The Guiness World Record attempt
A year ago a little post popped up in my Facebook feed for an attempt at a Guiness World Record attempt at 'the most people crocheting simultaneously'.
It was to be held at a craft fair called Craft Alive in the town of Bendigo about an hour and 40 minutes north west of Melbourne. A free crochet hook for all participants and yarn supplied by Bendigo Wool Mills for the event.
Of course I was gonna go!
Fast forward to last weekend and the Divine Miss Emma and I piled into her little car on a miserable, rainy winter morning and hit the highway to Bendigo!
I didn't take any of my current projects as they are not very travel friendly. So I threw a couple of balls of hot pink yarn and a 4mm hook in my bag 'just in case'!
The temperature was freezing and the rain pelted the little black car along the way. I left my hand mitts at home so I started crocheting a new pair on the road!
The rain eased as we arrived in the postcard pretty town.
I was wearing a pair of socks I knitted last year and some cheap sparkly gumboots. Perfect for stomping through icy puddles and mud!
The Craft Alive fair pops up every month or so around NSW and Victoria. I haven't really bothered with going before as there is usually loads of stalls for quilters, scrapbookers, bead thing makers, button lovers and chandlers.
Luckily there was a few yarn sellers today with some deliciously squishy skeins. I was extremely good and only bought one ball. Yes, one!!!
I know it's another ball of sock yarn but my mind is brimming with different NON SOCK ideas for this ball!
Finally an announcement was made over the loudspeaker for all participants in the world record attempt.
We all filed into the part of the auditorium with long strips of tape on the floor and stood along strips with 50 people per line. Emma and I took folding chairs and thank Holy Oprah we did as the cold, concrete floor would have been a teensy bit hemorrhoid inducing.
A man declared lots of random Guinness record type announcements through a loud speaker, however it was kind of hard to hear him in the echoey auditorium. Emma and I kept counting rows to figure out if we were going to have enough people to break the record. We were counted, wrist-banded and recounted. We signed our name on several different clipboards. And we were counted again.
The current world record of 604 is held by the NSW town of Singleton. We were in the 2nd row, so as more rows of people gathered, it became harder to work out how many there were. But the Loud Speaker Guy kept calling for more people from the fair to come in, including exhibitors and stall holders. It didn't look good folks!
Husbands who had never crocheted were hauled in by their wives, there were kids of all ages with hook and yarn in hand and most were quite experienced! Many including ourselves brought along their own projects, some gladly used the supplied hook and yarn.
A local news crew was there walking their video camera up and down the aisles. You can view the news item on their Facie page (the side of us appeared once. The kid at the beginning of the interview is adorable!)
A photographer from the local rag The Bendigo Advertiser took photos of everyone including Emma and I who were happily seated, crocheting and under my Granny Stripe blanket which I crocheted several years ago from Attic 24s pattern.
Look at that! It's Emma and I in the feature photo!! Our 5 minutes of fame. You can read the article and view all the photos here.
Finally at the official start time of 2.30pm we were told to start crocheting! We all crocheted furiously for 15 minutes! Well, not really. It was like crocheting at home, but for a much shorter time and without Netflix.
And before we knew it we were chanting the count down for the last 10 seconds and at last everyone gave a mighty "YAYYYYYY!"
And then wandered out chatting and laughing in search of coffee or anything else warm.
But we weren't told the result! Nobody said, "Well done everybody! We had the numbers!"
We just heard murmurs of "Um, yes we have to wait and hear back from the Guiness people," which we took to mean they fell short of numbers.
Which they did. Apparently not by much but we gave it our best shot!
After a couple of hot chocolates at a local cafe, we bundled into the car for the journey home. And I kept working on my mitts. I finished one in the middle of the record attempt and finished the other mitt when we were 15 minutes from home.
Let's hope they give it another whirl next year!
Of course I was gonna go!
Fast forward to last weekend and the Divine Miss Emma and I piled into her little car on a miserable, rainy winter morning and hit the highway to Bendigo!
I didn't take any of my current projects as they are not very travel friendly. So I threw a couple of balls of hot pink yarn and a 4mm hook in my bag 'just in case'!
The rain eased as we arrived in the postcard pretty town.
I was wearing a pair of socks I knitted last year and some cheap sparkly gumboots. Perfect for stomping through icy puddles and mud!
The Craft Alive fair pops up every month or so around NSW and Victoria. I haven't really bothered with going before as there is usually loads of stalls for quilters, scrapbookers, bead thing makers, button lovers and chandlers.
I know it's another ball of sock yarn but my mind is brimming with different NON SOCK ideas for this ball!
Finally an announcement was made over the loudspeaker for all participants in the world record attempt.
We all filed into the part of the auditorium with long strips of tape on the floor and stood along strips with 50 people per line. Emma and I took folding chairs and thank Holy Oprah we did as the cold, concrete floor would have been a teensy bit hemorrhoid inducing.
A local news crew was there walking their video camera up and down the aisles. You can view the news item on their Facie page (the side of us appeared once. The kid at the beginning of the interview is adorable!)
A photographer from the local rag The Bendigo Advertiser took photos of everyone including Emma and I who were happily seated, crocheting and under my Granny Stripe blanket which I crocheted several years ago from Attic 24s pattern.
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| photo courtesy of Noni Hyett Bendigo Advertiser |
Finally at the official start time of 2.30pm we were told to start crocheting! We all crocheted furiously for 15 minutes! Well, not really. It was like crocheting at home, but for a much shorter time and without Netflix.
And then wandered out chatting and laughing in search of coffee or anything else warm.
But we weren't told the result! Nobody said, "Well done everybody! We had the numbers!"
We just heard murmurs of "Um, yes we have to wait and hear back from the Guiness people," which we took to mean they fell short of numbers.
Which they did. Apparently not by much but we gave it our best shot!
After a couple of hot chocolates at a local cafe, we bundled into the car for the journey home. And I kept working on my mitts. I finished one in the middle of the record attempt and finished the other mitt when we were 15 minutes from home.
xox
Louise
The Red Haired Amazona
WOOHOO! You gals are Famous!! ;-}
ReplyDeleteBut can't believe you guys didn't manage to break the record. They could've dragged some kids in and gotten them to do chains... My 7-yr-old great-niece loves doing those.
Then again, a FREE hook, yarn and FAME... Smart girls bringing your own chairs.
BTW, kickass footwear!!
:-D
X