fulfilling my dream of having our Christmas tree decorated entirely with crochet & fiber ... wha ha ha ha ha!

Go ahead and place your bid(s) too! 

Also, can you figure out (before it's posted) which ornament(s) I may have bid on?  Have fun looking!  :)

Tagged!

Prior to being ill during the week of Thanksgiving, I was tagged by both Vashti and Tracie for the first-ever CGOA Meme.  Here are the rules for participating:

1. Begin by including a link to the person who tagged you.
2. Answer the question:  Are you crocheting something that you would not be crocheting if you were not a CGOA Member?
Or more broadly this question: "How has your experience of crochet been changed by your CGOA membership?" Give a single one-line answer.
3. For extra credit, end by linking to 3 (or 5, for extra credit) other bloggers among whom you'd like to see squirm publicly with this challenging, yet strangely satisfying essay question.

OK, I've linked to Vashti & Tracie.  Now on to answering the question: am I crocheting something that I would not be crocheting if I were not a CGOA Member -- OR -- how has my experience of crochet been changed by my CGOA membership?

Oh, single line answers.  Eish.  No can do; I need to be able to make more sentences!!  That's like asking a crocheter to only make one stitch!  Oh, the torture!  :)

The first question is easy to answer with one sentence: Presently I am not crocheting anything -- I've been without a hook in my hand for a week due to illness.  (Well, OK, two sentences!)  With thanks to Lyn, the CGOA Membership Board Moderator, I'll be presenting The Special Stitch of the Week NEXT week; this will be my second time participating in this volunteer program. 

                                                                                   *   *  *

As for the second question, I'll try to keep it brief:  I have been a CGOA member since 2001.  I found them through surfing the Internet for something crochet related and found their logo on someone's website and decided to click onto it.  To this day I do not recall the website that hosted the logo, but I am forever grateful.  Being a member of the CGOA has opened doors of friendships, experiences, and techniques for me.  I feel like I am a member of a wonderful fiber community, that like a great wine, only gets better with each passing year! 

I could go on & on about my membership, but rather than do that, I think my blog entries here -- from reporting about the various Conferences, my Chapter, to getting into the Mentorship program & so on -- are all testiments as to how much I've personally grown since being a member.  One need only go back into the archives here to read about all the juicy details.  :)

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If you are not a CGOA member yet, what is stopping you?  If you are a CGOA member, have you considered giving a CGOA Membership to a crochet buddy?  They make great year-long gifts!!

You can visit the CGOA by clicking here: www.Crochet.org

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Jane, Margaret, Nancy, Priscilla, and Sherri please consider yourselves tagged! 

Under the Weather

We had a great weekend, but come Sunday night I wasn't feeling right. Here it is Tuesday morning and I'm still not feeling well.


While I cuddle up with my box of tissues and glasses of orange juice, go ahead and cheer me up by sharing with me what you're all working on.  Are you crocheting holiday gifts? Something to donate to your favorite charity? Or perhaps something for yourself to wear to a special holiday party?


Do share.  And I'll be back when I'm feeling better.

Greetings from A Stitch In Time

I love being a Crochet Teacher; passing on the joy of crochet gives me great pleasure. Today I'll be teaching the basics of the granny square, a technique that is part of our American history when the West was settled. In awaiting for the class to begin I decided to look around to see I can find more "dinosaur" colored yarns. I did. I found some delicious wool sock yarn by Koigu called "KPM.". I purchased two colorways and hope to use them to create my own dinosaur bookmark pattern later this afternoon.

I think the interesting part of all this "dinosaur" pattern hunting comes the joy of discussing with Dee Jr. What we do know about the history of dinosaurs. We may know what their body shapes looked like, but do we really know what color they were? Mini~Dee thinks they could have possibly been pink and/or purple -- hey, you never know, right? There are no eye witnesses! I didn't select pink or purple colored yarn, but I did think about it! What color would you choose to crochet your dinosaurs with?

 

Sent via Mobil Phone by Dee

Knock, Knock

Who's there?

           Alpaca.

Alpaca who?

          Alpaca sweater because it's going to be cold!

                                                           *   *   *

What's a sheep's favorite music?

          Ewe-2
                                                            *   *   *
Why is it easy to fool sheep?

