Location Change: "Coffee, Crochet & Chat"

On February 17th, Borders announced they will be closing 200 of their 642 stores, effective immediately, as part of their bankruptcy/reorganization plans.  The Borders store located on Federal Road is one of the 200 stores that is now in the process of being closed.

HHCC President Grace stopped by Borders earlier this week to discover the space reserved for patrons to gather has been closed off.  A call for suggestions went out to the HHCC membership, and to the ConnecticutCrochet yahoo group.  Three locations suggested look like they might be a good location to move to:

• Panera Bread
• The Danbury Fair Mall (seating area outside of JCPenney)
• Molten Java (located in Bethel)

The HHCC members have been gathering at Borders for "Coffee, Crochet & Chat" sessions since 2003; since members are used to going to this end of town, Panara Bread seemed like a logical choice to investigate first. 

Grace visited Panera Bread yesterday and spoke with their management.  Grace is happy to report that Panera Bread is welcoming the HHCC's "Coffee, Crochet & Chat" sessions with open arms "... and the lighting is good, and so is their food!"

For the month of March, the HHCC will be trying out Panera Bread as serious contender for the new social-gathering location, open to non-members.  Panera Bread is located on Federal Road (1/10th of a mile up the road from where Borders is/was located), in the ShopRite Plaza, near the new location of Joann's craft store.  The meeting dates & times will remain the same:

March 2nd -   10 AM - Noon
                      6 PM - 8 PM

March 16th - 10 AM - Noon
March 30th - 10 AM - Noon

Panera Bread's address: 149 Federal Rd, #9, Brookfield, CT
Panera's Phone #: 203-740-0834
Website: http://www.panerabread.com/

CGOA Chapter News

The HHCC is just one of the many growing Chapters of the CGOA.  To read a summary of what the HHCC accomplished in 2009, and of happenings with other Chapters, such as The Hooked on Dutchess Chapter, and The Creative Crochet Guild of Long Island, check out the latest CGOA Chapter Newsletter.  You will need an adobe reader to view it.

If you'd like to know if there is a CGOA Chapter near you, check out this page from the CGOA's website.

Or if you're interested in starting your own CGOA Chapter, click here for some great ideas.

DyakCraft is Coming to Town!

The Northeast, which includes Connecticut, has had seven major snow storms since late December, resulting in record-breaking snowfall.  The HHCC is in high hopes Mother Nature will decide to take a vacation the weekend of February 12th & 13th to ensure the roads and highways are for safe travel as The HHCC has invited Tom & Linda Dyak of http://www.dyakcraft.com/ to be our Special Guests!
Tom & Linda hand-craft beautiful crochet hooks, knitting needles & spindles.  At the HHCC's Febrary 13th March 13th   meeting they will be showing our members the newest addition to their line:  Interchangeable Crochet Hooks!

In addition, HHCC members will be offered a basic Tunisian crochet lesson by its members.  Members wanting to participate in this lesson should bring yarn & a Tunisian crochet hook with them (or buy some from Tom & Linda at the meeting!)

But what if the weather is bad?

If the weather is bad, then this program will be rolled over to March 13th.

Chance to WIN a HHCC & CGOA Membership!

The December 2010 meeting was canceled due to weather. This means the HHCC will kicking off the 2011 Crocheting Season with a Celebration at our January meeting!  Members and guests are invited to bring pot-luck food items, and a wrapped gift (value $10) to exchange with someone else in attendance.

In addition to the Celebration, 2011 Membership Applications will be accepted.  Those who turn in their HHCC membership applications by the end of the March 2011 meeting will be entered into The Ruth Arbitelle Memorial Membership Drawing.  The winner of this annual drawing receives reimbursement for this year's HHCC dues.  Winner to be announced at the April meeting.

Recipients of the Ruth Arbitelle Memorial Membership:

2009 : Linda Maroney

2010 : Diane Gilbert

2011: It Could Be You!

Reminder: If you are a member of the Crochet Guild of America, show your CGOA Membership card and get 50% off  your HHCC dues!!

In addition, our member Dee Stanziano, is having a drawing for a  ONE-YEAR CGOA Membership! Her drawing is open only until January 14th, so hurry on over to her blog for the details on how to enter!

Looks like 2011, Year of the Rabbit, is hopping off to a great start!

