Blog Feed Etc...

Ok, because I am still wrangling with the blog ring, and because I know many of you are on blogger, for your convienience I've put a feed from the wordpress blog onto this blog, so that you can keep tabs easier ;)

Yes, it's redundant. But, it's how I can manage things with the limited time I have at the moment. Life's a little bit crochet crazy :)

CLF Blog moving...

So, I've crocheted some moving boxes, packed up the posts, and am working on making sure all the links are set (you know how much I hate them), so that the Official Liberation Front Blog will have a nice new home.

Yup...moving to wordpress. Why?

Cause I have other blogs over there, and I prefer wordpress from a technical standpoint.

I will leave this baby up but as of tonight this is the last NEW post here...

The new blog? http://www.crochetliberationfront.wordpress.com

Yup...Now to get all the feeds and linkages finished.

Sorry to be a bother and all, but really, it's just that much easier to do it all over there, besides the webcrawlers like wordpress better, including Googles!. Isn't that Ironic?

Call To Arms

As you know we in the CLF are tired of being downtrodden and mistreated. A good example of this was the latest crochet challenge thrown down out of Interweave's PieceWork magazine.

According to the author (not a crochet expert by any means btw) this vintage pattern was not worth her time to finish, or she couldn't understand it, what ever, it was flippant, rude, and why they had her do the article, instead of an expert crocheter is beyond me. And frankly, it's lace, it's not even necessary for an "expert" to do, just someone who does thread work, or has done thread work, or has crocheted more than 20 projects.

One of our CLF members Yarntricia, has suggested that we the CLF (and mad crocheters!) that we flood Piecework in a show of defiance.

Are you game? Check out their website, get the magazine or find a copy and get the challenge information including the pattern. It's a 19th century pattern. But it seems the author was confused by this: "to join in a circle"...um...in crochet we join things to make circles all the time. That's kina basic.

So if you are up for the challenge go for it. Yeah, it's thread, yeah it's tiny hooks, but hey get a good light and a magnifying glass. I'll be off searching for a copy of said magazine. Because as you know finding any fiber arts mags in these parts (other than quilting, and I refuse to get into a back ally fight with a quilter because they have ever SHARPER pointer things), so I'll be wandering and looking for the crochet challenge.

It isn't that I don't have other things to do,because yes, yes I do, but come on...it's lace. Lace is JUST COUNTING...really that's all it is. The most basic stitches are what you use to make the most delicate lace, really, truly and honesty.

Website update, video tutorials, and other stuff

Well, I updated the CLF website. The front page is changed, I added a page of video tutorials that will be added to from time to time. The offerings on the page are diverse from folks within and without the industry! Rock on folks! We are the hooksters (you know like hipsters) and crochet is very cool...as is evidenced in the videos.

I get really frustrated working on the website, mostly because of stupid broken links, everything else is easy. I can do the buttons and scrolling dancing monkies (if I wanted to, but they won't load on my computer at home on dial up!), but broken links, they are my bane. So, when I whine about building the site, just know it's the dang typos that are killing me ;) LOL...I just don't have all the hours in every day to do all that needs doing ;) No rest for this wicked wicked woman.

Speaking of no rest for the wicked, I am working away on the adult book. I extended the deadline on the third book, folks will know if they got in by the 12th of June. I'm taking my time with these things.

Remember, though I have "help", I am doing the book production as me/myself/ and I. I can have folks look over and do some editing. But, ultimately I take on the whole enchelada :) WHOO HOO! Instead of giving myself and ulcer, like I did last year, I am taking it easy.

So while you wait for the second and third books, why not get the first book! You can get it from our website http://www.crochetliberationfront.com/clfbookhome.html if you are outside of the states order your book from http://www.gailsyarns.com/ and if you just want the .pdf download get it from http://www.lulu.com/camanomade it's only $9.99 there ;)

So, folks we're plugging away working, juggling, running, and hooking...Thanks for the thoughts and offers of assistance. It's all appreciated. Oh and I will leave you with this:

We're planning the CLF retreat for October 2010. Yes, that is right!

Set My Picot Free Award Winner!

So, I was doing a search for belly dancing costumes...and what do I find?
http://www.crochetkitten.com/ she has tons of patterns she's made, and they are so totally awesome.
I contacted her on Ravelry.com and asked if I could use her images here because they are just too nifty. She wasn't a CLF member at the time, though she might be now, and I'm not gonna check because well..it just doesn't matter...I'm awarding her the Set My Picot Free for some awesome crochet representin'!

Josephine Scarf Front
Originally uploaded by Selena K

OMG I finally got it! Crochet Today Article!

WOW! Ok, I owe Tina Barseghian a HUGE thank you for taking the incoherent ramblings of a mad woman and writing a very very smooth article!

Yes, today I managed to track down TWO copies of the magazine at a Barnes and Noble and hour south of me (it's the closest one to me), and I have another two ordered. Yeah, I'm a nerd, I get excited to see my picture in a magazine. Yup, I do.

