Yarn event at Michaels

[thread_zealot]

anyone from NYC going to the event?

[donnalynn2]

Ok, well my DH timed me last night and I could do 90 in 3 mins which translates into about 1 DC every 2 seconds. I will say this much, when he was timing me (he did it about 3 times) I would fumble and get nervous and drop loops and such. It's gonna be hard with all the pressure. Oh well, if the fast lady in my area wins again, at least I'll know what it's like and prepare ahead for the next one!

[CrochetMonkey]

I'm nowhere near fast enough to enter the contest, but I am really excited about going to this event tomorrow! I've never been to it before, and it sounds like it should be alot of fun. Thank you for the reminder about this.

[Celestial Seasonings]

If you look really closely at her Guinness certificate at the top of her site, it looks like it says she did 5,113 stitches in 30 minutes!

[chenille4]

is there going to be some sale too, or is it just the displays and the contest?

[Becks]

I just got back from my Michael's - I won!

 

There was only one other person to compete against.

We had to chain 23 and then start a row of 20 double crochet.

 

Then she timed us for 3 minutes I think. (I was so nervous! Competition is not for the faint-hearted! ).

 

I did about 3 more than her in the end. (But I don't know how many I did. I was so nervous I thought the lady running it had said the other lady won and so I was in the process of unwinding mine when she asked my name and handed me the basket. I'm such an airhead! ). It was about two rows and a half. That would be 60 ish then, right? Man, that sounds terribly slow.

 

I won:

* A gift basket with a 6 set of Susan Bates aluminum crochet hooks. (I use Boye so it will be interesting to try these).

* A pair of 3 1/2" folding scissors (Wow. I never had this before)

* A Leisure Arts Spring Garden Baby Afghans booklet wuth 4 patterns in it. (My two neices are both due this year so I'll get to try these out too.)

* 6 skeins of 3 oz. Lion brand Jiffy yarn (3 in Light Pink and 3 in Kitty Hawk which is like a blue-green color).

 

Pretty nice.

 

I watched the knitting contest. There were only 3 of them.

It is a rainy cold day so maybe that kept people from coming.

If anyone would just show up, there's a great chance of winning the thing.

[auntbubbels]

Congratulations to you - I know what you mean about being nervous - I would have forgotten how to crochet!!! Nice basket of gifts - enjoy them

[happytee40]

That's great, how long have you been crocheting? Does Michaels have these events? Theresa

[Yarnmistress]

Just got back from our Michael's event and I won the crochet event.

 

We had to ch 20 and then do as many sc as we could in 3 minutes. I did 4 rows and beat the only other lady who did the event with me.

 

I won a basket filled with 2 skeins of modea cahet yarn, 1 skein of Lions Brand jiffy, an afghan crochet book, a clover hook (J) and a Q hook, a hook holder and some little things that I am not sure what they are.... hook knobs or something odd.

 

I also won the drawing for a nifty knitter.

 

 

The lady who came in second won 5 skeins of any yarn her choice.

[donnalynn2]

WOW! Congrats on winning!

 

I just came back from there and I lost... But only by like 3 stitches. I did 3 rows of 20 DC each and then 5 stitches on the 4th row.

 

We, too, had 3 mins but we had to use the Boye size N hooks! Honestly, if not for having to use a monster hook I would have easily won.

 

Although the prizes weren't what I was expecting. The fastest knitter got the Ency of Knitting and the fastest crocheter got the Ency of Crochet. I would love to have this book but it isn't as exciting as a gift basket!

 

There were a total of 6 of us and the other 4 ladies had only finished 1 row and then there was the lady that beat me.

 

Oh well, we'll try next time.

 

P.S. My Michaels FINALLY got some 100% wool yarn in! They only have one row. I believe it's Paton's 100 Merino wool for $5.99 a skein. I didn't buy any but may sometime this week.

 

I'm anxious to find out if everyone else had to use those monster hooks as well...

[Yarnmistress]

We used a baby bernat yarn and a J hook (bates)

[donnalynn2]

We used a baby bernat yarn and a J hook (bates)

 

Oh man, I'm jealous! I would have done so much better with that! We used regular old WW Red Heart and those huge hooks. Worst part was that they held ours right in the store when you walk in (not in the classroom) so there were crowds all around bumping into us. (We were sitting right in front of the doors when you walk in.)

 

I really didn't like the way my Michael's contest worked. Oh well, I'll give it a go next time!

 

I am so happy that some of my C'Ville friends had a great time at their local Michaels.

[xmaystarx]

Well I was pretty disappointed with my Michaels. They said they weren't sure if they were going to have the contest and if they did the prize would be one free class. The last time they had it I won (at a different store) and got a gift basket as well. So I guess they never ended up doing it because while browsing I never heard any announcement.

