Wrapped in Love Project: Thinking about afterwards

20 weeks to go...

(I thought it better to count down than up - I think it gives more sense of the 'big day' approaching. Plus, it makes things a bit easier if I miss a week's post!)

You will have noticed that the project is now called Wrapped in Love: a journey through (guerilla) knitting. However, I've since found out there is a very special knitting project run through Arts & Crafts NSW, called 'Wrap with Love', which is all about volunteers knitting squares that are turned into blankets and sent to disadvantaged communities all around the world, including Australia. Since it began in 1992, the Wrap with Love project has sent more than 220,000 blankets to people in over 75 countries. Isn't that incredible?!

(Image source: Wrap with Love Inc.)

Since our project was born, I have been thinking about what happens to the knitting after the installation is taken down. There are a few options:

• knitters can nominate to have their pieces returned
• as long as they are not damaged, pieces can be turned into blankets, scarves or other items and donated to an organisation such as Wrap with Love
• some combination of the above.
  

If there's a piece you'd really like back, you shouldn't feel any obligation to donate it. But if there is another you would like to donate then fantastic. There will be a bit of work involved in joining all the pieces together - and a workshop afternoon a month or so after the wedding will be a perfect opportunity to come together, have a bit of a celebration and prepare the knitting for it's next life. A mini reunion, if you will.

So if you are wondering "what happens to my knitting afterward?", now you know!

p.s. that reminds me, as you are knitting for the Wrapped in Love project, please affix a label to your pieces with your name - it is an important part of the installation that we fully recognize your hard work!

Wrapped in Love: Week 2

Hi knitters,
Welcome to week 2!
I hope you are as excited as I am - what stared out as a bit of a crazy idea is actually going to happen. - how about that? Some people have even started knitting! Hooray.

Last week I put the word out for a new project name, and luckily had one enthusiastic response (thanks Rathi!). So, drumroll, our project is now officially called:

Wrapped in love:
a journey through (guerilla) knitting

I like it. It feels warm and cosy and a bit romantic. Like we're creating all these woolly hugs for the tree.

So what kind of woolly hug would you like to create?
Something bright? Or maybe something white?
Something stripy? Or maybe something lacy?
You could knit in garter stitch, or maybe a rib stitch. Or maybe you're more into crochet, and you are a big fan of granny squares? Maybe crochet flowers is more your thing?
Or maybe you'll be picking up the hook or needle for the very first time, or for the first time in a long time. Which is one of the most exciting things about this project for me.

If you've made a start, I'd love to see any pics of your work in progress (WIP), and if you don't mind maybe I could even post them up here as inspiration? Only if you don't mind.

Here is what I've been working on:

a garter stitch piece, and also a bit of crochet:

I quite like the idea of crocheting some text into one of my pieces. I've never done it before.

If you're in Melbourne, let's have a get-together on Sunday, 20th June, 2-4pm at the Brunswick Green. It's still a few weeks away, so I'll send out a reminder and an RSVP request a bit closer to the date, but pencil it in your calendar!

(and if you're around this Sunday 23rd, live in the northern suburbs of Melbs and would like to join a craft group, the Preston Brown Owls are meeting from 2-4pm. This is only the second time we've met, so it's a great time to join in. The Brown Owls blog has more info)

Happy knitting! And if you have any questions / ideas / comments, I'd really love to hear them. Just leave a comment on the post or send me an email.

Nycole xx

ps, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read the original project intro and instructions here (you can also find the link in the sidebar, just over there -----> ;-)
Thanks for visiting!

My creative space: Welcome to the guerilla knitting wedding tree

This is a project close to my heart.

As you may know, Craig & I are getting married this October.

Now, once you decide to get married, usually this involves planning a wedding of some description. And it can be very hard to get away from the wedding magazines and the white dress and the fancy cake and flowers. You start out with a clear head and a determination to do it your own way and as much as possible stay away from the wedding industry. But it's virtually impossible, and in moments of weakness (& sometimes clarity) you realise that no, you can't be the bride and cook for 100+ guests. It's just not a good idea.

So you take a deep breath and think about what's important about this day. And you go back to the notes from that brainstorming session you had way back when you convinced Craig we had to think about what we wanted this day to be, and the notes say 'handmade' and 'community' and 'participation'. And 'intergenerational dancing'(!)

Around the same time, I was reading a lot about guerilla knitting and yarn bombing (& even doing a little myself). I think what I love most about it is that, ultimately, it is a gift. It may be making a political statement or it may be just to make people smile, but someone has thought about it and spent their time and effort to make something that other people can enjoy. For no tangible reward. For people they most likely don't even know. I think the pure fact that this happens is enough proof that our economic system, which values competition and maximising personal utility at the expense of others, can never work in the long run. But that's another topic for another day...