          Because you can always pull the wool over their eyes.

                                                           *   *   *

Many thanks to Dee Jr. for providing the above jokes. 

According to AOL, they are aware I have two missing mobile blog entries, and they'll post them "shortly."  I'm not sure what they mean by "shortly" but lets hope it's not going to take *forever.*

I will not be adding any new blog entries over the weekend as we'll be busy crossing into the Jurassic period.  Have a fabulous weekend & see you on Monday!  :)

Are You A Member of the Crochet Guild Of America?

I have been a proud member since 2001!   Through the Guild I have attended three Conferences, help found a fantastic Chapter in Connecticut, joined two other Chapters, took advantage of the Mentorship program -- then became a Mentor myself, I contribute from time to time articles for the Chain Link newsletter, write the "Crochet Connections" articles for the eNews letter, enjoy the Crochet! magazine, enjoy the volunteer position as the CGOA's email correspondent, and have enjoyed using the members' library, PLUS I get to socialize with a good portion of the membership online!  How much better can it get?

Well, besides the wonderful reasons I just stated, and what they have listed in the Official CGOA Brochure, the Crochet Guild of America just announced the following to it's members:


       YOUR NEW NATIONAL RETAIL DISCOUNTS  

COMPANY	MEMBER BENEFIT (visit Members area of www.Crochet.org for how to redeem)
Annie's Attic Interweave Crochet Leisure Arts Boutique Mary Maxim, Inc. ShopCaron.com	15% discount on AnniesAttic.com purchases Special offer $19/year subscription $3 off shipping at theleisureboutique.com 10% discount by internet, mail or phone 15% discount on ShopCaron.com orders

These savings will be like getting your membership free!

And lets not forget they recently announced an opportunity for one of it's members to win a THOUSAND dollars! 

Now I ask, are you a member of the CGOA?  Consider joining today!

Onward With the Great Dinosaur Hunt

And so the great dinosaur pattern search continues ...

Scarlet and Beata both sent me this link to check out:  http://www.mkdesigner.com/C-DINO.HTML -- the pattern offers no pictures, or hints as to what the final outcome will be, but seeing that the pattern only calls for 15 yards of Knit-Crosheen thread, I decided to use a designer fiber that I allowed Dee Jr. to pick out.  He was delighted to select three various "dinosaur colored" yarns when we were at the Janet Kemp yarn shop on Saturday for Doris Chan's book signing event.

One of the three balls of yarn he chose was one by Filatura Dicrosa called "Millefili Fine."  It's 100% cotton and feels almost like a dk weight; retail is about $8 a ball.  The color combo of this ball is one of browns and olive-greens; think cameouflage.  Since the current trend is self-striping yarns, I had thought that this would be one of those types.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn't!  :)

In the picture today you can see the dinosaur the pattern creates.  I was calling it a "Camel-asaurous" due to the hump on it's back.  Dee Jr. assures me there is no such dinosaur, to date, and thus spent this morning researching his books to prove his point.  He thinks it looks similar to the one in the book, a "Saltasaurous."  I think he's going to do well at the Paleo-bowl!  {VBG}

Now I'm off to try the other pattern Beata suggested, http://members.optusnet.com.au/we2/tric.html; I'll try it with the same fiber (it's a dream to work with!) andsee if I like the end results.   If so, I have until Friday night to populate enough for all the kids from his school that will be attending the event this weekend; if not, then I'll try to just make enough for his team.  If I don't like this pattern then I'm thinking I might go back and tweek the "Camel-asaurous" pattern to something more recognizable and make bookmarks for the kids.  

As for which pattern I've selected from Doris Chan's new book, well, I'm prowling around my stash to see if I have enough of the fiber I have in mind ... more on that at a later time.  For now, I have to get a dinosaur on my hook!  :)

Thank you Scarlet & Beata for coming to my aide! 

Doris Chan!

I had the most enjoyable weekend spending time with Doris.  First yesterday when she was doing her book signing at the Janet Kemp yarn shop in Stratford, and then today when she visited with my CGOA Chapter.  The pictures shown in this entry were taken today.