 

But....in better news, this store I was at was apparently doing some majoy inventory overhaul and had lots of 90% off things. I got: 11 balls of moda dea aerie in ecru, 6 skeins of patons divine in some bright orange color, 3 skeins of homespun in a blue color, and 6 packs of notecards....all for a grand total of....only $11!!!! How amazing is that! I had to hold myself back from buying all the yarn, those were the only ones on clearance besides some odd ball of thread. woohoo! Oooh forgot to add I got a pattern book for winnie the pooh and friends stuffed animals too!

[Becks]

We used Red Heart yarn and size J hooks.

It was at the front of the store where everybody walks in and, you're right, that was very distracting.

 

I like how one of you said the runner-up also received something. I think that was very nice. (Or they should at least get to keep their hooks! That would seem like a nice, and inexpensive, gesture.)

 

We went after the knitting contest so my yarn was all wound around the skein and so I had to pull up on it to release the yarn and let the skein spin on the floor in order to keep feeding the yarn up to my knitting.

 

xmaystarx, I bought that Winnie-the-Pooh and friends crochet book at Walmart on clearance and, one of these days, plan to make them. Eeore has always been my favorite; but he looks the hardest to make,

[Yarnmistress]

They also had ours right at the front of the store. I swear people were all sorts of grumpy today. The lady who won the knitting contest and I had our picture taken as well.

 

btw, does anyone here know of a place to get patterns online for those knifty knitter kits? I won one through a drawing adn the lady who was at the table showing how to use them said there really weren't any nifty knitter loom books....to try online.

[donnalynn2]

You know what I thought was really dumb? The lady running the contest takes all these crochet hooks and knitting needles out of their wrappers and we use them, then we had to be sure to give them back because she had to reseal the wrappers and re-sell the hooks as new! I mean, how cheap is that?

 

Yes, the yarn was a big issue with me. They took a couple skeins of red heart and instead of having us use the pull skeins they wound them into balls which was a fight the whole time. At one point I lost a good 5-7 seconds just trying to untangle my yarn.

 

Oh well... Considering that I used to work there and only have 2 employees with whom I'm friends with it was as pleasant as possible. Because I used to work there, everyone else feels like they don't have to wait on me or be nice to me because they don't consider me a "customer." I brought in some yarn to exchange today and (no joke) I stood at the cust service desk for over 10 mins waiting for the FES to come up there and exchange the yarn for me. It took me grabbing Judy (one of the ladies I'm friends with) and asking her to get me some help. Finally the FES came up and got all huffy with me because she was in "the bathroom" and that this wasn't any reason to call her up front... I'm kinda glad I didn't get a job at Hobby Lobby. I think I'd rather just be a customer than a previous co-worker...

 

Hopefully the next time another yarn event comes around, we will have moved and I'll be able to go into a Michaels again without everyone knowing me...

[donnalynn2]

They also had ours right at the front of the store. I swear people were all sorts of grumpy today. The lady who won the knitting contest and I had our picture taken as well.

 

btw, does anyone here know of a place to get patterns online for those knifty knitter kits? I won one through a drawing adn the lady who was at the table showing how to use them said there really weren't any nifty knitter loom books....to try online.

 

I haven't had any luck finding any of these patterns on line but they DO sell booklets for the Knifty Knitter. There are 2 different ones. They each sell for 99cents and they sell them at Michaels and Rag Shop. I have never seen them at Jo-Anns. My Michaels has them on the end cap by the yarns.

[Natasha]

I did not enter the crochet contest, because there were about seven other women entering. The Michael's lady said that they were going to do the contest a little differently because there were so many entrants.

 

There was one Boye K hook and one skein of yarn (RH or Caron). The employee did the chain and a base row of 20 dc. Then, she timed the first lady for two minutes...how many ever dc she could do on that base. The stitches were noted, then the second lady picked up where the first ended, and they just counted from there. No frogging or anything.

 

Does that seem kinda wonky to anyone else? I mean, everyone's sitting there watching *you* crochet. I was under the impression that each person got a skein and a hook and competed at the same time. It sure did take a long time for them to pass the hook, so to speak. I went and did some shopping during the contest...saw the beginning and saw the end. Anyway, the winner did 31 dc in two minutes. I'm gonna have hubby time me later tonight, just for giggles.

 

Only one lady showed up for the knitting contest.

 

I was a little disappointed in the whole thing. The employees were so totally bored, it seemed. It might've been more fun if they'd acted like they were having fun, too. No great yarn bargains at my store.

[Yarnmistress]

Yeah, I do not think they organized the event very well. In the back of the store they had two tables set up. One had a bunch of blankets for project linus and another was a kids crafts table. There were no sales on anything in the store during the event and from what I saw, most people were buying scrapbooking stuff.

