Yarn Estate Sale: Ruth Arbitelle, HHCC'er

Ruth Arbitelle was one of the Founders of the Happily Hooked on Crocheting Club. She was a big participator in the events, workshops, and charity drives the HHCC had, and often times would enlist the help of her husband, Ron. Ron is best known as the HHCC's Auctioneer.

Ron has been busy sorting through his wife's stash. He has been finding it everywhere! ... and now he is having a Yarn Estate Sale ... with yarn priced from 50 cents to $1.50. Half of the proceeds Ron will be donating to the HHCC.

When: Saturday, November 7, 2009
Time: 10:00 AM (eastern time)
Where: 7 Belmont Circle, Danbury, Ct. Click for Map

... acrylic, alpaca, cotton, wool ... from basic yarns to designer, Ruth collected it! The photo shown is not even the tip of the iceburg! Tell your friends, come with empty vehicles!

Notes from the October HHCC Monthly Meeting

The month of October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The HHCC, in wanting to recognize this, donated 55 Chemo caps, as part of the "Hats from the Heart" campaign to the Danbury Hospital yesterday. Breast Cancer is mostly known to women, but men can be diagnosed with it too.
Members of the HHCC have now turned their charitable efforts towards the Danbury Salvation Army, crocheting (and knitting) hats, scarves, gloves/mittens for toddlers to 18 year old children in need, along with a New (unwrapped) Toy drive. Please contact the HHCC for more information on this.

Elaine Brown was awarded her Ribbon and Sponsor Award she had won at The Big E. Elaine was thrilled, stating she created a "magic ball" of six different yarns to create the yarn she used in her hat & scarf combo. What will she buy with the WEBs $100 Gift Certificate? She's thinking of getting a yarn swift and a few other goodies... Congratulations Elaine!


HHCC member Kathy brought in the Nov/Dec issue of Crochet Today! magazine. During Show & Tell she described how she was flipping through the magazine when she noticed a familiar looking garment in an advertisement for Red Heart yarn. In fact, Kathy had seen part of the garment, a sleeve, being worked on at a "Coffee, Crochet & Chat" session during this past summer. She recognized the pattern belonging to fellow HHCC'er Dee Stanziano. Dee had no idea, and was pleasantly surprised to see it published so soon. The pattern is available for free on the Red Heart yarn website. Congratulations Dee!

Patty showed off pictures of her beautiful new grand-baby, and Karen announced a brand new "Coffee, Crochet & Chat" session to be held on the 1st Wednesday of the Month, from 10:30 AM to Noon at the Bayberry Kntting Shop in Plainville. And newest member, Deb Seda announced the birth of a brand new CGOA Chapter: The Creative Crochet Guild of L.I. of which she is the founder of. Congratulations Patty, Karen, and Deb!!

Many HHCC members are looking forward to attending the New York Sheep & Wool Festival next weekend, and the following weekend they will be volunteering at the Stitches East event being held in Hartford, CT.



Please note: The November and the December HHCC montly meetings are for MEMBERS only. Guests are welcomed to come to the January 2010 meeting, and to the "Coffee, Crochet & Chat" sessions. Please contact The HHCC for more information.

Details from The 2009 Big E

On September 23, members of The HHCC traveled to West Springfield, MA, to participate in the Eastern States Expositon, well known as The Big E. September 23rd was Connecticut Day, and The HHCC was there to promote and demonstrate crochet.

The members displayed a vast variety of projects to highlight the many different types & techniques of crochet, and also provided free beginner lessons (and supplies!) to those interested. Casey, one of our Junior members, blogged about the Big E here.

The HHCC would like to welcome Linda into the fold; Linda became an official HHCC'er at The Big E!! Welcome Linda! :)

Prior to attending, several members entered their items in the Fair's Crochet Competition. Congratulations go to Casey, Chava, Dee, Elaine and Ruth for winning a variety of ribbons in many categories for Crochet! In addition to winning a Blue Ribbon for her hat and scarf set, Elaine also won "Best Use of Color," winning a $100 Gift Certificate from WEBs yarn store. And, according to the Big E Event Coordinator, this year there were more crocheted entries than knitted. This is a huge accomplishment as crochet was slated to be removed from the Fair barely 8 years ago due to lack of interest! Congratulations HHCC'ers!

