Nutrition and Physical Activity Dept, by special request - part 1

Last month I got a request to add a little yarnification to the "Nutrition and Physical Activity" part of the Public Health department at the hospital. I have quite a major plan in mind, but here is part 1 (the simplest!) Hope you like it so far, "Greenman and Booboo" ;-)

Fence post cosy

Bike rack cosies with fence post cosy behind

 The bike rack cosies look so short that I might well add some extra length to them at a later stage. I knitted the ribbed one in the foreground, and my Wifie (aka Partner-in-Craft) knitted the stripy multi-textured one in the background. The Accomplice knitted the rainbow fence post cosy, so this was really a team effort.

Talking of the Accomplice, when I drove past the front entrance of the hospital I spotted that the she had been bold enough to sew a cosy onto one of the trees, which she thought looked a bit cold in this wintry weather. Last Sunday we had snow in this area for the first time in many years. . . the tree certainly looks warmer now!!

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 ;-)

R.I.P. Rooty caterpillar

You might remember my very first attempt at yarnification, back in February. . . a young caterpillar called Rooty, whose prime purpose in life was as a Health and Safety officer in the hospital grounds, drawing attention to a tree root jutting out into the path.

Rooty caterpillar, freshly hatched

His secondary purpose was to bring smiles to the faces of all who walked his way. Various people told me that he did indeed make them smile, and happiness was mine. . .

Imagine my sadness when I walked along the "Caterpillar Path" to work yesterday morning to discover this sight. . .

Rooty had been taken from his tree root, but that was not all. I could have lived with that, with only a moderate amount of distress. However, in a seemingly pointless act of eco-vandalism, the tree root has been ripped out of the ground on both sides of the path and is now much more hazardous to clumsy or distracted pedestrians than it ever was, even pre-Rooty. Maybe Rooty himself could be described as eco-vandalism, but not in my opinion, obviously! No tree roots were harmed in the hatching of Rooty. . . they just got a bit of protection from the elements and stumbling feet.

Why? Why? That's what I keep wondering. Why would someone rip a tree root right out of the ground? I don't know. The exposed tree root is now approaching 2 metres long whereas it was previously only about 30 cm. In an attempt to give me something positive to focus on, one of my colleagues challenged me to knit a snake cosy for the 2 metre long tree root. I might just do that!

The chainlink fence hearts were also removed in the same strike - I found a bunch of red fluff on the ground nearby, but not so much as a scrap of lime green acrylic anywhere to be seen. Rooty seems to have just evaporated!

I guess I could say Rooty "had a good innings" - 2 months is not a short life for a caterpillar. He had become a bit droopy in later life, but at least he was still cheery!

R.I.P Rooty, you started a local yarny revolution!! Look at this beautiful flowery doorknob cosy, put in place at work by my Accomplice recently. . . if it hadn't been for Rooty, this flower would never have bloomed!!

St Valentine's Day yarnification

The Knit Graffiti bug struck again at Nelson Hospital - this time to celebrate St Valentine's day. . .

LOVE on a handrail!

Valentine Hearts sitting on the car park fence