Doris was unable to bring the actual garments that were photographed for her new book because the publisher has of yet to release them back to her yet, but you wouldn't have known!  She brought with her her own personal garments, which were just as yummy and based upon the very patterns she wrote for her second book! 

Doris discussed the foundation ch/sc technique; one that is rapidly gaining popularity in the crochet world due to it's elasticity when starting projects.  In fact, both of her books use the foundation ch/sc technique, and in doing so, does away with the rigid, inflexible chain that all crocheters are well aquainted with. 

Doris, through instructing many of our members to try on her personal collection, showed how crochet, as a rule, has a lot of wonderful give, and when working garments from the tops down, allows for more fine-tuning.  Just looking around the room as she spoke, it was fantastic to see everyone's faces light up with what she was saying to them -- no more bulky, ill-fitting crochet garments!  Members were so thrilled that there was discussion of starting a "Doris-along" project come January.  Of course, I'm on board for that!  :)

One of the coolest concepts is Doris' lack of buttons.  She advised our group that she likes to create her own closures using buttons, beads, and stretchy cord reserved mostly for jewelry making.  By utilizing the natural holes that occur in crochet, these closures can be changed based upon the look you want your crocheted garment to have -- and you can change that look just by changing where you place the closure, and by how many closures you use.  Details on how to make them are featured in her second book, everyday crochet."  She calls them "in-line links" -- they really add a lot of versatility and beauty!

One of my favorite moments of today was when we bestowed upon Doris a Certificate making her an Honorary Member of The HHCC; now she can wear the Club colors: the color Purple for her passion for crochet, silver and gold for making new friends and keeping the old!  We're really delighted that she came back to Connecticut to visit with us!!  Thanks Doris!! 

                                                                   *  *  *

Note:  Both Nancy and Priscilla blogged about their 'Doris' experience too  -- click onto their names to check them out!.   To the left is Nancy trying on Doris' cardigan, and to the right is Priscilla wearing her beautiful shawl designed by Doris.  What a great way to spend an afternoon!  :)

A Weekend With Doris Chan!

So here it is, that long awaited weekend we've been waiting for -- Doris' return to Connecticut to kick off her new book, "Everyday Crochet!!" Unfortunately, I haven't had time to whip up anything from her new book yet -- I still have quite the long list of WIMs (Works in Mind), but I will make a decision soon!

Join us for the fun!  Here is the NEW agenda for this weekend:
        Saturday, November 10; from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
         Location:  Janet Kemp, Ltd, Stratford, CT
        Sunday, November 11; from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
        Location: The Happily Hooked on Crocheting Club monthly meeting from 1:00 - 4:00 PM
                                       Danbury Hospital, Danbury, CT

 

To ensure I have a weekend filled with "Doris Inspiration," I will be at the Janet Kemp yarn shop tomorrow for her book signing!  You should go too!!   And then double your "Doris" pleasure like me, by also joining The Happily Hooked on Crocheting Club, Connecticut Chapter of the Crochet Guild of America, for a meeting!  Visitors ARE welcomed!!  

Come, join us for some Crochet Fun this weekend! 

Digging for Relics ... Do Dinosaur Patterns Really Exist?

Just when you think your child's passion about a given subject has moved on to newer interests, they surprise you.  It was just a few weeks ago I had, at least I thought I had, an indepth conversation with my son about his interests, taking mental notes for holiday gift ideas.

Cars? Yes! Still loves collecting them.

Yankees? Yes! But they need to get their act together; apparently being a fan of the highest paid losing team is very embarrassing.

Patriots?  Yes! (By the way Mom, where did you put my Patriots hat you crocheted me last year?)

Dinosaurs?  No.  They're relics from "my youth" (this coming from an 8 year old)

OK, then!  Cars, Yankees and Patriots.  Got it.

Then comes last Friday.  He is excited.  Jumping up & down.  Wants "High Fives."  Is grinning from ear to ear, and is that a swager in his walk???

It seems he tried out for the Paleo-Knowledge Bowl through his school-- and scored well.  In his words, really well.  What does this mean?  Dinosaurs are back in!  (The event will take place at the Peabody Museum.)

