HHCC'er Wins Ribbon @ Orange County Fair

The HHCC would like to congratulate its newest member Zipporah on winning a Red Ribbon at the Orange County Fair!

Zipporah, a high schooler, not only designed her entry, but she also hand-spun the yarn for it!
       Congratulations Zip!

HHCC'ers Win at The Big E

Elaine Wins Blue Ribbon
& Sponsor Award

On Wednesday, September 22, HHCC members were just some of the 70,106 attendees at the Big E Fair.  The weather in the morning was seasonably cool; in the afternoon everyone would be baking in near 90 degree heat.  In attendance on this first day of fall:  Candy, Casey (aka Mini~Dee), Celeste, Chava, Dee, Dee Jr., Diane, Elaine, Fluffy, Grace, Hilda, Irene and Ruth. 

HHCC Booth

Upon setting up the booth, Casey, Dee, Elaine and Ruth learned how their crochet entries fared: they all won Ribbons ranging from Best in Division, Junior to Honorable Mention. Dee and Elaine also won the Sponsor Awards. The Connecticut Fifers marched in, representing 17 marching bands, kicking off the official start to Connecticut Day. 

The HHCC members enjoyed meeting a lot of people interested in crochet.  Many leaflets and crochet patterns were handed out.  This was the eighth year the HHCC has volunteered to demonstrate & promote crochet at The Big E.

In the afternoon, The Connecticut Line Dancers came to The HHCC's aid by volunteering to model for The HHCC's first-ever Fashion Show.  Even though it was 90 degrees, not including the humidity, they were great troopers swirling & twirling the crocheted Shawl Collection on the stage while HHCC President Grace emceed.  The majority of the shawls featured in the show were crocheted earlier this year for a production of Fiddler on the Roof.  The shawls will be donated, with other items, to the Elizabeth House, a battered women's shelter located in Danbury, Connecticut, in early December.

The HHCC & The CT Line Dancers team up for Crochet Fashion Show featuring shawls.



After the Fashion Show the Connecticut Line Dancers were up, showing all how much fun dancing can be.  They called HHCC'ers Dee & Grace up to the stage to learn how ... Fluffy, who is also a member of the CT Line Dancers, said to Grace, "I have a video of you and Dee keeping in step with us. It was a lot of fun, and look forward to teaching you more steps!!"

Everyone had a great time!

The HHCC would like to extend a huge Thank You to the Connecticut Line Dancers, and to all the other volunteers in the New England State building!

The FeelGood program/ HHCC Block Party

Lands’ End has teamed up with Warm Up America!, and with Crochet Today editor Brett Bara as their spokesperson, on an exciting project to help warm up families in need this winter. The Crochet Guild of America's member guilds have been invited to join in the fun. Lands’ End is donating 5000 pounds of their soft FeelGood yarn so that 64,000 blanket squares by a combination of groups can be knitted and crocheted. The goal is 2000 blankets by mid-December!!

-- AND THE HHCC WILL BE A PARTICIPATING CGOA CHAPTER!! --

The HHCC will be having a "Block Party" at our November 14th meeting. We will need volunteers to crochet or knit 6" x 9" (or 9" x 6") squares with the 153 pounds of yarn from Lands End, as well as volunteers to assemble them into afghans!

The afghans will be donated to the Elizabeth House of Danbury, a shelter for battered women & their children.

The HHCC will also be helping Brett kick off this event by joining her at the CBS Early Show on Wednesday, September 29th. Watch for HHCC members in the crowd as Brett interviews with the show's host about the FeelGood program.

Touching 1854

At "Coffee, Crochet & Chat" today, HHCC President, Grace, brought in one of her latest treasures: a crochet hook from 1854!

The hook traveled from Dereham, Norfolk, United Kingdom. The handle is carved of bone, and unscrews at the bottom to store the extra crochet hook heads. The tip of the hook also unscrews, so that the desired hook size can be inserted & secured.

What makes this crochet hook intriguing is the stamping in the bronze body. It reads: I THOMPSON REGD AUG t 10 1854


Even more interesting, it is entirely possible the brass body could have been made in Waterbury, Connecticut, well known as the Brass City of the World!

