Casey's Crochet

On Wednesday I went to The Big E with my family.  The Big E is held in West Springfield, Mass.  It's a very big fair and lasts for three weeks!   Wednesday was Connecticut day, and they said 65,222 people attended that day! 

We arrived early in the morning and helped set up the booth.  The booth was in the New England State building.  People who go to the fair often know this building better as the Cream Puff building!  We were there with other members of the crochet club my mom and I are a member of.

When I wasn't in the booth crocheting another friendship bracelet with my Jelly Yarn, I was out roaming the fair grounds with my brother and my dad.  At one point we were just feet away from standing next to our Governor, Governor M. Jodi Rell.

Mom said that while I was doing that she met two 9-year old identical twins at our booth.  She said they were identical in nearly every way except one and asked me to guess.  I was surprised to learn that one crocheted right handed and the other left handed.  Mom said they said they learned how to crochet from each other "mirror" style.  Mom gave them my website address; I hope they visit and maybe write to me.

It was a fun time at the Fair.  We will be back next weekend to pick up our entries.  Oh, and my American Girl Doll hat won another Blue Ribbon! 

------------------------------------------

Mom found a teenage knitter on the Ravelry site that blogs about her projects.  I read some of her blog entries; she is lucky, she has an after-school knit club.  Mom said she's looking into bringing back our crochet/knit club at our school, but is looking for a yarn sponsor first.  Oh, that teenage girl who knits, her blog can be found here: http://teenknittergirl.blogspot.com

School started this month.  Lots of homework. (groan)  

Mom asked me if I would be interested in helping moderate an online group for kids who crochet. Me? Moderate? What does that mean?  Mom said the details about the group are being worked out.  She did say I would have fun.  I like fun.  (lol)

I also like learning about other kids who crochet and knit.  This is Heather.  She's 6 1/2 years old and already knows how to do single crochet stitches!  Her mom is a designer friend of my mom's. 

This is her webpage: http://jaybirddesigns.blogspot.com/

Heather's mom says she "... knows the stitches and where to insert the hook and how to hold the yarn. She just needs to practice more to get them rhythm of it. "

I really like how her bracelet came out! I think she did a great job crocheting it! 

I first learned how to do macrame a few years ago when I got a kit a  I like macrame because you can make the knots anywhere.  Usually I use embroidery floss to make friendship bracelets with my friends.

Earlier this week I surprised my mom by giving her a key fob I made using a simple macrame knot and Jelly Yarn.  She liked it a lot.  So did I, so this morning I finished making this choker for myself.  Mom said she'll look around for a black light bulb she thinks we have in stock because it should glow.

We spent the entire afternoon at the Bridgewater Fair.  It was hot, humid, and very, very muddy!  Crowded too!  That is because we had so much rain on Friday and Saturday that most people decided to go today.  If you weren't careful where you stepped you could lose your shoes in several inches of mucky mud!  I didn't mind; I was having fun!

One of the rides my brother and I went on was a bungie jump.  You take your shoes off and stand on a mini trampoline.  Then the workers put a harness on you that is attached to some super "rubber bands" (I'm not sure what they're really called).  The machine then tightens the rubber bands and you can jump really high, and even do flips!  That was so much fun!

We ate so much food too!  Pineapples on a stick, fried dough, roast beef sandwiches, baked potatoes, corn, sno cones, and ice cream too!  Yum! 

.

I even won three Blue Ribbons for my crochet!  I won a Blue Ribbon for the tie I designed for my Dad, a backpack for my American Girl Doll, and for the hat I used Jelly Yarn to crochet it with.  When I saw the lady in charge she said my ribbons also came with a check.  I got $15.00!!  She said I could use it to buy more yarn stash.  

Three blog enties in 3 days! Crazy!  I seem to be blogging more than my mom! 

Yesterday I went with my mom to the morning session of "Coffee, Crochet & Chat."  My brother and I brought with us our Jelly Yarn so we could have something to do while mom chatted with the grown-ups.  One of the ladies attending brought her two daughters that we go to school with.  They worked on their crochet projects while I worked on another Friendship Bracelet.

One of the ladies there, Kathy, asked my brother to show her how to finger weave.  She said he made an excellent teacher and then introduced him to the guy who runs a local YMCA craft program.  Kathy said it would be neat to have a program called something like, "Kids teaching Kids Crafts," and the guy thought it was a good idea too.  

Later this afternoon my mom and I will be going to the Bridgewater Fairgrounds to drop off some of her crochet items for judging.  I will be entering a few things too.  Wish us luck.

Mom promised me a "girls day out" with one of my friends.  I cashed in her promise yesterday.  I called Mini~Lois and asked if she wanted to go to the mall with me.  She said yes.  I told her to bring a metal crochet hook.  She sounded confused when I asked her that.  Mom laughed.  She knew what I was up to.

