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 :)

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 voilà! 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 ;-)

Hospital Helipad Yarnification

So, every work day I see the hospital helipad and warning sign, and every day I have thought it could do with a little brightening up. I've been busy the last couple of evenings working on a little something for the helipad, and today I put my latest yarnification in place. . .

A little crocheted red rescue helicopter with knitted i-cord rotor blades and skids, as a homage to the Summit Rescue Helicopter which frequents the helipad. I used the "Teeny toy helicopter" pattern by Meghan Brawley, which I downloaded from ravelry. 

 I also knitted a sign cosy using the Little Red Helicopter Chart by Sandra Jäger. Two helicopters - one on the back and one on the front of the sign. . .

Hope my latest yarnification doesn't break any Civil Aviation Authority rules?! In the small print of the sign it says that trespassers are liable for prosecution plus a penalty of 3 months prison or $2000 fine, but with any luck my little helicopters won't be seen as trespassers, and nor will I!
I'll let you know. . .

Happy 100th International Women's Day!

Of course, I wanted to add a little celebratory yarnification to International Women's Day, and this is the end result!! Here's a link to my free pattern for the Female Gender Symbol.

International Women's Day yarnification

A chain of female gender symbols: ♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀, each one a different colour, strung under the eaves of the Nelson Women's Centre. My concept was that each female symbol would be a different colour and they would all be different sizes (just like us women!) but when joined together they have strength in their diversity as well as similarities. As you can see in the photo, one of the verandah posts also has an I.W.D. cosy, incorporating the official International Women's Day logo in white and purple. . .  On International Women's Day I left home at 7 in the morning, in order to get to the Women's Centre in plenty of time to install the yarnification before they opened at 9 am. It took me around half an hour to put it in place, and I wrote a quick note to explain myself, as well as leaving details of this blog. Then I just had to go away and hope the women of the Women's Centre liked what they would find! Later that afternoon I was delighted to find a comment on the blog from Carrie at the Women's Centre and it looks like they appreciated my efforts. Woohooooo! I smiled for the rest of the day!!

So that's the short version - but here's a bit more detail if you want it!

Pretty much as soon as I came up with this yarnification idea, I had only one location in mind - the Nelson Women's Centre. Even though I had never actually used the facilities there before, it just seemed like the perfect spot for the I.W.D. knit graffiti!

My target: Te Whare Awhina Mo Nga Wahine Puawai / Nelson Women's Centre

My first thought was to somehow link some knitted ♀ symbols together. Next I thought of a knitted bra with orange yarny flames coming out of it, to evoke reminders of the feminist "bra burning" in the 1960s (before I was even born!) But two things turned me away from that idea - firstly I couldn't come up with a satisfactory way of portraying "flames" with yarn, and secondly after a few minutes of research I realised that tales of "bra burning" were probably more of an urban myth than reality. . . So that idea never made it to fruition. 

However, whilst exploring the International Women's Day website I came across a logo  which I converted by hand (using pencil and paper) into a chart and then into a rectangular "cosy" which ended up adorning a verandah post on the front deck of the Women's Centre. . .

♀ under construction

The chain of inter-linked ♀ symbols posed my biggest challenge of stamina. I had no fixed number in mind, but decided to construct as many as I could before the novelty completely wore off! In the end I knitted 15 and my lovely Wifie knitted another 3. They were knitted with i-cord, using different shades of various acrylic yarns in my stash. 

As all the yarn used is synthetic and the wire is galvanised it should be fairly weather proof outside though the seasons, but could equally be taken inside the Women's Centre as an internal decoration. . .

Here are a few more photos of today's yarnstorm:

A pile of knitting!

The Nelson Women's Centre post-yarnification

The newly attached knitting

Sign beside front door

The finished installation

Mischief managed!