Elevate the Arts yarnbomb

#@%*!ing technology!!!

I lost all my pics of my big ol' yarnbomb that I made for the elevate the arts event.  Dang.

But, I did have this one that I'd uploaded to facebook, and one is always better than none. 

I guess that just means I get to make more - and take pictures with an oldfashioned camera - imagine calling a digital camera old fashioned!

I love that small tags can add a burst of colour or beauty to an area without a lot of fuss or time/work.  I found a couple of pics of some little tags I did a year ago at the college on TricksyKnitter's website.
The pics were taken by friends of Megan Goodacre's, and I'm so grateful to have come across them on the web.  Love that orange.

and my favourite squares of the day

I'm working away at a big bomb for an event here in Courtenay - I promised myself I'd take pictures this time!  We'll have to wait and see.....

Testing blogger app

My fave teapot cozy - I'm felting away these days, but won't forget to bomb something soon.

Tag view of ocean

A breezy, cold day here on the weekend.  We went for a walk at the beach at Oyster River to catch as much of the sunshine as possible.  Fingers were definintely feeling frozen by the time we made our way home to a hot fire and tea kettle.

There were Canadian geese and swans aplenty, honking and cronking away.  The kid wore her gumboots so she could go walking in the water (crazy in this temperature!) and found some interestingly twisted roots and branches to bring home.

As we were leaving the beach and heading back through the forest to the car, the sun was sinking below the mountains on the mainland, and the snow capped peaks were shining. 

Went home and watched The Tempest, with Helen Mirren as Prospera...loved it. 

Tea Cup Cozy

Felted instead of crocheted, but still cozy.  Am hoping for an increased insulation effect, but I'll be satsified with the extra coziness either way.

Nostoi - Returning Home from Greece

I have spent the last month in Greece, travelling with the local college to visit various ancient sites. We visited islands in the Cyclades as well as Crete and the mainland.  I took yarn and hooks with me, as well as a "clew" I had spun as part of a project for the classes involved with the trip (Anthropology, Literature, History.)

The theme of the trip was the myth of Theseus and the Mintoaur, in which Ariadne gives Theseus a ball of yarn - a clew - to help him find his way back out of the labyrinth.  I spun a clew of my own and took it with me to use as a means of finding my way back to the places we went, once I was home and working on memory alone.

I left the first piece on our gate, a link to home as I travelled off with a group of fellow students and instructors, 29 of us in all.

I did create a few yarnbombs, and in other places I merely left a sliver of clue draped on a tree or wrapped around a pole.  This was more about creating concrete anchors for my memories than making yarn bombs for others to find and enjoy.

Mouse Woman of the Spirit of Haida Gwai; The Jade Canoe in the Vancouver International Departures Terminal, with a sliver of clue threaded through her fingers.

Airports aren't particularly friendly places.  Hives of activity that is seen or unseen, with thousands of people a day passing through on their way to somewhere more enticing, they are santitized and scoured constantly to remove traces of those who've gone before.  I left another sliver of clew around a small table in the Heathrow Airport's massive Terminal 5 as we waited for our flight to Athens.

One of my favourite times during the trip was spent on this bench in Nafplion, on the island of Naxos.  There were fishermen mending nets on their boats, sitting in the shade of their canopies.  Grandmothers called to children, other tourists wandered by, but I sat and enjoyed the shift from evening to sunset, looking out at the water.

While I sat there contemplating I hooked up a small tag for one of the rails, and then threaded a bit of my clue around the rail.

Other places I picked up beautiful smooth stones from the beach.  This stone is perfectly smooth, from a beach on the southern coast of Crete.  It is one of the few I made and left as markers around the little village of Piskopiano, where we stayed for a few days.

I made a few and gave them to fellow students.  I left one at a family restaurant where I ate yummy food cooked by the women in the hot kitchen while the men brought wine and bread and cheese and more wine.

This one maybe I wish I had kept....but always on my mind was the 40lbs restriction for luggage weight.  I did bring home a few rocks, and just had to be choosy. 