What do we know about England and 1854? We know Queen Victoria was crocheting scarves to award to servicemen during what is known as the South African War. In fact, she awarded a total of eight crocheted scarves, one of which can be seen here, pictured on The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment website.

Also happening in 1854, The Ladies Complete Guide to Crochet & Fancy Knitting was printed.

"With a crotchet-needle in the hand, we join more pleasantly in conversation; the little implement fills up all embarrassing pauses. Its use gives feminine and domestic air, which men may smile at but cannot condemn. Under all circumstances, it is better than counting beads like the modern Greeks, or flirting with fans like the Spanish belles -- or flirting without fans, as sometimes happens to ladies of all nations."

Want to read more from the Ladies Complete Guide? Click here to read the 2005 article featured in Talking Crochet.

"Coffee, Crochet & Chat." Sometimes it is history too.

HHCC September 2010 Meeting

The HHCC would like to welcome Cathy and Zipporah as our newest members!

What a great turn out -- in fact, the HHCC is currently working with the hotel to see if an even larger meeting room is available!!! (Details to be announced.)

At the Sepember meeting HHCC'ers started turning in scarves for the 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge, each receiving a collector's pin from Dee. Dee has 3 pins left. The scarves will be added to crocheted hats, mittens or gloves, in the coming months. In early December they will be donated to the Salvation Army located in Danbury; helping children and their family members stay warm during the cold winter months.

Earlier this year HHCC members came to Dee's aid in helping to crochet 30 shawls for a school production of Fiddler on the Roof. The DVD of that play was aired at the meeting, letting all the members see how their shawls made the show! (Note: The shawls will be featured in a Fashion Show at The Big E on Wednesday, September 22nd, in the New England State Building from 3PM to 4PM. Afterwards they will be donated to a charity in need.) Everyone enjoyed seeing the shawls in action!

Show'n Tell is always fun. Ann showed off a motif afghan that is currently on her hook; new member Zip showed the vest she's working on (and that she hand-spun the yarn for!), and Diane showed a shawl she knitted that "magically striped up." Dee brought a rare "Chester" brand Tunisian crochet hook to the meeting and presented it as a gift to HHCC President, Grace. Grace was thrilled! (see hook in top picture)

What is next for the HHCC? Stay tuned!

HHCC'ers Prepare for The Big E

On Saturday, HHCC'ers Diane, Elaine, Grace, Dee and Ruth, traveled up to West Springfield, MA, to enter various crochet works into the Eastern States Exposition. Sarah, the coordinator of the needlecraft competition, remarked that this year they are seeing a big increase in the number of entries, and they are absolutely thrilled!

For the return trip home our HHCC'ers enjoyed a "Yarn Shop Crawl," visiting WEBs (including their bead shop), Northampton Wools, and Creative Fibers. They also stopped at Sylvesters for a fantastic (and very filling!) lunch. Elaine and Grace were thrilled to find crochet & knit books that were on their lists; Diane and Ruth loaded up on yarn; and Dee finally got her professional blocking board. Very happy shoppers indeed!

HHCC members will be returning to The Big E on Wednesday, September 22, well known as CONNECTICUT DAY, to promote & teach the art of crochet in the New England State Building. This will be the Club's EIGHTH year participating -- and this year will also include a Fashion Show featuring CROCHETED SHAWLS from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM!!!!

Hope to see you there!

"Most Expensive Ball of Yarn!"

Every month the HHCC invites the public to join our members for "Coffee, Crochet, and Chat" held at the Borders bookstore located in Brookfield, Connecticut.

Members who attend always have a good time catching up with each other, and having a little "show & tell" of projects they are currently working on, or have recently completed.

Today was all about the yarn. A single ball of yarn!

Grace decided to bring in yarn she was winding into a ball, only it was a huge tangled mess! Several hands, including Margaret's and Dee's, jumped into action helping Grace reclaim -- or rather, retame --her yarn. There were several giggles, and great conversation about designing for crochet, finding great crochet books, and gee, is that ball of yarn still tangled?!

In the end, Grace eventually got her yarn wound into a ball, stating:

"Taking onto consideration the original cost of the yarn, all the time it took to untangle, (people too) and ball up, this has to be the most expensive hunk of yarn I have ever bought!"

Tangle & all, everyone had a good time!