If you have ever given thought to entering local events that judge crochet, but have just not been game enough to go ahead, I say re-think this, as entering show, events etc can be a positive thing.
Sure I have had a few unpleasant experiences. Take the larger show that miss labelled my king size afghan and then decided to sell it for approximately half of what it was worth. And if that wasn't bad enough, try adding the fact that the Afghan they sold, was not actually for sale. I almost got into a tug of war with the supposed new owners of my Afghan, on trying to retreive it. But this is hopefully an isolated incident!!!
A few years back I stumbled across an advertisment for local upcoming show. It had a schedule of events, with sections that could be entered for Arts and Crafts. I thought about this for a good while, wondering if any of my crochet could possibly be good enough to enter.
I decided to take the plunge and enter. I spent a bit of time figuring out how to fill out the forms and where to drop my crochet beauties off etc. Then I waited for the big day to come. Finding I had won a couple of prizes was a huge buzz.
I have been entering the local shows ever since. Sometimes I do well, sometimes not as well. It can all be a little cloak and dagger. You find yourself stalking posts in local crochet groups as to who is entering what, and trying to size up the competition to see if what they have produced might be better. Doing this, is of course a complete waste of time, as you really never can tell what a judge will decide to really like, or perhaps not like.
Over the past few years I have gained quite a few ribbons for my efforts and a couple of times even taken out Best in Show and runner up to Grand Champion. I received lovely big sashes for those effort.
I had the pleasure of dropping a few items off this morning, to the final show of the year in my area. It is a small show, and drop off is in a small hall in a rural community. I parked the car outside and could hear the ladies calling out to me as I grabbed my crochet from the back of the car. The excitement in their voices, with the prospect of someone bringing interesting goodies was evident and they showed it with a ton of enthusiasm.
They remembered me from last year and began going through my entries, oohing and ahhhing, over each and every one. They especially liked my Technicolour Yawn vest and my Leadlight Afghan.
One lady suggested I try my vest on to show them, and do a modelling session. I smiled and told her that they were all welcome to try it on, and model it themselves. I drove away wondering if they were now all giggling and strutting around in my Technicolour Yawn Vest.
I will now have to wait and see if I am lucky enough to win something. Regardless, it brightened my day to see how excited these women were over what they were doing. I even had one of the ladies, reach for a crochet blanket she was working on, to ask advice on how to join squares and avoid that ridge you can get when joining using a Single Crochet method.
All in all it was a pleasant experience.
Some Pluses for Freeform:Uses up a heap of leftover yarn.If you made a mistake, it never happened.You don't have to count your stitches, as it really doesn't matter.If you are a beginner at crochet. You can just call your work Freeform and dare anyone to say it isn't right.You end up with a piece of work that is totally original to you.If you run out of a colour of yarn, it doesn't matter.You don't have to check gauge.
The cynic in me thinks they do it on purpose. It's someones idea of a cruel joke. Whoever thought the colour choices up are probably a frustrated Hooker, cackling in glee that they made me frog another project.What I am currently working on, happens to be made from 