I'm fond of hanging tags in trees and was surprised to find a big stone hanging in a tree in a yard in Skyros Town.  The guide explained that it was an ancient type of anchor, and could be as old as 1,000 years, or more. 

 I found a smaller rock with a little hole in it on a beach, and though I don't think it was ever an anchor, I did bring it home to hang in one of my own trees. 

I loop it on with some of the clew I brought home, completing the circle.

Bunting Cozies up to the Breezy Day

It really (really) helps to know someone tall.  I scouted out this place for the bunting I've been working on for weeks, but neglected to check whether or not I could actually reach the perfect spot.  It also really helps to be carrying two thick books for the tall person to balance on precariously. 

And then it's up, and there it is swaying in the breeze, making the world a brighter place.

Blending in with the local flora in matching tones of rhododendron pink.

Happy to finally be out of the bag and flying free in the blue sky.

With many thanks to Crochet With Raymond for the free pattern for granny bunting.

Visit her site for fun colours, patterns, pictures of Raymond....

International Yarn Bombing Day - June 11th!

I was checking out the website hosted by the authors of Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti and was pleased as pickle slices in the middle of a triple decker sandwich to see a picture of a treecozy that I nearly froze my fingers off putting up in the dead of night.

There is also a link to a site called Tricksy Knitting that has more pics of that one and then some of another treecozy I put up this winter - a nice hefty tag. I don't even have pics of the second one, so I'm extra glad to see it there.

I'm copying and adding the pic here - the tag is on a tree by the courthouse. Photo is by  Ticksy's Chris Goble.

Leanne and Mandy are also letting everyone know about the 1st International Yarn Bombing Day on June 11th.  Sounds like a good day for some yarny mischief.  I will be in Greece that day, and will make an effort to wrap a cozy around something there. 

Here are a couple of international yarnbombers whose websites I watch:

STICKONTAKT

hipstrick

If you do something for June 11th, let me know!

I like looking too much

Seems I spend more time looking at other people's great crafts/creations than making my own.  I know this is a common form of procrastination.  And in the click-click-click of following inspiration on the web, I often lose what I was looking for in the first place. 

Then I came across this picture

and followed it to the blogger who posted it on the inspiration for craft site.  Her idea of using posts to contain what she finds inspiring is...well, inspiring.

I'll learn the technology through trial and error, and enjoy creating a repository for myself of bits to try some day.

The bird on the hat is needle-felted.

Another fun thing to make for the nieces:

Some yarnbombs...tree hugger

I saw these in Tofino, BC


I've created page tabs at the top of the blog, for collecting the flotsam that seems particularly jetsam to me.

Now to make something of my own....

Not bombs, but yarn love

I have a great little car that has lasted me for years without ever costing much.  However, it has sprung a leak.  Living on the Pacific Coast, this means I sometimes have to bail out my car in the morning after a night of heavy rain.  It can rain for weeks on end here.

So I have started tarping my car when I park it at the end of the day.
 I was having a hard time finding something to hold down the tarp, but have solved that issue with Rock Cozies!

Project Complete!

I mentioned a while back that I was working on a DIY project for creative yarn storage.  I've finally got it all up on the wall and am celebrating by stuffing yarn into all the cubbies.

Look carefully at the bulletin board -you'll see my new storage style for my crochet hooks as well, inspired by noticing that my daughter had hung my No. 5 hook on a pin after it had fallen to the floor from my desk.  I think it's a great way to keep them visible, and thus on my mind. 

It's been raining and raining here, which is not my favourite kind of yarnbombing weather.  Though the acrylic yarn keeps its bright colours even when wet, things do look a bit like the saggy baggy elephant's bum after 3 weeks in the rain.

I'm waiting for spring to begin cozying up to the town again, and for now am storing my motifs and buntings and bits and pieces in various baskets around the house.

Surely sunny days lie ahead, and I'm oh so ready for them...