At the library he stacks books as high as the head of a Stegosaurus -- about 3 feet high.  He wants to "bone" up on his dinosaur knowledge to help his team score as well as they can.  He hopes they make it to the Masters level.  I tell him he can only check out what he can physically carry.  I forgot; my boy is remarkably strong; now there seems to be more dinosaur books here than my personal crochet books!  Yes, dinosaurs are trying to take over my crochet world --- noooooooo!  {{giggles}}

I'm thinking, as I watch him study, that he needs a little good luck charm -- perhaps a little dinosaur keychain I could quickly crochet up?  I search the Internet -- I found this awesome head, but it's too big.  I also found that there is a DVD available (see YouTube video above) for needle felting a dragon -- but I wonder, can a dragon be classified as  a dinosaur?

Thus far in my search I have not been lucky in finding dimensional dinosaur crochet patterns.  If you know of one featured on the Internet, or in a book, please share the whereabouts information with me.  I have about a week to surprise him -- and if time permits, to also create one for each of his team members too...

...And The Winner Is ...

For some reason, my mo-blog entry announcing the winner, has of yet to post.  It should have appeared last night.  If it does decide to show up, it will be a duplicate and I will delete it.  This will be the official announcement that declares the winner, ok? 

                                                                    *   *   *
 
Before I announce the winner of the drawing for the "Yoo-Hoo Bamboo Black Bag" purse kit, I want to again thank everyone who participated in the 4th Annual 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge.  It is because of you that we're making a difference in 124 peoples lives!  And that is truly awesome!  Thank you, Thank YOU!!

If I could, I would award everyone with a prize, but since the drawing is for just one item, only one name will be awarded the prize.   The winner is: Jennifer of www.jaybirddesigns.blogspot.com -- Congratulations Jennifer!!  (Jennifer, please email me your snail-mail address)

Now, just because the drawing and the Challenge for 2007 has drawn to a conclusion here at CrochetingWithDee, that doesn't mean we have to stop crocheting scarves for charity!  Think of scarves as hugs -- and who couldn't use hug, especially with the holiday season coming up, right?  So go ahead, continue to crochet those scarves and make a difference -- donate one to your favorite charity and make a difference!  :)

Thanks everyone, for a most fantastic 2007 Challenge!  If you missed being a part of it, put it on your calendar for next year -- it will be the 5th Annual Challenge!!

The Conclusion: The 4th Annual 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge

I'm sorry for the delay; I've been under the weather.  Fortunately, though, because of that, many of you were able to contact me with your updated numbers making this, the 4th Annual 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge the MOST successful Challenge EVER!! 

On Monday, October 22, we stood at 69 Scarves -- beating our goal.  With the Challenge now over, we soared to a new record !!!

Here is the breakdown:

Sandie at Crafty Corral  just finished 7 scarves 

Sherri at CrochetR completed 4 scarves

Tracie at Fibers by Tracie has completed 5 scarves

Sheila at Just Another Hooker contributed a scarf

Bunny from Bunny's Blog has four completed scarves for the Challenge

Ellen over at GoCrochet has completed her second and will be sending hers to Threads of Compassion in Chicago. 

Haley of CT has completed two scarves for the Challenge

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

Sonia of http://fromthehook.blogspot.com/ has one scarf for the Challenge

Jennifer of www.jaybirddesigns.blogspot.com; has completed on her second scarf, but I'm going to up it to 7 scarves as she has 5 for sale to benefit Breast Cancer Research.  You can buy one of her beautiful scarves, or purchase the pattern for it here.

Beata of www.hookandfiber.blogspot.com created 6 scarves and says, "I can't believe how quick they were to make." 

Jane of http://janeshookedoncrochet.blogspot.com/ has cranked out 9 scarves

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 has two scarves for the Challenge.

Lucy, an elementary school teacher in Wisconsin, has one scarf for her school.

Lori of CT has completed three scarves.

Robyn of warmwithlove.com is sending out a scarf to charity

Maven of fiberprom.blogspot.com has two scarves for the Challenge.

PCB Chick in Florida of http://pcbchickinflorida.blogspot.com/ has two scarves for the Challenge

Ghost of http://hoppinhooks.blogspot.com contributed a scarf to the Challenge

Joyce of http://ladynthread.blogspot.com has two scarves completed!!

