End of March....

Wow! What an (Inter)National Crochet Month it has been!

The party on Ravelry has been a blast (wish I could have been there more often!), we've had great topics on the CLF HQ message board on Ravelry, and of course our very first annual Crochet Awards, the Flamies, happened with not too many glitches!

CLF members don't forget we have a nominating group on Ravelry, so keep your eyes posted for beautiful designs, books, patterns and more throughout 2009 for next year's awards...Cause hey next time we'll know what we're doing!

Remember we're doing the make up show for our winners that got lost in techno-land, TONIGHT on Getting Loopy! Looking foward to being there, join us at 9pm EDT/6pm PDT on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mary-beth-temple (Getting Loopy!) or download it via iTunes :)

See ya tonight!

Fearless Leader Dork Alert...

I must apologize to Takhi Stacy Charles Yarn, actually more to Stacy Charles. I spelled his name wrong, and gave Darlisa the information incorrectly. So it's totally my fault.

I feel kinda like a dork...but that's nothing unusual right?

I do thank Mr. Charles for attending the Flamies. That was pretty darn cool!

In fact I think it was pretty good the corporate types all showed up to recieve their accolades. Because we spend oodles on yarn and products...and knowing they appreciate our business is encouraging.

The Flamies

Um…just like March, "In like a lion, out like a lamb."

Well, minions and crochet enthusiasts all, the Flamies (first annual Crochet Awards) came off, but not without a hitch! Good old Murphy's Law was right there with us, reminding us that if we ever decided to take ourselves too seriously, to think again.

We kinda need a Mulligan (or do over) for the last third of the show since poor Mary-Beth had her switchboard completely disappear on her!!! Which means we lost the last and most prestigious award announcements! They shall have their day in the sun! We vow that!!!!! In fact the Mulligan happens on March 30th! Stayed tuned for more!

It's still worth listening to the two thirds that went somewhat more smoothly than anticipated! (Never start feeling cocky that's all this Fearless Leader has to say!)

To top it all off I'm going to try to get all you fabulous award winners the link for your awards but um….I start Jury duty and have to be up before the birds to get there in time…So I'm problem solving on the fly. Let's hope for WiFi somewhere near the County Courthouse!

All in all it wasn't too bad for another "Hey Gang, Let's put on a show event from the CLF!"

If you can hear me blush when Doris Chan complements my pirate hat, you won't be wrong. First off I love my pirate hat, secondly I think it's cool that Doris Chan likes my pirate hat, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and like one of the cool kids J !

Ooooh and how cool was it that the industry people actually showed up for the awards! Thanks to Mary Beth for contacting them on behalf of the CLF! I'm glad they did show up, and actually appreciate the votes by our beloved crochet community!

They should, we spend buckets of money on yarn, hooks and patterns each year J

Best Crochet Magazine 2008

And the Winner Is….

Interweave Croc het

The Most Crochet Friendly Yarn Company

And the Winner Is….

Lion Brand

There are no nominees for this next award, this was at my whim!

Fearless Leader Award for a Crochet Friendly Yarn Company.

I am giving this award because of the many fabulous tales of equity, artistic freedom, and respect this company has given my colleagues. This yarn company is well known and beloved for how they treat crochet as an equal fiber art! The winner of the Fearless Leader Award for a Crochet Friendly Yarn Company.is:

Tahki/Stacy Charles

Best Crochet Hook by a corporation.

And the winner is by ONE vote!!! Boye

Best Online Crochet Magazine

And the winner is! Crochet Insider http://www.crochetinsider.com/

Best Crochet Blog 2008

And the Winner is ! The Crochet Dude
http://www.blog.thecrochetdude.com/

Best Crochet Podcast

And the winner is:

Getting Loopy
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Mary-Beth-Temple

Best Crochet Hooks (handcrafted made by individuals and available for sale or by auction)

And the winner is!

Jimbo's Hooks
http://www.jimbosfrontporch.blogspot.com/\

Best Instructional/Technical Crochet Book 2008 Only books published in 2008 qualified for nominations.

Blue Print Crochet, Robyn Chachula

Crochet Pattern Book 2008 Only books published in 2008 qualified for nominations.

The Winner is!

Crochet that Fits: Shaped Fashion without increases or decreases, Mary Jane Hall

Best Crochet Instructor 2008

The Winner is!

Robyn Chachula

Best Crochet Design for Adults (men's and women's fashion, plus accessories)

And the winner is! Dragon fly Shawl by Lisa Naskrent (Ravelry ID crochetgarden)

Best Design Home Décor

The winner is!

Sunburst Bowl by Carol Ventura (ravelry ID Tapestrycrochet) who is currently in Paris with her Art History Class…sigh…Felicitations! Vive le crochet!

Best Crochet Designer for Women's Fashions 2008

And the winner is!

Doris Chan (RavelryID DorisJChan)

Best Crochet Designer(Accessories: Hats, Scarves, Jewelry, Socks etc) 2008

And the winner is!