Snow cozies

Not too long ago we had a nice big dump of snow here in Cumberland.  Living on the West Coast means we don't see that many days of snow, but when we do it's often (what we consider) a lot.

This is our first winter in this cozy little house and our woodstove has been full of flames the last few weeks to keep us all warm, and the recent days of sunshine sure help.

The above tag was made by my mom in the summer when she visited, and the one below is something I tried a while back.  I love being able to just make as much as I want of a project and then stick it in my bag and look for a spot that's the right size.

If you ever come to visit my house, just turn left at the star.

A night out with the kids

My 14 yr old daughter and her friends decided the best way to spend a Friday night was yarnbombing the town, singing as they went.  They made up the song and sang versions of the verses as we went along - creative bunch!  This was a great way to get the cozies out there....I've been making them but not getting them out for about a month now.  It's been raining almost every day, and today was sunny and relatively dry, so we took advantage of it, though it did get dark fast. 

If the video below doesn't work well, click on it and it will open in youtube which seems to work better.

(video embed)



The story of a blanket

Because we all need to know where our blankets come from.  Well, the wool ones anyway.

Hefty Tag 2

A beautiful day to drive to the ferry to pick up the kid.  The snow is perched on branches, waiting to fly again when the wind comes back.  But for now it cozies up to the lines - of branches, rocks, phone wires, the horizon; it reflects light right into the insides of your eyes, reaching the far back corners and brightening things up a bit.



Candy Swirl

This candy-like swirl is outside the Comox Valley Art Gallery, and right across the street from the Courtenay branch of the library.  I hope no one takes it down - it took a really long time to make!

edit - It's had a few days now of being sassy there on the tree, like some spring-time candy floss out of place in this winter clime.  Any time it gets from here in out is just icing on the cake.

Hefty Tag

In order to use up the little bits left over from other projects, I've started making hefty tags of 8 or 9 yarns hooked together.  I got the idea from this flicker photo while doing a yarnbomb google search for images to inspire me.

I've been learning about felting, and have a candystore row of dyed roving that is scrumptious.  I'm working on how to incorporate felting into a bomb...these things take time!





Shelf Cozy

This shelf cozy is at the Comox library, hugging the fibre arts section.  I thought about superglue, but settled on magnetic strips cut from business card magnets stuck to the back of it.  It looks a bit forlorn, but has a lovely sheen.

I'm making a project for my house - a yarn cozy that will be mounted to my wall.  I got the idea from a website, but don't want to give away the surprise. 

The guys at Slegg Lumber were incredibly helpful, risking finger amputation to cut an 8 foot sonotube down into 8" sections for me.  And that was 15 minutes before closing!  Those guys made my day.

A light sanding with a fine sandpaper smoothed the edges, and a few coats of paint will hide the fact that it's sonotube.   More to follow.

One of the things I'm noticing as a result of yarnbombing is a heightened sense of my place in this community.  The tree above is outside the hospital where my two nieces were born, and putting those two rocks in the tree feels like a small anchor to that place. There is a small pink tag around the stop sign at the corner of 17th and Wilemar, which I pass everyday, and it acts as a small marker to me on my way to and from work.  It's one of the points of contact where two strands of the web of my life meet.  It's a bit like mapping the world, leaving landmarks that I recognize as having a distinct connection with my life, even if it is a small connection.  Try it.  You might like it.

That warm fuzzy feeling that a cozy can bring on

Today I hooked up a new cozy for one of the posts outside the library.  As I was stitching it on (quickly!) a young man came over and asked why I was doing it, gesturing towards the post I was working on and the others already cozied up.  I'll admit that I knee-jerkclassified him in the "hoodlum" category (based on his manner of dress), which is the category for anyone who'd ever want to rip off a cozy.  I thought I was about to hear a bit of criticism.

I answered that I was doing it because I wanted to make the world a more cheerful place.

He leaned over and gave me a big hug and said "That's awwweeesooooommme!"

Oh.

Not a hoodlum, then, but someone who felt the warm and fuzzy.  Nice.