Robin of http://crochetinglessons.blogspot.com has an incredible 8 scarves done for the challenge!

Shelley of Stamford has 5 scarves completed for the Challenge!

Nancy of http://nlsstitches.squarespace.com who has completed 4 scarves.

Lucy, a member of the Crochetville group has also completed 4 scarves and shares the details about them here: http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?p=983543#post983543

Scarlet of www.scarley-pooh.com has completed a scarf that will be sent to a platoon serving in Iraq.

Millie has added 7 scarves to the Challenge

Sylvana joined the challenge with two scarves that will be donated to The Women's Transition House in Victoria, BC Canada.

And I have 23 ... this makes the grand total, when added together, an AMAZING 124 Scarves for the Challenge!!  Please, participants, give yourselves a well deserved pat on the back as this means 124 people will benefit from our beautiful stitch~work!    Thank you, thank you!! 

                                                  *  *  *

OK ... I'm off to number our 28 participant names and then call Mr. Dee at work to ask him to "pick a number" to determine who the winner of the "Yoo-Hoo Bamboo Black Bag" purse kit is.  The bag can be knitted or crocheted!  (A $35 retail value!).   Tags: 60 scarves in 60 days challenge, knit, crochet, dee stanziano

Moblogging

Ha! If this works, then it is true -- there will be "mo-blogging" and less absences from being knee deep in "life" activities! Tonight I experiment from the kitchen table; tomorrow from who knows where! But what about inserting pictures? Does that work too? Only one way to know for sure, right? To make this entry crochet related, the photo I am including is of the Morehouse Farms store. We visited it after attending the NY Sheep & Wool festival a few weekends ago. What is sad about the picture is that the store is closing. They're moving their "store" (http://www.morehousefarm.com) to be solely online. Is this the new wave of buying yarn in the future?? Online only?? I hope not! What are your thoughts? Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

*MoBlogging is the technical term used for when blog entries are created on mobil (cell) phones.  Tags: moblogging, journals, crochet, morehouse farm, yarn

Modern Technology and other Odds & Ends

 I know, I know ... I'm late with the final totals, and with announcing who the winner of the drawing is.  So many of you opted to update me on your totals yesterday that I decided to wait until this weekend to give me time to ensure the numbers are as correct as possible ... so please stand by.  Those results are coming!

 I spent the day today at my children's school library.  I showed the other volunteer librarian my new "toy" ... it's a keyboard that works with bluetooth technology so that I can cruse the internet with my cell phone -- with the ease of typing on a full size (real) keyboard! I love it!  My goal is to use the combination, increasing my speed, when needing to locate books of various authors the children are looking for.   Since the school library is not computerized, it's already proved to be a huge improvement!   

When the other librarian saw my new keyboard "magically" placing actual text unto my phone's screen, she said the same thing I did when I was first introduced to the concept by one of my crochet students, "Oh, that's so coooooool!"  Yeah, she wants one now too.  LOL  (Those interested in seeing the keyboard, search for "Shasta Keyboard" on eBay or visit the ThinkOutside website.)

My second goal is to use the cellphone/keyboard combination when I am away from my computer -- possibly doing remote blog updates and such.  Since it's WAY lighter than needing to carry a complete laptop, I'm thinking this is going to be a great "working" relationship; I just need to learn how to do updates within the AOL world on the cell. [[If anyone has tips, please contact me!]]   With not needing to lug around a heavy laptop that means I can carry even more crochet projects with me!!  I'm so excited!  LOL

Why just this afternoon I figured out how to visit eBay on it and noticed Graydog has new crochet hooks available -- that's right, Graydog fans, Bill & Jill have a lot of new beauties up for auction!  Sa-weet!  Bidding on eBay auctions, or perhaps visiting Ravelry while away from home, is going to be a lot of fun!   (I see I'm going to like this remote internet access stuff! LOL)

                                                        *  *  *

For those country music fans, check out the song, "If the World Had a Front Porch" by Tracy Lawrence.  He has "crochet" in his lyrics!  Many thanks to Grace for this crochet "hearing!" alert. 

In closing, here's a joke from Mini~Dee:
             Q.  How many sheep does it take to crochet up a sweater?
             A.  None; I didn't know sheep know how to crochet!