Hunt for Crochet Today...

Ok, the world conspires against me.

It appears the distributor of many magazines in this region (NW Washington) has gone under. Magazine racks in three counties are bare, of much except muscle building magazines. (ew?)

So, I'm heading down to Lynwood and the Alderwood Mall B&N to see if I can find the damn magazine. If I can't get it there, I will drive to Belleview and the Crossroads Mall. I want you people to understand I will have driven an accumulated 120 miles to find the damn magazine.

You know what, It's time to just subscribe to them all. Cause I'm sick of this.

LOL...

I have hope though, I can't wait to read the article. I've been teased and I want my satisfaction.

Fearless Leader in Crochet Today!

Ok, I've said it was coming, I really did, but I didn't realize the July/August Issue of Crochet Today was out in June! Egads!

There is an article about yours truly, and the Crochet Liberation Front and I hear it's pretty good ;) It was a fun interview (which of course happened months ago), and now I need to hunt down me a copy! It's like trying to catch a rabbit in a brier patch in these parts, I may have to take a 40 minute drive to my nearest Fred Meyer's (store) to see if they have a copy.

It's always kinda funny when these articles happen, I know it's gonna happen, I did the dang interview over the phone, but until you see it in print, it's not really real. It feels weird when you see yourself or read your quotes, and you think, "Did I really say that?" sometimes I think I sound silly, and other times I wonder at how those words came from me!

It's kinda fun to see all of this happen, especially since it started out as a joke. We're obviously not a joke any more, but I like to pretend we are, because then I don't get all nervous like...cause really folks, I'm kinda shy ;)

Oh, and look at the bottom of the page. I put up our store on Zazzle.com, we have all kinds of CLF goodness. I'm working on coming up with more bumper sticker ideas. I kinda like the "Stash" one, it made me chuckle, and would work for those who enjoy crafting in general :) LOL

Remember every little bit adds up and helps this Fearless Leader keep working on CLF stuff!

Crochet Magazines: A crictical eye...

We have a lot of discussions about crochet magazines in our on-line communties, and I thought to myself why not take a gander at the three that CLF members often choose to read. These three are in alphabetical order (not preference).

Crochet!
Crochet Today!
Interweave Crochet

Taking all three and really looking through them with an eye to the following I created this special Fearless Leader Report.

Art Direction (This is how pretty the pictures are, the color theory involved in the side bars etc)
Layout/Readbility (This is how the text is presented, how the photos line up, use of white space etc)
Use of charts/diagrams and how they fit into the layout scheme
Quality of patterns (are they cute/fashionable/usable/well written/easy to understeand).

Now I get nothing out of this, and I'm not going to slam anyone, I just want to make a few observations. Let's keep this possitive.

Let's work out of order on my list here for a second. Pattern Quality.

To be honest, all three of these magazines have good patterns. All of them share designers. I think what is the difference in presentation of the finished articles in the photos has a lot more to do with the yarn companies that commission designers than the designs themselves. Yarn companies (Especially Coats and Lion Brand) STOP giving away your UGLIEST dye lots to the designers for their crochet patterns. Color and fashion are matters of personal taste, but if I was someone who did not know how to substitute in a pattern, I'd almost never make anything out of these two companies yarns. They have LOTS of fab colorways, time to use them.

So, all three magazines have good patterns, so why do people say Interweave is better most often? (At least CLF members). I would say it's about the fashion items. I think IC has more fashionable wearables, in better color ranges making them visually appealing. I do not think the patterns are better written than in the other three magazines, I think they are all on par.

Art Direction:

To be honest I think Crochet Today! Probably has the best art direction and layout. I find it a very easy to read, well planned magazine. It's proprietory though, owned by Coats and Clark, and so it will always be limited to those yarns. Not that I think Coats has bad yarn, I buy my fair share, but it shall always be limited to that.

Interweave Crochet is next on my list for Art Direction, I think they have some of the very best photography though, and the magazine is always visually appealing. I think there could be more done with the white space, but in general I think IC is a beautiful magazine which aids it's popularity.

Crochet! Ok, this is where things need to change up. The patterns in this magazine are every bit as good as what you find in the two above. And I love how they often include quick and easy projects along with fashion items. BUT and a big but, they really need to work on their art direction. The color schemes often do not work with the photographs, and it is some of the worst photography I've seen. You do not use the same color background as a garment in this kind of work...and it happens over and over and over. The worst offense yet was a really cute sweater with ruffles, but the photo showed NONE of the ruffles. This is a big n0-no. Crochet! Needs to understand that MOST crocheters are very visual and rely as much on the photos as they do the written words.

Crochet! Also needs a cleaner layout, and better color useage in sidebars etc. Again the QUALITY of what is in the magazine is great, if you get past the art mistdirection. And you know most people don't have time to sit pouring over a magazine to see what I was looking for.

I think Crochet! has had some great articles on construction and crocheters, and Interweave does as well. I have a harder time finder Crochet Today! in my area, but when I do find it I enjoy reading it.

This is just my opinion, and we know that opinions are like noses, we all got 'em and they all smell :) But, frankly, I do buy all three magazines when I can find them, I think all three of them offer enough different to warrant their purchases. But with a little more detail Crochet! could vastly improve it's market share, and it's following.

