The 2010 CLF Flamies Awards

It is that time of year again ... time for the
2nd Annual 2010 CLF Flamies Awards!

CLF stands for the Crochet Liberation Front, a very active crochet group on the Ravelry.com website. The leader of this group, Laurie Wheeler, created this group to "liberate the [crochet] hook." With nearly 5,000 members strong, that's a whole-lotta liberating! :)

Last year Laurie started the Flamies. Flamies is short for "the Flaming Hook of Justice," an award that the CLF group bestows upon to those lovin' on crochet for a variety of reasons.

Laurie decided that if the movie industry has the Grammies, then crochet should have a glamorous & prestigious award ceremony too! The CLF members nominated the people, projects, and companies they thought were BEST for a variety of crochet categories, and then the world was offered the opportunity to cast votes for their favorites (go here for more info). Then, on a special night, the nominees with the most votes were announced to the world on The Getting Loopy Show. Cool, right?!!

Let your voice be heard! Go HERE to vote! You have until March 22, 2010, 11.59pm PDT, to cast your vote. Then, tune into The Getting Loopy Show on April 19, 2010 to listen to the winners.

I am very honored to be a nominee of the 2nd Annual CLF Flamies! I am nominated for Best Crochet Instructor 2009, and Best Crochet Designer (for children). Congratulations to all the other nominees!

All Hands on Deck!

There I was this morning, attempting to steam block my second completed shawl for the "Fiddler on the Roof" school musical. Being home alone, it was pointless to yell out, "All hands on deck!" to my family to help me steam block it as they did for the first shawl. (Mr. Dee is busy working at his new job, and the kids are at school.) I could pin it, but my pins went MIA after a crochet demonstration I did awhile back; I was meaning to replace them, but you know how it goes: you get busy, you forget.

So there I was this morning, trying to pull & stretch this shawl into the shape I wanted it to take while steam blocking it. I simply do not have enough hands. And, it was killing my back (not good when you have 2 ruptured disks!) What to do? What to do?

I stopped steaming ... as a youngster I was a Girl Scout AND (unofficially, thanks to having many brothers) I was a Boy Scout too ... motto: Always Be Prepared, or in my world, Always Think Creatively. I looked at the shawl. I thought about the wire hangers I've been collecting (they work great, when cut, as extra holders for the weed control paper used in flower & veggie gardens). I thought, Do I really want to tangle with wire hangers? Yes, Joan Crawford's image did pop into my head on that one. What about PVC pipes? Hmmmm, I don't have any small enough (PVC pipes work great as banner holders!)

Think woman, THINK!!! And then it occurred to me! Hey, last year while at the CGOA Conference I purchased those blocking wires ... where did I put them, and better yet, WHY haven't I been using them ALL year???

I quickly found them, inserted them into the shawl, and as I steam blocked one-handed, with my other hand holding my morning cup of coffee, all while listening to archived Getting Loopy Shows by Mary Beth Temple, I thought, this is the way it should be! Life is good!

Now, if only I had a blocking board! Hopefully a vendor will be selling them at this year's Conference! :)

Shawl Shock leads to CGOA CAL Participation

Last week I attended a mandatory parent meeting for my children’s school drama club. I sat in the back, quietly listening as I worked on a crochet project. The school has decided that the 7th & 8th graders will put on the play “Fiddler on the Roof” …

As I listened to the long list of wardrobe needs I looked up for a brief moment. Maybe I looked up a bit longer than that. I dunno. All I remember is hearing the teacher in charge say, ”…and Mrs. Stanziano, I put you down for 30 crocheted shawls.” It was like one of those surreal moments where the room suddenly goes long while all faces turn to look at me, many, I suspect, echoing the same shock & fear that must have been on my face upon hearing this.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she continued on, “Mrs. Stanziano does that stuff in her sleep!”

Still in a state of shell-shock, two parents came to me after the meeting and volunteered to help make 1 or 2 of the shawls. That still meant I’d need to make some 26-28 shawls by the end of March.

Doing some quick math, if each shawl took 4 to 5 hours to crochet, that would equate to three weeks of full-time work! YIKES!!!

When I got home I decided to ask my CGOA Chapter for help. I designed a shawl, crocheted it up that night, and then sent it into the school to have it approved. While waiting for the approval I wrote up the pattern. And, to my delight -- and relief -- 8 of my Chapter members volunteered to help me!

What does this mean?
1. No, I will not need to crochet in my sleep. (thank goodness!)
2. CGOA Chapters ROCK!!
3. This will be our participation in the CGOA’s CAL in honor of NATIONAL CROCHET MONTH