So, what do you get when you cross handmade community participation with guerilla knitting?

You get this project, which aims to create a yarn art installation on a tree at our wedding, to celebrate the talent of our family and friends (and anyone out there who wants to participate, you will be welcomed with open arms!) and to create something that one person could not do alone, but that needs community, and is better for it.

Here is the tree. As you can see we have a big job ahead!

It also aims to tie in with the Go North Arts Festival, which is held in the Swan Hill region in late October. So if you would like to join in but you won't be at the wedding, your work will also be exhibited at the festival, which is a great chance to visit Swan Hill.

The 2010 festival theme is 'Journey'.

I will be following the project here, at least weekly, so send me your photos and your thoughts and I will attempt to record how things are going. I will also feature stories from guerilla knitters around the world, knitting (& crochet) tips, and whatever else evolves along the way. I am excited to see what will unfold.

The task for week 1 is: a new project name! Tentatively, this is the guerilla knitting wedding tree project. But that's a bit long and boring. Any ideas? Knitted Journey? A marriage of yarn? River red gum yarn story? Something else? Send 'em through, I have a prize for the best one.

I have kind of cheated this week and made this my creative space. Maybe if you have landed here via Kirsty's you might like to follow along? I would really like that...

If you've never been here before and you don't know who Kirsty is, then you're missing out. Every week she hosts 'my creative space', and 150+ crafty people play along and show the rest of us what creative things they've been up to. Go check it out!

sweet jar covers

for a while now I've been hoarding a single tiny vegemite jar. it is such a perfect size and shape, I have been determined that one day I would crochet a little cover for it and turn it into a dear little vase...

well, the day arrived. it was in the post-grampians-cycle-trip-I-rode-into-the-wind-and-rain-for-three-days-now-I-can-sit-on-my-butt-for-the-next-three-and-crochet-guilt-free phase. and one jar became five, with perhaps some more to come.

I think they turned out rather well. I might even put together a tutorial.


also picked up around the same time were these cottons from the frankston market for my future jar-covering urges... (all this for $1.50!)

plus, some gorgeous hand-carved wood block stamps:

exciting times!

Beyond the granny...

(photos from "200 crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans", by Jan Eaton)

Current inspiration... what to do when there are just not enough hours in the day, and so many things to learn? I have a babette blanket in progress (see others on Flickr), but how easy is it to get distracted by other new, exciting projects?

For my babette I have been using Panda Magnum Soft, an 8 ply acrylic that is nice and soft but has a limited colour palette (I am still waiting for a navy blue and a yellow to be released). Also - I am not very organised and at one stage forgot which size hook I was using (it's a 5mm, recorded here now in case I forget again!). But it has been a nice project to pick up every now and then, even if it takes 5 years or more to finish.

Hmmm... that reminds me - I do have a history of not finishing things. When I was 11 my aunty was pregnant and I decided to make a cross-stitch tapestry for the new baby. Conor is now 16 and the cross stitch is about 2/3 of the way there!

Waste not, want not

I have been inspired by others' stories of yarn recycling and decided it was time to learn how to do it myself. A visit to the local Vinnies yielded a bulky maroon-coloured men's jumper ($7) - I had no idea whether this was the 'right' type of jumper to unravel, how the seams were sewn, or whether it was too old or felted, but I guess my philosophy is - jump in & have a go!

This tutorial by Lee Meredith was extremely helpful. I made a few mistakes trying to rip the seams, by accidently cutting through the main sections of yarn, but oh well - the result was that I ended up with about 8 various size balls of yarn rather than 4 or so larger balls.

After the unraveling I wound the balls around a couple of chairs to make skeins (must remember to take more photos!) and then soaked overnight. At the moment the skeins are outside drying - I think it would be better to have hung them over a rod, but sometimes you have to improvise!

(note the cans of chickpeas...)
I'm still not really sure how the yarn will turn out - the washing didn't seem to remove all of the kinks and it may actually be too felted to knit with (how to tell? - if I managed to unravel it does this mean it's ok?). And I'm actually not too fond of the colour(!), BUT, it has been an interesting process. A bit of work, but not really that hard, and so from now on I will certainly be keeping an eye out for good yarn I can salvage.

TwiceShearedSheep have obviously mastered the technique and have lots of recycled yarn for sale in their etsy shop... maybe one day I'll have my own etsy store(!)