Wednesday Contest Shoutout

Weblog Wannabe is having a comments contest for the month of November in honor of NaNoWriMo. It takes a bit of work (10 comments during the month) but you get five prints... so not bad at all!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!! (sorry, she created that line, and I like her excitement so I'm leaving it here)

Down Abbie's Road is having a contest for an old Victorian doll reproduction. She's quite beautiful.

The Sarah Winchester of Fiber Arts is having a comments contest that correlates with her being drawn into the fiber world. It only gets worse.

Theknittyvritti is having a voting contest for the favorite finished project she's done this year. Go over and vote!

Winner of the Last Week of the October Contest

Congrats, Cristi-Lael, you've won the last week of the contest! You'll be getting some yarn in other goodies in the mail as soon as you get in touch with me. My profile has my e-mail address, or my Ravelry ID is jecrowley. PM me your address!

In other news, my Friday was harrowing, with me: biking to the voting station in NC (quite a distance), waiting in line while trying to finish a paper due at five, finding out that they couldn't take my form of ID for some technicality I didn't register (mostly because I was having difficulty holding myself together until I could get to a bathroom to cry), biking back to campus, getting the necessary paperwork, desperately finding a computer so I could e-mail the essay to my professor, biking back, and finally FINALLY voting.

To top it all off, on the way back an SUV's driver hit the gas instead of the break, and launched himself over an embankment and retaining wall not even a yard in front of me. I do not kid. If I'd been a half second further along in my bikeride, I'm fairly certain that I would not be here typing this. More than likely, my head would have been swiped off (the helment doesn't really protect against an SUV) and my body squished flat, impaled by my crumpled bike.

My life just doesn't stay boring for long.

In better news, I'm alive, I got fiber in the mail and have more on the way, I have a bunch of RAK packages and MY FIRST ETSY sale to send off tomorrow, and the begining of the Mix Makers Swap is starting off without a hitch.

Right now I need to go to dance pratice.

Until later!

Wednesday Contest Shoutout!

Knit it Up is having an amazing contest. There's so many prizes I can't name them all, and you should definitely go over there. *drools* I really really want those prizes.

Baa Baa Blacksheep is having a contest involving the election. I'm willing to promote anything that encourages people to vote or increase interest in the election, so go take a look!

Midwest Knit Girl is having a contest where you try and guess how many posts she has done to late.

Jen La is having a caption contest. After having a bad day she needs something to pick her up.

My contest is going on until the 31st! Just leave a comment on any of my posts or put a link on your blog that goes back to me. The Drawing will be announced Friday as close to midnight as I can get, which means probably sometime on saturday.

Wonderful support

Hey all, thank you so much for your well wishes and prayers. This last week I've been in a sort of daze, going through the motions and nothing more. My grandmother did get out of the hospital and is doing much better, though there were some rough patches while that was going on. Thankfully, things are better now.

Perhaps because of my emotional turmoil, and stress, but I've been doing a lot of spinning lately. The result is some very nice yarn, but even better, I was able to achieve some emotional blankness that was very welcome. I've also done quite a bit of crochet and knitting... I have a lot of updates for both my Etsy store and Ravelry.

Which brings me to another thing. I did not manage to post once at all this week, which is grossly unfair to those of you who have been reading. starrypurplehaze, I have not managed to send out your yarn, though I did get your address, and I have a proposal to make.

I'd like to make the second to the last week and this upcoming week count for one big, last prize. I would post more, and there would be double to the amount of yarn to send off. People who have commented in the last week, your comments would count towards this last drawing (if that makes sense).

I think this is only fair, because I didn't give people much of a chance to comment. Hopefully y'all agree with me, because that's what I'm going to do.

Look forward to some more posts this week!

Second week winner

So I did the drawing from the second week, and starrypurplehaze, you are the winner! The yarn to the right is your prize. E-mail me with your address and I'll have this in the mail to you in two shakes of a lamb's tail!

I intended to do a post about the other contests on Wednesday and a review of a blog on Thursday or Friday, but neither of those things happened for a variety of reasons, the largest being that my grandmother went to the hospital and I was in contact with my family and not thinking about the blog.

Also, I'm missing my boyfriend and my financial aid for my college has went wonky. However, things will work out.

In an entirely random vein, are any of you familar with Etsy? I'm trying to start up a store there, and I'd love some advice on how to get traffic so people are viewing your store. Any of you out there more expierienced than I can give me some hints? I would appreciate it!

Remember, Remember: The third week of my contest is still going on! Writing a comment will get you entries. Mentioning my contest in your blog will get you TWO entries. You can comment as much as you want, so keep them coming!

I'm kinda embarassed

So as I posted on Thursday, I went home for the weekend (plus Monday and Tuesday). I was really excited because not only was I going to see my family, but also my boyfriend, and two of my best friends. It was a wonderful, fun filled break.

