On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.
What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!
From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.
It’s absolutely freezing here in the UK today. Super strong, super cold, Siberian winds make for eye-watering cold walks. What I wouldn’t give to be lying on a sunny beach right now – but not necessarily wearing this vintage crocheted bikini with the strategically placed flowers on the top…. 😉
On the 20th of November last year I reblogged a blogpost from Streetcolour about a whole town that is going to be yarnbombed. The town being Genoa, in Italy. This is the post.
What I didn’t tell you is that my amazing, super duper fantastic husband’s response to the blogpost was “Why don’t you go to Genoa and see the yarnbomb? You know you want to.” John’s response came exactely a week before he was due to go to hospital for the kidney donation operation, so his gracious offer meant even more to me on so many levels.
John suggested I take my very good friend with me for a girly weekend. I bought the tickets, booked the hotel. All that was left to do was for her to get a Schengen Visa. Unfortunately things didn’t work out as we hoped and due to a South African passport taking ages to be renewed, she won’t be able to go with me. John will now be going in her place. Obviously crochet isn’t his thing, and he doesn’t particularly like Italy, but he still agreed to come with me. Not only that, he has to fly to Milan and get a train to Genoa, whereas I will be flying direct to Genoa. At least he is returning on the same flight as me so it’s all good.
By now he is also such a big part of my yarnbomb shenanigans (holding ladders, taking photos, making sketches, taking measurements) that he might as well come along and see how it’s done on a City-wide scale.
His position as the World’s Best Husband is now firmly cemented.
Now you probably want to know more about this amazing yarnbomb. Firstly, take a look at this video. I don’t understand Italian, and there are no sub-titles, but the imagery is enough to make you salivate and itch to be part of this thing!
The website dedicated to this project, called Intrecci Urbani, is here.
I used Google translate to read about the project:
THE PROJECT
The idea was born in a project of national civil service with the aim of developing relations between the generations , particularly among young and old, and provides for the creation of a great yarn bombing event will culminate with the creation of a collective installation that will be exposed to about 10 days, in the Old Port of Genoa from 21 March 2013 .
The Yarn Bombing , literally “yarn bombing” is a new form of street art that comes from the United States that colors the city “vestendole” with handmade wool and cotton that give to the places where they are installed look lively and joyful. A contemporary street art that is expressed through the ancient techniques of knitting and using the city as a canvas to decorate with colorful handicrafts. Will be lined with benches, lampposts, railings, the antique crane columns aquarium, trees and more …
The project also joined associations and creative yarn bombing of some Italian cities that send their work to contribute to the event in the spring.
After exposure the artifacts will be dismantled and reused for the construction of facilities in the area, while those injured will be turned into blankets to be distributed to homeless people and shelters for animals.
The main installation will be at the Old Port from 21 March to 1 April 2013.
My mind boggles at the logistics involved in this. Whoever organised this event is one very organised individual. The crocheters and knitters meet every second Saturday at the M-Cafe in the Doge’s Palace – how stylish and very Italian?!, the yarn has been sponsored so it’s all the same weight and colour, and they even have a pattern book for the flowers and squares used in the yarnbomb. Uniformed creativity seems to be what they are aiming for. They also have an Instagram feed (#intrecciurbani) and you can follow the event on their Facebook page.
In two weeks I’ll be in Genoa to see an Italian City yarnbombed, and the following weekend I’ll be yarnbombing in a town in England! How amazing is that?! I truely can’t wait.
I think I will take a little something crocheted with me to Genoa to add to their yarnbomb….
Do you remember this post on 26 October 2012 about me joining Weight Watchers? Well….all the crocheting and getting my five-a-day with the yarnbomb fruit seem to have paid off – I reached my goal weight this morning!
I lost 10% of my starting weight and now fit into my smallest jeans & work trousers again! The last time I was able to wear my smallest jean, was on my 30th birthday…. five years ago.
As of this morning I’m on the maintenance plan and have six extra points per day! I feel like I’ve won the lottery! 🙂
Pretty impressive charting hey? Okay, so there have been a couple of weight increases over the 5 months, notably over the Christmas and New Year period, but I think I did good considering John’s kidney donation operation also took place in this time (November) and I went through a stressful period at work and had a family drama to contend with.
I followed Weight Watchers Online, so there were no classes to attend and I tracked everything on my iPhone with the super fantastic Weight Watchers app. I really love tracking my food intake. It helps me stay in control and honest with myself.
