"Hip, Hip, Crochet!" with the Lion

Along with participating in the "Feel Good" kickoff on the CBS Early Show, I also got to visit the Lion Brand store for the very first time with my fellow CGOA Chapter members.  As I don't go to the City often, this was a treat I was long looking forward to.

We traveled across the City via car, had an early lunch, and then walked the short distance to the Lion Brand store.  It was just before 11:30 AM, and the store would be opening in mere minutes.  This afforded us time to check out the front window display featuring Lady Liberty.

This store front resonated with me: it merged crochet and knit work together in the shape of the United States; joined together in the afghan wrapped around Lady Liberty's shoulders; and with squares at her feet being collected from customers for Warm Up America.  Togetherness.  Lion Brand did not exclude crochet, or use crochet as a mere footnote.  It gave crochet equal billing.  As it should be.

This theme was echoed in Lady Liberty's crown too; notice in the image on the right how the crochet hooks and knitting needles come together to create the seven spikes in her crown (for those that like trivia, the spikes represent the seven oceans).  Who ever designed this window for Lion Brand did a great job!

Once the store opened we were greeted with a lot of eye-candy ... yarn, yarn, yarn!  Yes, we can purchase Lion Brand yarn at nearly every big box craft store, but not all carry all of the Lion Brand lines -- and/or colors!  So to see it all in one place was fantastic! 

I had some questions of which the staff was more than happy to help me with getting the answers to.  I purchased some Vanna's Choice, and some Cotton Bamboo from the LB Collection.  And for being a CGOA member, they took 10% off my purchase.

I'll be sure to add visiting the Lion Brand store to my stops the next time I'm in the City; this yarn manufacturer (and now retailer) knows how to make this crocheter a repeat customer.

Question From Reader: the 411 on Lands End "FeelGood"

My aunt wants to send knitted squares for the blankets that you are making. She saw it on the CBS morning show. Where does she send them? Jackie

Dear Jackie,

How wonderful your Aunt will be participating in the Lands End Feel Good Campaign!  I know you said she wants to knit her squares, but if by chance she is a CGOA Member, she can have a cone of Lands End yarn sent directly to her by emailing erin.haasATlandsendDOTcom. Please note I do not know if they're making this offer to the Knitting Guild members. -- have her hurry as she needs to do this by tomorrow, 10/01/10.

If she doesn't need yarn, and would like to mail in her squares to Warm Up America for distribution, here is the shipping address and contact information:

Warm Up America

FeelGood Campaign

469 Hospital Dr. Ste E

Gastonia, NC 28054

info@WarmUpAmerica.org

She can also visit the CGOA's website and search for a Chapter near her, as I understand several, such as my Chapter, are participating in this charitable program.  Another option is to have her drop off her squares at a local craft or yarn store that is participating in the Warm Up America program.  If her LYS is not a participant, it doesn't hurt to ask the store manager/owner to consider getting involved.

For more information, please visit Land's end (www.landsend.com/feelgood) and Warm Up America! (www.warmupamerica.org).

"Hip, Hip, Crochet!" on the CBS Early Show

At 3:00 AM I opened my eyes to find out if it was 4:00 AM.  Nope.  Back to sleep I went.  At 3:59 I opened my eyes again, beating the rooster-crowing alarm.  It must have been the anticipation of the day as I have no other explanation how this self-proclaimed night owl was able to wake so early in the morning!

By 5:00 AM, with coffee in hand, I had joined up with four other of my CGOA Chapter members -- we were going to New York City to help Brett Bara, host of the popular PBS show, Knit and Crochet Now!, launch The FeelGood Campaign on the CBS Early Show.

Lands End is donating 5,000 pounds of yarn to be crocheted & knitted into 7"x9" squares that will be assembled into afghans by Warm Up America volunteers.  The afghans are then donated to people in need.

The goodies I received,
& my two crochet hooks.

The goal: to get as many crocheters & knitters involved as possible to help make the 64,000 squares.  (Or as my Chapter member Jennifer says, rectangles.) 