In preparation for the break, I prepared some posts that were scheduled to be posted while I was away. One of these was Friday's post, which was supposed to announce who had won the first week's contest, as well as show off the next week's contest yarn. However, I scheduled to post my draft, and not the finished project.

So I'll announce it here, and then I'm going back to change Friday's post. Bronwyn, you won the first week of Handspun contest! Congrats! E-mail me (it's on my profile) with your address and I'll get it packaged up to you and sent off!

Later today I'll edit this post with Wednesday's contest shutout, but for now I need to edit the other post and head to class.


The second week of my contest is going on! Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

Crochet Hooks

Crochet was my very first fiber love. When I was seven, I had a babysitter, and older lady that would sit and crochet when i was doing my homework or playing when my parents were out. She was a wonderful lady, and while I don't remember her name she's left a lasting gift with me.

She taught me to Crochet. And the very first thing she taught me? The Granny Square. I wouldn't say it was instant love for me... in fact, I found Crochet very very frustrating. But I had a little orange plastic hook (which I kept until my sister sat on it and broke it nearly ten years later) and I struggled through splitting the yarn, doing things wrong, and I managed to learn crochet.

And then life moved on, the babysitter stopped coming because she moved, and I didn't pick up a hook very much. Until my family had to move. My girlfriend made me a blanket as a goodbye gift. It was pink and white and beautifully done. My competitive spirit was aroused. I wanted to be able to do something like that. And I started to crochet again.

I practiced, and practiced, made a lot of really bad doll clothes, got a lot of yarn for Christmas, developed a regular stitch, made whatever I wanted, and flatly refused to use a pattern book. If I wanted to make something, I looked at a picture. It hasn't been until now, at college that I've started following real patterns. As in, actually reading the directions.

But what is my point in all this? Well, if you look at the title, it's supposed to be about crochet hooks. And my point is, until recently, I had been carrying my hooks around in a glasses case. (Hey, it worked and it was compact!) But as part of my SP 12 Swap, Kathleen made me a beautiful crochet case holder, and I've been wanting to show it off. So I gathered up most of my crochet hooks, and made some startling discoveries.

I have far more crochet hooks than I imagined. I have a full set of steel crochet hooks. I have a D, E, 2 F's, a G, a G1/2 (I got it in Sweden, it's between a G and an H). I have 3 H's, 5 I's, 6 J's, 3 K's, an L, M, 2 N's, and a Q. (This does not count the ones that are currently in projects, which is (I think) a G, an O, and an H.)

I think that totals 39 hooks. Now, I'm not surprised, because I like to keep my hooks with my projects, and I"m quite fond of my size H's and J's... they're two of my favorite size hooks. Also, sometimes I get them as gifts, and the range between H and K seems to be the size people like to gift. Anything else seems either too small or too large.

So, what size hooks or needles do you prefer? Do you have a collection, or do you have one for each purpose, and switch them in and out? Let me know!



The second week of my contest is going on! Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

FIrst Week Contest Done, Second Week Starting!

So the first week of the Month-long contest had a great start. I got lots of responses, and I got to see some really cool projects! (I'm planning, towards the end of the contest, to create a post where I feature all the different Halloween- themed projects).

I also got to meet a whole bunch of crafty- bloggers that I didn't know where out there. It was so nice meeting ya'll. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better as the weeks progress.

I wanted to give you a glimpse of this week's wonderful prize. Congrats Bronwyn, you've won yourself a skein of Gryffindor Yarn. Drop me an e-mail, and I'll get your yarn sent.

Now, as you're all (hopefully) aware, things only get better from here. We're entering into week two, and I have another handspun yarn to show off for you. Take a look! What do you think I should call it? It's bulky and it's got a wonderful squish to it, but I'm debating about a name. Suggestions are welcome. And also this week there will be a mysterious prize! I'll let you know what it is closer to the end of the week.

As for the contest, the rules don't change. Comments give you an entry. Showing me/everyone else your Halloween themed projects get you an entry, and posting about me on your blog gets an entry. Since it's another week, you can re-mention me in your blog if you want (I don't mind publicity). But your crafts only get you one entry- one entry per one craft. Sorry.

So tell me, what should I name this week's contest yarn?

The promised Sculpture Post!

So, this post is going to be a bit long, because I'm going to post up the paper that I wrote on my sculpture. Let me know if it's interesting or not.