See it wasn't too painful, and next time you get your Crochet! magazine take a closer look, because I think the patterns are lovely. (I just use other colors most of the time, especially for blankies!)

Crochet ignorance...

You know what really steams me up? (Oh I hear your chuckles loud and clear!)

When people who don't do much crochet, malign our art/craft. Especially people in the needle arts industry, they should know better and their lack of knowledge often mortifies me.

Here are a few of the myths that make me go "Mmmm?"

1) Lace is difficult.

No it isn't. Lace takes time, attention, and the ability to count. Yes, you heard me COUNTING. That's the biggest skill required. In general lace is not difficult to do, it often doesn't require any stitch more difficult than a crown picot or maybe a clones knot, maybe a bullion stitch. All you have to do is is practice a bit before you do a stitch that needs finger flexibility. Lace is about negative space and making holes. Hard to do with the sticks, easy as chaining three, skipping two stitches and inserting your damned hook into the third stitch and single crocheting, with a hook. Yeah you heard me, a hook.

Does no one wish to sell thread? I mean for the love of all that's fuzzy, Doris Chan has shown us what we can do with those marvelous old lacey motifs and stitch patterns and do in bigger yarn. So it works up faster. Faster doesn't mean easier, it means faster. DUH.

2) Only fashion wear is good crochet.

Oh go jump off a tall bridge. All crochet is good crochet when someone pays attention, has even stitch work, and the project suits the needs of the hands that made it. One person's "OMG what is that THING" is another person's precious treasure.

If you start telling me that potholders aren't useful, then pick up a hot dish straight out of the oven or put it on your nice new wood table. If you tell me that slippers aren't of importance come to my house in January and walk around without socks. If you tell me that hats and scarves aren't needed, then walk on my local beach in March when a 30MPH squall is blowing. Pillows, afghans, dolls, and toys all have their places too! My teenage neices still have all the dolly blankets, and toy horse saddle blankets I made them when they were young, they are now keeping them for their kids! (I think that is very cool.)

Jewelry, purses, socks, slippers, rugs, shopping bags, bicycle panniers, Ipod covers, cell phone holders, game system holders, and the ubiquitous hair scrunchy; THEY ALL HAVE THEIR PLACE, in the hands of a hookster.

3) You're only good a needle arts if you use sticks...

Explicative, Explicative, and BLEEP. Rolling my eyes here. No, you are good at needle arts if you do any kind of needle work with attention, patience, and proficiency. And who said you had to be good at it? Doesn't everyone have to start somewhere? I don't know many people who started out making perfect projects.

4) If they can't do it, it's obvious it's not a good craft.

Get over yourselves. People who think that way belong back in elementary school. I cannot use sticks beyond swatching. Does it mean I think knitting and knitters suck? Nope, I think I suck at knitting. Am I a lesser form of crafter because I crochet? Hell NO! In fact most of the people who malign crochet couldn't do half of what I do with a hook with their sticks, and the other half may be talented but are rather short sighted and don't bother to look past their own feeble crochet attempts.

5) Crocheters love ugly colors.

From what I see in many a magazine and from the big yarn brands you'd certainly think that. Thank the FUZZ GAWD that some of us actually do have an understanding of color and color theory and can see past the "Oh my god that color combination inspires my stomach acid to react to my lunch" color choices they foist on us.

I mean really. And some people do like the color choices, color is subjective dependant on cultural tastes of the beholder. (But I still say they have it out for us.)

6) You can only really be loyal to one craft.

Bull puckey. I know so many crafters who do so much more than one craft. We may have our favorites, but really most of us have dabbled in many forms of crafting. I, for example, am into crocheting, embroidery, rug making, spinning yarn (on a wheel), and have done some weaving (though it's not my thing), I also felt and make coiled baskets. But because I don't use sticks, why none of the rest of that can possible count...dripping sarcasm aside, I'd love to ask the folks who think that way to come warp my Jack loom. It's only 48 inches wide, with four harnesses, I bet they could manage it cold.

7) Crocheters are old, fat, lazy and stupid.

They may not say it, but man they sure act like that's what we are. I'm not saying there aren't old, fat, lazy and stupid crocheters out there, but I've met some pretty skinny, hyperactive, very young (thinking of my 15 year old) crocheters. I've met kids as young as five who crochet, and women as old as 98, most of us fall in between that gap. In fact in one my own online surveys, the average age of a CLF member was 34 years of age.

8) Crocheters are cheap/low class.

What ever. You should see the emails flying from the Free Form Crochet list as The Knit and Crochet Show approaches. People are strategizing about how many bags they can bring to the show so they can get all their yarn purchases home. There are stories of people getting ready to ship their laundry or yarn home, just to fit it all in to the trip! Yeah, that's real cheap.

As for low class. Folks, the US Census Bureau has the US Median Income at $40,000 per house hold. We have over 300 million people in this country, you are in the top 20% if you make more than $50,000 per year. I don't know where you live, but where I live that doesn't go very far. The majority of people ARE worker bees, and these folks should be respected, and the companies and magazines should think about what it takes to get their business. We all love the bottomless wallet, but there is only a scant percentage of the population with that kind of income. Sorry to burst your bubble, not all of that scant uses sticks.

I'm sure I'll think of more things that cheese me off, but this should do for today. Industry people, RETHINK how you treat us, cause we're getting REAL organized.