Danbury Women's Shelter Thanks The HHCC

Goodwill Cheer Delivered!

In May 2010, designer and author Bendy Carter wrote an article for the May 2010 issue of Crochet! magazine about The Elizabeth House, a shelter for battered women in the Danbury, Connecticut, area, and how readers can help The HHCC collect crocheted goodies to donate to them.  Catherine of Massachusetts sent a box absolutely packed with an assortment of items ... from crocheted potholders to coloring books (see image on the right).   Thank you Catherine!!!

Catherine's wonderful crocheted goodies were added to The HHCC's, including two blankets the HHCC members crocheted from the Lands End/ Warm Up America "Feel Good" campaign (see image on the left for the completed afghan from last month's "Block Party"), and 10 of the Fiddler Shawls mentioned in this month's CGOA Chain Link newsletter. 

To complete the donation to the Elizabeth House, 20 sets of hats, mittens & scarves; 3 baby sweater sets, and 6 more blankets were added to the collection.  (To the right is HHCC President Grace, and elf-helper Casey, making the delivery to the Shelter yesterday.)  This was the second time The HHCC has donated to The Elizabeth House since the Chapter formed in 2001.

Further goodwill cheer (see images on left and right) was spread to The Salvation Army of Danbury, where 86 hat, mitten, and scarf sets were donated, along with a baby sweater set, 15 Fiddler Shawls, and an assortment of brand new toys.  The Salvation Army was delighted with the donations; this was the 8th time The HHCC has donated to the Salvation Army since the Chapter formed in 2001.

At the end of the day, these two local organizations benefited from millions of crocheted stitches by The HHCC members, and by the generosity of people like Catherine.  Thank you to all those who helped make these wonderful donations possible!

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. - Hamilton Wright Mabie

HHCC'ers "Feel Good" at November 'Block Party'

At the November monthly meeting yesterday, HHCC'ers gathered, armed with crochet hooks & knitting needles and generous hearts, to create squares for the Lands End "Feel Good"/ Warm Up America campaign.

The yarn, with characteristics similar to Lion Brands' Microspun yarn, was donated by Lands End; the HHCC received three cones which were wound into "cakes" and placed on each table.

Some members, like Nancy, had requested an individual cone; she worked up this pretty pumpkin-colored lapghan (pictured on right) at home, leaving the ends to be woven in at the meeting.  It turned out so pretty that members requested she write up the pattern!
(Nancy will let us know if she does.)

 Within a short amount of time there were enough squares to start the assembly of a lapghan.  Dee was in charge of the assembly and decided the best approach was to use the "single crochet, chain one, single crochet, chain one" approach.  "This joining technique is not only fast," she said, "but also allows for some breathing room when squares are not exactly the same size."  Ruth replied, "Oh, I just love this joining technique for the same reasons Dee does, plus it looks so pretty!"

How to crochet squares together:
Step 1: Lay out your squares the way you want them to appear.

Step 2: Take a square from Row 1, and a square from Row 2, and place back to back, right sides facing out.

Step 3: Join yarn to first square, create a single crochet, chain one, single crochet into the second square, chain one.

Step 4: Repeat the process, alternating from square to square across to the corner, ending with a chain one.

Step 5: Grab two more squares and continue stitching until all squares for Row 1 and Row 2 are connected together.  End of.

Step 6: Follow instructions from Step 2 - Step 5 until all rows are connected.
Step 7: Turn the afghan, and begin connecting rows in other direction in the same fashion.

For Show & Tell, Margaret brought in a variety of children sweaters & scarves she created from her crochet and knit swatches.  "See, good can come from swatching!" chuckled Margaret.  Everyone Ohh'd and Ahh'd over her creative stitch work.

HHCC member Elaine took advantage of getting some computer help from our "resident expert," Dee Jr.  Elaine is new to working with computers; she learned how to create documents, save them, and email them.  "I love computers," said Dee Jr, "and it was fun to help Elaine."  Elaine stated about her lessons, "He's really good! He knows his computers!  Now I can type up my patterns, save them, and email them off!"

Members also turned in their crocheted and knitted goodies that will be donated next month.  Their generosity overflowed to a luggage cart!  There is no doubt that at this monthly meeting HHCC's "Feel Good" about helping our local community!  :)

These items will be donated the first week of December -- watch for our blog post with the details!