Touch Me or; A Rebellion Against the Sampler
The assignment called for something made from wood, but I also wanted to make something with crochet. Crochet has long been my craft of choice, but it is not without its disadvantages. Knitting has always been more in vogue, and thus finding patterns that lend themselves better to crochet than to knitting is difficult. This is because crochet is more rigid, consumes more material, and is harder for people to learn. I wanted to create something that took advantage of crochet’s strengths- the fact that it is more rigid, and because each stitch is independent of the last, lends itself better to improvisation. I had dozens of ideas as to what I could make out of crochet, an explosion of color and vibrancy that carried itself over into the final product. While my project started out as an explosion of ideas, the process of constructing it lead it to become part of a greater dialogue about crochet, art and the function of handicrafts in a modern society.

There is a vibrant internet community of people who crochet and, being a college student connected to the online world, I follow several different artists who use crochet in their sculpture. Primarily, The Institute for Figuring’s hyperbolic crochet math models, crochet coral reef, and vortex of trash influenced my idea of what crochet could do. It’s exhibits of crochet choral reefs are full of ruffles, branches, and bulbous branch-offs. Its hyperbolic crochet exhibit features ruffles and uneven surfaces which are strangely hypnotic and fascinating to the eye. The Institute for Figuring made me realize that crochet could be something other than functional art.

The Institute also set up a discourse about what crochet could represent, one which I wanted to respond to. The institute takes advantage of crochet’s unique properties. Like crochet, knitting can increase exponentially, but the number of stitches on the needles quickly becomes unmanageable. Crochet, which each stitch being independent of each other, offered the perfect solution. (The Institute for Figuring website) Like The Institute for Figuring, I wanted to enter into the dialogue of using crochet not only because I loved crochet but because it was the most efficient solution to my problem. After engaging in externalization and objectivaion, I was finally ready to transform “structures of the objective world into structures of the subjective consciousness” (Berger). I wanted to add to the dialogue of sculptural crochet, a term coined by Wunderkammer, who was another influence on the advantages of crochet as a sculptural form and tool (SuperNaturale).

In Peter Berger’s essay “Sacred Canopy” he writes that, “Once produced, the tool has a being of its own that cannot be readily changed by those who would employ it. Indeed, the tool may even enforce the logic of its being upon its users, sometimes in a way that may not be particularly agreeable to them.” Crochet is a tool that forces its logic on its users, making those who want to crochet instead of knit create in a certain way. Oftentimes, people who crochet will avoid making certain items (like socks) because crochet does not lend itself well to the construction of those items (crochet socks don’t have much stretch). Like Berger’s man who creates language and then is subject to its rules, by adopting crochet as my craft I am limiting myself in what I can do. Touch Me reacts against these constraints, attempting to take advantage of the limitations of crochet instead of being restrained by them. Peter Schjeldahl describes in his essay “Deacon’s Faith” a conversation between two men. In reply to a question about what the sculpture is, the second man replies, “it’s art. Look at the way it’s put together.” Much of the meaning in this sculpture is derived from the way it’s put together. Using Dr. Seuss-ian forms and a patchwork construction I attempt to give a sense of movement and also a sense of whimsy- a wish for what could be and a need to reach beyond the obvious. But the bars of wood- rigid and simply colored, restrain it from going beyond the bounds of its form. While the sculpture might reach outside of the form a little, it is too big to fully escape, just as crochet can go beyond its constraints, but not fully escape them. Glaringly bright and clashing colors give it a sense of childishness, but also violence- a frustration with what is, but also an acceptance.

Touch Me, or A Rebellion Against the Sampler is part of a discourse on crochet, a celebration and protest of what crochet means to not only me, but to many other people who crochet, and who are frustrated by the discrimination against the lesser-known handicraft. John Thompson writes, “In spoken discourse meaning resides as much in its disjunction, its truncations and dislocations- in a gesture of the hand, the involuntary twitch of a muscle or a barely perceptible flicker of the eye.” Touch Me attempts to capture some of that gesture, some of the sense of discourse surrounding crochet. It, in the ruffles and rapid increases and decreases, invokes other crochet works, referencing what came before. But it also adds something to the discourse with the incorporation of the wooden cage- an open, airy cage, but a cage nonetheless. It makes gives the limitations of crochet a physical form. While the meaning in this sculpture did not come in its conception, the repetitive process of creating stitch after stitch of crochet gave the sculpture meaning as I worked and utilized the advantages and disadvantages of crochet. Works Cited

Wunderkammer. SuperNatural. 30 September 2008. <http://www.supernaturale.com/articles.html?id=277>.

The Institute for Figuring. Home. 30 September 2008. < http://theiff.org/main.html>.

YEY! You made it through the paper! So what do you think? Was the sculpture successful or not?

(EDIT 2:30am: In an entirely unrelated note, almost all my links have went blue, and I can't figure out why. They were green and matched my layout before I wrote this post, and now they've changed colors. I'm wondering if this post, which was formatted in word, did something strange to it. Any computer geeks out there who can help me?

