Winspear Yarn Bombing

Throughout the summer, under the art direction of K Witta, more than 70 fiber artists worked on a large-scale yarn bombing of Dallas' Winspear Opera House. We finally installed our handiwork on Sept. 14/15. So much fun! Together, we covered more than 30 trees, 100 bollards (barrier poles) and benches with yarn, and created a hanging display of peace signs and flowers.

Our tree.

 

My friend signed up for two trees, so I took charge of one and our knitting group offered to help. In order to make it easy for everyone to pitch in, I decided to give the tree a theme: patched hippie jeans. This way we didn't have to limit ourselves to any set pattern or yarn brands, and if my measurements were wrong or something went awry, we could just add patches to fix it. Enough with the chit-chat – here are some more pics!

Our installation helped promote the Winspear's production of "Hair."

 

It's not often that one gets to cover an entire tree with yarn. Our tree took about three hours to install, which certainly would have attracted the attention of local authorities if we'd been stalking the Winspear in the wee hours of the night. This project was a lot of work, and the acrylic yarn wasn't kind to my hands, but it was all worth it. It was so rewarding to see the smiles of passersby, and to watch people hug the trees and pose for photos. I'd definitely do it again.

Here are some more photos of the rest of the campus:

See more pics on my Flickr page.

Read more about the yarn bombing, organized by K Witta, SheepNanny and TejasMom, sponsored by Dallas Yarn Bombers and The Shabby Sheep.

Yarn Bombing This Week

In just a couple of days I'll be heading to Dallas to participate in a little bit of yarn graffiti. Here's a sneak peek at one of the branches, plus cat.

Sweater Time

Our tree is nearly ready for the yarn bomb installation next week, so of course I've jumped into another project. I'm eager to get started on Levenwick, a gorgeous 3/4 sleeve cardi with the classic, yesteryear look that I love so much. I've decided to knit it in Cascade 220 Heathers Celtic, to see if I need to make any adjustments for the fit. Then I may knit a second version in Brooklyn Tweed SHELTER or a silky wool.

I love SHELTER's colors, and the beautiful fabric that it creates, but after walking around with a skein at the store I was concerned that it wouldn't agree with my sensitive skin. After talking with my knitting group, I think I'm going to order a skein, make a scarf and test it out. Maybe a good washing will help. I hope so! It's a really great yarn.

We just have a few pieces left to finish for our tree. I'll post some photos after it's installed and we're allowed to reveal its location.

My Daddy

My dad passed away on July 4. I don't really know what else to say. I guess I'm still in shock.

Tonight I picked up a knitting project, a patch I'm working on for a tree that my knitting group is covering this fall. As I was knitting, all I could think of was that, when I started this piece, my dad was here. And now he's not. I'm shattered. Utterly shattered.

I knitted as quickly as I could because I just wanted to get the piece over with, to put it away and not look at it again until September. Honestly, I just want to give up on knitting the tree and crawl into bed for a month. But I know that's neither healthy nor right; I need to finish the tree so that I can dedicate it to my dad. Maybe this project will help me to heal.

I did learn something this week. My dad was a serious blogger, and he lives on in his posts. When I miss him, I can go read his thoughts on astronomy, science and comedy. It's difficult, but comforting at the same time. So my hope is that I'll be more dedicated to my humble little blog. Not every post can be witty, or ultra-informative, but maybe they'll mean something to someone. If anything, this blog will keep me accountable to pursuing my passion for knitting.

And so I press on.

Is Knitting Relaxing? Um... Sure!

With the Conan blanket finished, it was time for an instant-gratification project. It didn't need to be simple -- I just wanted to finish something in a week. It was the perfect time to start on a hat that I'd been eyeing in the latest SnB book.

I decided to use a different yarn than what the pattern called for. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, I don't know... maybe... yarn splitting?! I'm using an alpaca yarn that is determined to untwist itself and make a mess of this hat. It complicated my cables so much that I just decided to rip the whole thing out after 14 rows, some of which had been reworked -- twice -- after the yarn splits caused me to miscount my stitches. Blergh.

After consulting with a few friends I've decided to rewind the ball in the other direction and see if this cures my yarn's obstinance. I suppose I could switch to a different yarn, but the color of this one is lovely and I would love to salvage it. We'll see what happens, I suppose.

There are days when knitting is calming. Soothing. Relaxing. And then there are days like this.

Keep Warm My Babies - Dimensions

Just a quick note: the blanket turned out to be about 46" x 59". It's a great size for me because I'm rather short, but if I were to make this for someone else I'd probably add some more squares.

Keep Warm My Babies is Officially Finished!

IT'S FINISHED!! The ends are woven in. The border is complete. It's washed, blocked and ready to use.

This blanket is ready to keep my feet warm.

The back-story
Way back in the summer of 2010, some Ravelry* friends and I were having a Conan-themed knitalong. It was a fun way to pass the time until his new show debuted. (If you're new to my blog, then you're probably thinking that I'm pretty geeky. It's ok. I'm not offended.)

After knitting some orange fingerless gloves and some orange wristbands**, I decided that I wanted to knit something big. Really big. I sketched out a couple of blanket ideas but nothing really jumped off the page. Then one day, I saw a photo of Conan's old Late Night set and inspiration struck me: the furniture from the show's final years reminded me of a log cabin blanket. Why hadn't I noticed this before? I couldn't wait to start – I started doing some sketches, ordered my yarn and set out to write the pattern.

I spent a few weeks knitting test squares and trying out different needle sizes. Shudder. After three failed attempts I finally succeeded in knitting two different squares with dimensions that were close enough to seam together. Then it was time to settle in for months of seemingly-endless garter stitch.

Squares before seaming.

I love this blanket because it celebrates something special to me. Most of all, I love that it captures eight months of my life: my dad's seven-week recovery in the hospital; conversations over tea with good friends; summer concerts and snow days; cheering for the Texas Rangers as they played in the World Series; watching revolution unfold in Egypt. Store-bought blankets don't carry this kind of history, and that's one of the eleventy-jillion reasons why I love knitting.

Project details will follow, soon. First I need to use some of my book learnin' to calculate my yardage.

Yay! I can't believe it's finished!
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*Ravelry: Ravelry is a social networking website for knitters, crocheters, spinners, dyers, etc. It has over 1 million members and you can learn more about it on Wikipedia. Within Ravelry, I moderate a group for Conan fans called "The String Dance." Conan fans who love fiber arts... talk about a niche market.

**I just realized I haven't shared this story on my blog. I'll write a post soon!