By tracking my food intake I learned that even if I do go over my points in one day, I almost instinctively make up for it the next by eating less, so over the span of one week it all evens out. In the past I would have said “oh well, there goes the whole diet I might as well give up now”, but now I know I can still claw it back if I just watch (and track) what I eat the next day.
My three tips for losing weight:
Track everything you eat.
Focus on your goal weight, not the amount of kg’s you have to loose. In other words, “see” yourself weighing X kg, don’t think of the X kg you have to loose to get to that goal. There is a stressed and negative emotion connected to focusing on what you have to loose, as opposed to focusing on how you will look & feel once you reach the goal weight. We need positive thoughts, not negative & demoralising ones.
Reach for the crochet hook instead of the Hobnob.
If you’ve reached goal weight, and you’ve kept it that way, I’d love to hear your tips.
For now, I’m just going to bask in the knowledge that I weigh what I set out to weigh, I fit into my jeans again and I feel proud of myself.
Once you realise that your joy comes from within, rather than in response to what goes on around you, life is easy, life is good and all good things come to you.
(The latest Olek exhibition is called The End is Far. You can see more of her crochet writings here.)
On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.
What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!
From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.
xxxxxx
Beautiful crochet vases by Sanna and Sania. Oh, I do so much love a colourful stripe!
Do you remember the granny square workshop I attended at Toft Alpaca Farm on the 6th of November last year? I blogged about it, and the granny square scarf I made, here. It was a great day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. What I didn’t tell you in the post, is that there was a photographer for Country Homes & Interiors magazine at the crochet workshop as the magazine was doing a feature on Kerry Lord and the Toft Alpaca Farm.
The article is in the current, March 2013 issue, of the magazine.
Flick to page 144 and you’ll see Kerry (with the grey wrap and black headband) standing to the left of the photo – next to me, wearing my Dusky crochet top and grinning like a Cheshire cat! Can you tell that I was enjoying myself?! Our lovely instructor, Carrie is standing on the other side of me, looking very cute. You will also spot my one Converse trainer under the table. Classy.
The granny square scarf that I made at this workshop has been a lifesaver this Winter. Chunky Alpaca wool is definitely the way to go to keep you warm in sub-zero temperatures.
Do yourself a favour and buy this issues of Country Homes & Interiors. It’s filled with beautiful homes and loads of inspiration for a country lifestyle. And of course an interesting article about the Toft Alpaca Farm.
On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.
What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!
From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.
xxxxxx
This is the Crochet Eye Chart, as seen in Mollie Makes and sold in ILiveOnaFarm’s Etsy shop. It’s such a clever idea! Can’t keep my eyes off it 😉
I think I’ve had my fill of fruit for now: 14 Days of crocheting fruit (including on the 07:26 to Waterloo and lunch hours in Caffe Nero), four balls of Stylecraft Special Chunky and six balls of Sirdar Hayfield Bonus Chunky later, I’ve made 64 pieces of fruit for the Surbiton Food Festival yarnbomb.
64 Pieces of crochet fruit over 14 days works out to just under 5-a-day. How health conscious am I?!
Crocheting the fruit was fun, but doing the stems and leaves and then having to sew the three (tiny) parts together got a bit tedious by the time I got to pear number 15, give or take an orange or two.
Now, thankfully, it’s time to move on to stripes. My favourite thing in the whole world. Just mindless trebles in any colour and I can go as mad and bright as I want. In fact, for the purpose of a yarnbomb the more outrageous the colours the better!
My amazing husband was with me two weeks ago when I went to Surbiton to take measurements. He is a stickler for detail and an excellent draughtsman. With his accurate measurements and my love of colour, the yarnbomb is going to look great!
Lovely Alice of Knit n Run 4 Sanity has blogged about her very cute cherries, grapes and strawberry contributions here. She even shares her pattern with us. Thank you so much Alice!!
Just to recap, the details of the fruity yarnbomb is in this post, and the pattern for the crocheted fruit is on this link: Crochet fruit pattern. Anyone can crochet fruit and send it to me, as long as it reaches me before 22 March 2013. Apart from Alice and Louise (the designer of the fruit patterns) I have a lady from Dubai who is contributing and I think one or two from South Africa as well!
If you are also crocheting fruit for the yarnbomb, how many have you made?
crochetime 