EDIT @ 2:40 I got rid of some of the formating and that seems to have fixed the links, but I can't seem to get the text to remain the same in this post. Forgive me, but I really must get back to writing my essay, so I'm going to leave this until later today (after I've slept) to fix)

Remember: My contest is still going on! Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

There's so much to blog about!

It was so nice to get back from my "Art to Alabama" trip over the weekend to see all the comments on my blog. It made me really happy, because one of the reasons I'm doing the contest is to foster connections with other blogs on the web. I've been trying to comment on all of your blogs for those of you who left a note if you have blogs, and though I haven't gotten to everyone yet I'll try to.

So what did I do over the weekend? I went on a trip one of my friends arranged to go see art. We began by driving to Atlanta, where we went to the Botanical Gardens and to the Hie- which I absolutely loved. It may sound dork-ish, but I always thought that museums were boring (one of those stereotypes you get when you're a kid, and that just doesn't vanish from your head.) but after going to many museums in Sweden (my blog about my adventures there is here) and some in America now, I've found that I actually do like art museums. Perhaps it also has something to do with me knowing more about art, so I can appreciate the thought and feeling that goes into differnet pieces. I think as a child I hadn't expierenced a depth of emotion great enough to understand what I was looking at.

The next day we went to Rural Studios in Alabama. It's a really neat place because the archetecture there is built with an eye to aestitics, but also with afordability and durability. Not all the buildings are conventionally beautiful, but a lot of them are beautiful because of the amount of work put into them. One of the projects that Rural Studios work on is models for low-income housing. You see, (as I understand it) there are grants from the goverment for low-income people to buy houses, but currently the only afforable price houses you can buy are trailer houses, which depreciatte in value (because they fall apart). Rurual studios are trying to figure out a way to build houses for less than the price of a trailer house, but that will increase in value and last for the person's lifetime. The houses are really really cool.

So, I will be posting pictures.

Well, this trip involved a lot of driving, so I got quite a bit of crocheting done (and less homework than I would have liked done because I grabbed the WRONG BOOK) , so I will post some pictures of what I got done.

And now to the last matter. Remember the sclupture I was making out of crochet? Well, my professor wants it to be in the student art show in the spring! I'm really really really excited!

That reminds me, I need to post pictures of that also. Tell you what. I'll give you another taste here, and then post the rest up with my next post.

Ta da!

So tell me, what is your opinions about museums? Take them? Leave them? Let me know.

Remember: My contest is still going on! Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

Halloween Contest

In light of October being my favorite month, I've decided to run a contest. It's a big one, but here's the twist: Each Friday I will draw from all the comments of the past week and one winner will receive a skein of my handspun. Those of you who have been reading might know that I recently got a spinning wheel, and since them I've been spinning up a storm. I've opened an Etsy shop to sell some of my handspun, but I also want to share some of it with you guys. Each week I'll also include a Halloween-themed treat, because I love Halloween.

So how do you enter? Writing a comment will get you an entry. Mentioning the contest in your blog will get you TWO entries, just make sure that in your comment you link back to your blog. Thirdly, if you make a halloween-themed object during this month, leave a link on the comments and you get TWO entires. You can comment as much as you want (if you spam my blog, that will get you disqualified), you can make as many halloween themed stuff as you want.

So, you tell me, you want to know what the prize for this first week is, eh? I don't blame you! I'll give you a hint: It's inspired by Harry Potter (who I think is very, very Halloween-ish!).

So tell me, what are you planning to do During the Month of October, as the leaves change and the air gets crisp? What things are you looking forward to?

Contest Results

I'm sorry this has taken so long to post, but things have been crazy at camp.

The results of the contest are as follows:

JCGenzie_and_co, if you could contact me and I'll send you some of my stash!

Contest!

So as I've been getting ready to go to my summer job at camp, I've been going through my stashes, trying to decide which projects I'm going to bring to camp, and what yarns. Since a large part of the first two weeks of camp has evenings free, and there is a bunch of staff training, this is one of the times that I make the most progress on my projects all year. So careful selections are in order.

Which brings me to the point of the post. I'm putting together a bag of yarns that i don't think I'll ever use. These are yarns I bought for some reason or another because I loved them- the color or the texture simply pulled me. Some are novelty yarns, some are leftovers from other porjects, and some are yarns that I've simply moved on from- they just don't appeal to me any more.

I will be frank. Some of these yarns are leftovers. Some of these yarns are in strange colors. But they are also (in my opinion) jewels.

So, after a bit of debate in my mind, I've decided to run my first contest to give away these yarns. During this month any of the comments on any of my posts will count. Then, at the end of the month I will use a random number generator to find which person will win the yarns. You are unlimited in the number of entries you can submit, as long as you leave thoughtful comments. This means that you'll get more chances the more you post on my blog!

I plan to put a photo up, once I get new batteries for my camera.

So tell me, are there any yarns you hold on to for one reason or another?