October 23, 2012

Vogue Knitting LIVE!!!

I'M GOING ON THURSDAY TO CHICAGOOOOO TO ASSIST KNITTING VOGUE LIVE!!!!

OMG! I'm extra, super, incredible excited!!!!

It's going to be a blast!!!

I'm going up on Thursday with a friend, and then on Friday 4 friends more will catch up with us. I'm taking a bunch of classes in knitting designing...

Oh pretty life!!

See you in a few days!
S.

October 18, 2012

Seed Stitch Hat

This is a hat I had on the making for a long time. In the end I loved it and gave it as a farewell present to a dear friend that left town to go to Mexico to a new adventure in her life.

I started this as a trial for the "Tubular Cast-On" and then decided to work the body on Seed stitch, with a lovely and lucious merino wool yarn that I go in Mexico... it took forever because it was my side project for when I didn't want to work in any of my other projects, so I was working in it for a long time... any way... I love it, and if you want to see it in Ravelry, go here.
I don't like myself in hats, but I liked this photo of the back and my loose hair.
I don't like this one, of my side, but I guess we need to put it so you can see it.
But I do love the hat... the crown...
...the texture the seed stitch makes...
...and the buttons... I found the perfect pewter buttons with lovely snowflakes!!
See you soon!
S.


October 17, 2012

Yarn Bombing

Here are the photos of the other 22 trees that we dressed around the Downtown Square with help of a lot of volunteers who knitted, crocheted and wove their sweaters.
The sweater for my tree was all crocheted.

If you'd like to know more about the project go to www.knittingtoheal.org
And if you'd like to vote for your favorite tree and help with the fundraiser, you can do so at the website. You can vote for my tree!!! It's tree #2.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
See you soon!
S.

October 16, 2012

Knitting to Heal - Yarn Bombing - My Tree

So as I expressed in my last post, I spend the summer working in a sweater for "My Tree"... My tree was sponsored by my loved Yarn Shop, and since I spend so much time there learning and teaching and building stories and friendships, I thought the least I could do was to make the sweater that would represent the shop's sponsorship.

It all started with a bunch of blue yarn and experimenting with free form and I had share it with you here and here. I then added all kind of fun "corals", sea creatures, glow in the dark beads and even a felted Nemo (it is super fun to see little kids looking all the way around to find Nemo)... I had a couple of girls (age 13 and 16) help me with the fishes and sea creatures. And a dear friend made the A.M.A.Z.I.N.G Sunset/Sunrise!!!!!! it's the perfect complement for my sea bed piece. We are so happy inhow it came out.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, on Oct 4th, we installed my tree... I'll leave you with a bunch of pretty photos.
I'm so proud!


 
 
 
 

See you soon,
S.

Knitting to Heal

4 months of continuous work, lots of planning and tons of crocheting, knitting, sewing involved. Many ideas tried out, new techniques and stitches learned and developed. Plenty of emails and phonecalls, meetings and letters... Lots of new people and more new friends. An awesome team of volunteers and an incredible amount of yarn... And finally we installed the work of all this months in an amazing display of public art, in the form of yarn bombing around the Downtown Square. We dressed in "sweaters" 23 trees, sponsored by local businesses full of good will to help with a fundraiser for Middle Way House, the local organization that supports and helps women and children that are/have been victims of domestic violence. Through this project I've seen a lot of love and support from volunteers and people walking down the street that stop to admire the trees. 

Yarn bombing is typically anonymous and installed when no one can see the installation, ours not only displays the name of the sponsor, but the installation is planned to take place in broad daylight, during the Gallery Walk, when a lot of people is outside. It is absolutely amazing to see how pedestrians and drivers react when they see you up in a tree, hugging and sewing a sweater to it. October is the month for domestic violence awareness. With this project, Knitting to Heal, we hope to raise a lot of awareness against this awful situation and also give hope to those who have been there. www.knittingtoheal.org   
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Knitting-to-Heal/419850398053973?ref=hl
Knitting to Heal is a fundraiser for Domestic Violence Victim Services.
Middle Way House teamed up with Yarns Unlimited to raise funds to aid victims of domestic violence.
Local businesses and groups were asked to sponsor a downtown tree.  Knitters, crocheters, and other fiber artists were invited to work collaboratively with sponsors to create tree sweaters for them. Installation of knitted works took place the first week of October 2012, in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the community will vote, with its dollars, for its favorite sweater the last weekend of the month. Tree sweaters will remain in place until spring.
Benefits to the community include increased knowledge of domestic violence, new public art for the downtown, and a new attraction to draw in-town and out-of-town visitors to downtown Bloomington and its businesses.
Fiber artists consulted with corporate sponsors on sweater designs that incorporate images and messages pertinent to Domestic Violence Awareness Month and/or expressive of the hope, warmth and caring victims find at Middle Way House.  Each sweater features as well a screened square recognizing the sponsor. The use of recycled materials was highly encouraged and, when the sweaters are taken down, artists can opt to have the materials unraveled and stored for use by artists in 2013.
Yarns Unlimited will provided consultation on resources, design and techniques and served as a drop-off and distribution site for donated supplies and recycled materials.