Oprah, David Letterman, What the???

[ChicagoHooker]

http://www.nicrochet.com/oprah/index.html

 

I just saw this. Isn't this a little strange - and kinda stalker-ish?

 

I mean, once or twice I could see, but three years?

[Jamie]

She probably just donates the scarves to a charity, but yeah, that is more than a little weird!

[Empress Busy Bee]

I don't really see anything wrong with it.

People complain because of the bad rep that knitting shows, air freshener and Radio Shack commercials give crocheting. Even crochet books and magazines say "it's not your grandmother's crochet".

So when someone is trying to raise awareness and do something good for the crochet world, that's bad too.

[MomToLabs]

Hmmmm... I wouldn't say it's "bad" or "wrong" but it does seem a bit odd to me.

 

I guess I don't think of crochet as something that really needs to be promoted, but I may be in the minority. It's sort of like saying that David Letterman and Oprah need to be more aware of cross stitch or woodworking.

 

Does it really matter if they're aware of it? Maybe I'm missing the point here!

 

Susan

[Empress Busy Bee]

Honestly I don't think it does either.

[Mermaiden]

Yeah, it's not that there's anything *wrong* per se with it, just that it's kinda odd. I guess it would make sense though, if that person or the organization as a whole really wanted a celebrity with big $ to be donating money to that charity for some specific reason, and that's just the best hook/angle they have to get some attention for the cause. Still, one of those things that make you go "Hmm."

[L-A]

It seems odd to me, too. At first I thought the idea was to get Oprah to do a bit about crochet on her show. And I guess I'm out of the loop on the Oprah/Dave Letterman connection. I would be interested to know if the scarfs have made any money for the Angel Network!

[thecrochetdude]

I've heard through the grapevine that Oprah isn't a big fan of the crochet. I think they are trying to help her become one.

 

That being said, she has worn crochet on her show more than once.

 

I'm sure everything they send is going to charity so I say "more power to them"!

 

[Aggie May]

If I was Oprah, I would politely tell these people where to go.

This is the exact opposite way to get her attention.

I HATE onions and no matter what anyone did, I would NOT like onions.

I guess Oprah is a good target for crackpots.

Leave her alone, she does a great job helping others so she should not be used in this way.

Sometimes we just need to accept that the whole world does not LOVE what we LOVE.

Have fun.

Colleen.

[Empress Busy Bee]

It doesn't matter if she likes it or not. It's not about that. I'm pretty sure they're trying to get Oprah to crochet. I don't see how it's using her or how they're crackpots.

How many people on here crochet for charity? Maybe that's their goal, get that awareness of crocheted charity out there. She gets companys to give things away all the time. How hard would it be for her to get, even if she bought them herself, these kits and gave them to the audience:

 

http://www.joann.com/catalog.jhtml?CATID=24955&PRODID=71923

 

Not hard at all and she'd be killing two birds with one stone; the good crochet does and breast cancer awareness.

That's just one idea.

[zazzu]

Sometimes we just need to accept that the whole world does not LOVE what we LOVE.

I agree. The absolute worst way to get me to do/love/believe anything is to push it on me. Maybe that's how Oprah feels.

 

Yes, this organization is within its rights to keep sending Oprah the crocheted items. Oprah is also fully w/in her rights to refuse to respond.

 

Obviously, it isn't effective, since they've been sending Oprah a scarf every week for three years. I think that I'd have gotten the hint by now

 

But, hey, if that's what they wanna do....fine. As long as it doesn't escalate to harassment.

[Shell]

I think my best friend would disown me completely if I sent her something every week with a "must learn to crochet all by yourself" note, and she loves me to bits. This is just..? Ok.. no coment from me about it. Each to their own I guess

[Aggie May]

Sorry Empress, I did not really mean to infer that the people doing the crochet were Crackpots, just that Oprah must get a lot of stuff from Crackpots.

(People who crochet could never be called crackpots.)

To be safe, Oprah probably has someone else to open her mail so maybe she does not even see what the ladies send her.

Lets hope it all ends up in a good home.

Have fun.

Colleen.

[blackpurl]

it was hard to tell from the website if it is still going on. the dates on that page were 2003.

[Michelle1210]

I love to crochet, but i always hated my mom's crochet projects, everything was granny squares, and to this day i despise granny squares, infact I didnt crochet for years......my mom did not have a sense of balance in her colors...So I think oprah may have the mentality of garage sale 70's stuck in the rut crochet, but crochet has come along way and is very beautiful and i have learned to appreciate my moms stuff......well sort of lol just dont tell my mom * wink*

[tygger428]

It is kind of odd to send them for so long. How about instead of "scarf bombing" her, contact the show as all prospective guests do and bring attention to crochet by coming on the show and demonstrating it in person. More than likely, the staff sees the scarves and probably hands the box over to Goodwill, a womens shelter or whatever. Oprah might not even be aware of the scarves showing up in the mail. Oprah is a busy lady and gets a ton of mail, I am sure she has hired staff go through it for her.

