Sunday, May 17, 2009

Crochet Inspiration with Willena Nanton

The May meeting today with Guest Speaker Willena Nanton was a huge success! Accompanied by her lovely assistant, who also happens to be her twin sister, and a crocheter, Willett, together they WOW'ed members of the HHCC with her stunning, one-of-a-kind crochet creations!
Willena is a huge Barbie collector, and often times attends the Barbie Conferences. The Barbie Conferences, much like the Crochet Conferences, offer an opportunity for fans to model their own creations -- except those at the Barbie Conference must wear designs inspired by garments worn by Barbie. Willena is the only attendee to entirely crochet hers, including the shoes! Her favorite Barbie designer is Byron Lars. In the picture above is part of the garment she fashioned after the "Nne Barbie" doll designed by Byron. (If you're wondering about the value of the Nne™ Barbie, it is no longer available from Mattel, the doll maker. After market, the doll currently retails for about $250. Willena has not put a price tag on her crocheted version.)

What is the reaction to Willena's crocheted fashions at the Barbie Conferences? She brings the house down, just as she does at the Crochet Conferences! Willena's favorite crochet hook to use is a Susan Bates crochet hook. Size G. But not any Susan Bates hook -- it's the very hook she learned how to crochet with some 30 years ago! She has used it so much that the colored coating is starting to wear off! -- and what happens if she looses her beloved hook? "The world stops and we all look for it!!," she exclaimed.

The HHCC is honored to have had Willena Nanton as our Guest Speaker and now looks forward to the National Crochet Conference, wondering what she'll WOW us with next!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Freeform Crochet: On Display @ LionBrand Store

Myra Woods, head of the IFC, displays 'Earth, Air, Fire, Water' exhibit at the 2007 CGOA National Conference in Manchester, NHIn 2007, HHCC members Margaret Hubert and Dee Stanziano united with 98 other artists from around the world, who are also members of the International Freeform Artists Guild, to create Earth, Air, Fire, Water using the technique known as freeform crochet, also well known as scrumbling.

This impressive collective work is available for purchase, with all proceeds going to the Women for Women International. In honor of this global artistic challenge, Margaret Hubert will be offering a Freeform Crochet Workshop at the Lion Brand Store located in New York City, on Sunday, July 26th. The will be on exhibit in the Lion Brand gallery until August 1st. Contact Lion Brand for more information.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

CGOA Announces Design Contest

The following announcement is by Jean Leinhauser, CGOA Design Contest Committee:

We now have the complete judging panel and I'd like to announce them:

Doris Chan, author and designer
Brett Brea of Coats and Clark
Michele Maks of DRG (Annie's Attic, Needlework Shop, etc.)
Cari Clement of Caron International
Jean Leinhauser, Creative Partners, Craft Yarn Council

We added the category of Art Crochet, so the categories are:

Fashion ( for men, women, kids, babies)
Home Decor (afghans, throws, place mats, doilies, tablecloths, bathroom and bedroom accessories, etc)
Accessories (scarves, jewelry, hats, socks)
Crochet as Art (created for display as art rather than for utility)

Designers must be members of CGOA, and may enter as many projects as they wish. They do NOT have to be professional designers. Each completed project with its entry form (downloadable from the CGOA website, Members Only section) must arrive in North Carolina by July 15, 2009.

Projects will then be shipped by CGOA to Buffalo, where they will be judged and
displayed at Chain Link. All entries will be returned to the entrants. No patterns are required. No entries will be accepted after July 15.

Each category will have a first place winner of $300, second, $200 , and third, $100. From the first place winners a Grand Prize winner of $1,000 will be chosen.

To enter, you must be a CGOA member. If you are not a member, but would like to join, you can do so here.

To locate the entry forms for the CGOA Design contest: go to the CGOA website, then click on the Members Only section, enter your member info (member number and a password) and it takes you to the forms.

Friday, May 1, 2009

HHCC Revives Website

For years the HHCC had a website, but it was outdated and hard to navigate.

It was thought that having a Blog would be easier for us to post information. At first this worked well. But as new material was added, the older blog posts were pushed away, making it more difficult to find relevant information, difficult to navigate.

The HHCC is proud to announce the return of it's website using the new address of: www.CrochetClubinCT.org -- where all that information you are looking for is just a click away, including the HHCC Calendar.

The HHCC will remain using this blog for posting current information about meetings & events and will continue operating with the old www.TheHHCC.org address.