We arrived at the General Motors building in plenty of time.  Lands End was giving participants a super soft scarf that retails for $39.50.  We were then directed to select a cake of yarn (yarn wound into a "flat" ball; see picture), and to begin crocheting & knitting squares while standing in the CBS Early Show plaza.  For the first 20 people to finish a square, they received a special Lands End tote -- I was one of the lucky 20.  In fact, during the entire 2-hour taping, I managed to whip out 3 squares for the cause!  :)

Brett Bara & some of the many squares
crocheted & knitted during the taping.

What was the Lands End yarn like?  It was every bit of soft as they claimed.  However, the yarn does not have a lot of twist to it so it is much like using Lion Brand's Micro-Spun yarn.  My specialized "Maestro" Graydog crochet hook, size "J," worked beautifully with the Lands End yarn.  My beautiful "Apple" hook, by Brainsbarn, size I, did a great job too. (In the picture to the right, Brett is holding up one of the squares I completed during the taping!)

CBS Weatherman, David Price
with Zippy's afghan.

One of the funniest moments during the taping was when the weatherman, Dave Price, came over to our area and noticed our newest member, Zippy, working on an afghan.  He asked if he could borrow it, placed it around his neck like a large scarf and said "Hip, Hip, Crochet!" while proceeding to give the daily forecast.  The funny part was that the afghan was still connected to the yarn in Zippy's hand!  She had to keep "feeding" him yarn as he walked the plaza during the taping (see Dave on the left).

After the taping was done, we were invited for a tour of the CBS studio.  Very cool indeed!

It was then time for us to head to the Lion Brand Store, but I think I'll save that story for another time.  It was a very long -- and fun -- day  today and I need some rest.  :)

Chester, Barbara, Susan, Zephr - All in the Family?

I love living in Connecticut. I love the rolling hills; the various sized cities and towns; and the history -- especially when it it is tied into my crochet world. I also love eBay.

One of my eBay finds arrived today. It is a an antique Susan Bates crochet hook, still in the original packaging.  It is known as a Clipson crochet hook.

On the bottom, it reads:

"C. J. Bates & Son, Inc. Chester, Conn. 06412
Made in U.S.A. Manufacturers Since 1873"

According to the papers turned over to the Dodd Center at UConn, C.J. Bates was Carlton J. Bates, born in 1848.  He founded the company in 1907 at age 59.  However, if we use the date on the crochet hook packaging, C.J. technically was producing manicure sets, crochet hooks, and knitting needles since he was 25!

In the early years of manufacturing, the name Chester was stamped upon the products, such as the crochet hook pictured below (I acquired it in 2008).  The manufacturing company was located on a 17-acre site in  Chester, Connecticut, until they discovered that the sludge waste stored in a lagoon was contaminating the groundwater.

 

Based upon a discussion on Crochetville, the Chester brand name was changed to Barbara Bates, and then Susan Bates sometime in the 1940s (after the passing of C.J. Bates in 1941).  In another online group discussion, is it said the name was changed from Chester to Zephr. Based upon an exchange I had with Jean Leinhauser, the Susan Bates name change happened in the 1930s.  The only evidence I have is what is before me ... a hook and its' packaging -- so I know the link between Chester and Susan Bates is solid. 

To further the discussion of Chester/Susan Bates hooks, you might find these links interesting: The Hook Lady's blog post: http://hooklady.blogspot.com/2008/12/for-susan-bates-crochet-hook-collector.html has some great pictures of more Chester/Susan Bates  hooks for me to add to my collection. (She's such an enabler! lol)   And, she has a great picture showing vintage & modern Susan Bates crochet hooks here: http://hooklady.blogspot.com/2008/12/difference-between-vintage-and-new.html.



Is this Susan Bates?



