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.

Grammar Police Where Are You?

Dear Grammar Police,

I would like to entreat you to accost those who list handwork out of alphabetical order. You have no problem letting me know when spell check has missed my homonyms, or typos, or my over use of commas, and semi-colons. You, the Grammar Police, love to point out incomplete phrases, and run on sentences, you have skills, and I wish you to put them to good use. You can correct me any time you want, and often do, but why oh why don't you get a hold of yarn companies, and catalogues for writing "Knit and Crochet" instead of "Crochet and Knit" ?

A list should be in alphabetical order: point blank.

Now, here are my reasons: I recently contacted a yarn company regarding their use of "Knit and Crochet" and politely asked them to revise their website to reflect the alphabetical listing. I wrote stating that it was obviously an oversight, because they have not ignored crochet as a market, but that we (the consumers) often feel like we're getting second billing.

Their response was less than desired; I felt talked down to, I felt like was I was patted on the head, and frankly I was really annoyed.

To paraphrase what they wrote me; they use knit and crochet because of how the phrase flows.

Hmmm... I had years of voice lessons, classical voice lessons; if you've ever studied classical voice then you will understand that learning to enunciate while singing is a skill that requires years of practice. In fact, "electrocution" (elocution) lessons were a great part of my classical training. Did you know it's easier to sing in a Latin root language than in English? Did you know why?

Vowels and consonants. Sound is carried on vowel sounds, and soft consonants (m, n, s,z), hard consonants end sound, (t, p,k,d)...So I want you to pronounce with me...let's say this together phonetically, and if you think I'm wrong, that's okay. I just think if they are going to say it's a word flow issue, we should test it out :)

NihT anD croshay

Croshay and nihT

Which has the smoother flow?

See I find when I pronounce the "t" in knit that the t is a hard sound which breaks up the flow of the sounds in the phrase. When I say crochet (ay) this flows with more liquidity with two consecutive open vowel sounds and you'll find you may pronounce the d of "and" softer too, with the t at the end of knit softer but still final. T is always a final sound when you pronounce words in English; It's a hard, staccato, versus and open legato... :)

So next time someone says, it's for the flow of the sounds and not about billing, I'll just have to point out how very wrong that is....

You can fool part of the people, part of the time; but you can't fool all the people, all of the time.

I think saying crochet and knit sounds more equal and less of a billing issue than vice versa...not because of the alphabet even, because of how the word sounds flow.

But pronounce it yourself and see what you think for yourself.

Great things afoot at the CLF

Hey there folks :)

Well we have some lively discussions happening on the CLF Message Board on Ravelry.

Plans, dreams and goals for 2009 abound, we are currently organzing the first ever Crochet Awards (like the oscars but you know for crochet :)) all are welcome to help in the planning, we're shooting to host those in March, which as you know is National Crochet Month (or International Crochet Month, since we decreed it so to not be exclusive of folks outside the US of A)...

We'll have a nominating process up soon :)

We also have ideas of having a "Christmas Present" Challenge for each month so we don't get caught behind again next holiday season (or like we do every year)

We have the yahoo group for file downloads and now have them on Box.net, see the Ravelry thread for more information for the box.net, or join the yahoo group to have access to these great downloads.

I have finally drafted the letter to Michaels Stores Inc, and have a copy for minions to send en masse, you'll have to send it snail mail though, because I haven't had a lot of luck finding email addies for those folks. I have my own letter I shall be sending and will post a copy of it once I have it mailed off...

Finally, the last podcast is finally up...and I promise to do better getting those up in 2009!

Looking forward to 2009

The CLF has grown, and to some extent matured, (though I hope we haven't gotten too mature part of the fun is our silliness!) we've gone from a joke, to a making our presence known to the world of fiber arts and caused a few people to take notice. How could they not, aren't we too cute for words?

We've stirred it up, shaken it up, and made people pause for thought. One of the funny realizations that happened to me personally is idea that some people held/hold of our group. Some people feel we are "militant", or are a bit frightened by our name in fact more than one person said, "It just sounded too much like Patty Hearst to me…" That was until they got to see what we really do, and are about…

For those of you who don't know who and what we are, we are indeed a group of committed crochet enthusiasts who want to see crochet get it's fair share of the market, and fair share of the press. We're tired of being lumped in with the sticks, and we want to have recognition of our craft in and of its own right. That doesn't make us militant, it makes us proactive.

The book took up a fair amount of my energy in the past six months, and I was unable to do everything I wanted to accomplish this year in the CLF. But beyond the tangible tome of crochet goodness, I want to share our absolute greatest accomplishment…We, together as a group, have bonded, empowered and uplifted each other, spurred each other on to greater endeavors both in the virtual world and in real life. We have connected with each other in ways that defeat the 'dog eat dog" dictum of 20^th century capitalism, and are creating a burgeoning market that doesn't dislike finances, but doesn't leave people out in the cold either. For this I am proud, as we support each other's work, skills, talents, we all benefit, we all get a slice of the pie. That counts for emotional support too, many of our membership have found the CLF a safe haven in a world of tempestuous upheaval and change. Making the CLF stand for more than a silly play on words and a pseudo political movement, it created a far more worthy title for our group: Crochet Liberating Friends, or Crochet Liberating the Future….

What does our future hold? Who knows, but it's bound to be fantastic.