 

They had a lady at the front sitting at a sort of podium making things on the knifty knitter loom, but there were lots of woman crowded around her asking lots of questions. She was making a poncho and also had some bags on display that she made.

[deneen]

I lost, but my Michaels had 17 competitors and yes, Boye hooks (I use Bates) and I even brought my own and couldn't use it. That and Red Heart yarn. It was timed for 3 minutes and the DC rows, Of course, you sat in folding chairs (which most of us don't crochet in) and there were mobs of people around, very distracting. I have to tell you, the lady who won was amazing! She was like two rows ahead of everyone else, I never saw anyone crochet that fast.

 

Now for the knit, only two people competed!

[mimi_mia]

I won at my Michaels, we had to cast on 60 st, I was the fastest and I didn't even finish the row I did 56dc in the 3 minutes.......the thing that got to me was how nervous I was, my hands were shaking, I was competing with 2 others, but being watched by quite a few. I won 2 balls of Moda Dea and a 3 pk of Boye hooks H, I, J and a spool knitter. We were using RH yarn and size J hooks.

[KellyA]

I too won at my Michaels. All they had were metal crochet hooks, I had to beg for a lucite one...She came through with flying colors:hug

Sat down and had at it...Talk most of the time until the announcer said I was 1/2 way through my time. Then I kicked it into gear and ended up with 59 stitches:clap

Won 4 skeins of yarn...will go to charity projects on my list.

--DH wanted to know "how I could walk into Michaels with a question about circular knitting needles and win a crocheting contest? I guess this was only meant to be

[donnalynn2]

I too won at my Michaels. All they had were metal crochet hooks, I had to beg for a lucite one...She came through with flying colors:hug

Sat down and had at it...Talk most of the time until the announcer said I was 1/2 way through my time. Then I kicked it into gear and ended up with 59 stitches:clap

Won 4 skeins of yarn...will go to charity projects on my list.

--DH wanted to know "how I could walk into Michaels with a question about circular knitting needles and win a crocheting contest? I guess this was only meant to be

 

Woo Hoo! Congrats!!

 

Did anybody's local Michaels store actually have the "stitching" party? I noticed on the flyer and the website they said that you could all join together squares for charity.

 

The woman who won at my store asked and the employee said "you can work on em if you want to but we really aren't doing that here. people keep bringing us squares and i just don't have the time to bother."

 

Uh, hello! They solicited on their website and flyers for squares for charity and then when people want to volunteer to help you get brushed off? I was really glad I didn't bring a bunch of squares I wanted to donate myself. I think I'll just join them and send them to a deserving charity in my area...

[threeolivemartini]

our michaels event was nice.. it was at the front of the store.. and believe it or not NO knitters to be found.. how funny .. and only two of us in the crochet contest..

we could choose boye or bates.. or even a crystallite .. they had a whole set of each .. what ever size and could use simply soft or red heart.. i had simply soft and a boye hook.. i lost by 2 stitches.. but it was fun .. and you know the prize was a whole basket of fun fur.. so the winner was more than happy to have it and i was more than happy to lose it.. and had i won i would have given it to her cause that is just something i don t use much and the colours.. well .. lets just say nothing in that basket i would have taken a second look at if they were giving it away .. so..

every one was nice .. and i was asked if i knit or crocheted.. and said i did both .. the winner said she wanted to learn to knit but it didnt make sense to her .. so i showed her continental and sent her to knittinghelp.com .. she was nice.. and said that way i showed her made way more sense than the english method.. it was fun.. then after i went to lunch at Panera bread.. got an ice cream treat at Cold Stone Creamery .. and did some shopping at PetsMart and Bed Bath and Beyond.. it was a good day .. even though i am a loser LOL

[Amy]

I won again at my Michael's this afternoon with 64 stitches! There were 4 other entrants. The next closest lady had 59 stitches. I got a huge basket filled with a bunch of Caron yarn, enough to make a stained glass type of afghan, a Crochet! magazine (which I already have since I'm a CGOA member), another set of H, I, and J hooks, 3 skeins of Glitterspun, and 2 skeins of something else with the labels removed. (I think these are things they're clearancing out and don't want anybody to return!)

 

They didn't have the party with people joining squares, although they did ask us to contribute and bring in 7x9 squares whenever we can. They do join them together. Last time, they donated the blankets to Hurricane Katrina victims, this time they're going to donate to Hope Place, a local battered women's shelter.

 

I posted a pic with all the goodies on my blog. Here's the link to the specific entry: http://catsinmycraftbasket.blogspot.com/2006/01/still-fastest-crocheter-in-huntsville.html

 

However, I've added a couple other posts today, so if you want to see them, you may just want to follow the link in my signature.