Saturday, June 11, 2011

International Yarn-Bombing Day. . . Part 3: Heart Fence.

Before the sun came up and we headed back home, we made a quick detour to the tennis courts to add a few fence hearts. . .



 Then it was stealthily back home for us, before the sun rose and the village came to life :)

International Yarn-Bombing Day. . . Part 2: Scarfies Sculpture.

For the second part of the IYBD yarnificationz, my lovely Wifie agreed to get up with me before sunrise today so we could put up our yarnifications under cover of darkness! She had also done half the knitting for this installation, but this was her first go at putting any yarnifications in place. . . Here she is in action, attaching one of the two scarfs she knitted:

And here I am, attaching a cable tie to help keep one of the scarfs in place, using my brand new head-torch to help me see what I was doing.

Here's the finished Scarfies Sculpture yarnification. . .

P.S. Here are the links to part 1  and part 3 of our International Yarn-Bombing Day extravaganza!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

International Yarn Bombing Day - part 1: Hospital bike rack cosies

Bike rack cosies outside hospital's main entrance

International Yarn-Bombing Day isn't until Saturday 11th June, but I won't be back at work till next Monday, so attached the two bike rack cosies this afternoon. I knitted the fluoro yellow and pink one and my Accomplice made the much more subtle blue one with a touch of pink. The Accomplice made it quite clear she was not going to have anything to do with attaching them though, that was all down to me!

At 4 pm, having finished my day's work, I spent half an hour attaching the cosies in place, right under the telephone operators' window, very close to the Hospital's main entrance. I crouched down in amongst the bikes that were there when I started, and no-one batted an eyelid apart from the two cyclists who eventually came to ride their bikes away, and the elderly "Courtesy Shuttle" driver who seemed to think I was having difficulty undoing my bike lock!! It will be interesting to see how long the cosies stay there… The cyclists wanted to know if I was planning to cover all four bike racks in knitting. I told them that if these two cosies stay in place a while I will certainly consider it! One of the cyclists reckoned that people will be fighting to get their bike leaning up against a cosy bike rack rather than the regular kind (but he was probably just humouring me!) The other cyclist informed me that this kind of thing is all the rage these days, and we had quite a conversation about knit graffiti vs regular graffiti, and why a person might do such a thing.


There will be an International Yarn-Bombing Day part 2 and maybe even part 3 coming soon, so stay tuned ;-)

Friday, June 3, 2011

Plans for International Yarn-Bombing Day 2011

Have you got any?! Yarny plans, that is. . .

It's just over a week away - Saturday 11th June. International Yarn Bombing Day (I.Y.B.D.) even has its own blog: here, and the best news it is doesn't involve any actual bombing (terrorists need not apply!) - it just refers to brightening up the urban (or rural!) landscape with a few warm fuzzies!

You don't need to be a great crocheter or knitter or weaver - anyone who can get their hands on some yarn can take part and help brighten up their local area. Don't believe me? Well, is there a chain-link fence anywhere in your area? There are certainly a few around here! For a really simple yarnification, all you need is a chain-link fence and a few meters of yarn (plus a big-eyed needle like a bodkin if you have one). Armed with those supplies, you could create something like this:

Hearts on the hospital fence

You just get the yarn doubled or tripled and wind it around two diagonal squares a few times, until the space is filled up, then wind it around again on the other side of the heart, et voilĂ ! Takes 5 minutes at the most. One heart or a hundred - they are sure to give someone a smile!

If you are a beginner knitter or crocheter you could make a square or rectangle and sew it onto a handrail or drainpipe as a cosy, a bit like this (but without the words!)

Handrail cosy
If you can knit, weave or crochet a scarf, you could tie it round the neck of a local statue, and if you can knit i-cord, you could make a car aerial cosy and add it to someone's car in a local car park:
Rainbow aerial cosy
If you are a "black belt yarny" then you can just let your imagination run wild! Just have a look at some of the blog links down the right side-bar here to see some amazing ideas other people have come up with. . . 

Whatever you do, put it in place for I.Y.B.D. on 11th June and don't forget to share your adventures! Post a comment on here to say what you have been doing, or "like" the I.Y.B.D. page on Facebook and add your photos. . . I've just been over there to check it out and see someone has just added some photos of chain-link fence hearts they put up at their son's school.

As for me, I have a few plans afoot, but not sure how many of them I will manage to get completed in  time! Watch this space ;-)