 

Plus, I'm not sure David Letterman is the best person to convince Oprah of anything, I think they had a major misunderstanding of some sort recently. As I don't watch either show, not sure if they have "made nice" with each other yet.

[Sue89]

Oh, my goodness. This is hilarious. There's no way on earth these people were going to be taken seriously. Did y'all read the letters? I especially enjoyed the one to Letterman where she says Oprah has yet to thank them for the scarves.

 

It would be one thing if they had a charity they were trying to promote, but to use Oprah's charity to try to get her to promote crochet was not the way to get a spot on her show. What kind of incentive is it to say they'll auction off the scarf she makes and give the money to her charity? She can give loads of money to her charity as it is, and not have to spend time learning to crochet a scarf. Hey, Oprah. If you promote pot-bellied pigs by taking care of one for a day, we'll let you sign him and auction him off for your Angel Network. In the meantime, we'll send you a lovely porcelain pig every day until we hear from you.

 

This reminds me of when Martha Stewart was trying to get David Letterman to do her Valentine's Day show, and she sent him a fancy cake every day for a week. He gave the cakes a mention on the show, but in a joking "I'm being stalked" kind of way, and he declined coming on her show.

 

They would've done better to crochet a lot of scarves and/or blankets for local shelters and then invite Oprah to do a story on it to show the viewers how to go about doing this in their hometowns.

[Empress Busy Bee]

What kind of incentive is it to say they'll auction off the scarf she makes and give the money to her charity? She can give loads of money to her charity as it is, and not have to spend time learning to crochet a scarf.

I think it's excellent incentive, actually. Yes celebrities can write checks and never think about the charity again. Or they can be involved and keep it moving and keep it in the news. Or in some cases help out charities that are run by or sponsered by someone famous.

Case in point Celebrity Scarves 2: Hollywood Knits for Breast Cancer Research. It's Celebrities who knitted the scarfs themselvs. A portion of the book sales go to the Avon foundation.

Ever hear about the bra auctions? It's where celeberities adorn and/or alter bras for eBay auction again with the money going to breast cancer research. There are tons of examples like these.

Non celebs like us pay big bucks for things like that so it's wonderful the money goes to something worthy rather than making rich people richer.

[tlisley]

I think the whole thing is kind of funny... I have to agree with zazzu however in that, whatever the original intent, it hasn't been effective in the least. Did y'all see the show where she had Bon Jovi on? He donated a million dollars to the Katrina project, the people who were given the houses were priceless, and so was he. I think Oprah probably has "bigger" guns to keep interest alive in her Angel network.

HOWEVER, I agree with the thought that there is a lot to be said and a lot that is done by the generosity of folks like those right here (and around the globe) who craft for charity. If we did some kind of tally on donations just here from the 'ville, I think we'd all be awed at the amount of "good" we've done for people who needed it. This is an awesome community!

 

I think creative people as a whole are just a wee bit "eccentric" in most instances. It's what sparks the originality and desire to create in each of us. We have to have that extra something to get to the place where we say "I wonder if I can make this work..." LOL.

 

Love this place !*sniff, sniff*

[mva5493]

Just my opinion, but I know if someone was trying to get me to do something by bombarding me with things I have shown no interest in, I would Run the other way. (like email for at home internet business, or telemarketers) I would think getting more interest in crochet would better be accomplished by sending a show topic idea about the linus project, or warm up america, or caps to the capital. And I am sure there are many more those are just the ones that come to mind right now. I would think that a story on the kindness of others would get her attention better.

 

Just my opinion,

Valerie

[gaylefrancisdesigns]

It seems like if their goal was to get attention to crochet, they'd send the items to someone who would use it as part of her/his show. I can't really see crochet work its way onto Oprah's show except, perhaps, as a quick segment about people who make items for charity or something similar. All that time and attention could be put into sending a scarf a week to charity or getting gifts done for every member of an extended family.

 

Gayle

[Ladycrochat]

If Oprah is not interested, then there ARE other Celebrities who DO Crochet who might be... LIke Vanna White , Madonna or Martha Stewart! If After 3 years there has not been anything done about these scarves I say try a different Celebrity or maybe the people could just raffle the scarves off and then send the money to Oprah for her Angel Network....specifically stating that the money was raised from charity crochet....that might get her attention!

[Ixa]

It seems like a very poor marketing tactic in my opinion. Their efforts could be used much more wisely.

[craftybutterfly]

That being said, she has worn crochet on her show more than once.

 

I'm sure everything they send is going to charity so I say "more power to them"!

 

 

 

[ChicagoHooker]

If Oprah is not interested, then there ARE other Celebrities who DO Crochet who might be... LIke Vanna White , Madonna or Martha Stewart!

 

Madonna crochets?!! Really?

 

How cool!

 

How come I didn't know that?