 Today Susan Bates is part of the Coats and Clark Company.   If you know more about the history of the Chester/Susan Bates crochet hook, I'd love to hear from you!  :)

Edited to add:  After reading this blog post, HHCC President Grace emailed me this evening stating, "'Marcia Lynn' is also a line of hooks & needles made by CJ Bates out of Chester Ct, not sure how this line fits into their history"

It seems CJ may have been very busy in the naming of his crochet hooks.  ;)

Winning At The Big E

I love attending the Eastern States Exposition Fair held in West Springfield, Massachusetts. It is the ninth largest state fair in the United States. I've been attending since the late 1980s, and never tire of it.

I was there yesterday with my family, and with my CGOA Chapter, The Happily Hooked on Crocheting Club. We had a booth in the New England State building to promote crochet. Here are some of the highlights, in no particular order:

• The father of a childhood friend sought me out to say "Hi."  It was so nice to see him!  He dialed my friend's number and let me say hello to her; she just recently moved back to Florida. It was good to chat with her.
• I got to meet some of my blog fans like Firemanshunny.
• I screamed. Rather proudly.  My Mini~Dee won "Best in Division" for her crocheted shawl in the Junior Division.
• I got to line dance on stage with the Connecticut Line Dancers.
• I won some prizes for my crochet entries -- I won't know what prizes until after the Fair when I pick up the entries.
• I helped my Chapter put on its First Ever Crochet Fashion Show featuring the shawls from the Fiddler production back in April. 
• I got to meet a crocheter from Bethel, Connecticut, who specializes in miniature crochet; she showed me pictures of crocheted doilies she made that are about the size of a US dime!!!

There was so much to see & do yesterday!  SOooo much fun!

Miracles, Saints, and ... ????

Ah, there I am, hard at work at my new desk; correctly spelling out my name and letting the ink dry.

I love to joke with my crochet students that the United States Postal Service likes to recognize me as a saint, as in "St. Anziano," (much as they did for Santa in the movie Miracle on 34th Street) but for me it isn't true.  It is just a typo.  I might have the patience of a saint, but I am not a saint-- yet. LOL

What am I doing in this picture on the left?  It is a moment captured in my personal history, documenting that I am at the very first stage of fulfilling what you, my crochet fans & students have been asking for for ages -- and it is something that has been on my Bucket List for a very, very long time.  Can you guess?

I cannot give any other details other than, well, that this is way cool!  (Feel free to speculate.) What I can say, quite loudly and excitedly, is this: "Whoohoo!!!!!"

Brain Mush; aka. Wee-Hour Inspiration

There comes a time, and usually -- sometimes unfortunately -- that time comes in the wee hours of the morning.  It is the time when I should be asleep instead of being awoken with a  moment of inspiration -- one so powerful -- I am driven to leave the comfort of my bed to head to the sofa, grab a fresh skein of yarn, and a crochet hook to quietly begin crocheting the project I see in my brain. 

If I'm lucky, maybe 15 minutes of stitching is enough to quiet those creative juices from flowing; then I can quickly return to dream land.  But sometimes some of these wee-hour inspirations demand much. more. time.

To get around that, I had decided that this time I would sketch my idea out, write a bunch of notes, including what stitches are to go where, increases, decreases, and so on.  That seemed to work.  Or so I thought.  I found myself re-awake at 6:00 AM, excited to get the project started!  What?!  No coffee first?!  Nope.  There I was.  Awake.  Stitching. Stitching. Stitching.  Now I'm on the final rows....

Hours later my children awoke from their peaceful slumber, looked at the project and asked, "What on Earth is that!!??"  What can I say, it's one of those wee-hour inspirations; LOL.  I don't think any further explanation should be required.

Now I'm on the last leg of the project, and I'm still not sure if it will work out exactly as my imagination has it pictured ("some assembly required" seems to have been omitted from my notes!).  I'm already thinking of creating another; this time taking more notes and using another yarn & hook for results closer to what I had imagined.

Has this ever happen to you?  At the moment my brain is mush thanks to sleep deprivation.  I'm going to have to reread Mary Beth Temple's Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot, to see what insight she has for this phenomenon.  For now, I'm off to get that cup of coffee, and to finish those last few rows...