The Perks of Being an HHCC/CGOA Member

There are many reasons why being a HHCC/CGOA member are wonderful! To name a few:

• you get to attend workshops for free or at a reduced rate
• assist local charities in need as a group
• make new friends
• increase crochet skills & knowledge
• go on field trips and/or do demonstrations
• borrow from the lending library
• HHCC'ers get access to the exclusive HHCC yahoo group
• and local yarn store discounts too!

Library:
The CGOA has a fantastic library that will (reportedly) reopen soon to it's members, complete with books, magazines, leaflets, patterns and videos in the collection. It is known as the Linda Sauter Library, and is currently being cataloged by the Cajun Crocheters CGOA Chapter.

The HHCC also has it's own lending library, and is in the process of reopening. Nancy has taken over the position of HHCC Librarian. If you are an HHCC member and looking for a particular pattern, talk to Nancy at the next monthly meeting!

Discounts:

1. If you are a member of the CGOA, your HHCC yearly dues are cut in half!
2. Show your CGOA Membership card at the Bayberry Knitting yarn store located in Plainsville and get a 10% discount.
3. Show your HHCC Membership card (coming soon!) to the Yarn & Craft Box located in Pawling, NY and get a 15% discount. (The HHCC Membership card is coming in January 2010; for now, just let Marie know you are an HHCC member)

It's easy to join!
To join the CGOA, go to ... http://www.crochet.org/

To join the HHCC, complete the form on this page and bring it with you to a meeting!

Join us and become Happily Hooked!

HHCC'ers to Demo @ The Big E

The HHCC is proud to announce their return, for the 7th straight year, to the Eastern States Exposition.

The Eastern States Exposition is the ninth largest state fair held in West Springfield, MA. It is commonly known as The Big E.

HHCC members can be found at the Fair, on Wednesday, September 23rd, known as Connecticut Day. Look for them in the New England State building (or just ask where the Cream Puff building is).

HHCC members will be demonstrating crochet during the day.

Additional information about the fair can be found here: http://www.thebige.com/.

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If you are an HHCC member and need a ticket to the Fair for September 23rd, please contact Dee. Free tickets are a 1st come, 1st serve basis.

September Meeting: Double the Pleasure

The HHCC's September meeting this past weekend was hosted by HHCC member Margaret Hubert. Margaret graciously opened her home to Club members, offered lunch, and instructions on how to crochet double-sided fabric, based upon her latest book (being released on January 1, 2010), "The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet: Basics, Patterns, Projects for All Methods of Crochet."

There was also a drawing for a variety of goodies, from delicious yarns to Margaret's out of print/hard to find, freeform book, Fun with Free-Form Crochet; everyone won a prize.

In addition to all the fun Margaret provided, the Club also celebrated another HHCC Founder's 80th Birthday: Hilda Nichols. Hilda is very involved in crocheting for charity, both for the HHCC's charity drives, and for her local senior center. Happy Birthday Hilda!

The HHCC returns to it's normal meeting location, The Danbury Hospital next month. Members are encouraged to bring yarn & hooks to help make hats and scarves to be donated to our local Salvation Army in early December.

The HHCC would like to sincerely thank Margaret for hosting such a wonderful meeting! She's the "Hostess with the Mostess"

Notice: September Meeting LOCATION Change

The HHCC's September 13th meeting will be an "away" meeting, hosted by a HHCC member who will also be providing lunch.

Attendees are encouraged to bring 2 balls of yarn to play with, of complimenting or contrasting color, equal in weight of 3 or 4 based upon the guidelines from www.yarnstandards.com, along with the appropriate crochet hook size for the yarn. The technique of double sided crochet will be demonstrated.

For those who would like to attend as guests of the HHCC, please contact the HHCC for driving directions PRIOR to the meeting date.

The HHCC's October meeting will return to being held at the Danbury Hospital.