Kim Guzman (RavelryID CrochetKim)

Best Crochet Designer (men's wear)

And the winner is!

Drew Emborsky (RavelryID thecrochetdude)

Best Crochet Designer (for children, children's wear, accessories, toys)

And the winner is!

Candi Jensen (Ravelry ID Candijensen)

Best Crochet Designer (Home Decor: afghans, pillows, rugs, etc.)

The winner is!

Ellen Gormley (Ravelry ID Gocrochet

Best Free Form Designer

The Winner is!

Margaret Hubert (Ravelry ID MHDesigner1)

Best New Designer

The Winner is!

Tracie Barrett ( Ravelry ID traciecrochets

Individual Life Time Achievement Award Winner

Margaret Hubert (MHDesigner1)

First of I want to thank the CLF minions for carrying the Flaming hook of Justice in their project bags!

This year's prize for Most Deserving of the Flaming Hook of Justice goes to …

David Burchall!

Congratulations to ALL of our nominees and winners! I love you all, you represent the hook well, and I invite all CLF members to join the Crochet Award Nominations discussion group on Ravelry.com! You can find it by going to "The Mother of All Stickies Thread" on our CLF HQ Group message board!

Once again a huge thanks to all of our members who helped me organize this and figure out how to do the dang awards! Thanks to Mary Beth Temple on Getting Loopy for hosting us! And Thank you to all who called in, including those who got "disappeared" by some weird technological snafu!

Fabulous...that is the word for the day...

How are you? FABULOUS I hope! How am I? FABULOUS!

How can we not be during Crochet Month! (International/National/heck why not UNIVERSAL!)

I'm blogging on a Saturday! That means I'm up to my old Fearless Leader tricks!
Getting everything set and polished for Monday night's Flamie Awards! You'd better show up folks, you gotta see the talent! See who won! I'm so excited I could "squee"...

I'm also getting ready to start the second book in our little CLF series! The adult themed book, working title being "Crochet in Chains~ the clf all growed up!"

So excited! There are some beautiful patterns, silly patterns, fun patterns, and yes, it is indeed adult themed! But last I checked, that really isn't a market served now is it? It's like some how (I'll spell it out so we don't say it...) S. E. X. is bad and awful...Last I checked if it weren't around neither would be my kids :)

It's been interesting to see what the various interpretations of Adult themed were in the submission process!

This book will be smaller than the CLF First Ever Book, which may I remind you is still for sale on Amazon.com or on the CLF Website and NOW as a PDF for only $9.99 on Lulu.com. The more you support the CLF in purchasing the books the sooner we can start actually paying some real money to designers! And take over the world...but that's a secondary goal :)

Enjoy your National Crochet Month, and DO NOT FORGET THE FLAMIES!!! TWO DAYS!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mary-beth-temple Monday Night 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific!

Hookalicious Yarn!

Curious Creek Yarn owner, Kristine was on Getting Loopy, Monday night with Mary Beth Temple...

I so enjoyed listening (via telephone, because of my damned dial up situation!) that I had to call in and award her a HOOKALICIOUS award!

1) Because she learned crochet and loves it for awesome reasons!
2) Because she gave honest and great information about "handpainting" yarn.

As you may or may not know, I'm a handspinner and dyer, and I have often gotten annoyed when people try to claim that handspainting isn't dyeing. Yes, it is. It's just a matter of definition and techique, and when Christine said the MAGIC words of "It also makes it sound prettier"...I wanted to hug her ;)

So check out her site here! http://www.curiouscreek.com/


AND DON'T FORGET TO TUNE IN TO GETTING LOOPY! MONDAY NIGHT, MARCH 16th at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific! FOR THE FLAMIES! 2009 Crochet Awards!

The FLAMIES! March 16th!

Ok folks, as you know the votes are in, the winners have been decided, and they will be announced LIVE on Getting Loopy with Mary Beth Temple!

This airs March 16th at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific LIVE! Yes, we're hitting the glitz folks!

Don't forget to sign into Getting Loopy, ask for a reminder, you don't want to miss this folks, we're making hookin' history!

Happy National Crochet Month!

Whoot! March is here at last! Yay! That means one thing it's (Inter) National Crochet Month!
National Crochet Month was started by the Crochet Guild of America, and the CLF has made it our business to whoop it up!!

That's why we are sponsoring the Flamies! If you haven't cast your vote, get busy will ya? We end the voting on Tuesday, March 3 2009.

Remember we are announcing the winners on Getting Loopy with Mary Beth Temple on Monday, March 16th! Be there or be square.

Other activities: Check out the many crochet blogs our in blog land, with over 3140 members (we're just growing by leaps and bounds folks!) there are bound to be fun crochet posts all over the net! In fact, why don't you blog your crochet?

If you are on Ravelry, check out the Crochet Party Group! We have ever so much fun, we're all really busy this year, but you can pop your head in say hi, and join in with the crochet sillies! I know you can!