Yes, I have forced people to read the article in front of me, while I stand their grinning like the proverbial cat with feathers AND cream dribbling out of my mouth. Yes, I looked at my husband and said, "Not bad for a joke!"

And yes, I did giggle for almost half an hour after reading it.

Who knew a joke could be this funny for so long!

Our beloved Dora Ohrenstein of Crochet Insider fame is quoted, as is Jennifer Reeve of www.craftkitten.com, thank you guys!

In honor of this moment, I have made a new reference page on our website: Video Links.

http://www.crochetliberationfront.com/Videos.html

They aren't all how tos, some are just cool crochet. Though I think my favorite how to is the How to crochet a hackey sack, the young man doing the video is so cute (though he's of an age where that would cause eye rolling.)

There will be more on the list, but so much crochet goodness out there, just need to get it in one spot!

Happy Hooking to all!

Musing and Wondering...

It is no secret that I am a feminist, or as I like to call myself a Neo-Feminist. Why the "neo"?
Because, I think the original movement was important, but instead of creating a real equality where women were viewed as valuable members of society equal due to the fact of their humanity, the matra became that we could be "like" men. That attitude just doesn't turn me on.

I was a 1980's teenager, so not only did I get the indoctrination that unless you wore a power suit with power heels you were a nobody, I also got told I could be "super-mom", "have it all", and that if I took on the masculine power system I would be the "perfect" woman. I tried it on, went to college, did a bit of ball busting, became an executive, got married, had kids, worked 16 hr days, had a nanny, was one of the pretty people, Prada Hallowed Be Thy Name, had a pretty pretty husband, ball busted some more, proved I could run departments, and divisions, bring home plenty of bacon, kept my crocheting and embroidery a secret, and found myself mentally and spiritually exhausted.

By the time I was 25, I knew that something had to give, and if I didn't figure it out what was going to give was me.

What does this have to do with crochet? What does this have to do with feminism? Lots.

Traditional Feminine handcrafts, or "gentle pursuits" if you want to put into 19th century terms,
were thrown to the way side, seen as non-important and symbols of repression. So that our old stand by magazines that used to have lovely tips and hints for women on all kinds of subjects (such as Good Housekeeping, Women's Day, Family Circle...etc) now just run articles on how to work 12 hrs and still have good sex. They also promote the tired stereotypes of women who look good all the time, because God-Forbid we age at all, because our attractiveness is above all our greatest asset! Hold on a minute? What happened to feminism?

So, I have to be tough as nails, exhausted, a sexual siren, own false tits, have zero stretch marks, bust balls, can't create pretty things with my own two hands, have perfect kids with perfect teeth, and have no crows feet? In the words of Fee from the book "Blessed are the Cheese Makers", Feck that.

We, my friends, have been sold a bill of goods, and we have bought it. With cold hard visa cards.

Guess what? We all get old, natural tits and asses do sag, and it is the most human thing in the world to create. Create with our hands, create with our bodies, that is what women (and men) do. Period, we create, and that should be something in which we revel, and it should be lauded from the roof tops.

As women in traditional roles we do have power, a different kind of power, not saying that them were the good old days, cause they weren't. But we didn't need to throw the female baby out with the bath water.

Crochet and all other hand crafts have taken a hit because they were associated with being a feminine pursuit, an entire generation chose not to do handwork because it was seen as a symbol or our repression. Just like cooking went the way of the dodo...Come on, cooking is NOT hard people. Cooking over a wood stove is a challenge, and um last I checked most of us don't have wood stoves any more, and most of us do have washing machines (which make life considerably easier than a wash tub, I know I've used one) but all of the fabulous things that make life on a daily basis happen fall into that very self same category of: Women's Work.

Say it: Women's Work.

I bet you say it some how without pride, and with some kind of negative tone.

Now say it happy: Women's Work.

Say it louder...WOMEN'S WORK!

The mega corps and investment companies are benefitting from our "modern" woman status, they have us convinced that to make things for ourselves is both old fashioned, and arduous. Wanna know why? Cause that way they don't make a dime from their factories in third world countries exploiting our brothers and sisters who are doing "women's work" for a dime a day (oooh maybe a whole dollar), so we can pay for shoddily made clothes in inferior fabrics, cheaply.

I know I may not win the battle or even the war on this one, but people, be proud of your creative abilities, be proud of being moms, grandmoms, executives, SAHMs, Working out of the House Moms, what ever you are, not moms, single, married, or other, same sex, different sex, omni sexual...and men too, be proud you craft with your hands. But for some reason when men do it it's either cute, cuddly, or sexy...Frankly, my husband finds it really sexy when I crochet, which is good, cause I do it all the time. (Oh and he likes my sagging tits and ass too, but maybe he's just perverse.)

The key is, as long as we buy the bullshit, they sell it. All it costs? Our collective human souls.

/end rant