When we picked Mini~Lois up from her house she held up her crochet hook and asked, "Will this do?"  I nodded.  I reached into my Caron bag I got from the Conference in Buffalo and pulled out several different colored balls of Jelly Yarn.  Mini~Lois had never seen plastic yarn before and was a little shocked, "what IS that?" she asked.  "Jelly Yarn," I replied.  "It's cool to crochet with."

On the way to the mall I showed her how to crochet onto the ring.  She already new how to make the single crochet so I didn't need to explain that.  We did talk about how many rows she might want to make.  By the time we got to the mall our Friendship Bracelets were more than half done.

We had a lot of fun at the mall.  Mom kept looking at stuff that was crocheted (I think Mini~Lois might think my mom is obsessed with crochet! No surprise there on my part. LOL).  We tried on funny glasses, glamour dresses, had lunch, and shopped for nail polish. It was great getting to spend time with my friend like this.

On the way home we worked on our Friendship Bracelets.  By the time we reached Mini~Lois' house, we were done.  She made hers out of silver; I used blue.  We might wear them on our first day back to school. 

My mom was one of the teachers at the recent CGOA Conference.  The conference was held in Buffalo, New York.  It was a very long ride there and back.  For the ride Mom always packs a "mystery box" or "mystery bag" for my brother and me.  We get to go into the bag every so often to discover something to read or do.  One of the things she packed was a kit to make a leather wallet; that was fun.

While we were at Buffalo we got to go to Niagara Falls.  It was so much fun to stand there and let the water spray you!  The boat ride on the Maid of the Mist was fun too.  The next day we went on the "Great Sock Hunt" for our friend Margaret; we bought a lot of socks because dad couldn't decide which ones would be best for what she wanted them for.  Hunting for socks turned out to be a great way to explore the city of Buffalo.

A few days later my friend, well known as Little Loopy, joined us.  We met at the conference a few years ago and always look forward to spending time together.  Her mom is really famous (she wrote the book, "Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot.  I'm sort of mentioned in the chapter about her daughter getting hooked on crochet).  We have fun hanging out together and she joined me, my brother and my dad when we visited the local marina.  We also went back to Niagara Falls and explored the area there a little more.

Saturday was a busy day for us.  We got to attend the "Yarny Fun for Kids" in the morning.  It was a free event and we got to meet some other kids there.  Kathleen, the owner of Jelly Yarns was really nice.  Drew the Crochet Dude was there too; he's so funny.  We got to make bracelets and do a ring toss.

On Saturday night all three of us were in the Fashion Show.  My brother modeled a vest mom crocheted to look like knit, and I modeled a pretty beaded necklace and a sequined thread bag.  My friend modeled leg warmers & a bag she designed.  Although not in the show, I think my dad looked nice wearing the special tie he asked me to crochet for him.

Since my mom was not teaching on Sunday we took her to the Erie Canal for a cruise.  It was really cool to watch how they make the boat go up and down in the canal.  That night when we returned to the hotel we made a lot of jelly bracelets.  We gave many of them away to our friends that night.

I had a good time at the conference and have only one complaint:  I'm hooked on crocheting bracelets with jelly yarn!    hahahahah

PS: I was interviewed for an upcoming podcast for Lion Brand.  I think they said it will air around August 17th.

I like to create what pops in my head and let my crochet hook loop its way around until my project is done.  Mom says I like to doodle with yarn.  I guess she's right.

I wanted to earn some money this summer.  Mom said maybe I could think about selling the pattern to my Communion Rosary.  She said that a lot of people have requested it since reading about it on her blog.  My only problem is that I don't know how to write patterns.  Fortunately for me, she knows how!

We first offered the pattern on her website.  Mom said the feedback has been really great, so now we opened my own "webstore."  I hope to add more stuff there in the future.

I told my mom I wasn't interested in crocheting anymore.  She seemed sad to hear that.  It isn't that I'm not interested, it's just that I've been really busy.  Sixth grade has me doing a lot of projects and reports.  But I wasn't truthful to my mom.  I shouldn't have said I wasn't interested in crochet anymore; I should have said I've been too busy.

Last week I found some time.  So I took out some jelly yarn (jelly yarn is yarn made of plastic) and I began crocheting.  First I used black jelly yarn and created a little bump, then I added the gold and started crocheting around it to make a circle.  Before I knew it I had a hat for my American Girl doll.

I showed the hat to my mom, she was happy.  So was I.  I missed crocheting!

I was telling Mom how I would rather crochet or knit than do homework.  She thinks a lot of kids would agree with me.  Check these stores out:

They are at the CafePress website (www.cafepress.com/cronohomework and www.cafepress.com/knitnohomework)   Deciding which one to choose is almost as hard as my homework!