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.
I adore this hedgehog swinging from a tree crocheted pendant. It’s cute, crochet and a true work of art. It’s the work of Saffron Johns who lives in Bulgaria and sells her wire art in her Other Worlds Etsy shop. You should have a look at the other amazing pieces of crochet jewelery she makes. I love the Mouse Playing Trumpet double brooch and the Parrot Bird Cage pendant is truly amazing. You definitely wont be able to blend into the crowd when you wear these pieces of crochet art! And it’s sure to make you smile. Perfect for a Tuesday.
When I saw this I just had to share it with you. What drew me was the crochet covered furniture and, what seemed like, crocheted balloons in the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be crochet covered rugby balls.
It all makes perfect sense when you read what Designboom says about the art installation:
the ‘rainbow room’ installation by cape town-based designer pierre le riche takes a critical look at the sociological implications of afrikaner masculine hegemony on homosexuality in post-apartheid south africa. the intervention, built from 17km of acrylic thread in colours of the gay pride flag, represents a traditional afrikaan family living room in the midst of the 1995 rugby world cup final match displayed on a television; an incredibly significant point in south african history, and perhaps the last chance the afrikaner male had to ‘prove his superiority’. through an implementation of colorful and playful yarn bombs onto traditional pieces of furniture and over 150 rugby balls, the concept of homosexuality and masculinity is juxtaposed, questioning the acceptance of same-sex relations.
I was in Grade 12 when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in 1995. It really was a huuuuuge deal. What better way to juxtapose masculinity and homosexuality than with pink crochet covered rugby balls?! South African men are crazy about rugby, so I totally get what Pierre le Riche is trying to say with this installation. Well thought out and and brilliantly executed, Pierre.
A Life In Colour is the title of the Fashion and Textile Museum‘s showcase on the life and work of Kaffe Fassett. Rachel of The Little Room of Rachell and I went to see it on Saturday morning. It was pure colour overload!
Needless to say I took loads of photos. I suggest you click on the photos in the Gallery to see the bigger version.
Snowball wedding quilt
Close-up of the Snowball wedding quilt.
Visitors are encouraged to touch the Feeling Wall. I investigated the back of the knitting.
9-Foot high knitted shawls and quilts cover the columns.
Quilts and more quilts.
Those embroidery stitches are absolutely perfect. Each and every one.
Kaffe Fassett living room
Needlepoint chair and knitted cardigan
Crocheted hats with buttons.
Only Kaffe can make needlepoint slippers look good on dining table.
This living room scene is too beautiful to be part of the photo gallery above. I would have loved to sit on that needlepoint chair! can you imagine how inspiring it would be to do your crochet day in and day out on this chair?! I’d never want to get up from it.
The exhibition was exactly as Good Housekeeping said: ‘The show feels more like an elaborate stage set or opulent living room than a museum display. …This is an exhibition put together with an eye for drama, colour, pattern and texture – a visual feast served up with a large helping of inspiration. … You’ll come away full of ideas, and itching to pick up a needle or a paintbrush.’
If you are in London, do pop in. The show is running until 29 June 2013. You can even attend “An evening with Kaffe Fassett” on the 27th June which includes a lecture by the man himself, a drink, book signing, and entry to the exhibition.
On a final note, look what I saw on the Rowan Yarns Facebook page. This is the greatest news yet! Kaffe has conquered almost all the yarn and textile crafts, apart from crochet. Until now…
No introduction needed for this photo, hey? As you can see we yarnbombed the lamp post and five bollards on the traffic island in front of Surbiton station.
In the space of one hour, the roundabout went from drab and dreary to striped and adorned with fruity bunting – the way all roundabouts should be I think.
It was soooooo much fun and I’m still on a yarn high!
Bobi Robson, from The Craft Inn came along to give John and I a hand.
Her help was much appreciated, and it ended up being a brilliant team effort. John had the great idea to bring along packaging tape just in case we needed it to keep the stripes up on the lamp post (and we did!), Bobi suggested we attach the bunting lower down on the lamp post to prevent the wind from blowing the bunting into cyclist or cars, and when we realised our cable ties were too short to go around the bollards, I suggested we tie the bunting to the cable between the bollards. Three problems – three genius minds at work.
I think John was amazing. He sewed two of the granny squares onto the bollards (a very unmanly thing to do for, what felt like, the whole of Surbiton to see) and then took on the task of getting really, really high on the ladder to put up the bunting (thereby redeeming his manliness).
The end result of our hour on the traffic island, and my four weeks of crochet, is a brilliantly colourful work of yarn graffiti.
Bobi and I at the Surbiton roundabout yarnbomb.
I hope the yarnbomb will raise awareness for the upcoming Surbiton Food Festival. If you found this blogpost because you Googled “weird woolen stripes on Surbiton roundabout” please also visit the Surbiton Food Festival website here, and of course come to the festival in May, otherwise my hours of crochet would have been in vain.
Well, probably not totally in vain because even if people don’t realise a food festival is coming, at least they can appreciate a bit of stripey colour in the middle of Surbiton.
And as you can gather, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I’m kinda proud of myself. This is my biggest, most prominent yarnbomb yet. The other three (warm-up yarnbomb dare I say?) are herehere and here.
I hope you enjoy the new and improved traffic island. As far as I know the yarnbomb is staying up until the end of the Food Festival (19th of May) so you will have a lot of time to appreciate it in all it’s fruity glory.
Here’s a video giving you a 360 degree view of the yarnbomb.
Keep your eyes peeled around Surbiton, as Bobi and her Craft Inn pals will be adding more granny squares to the railings around the roundabout, and other crafty items will pop up around St. Andrews Square. You have been warned. The craft bombers are coming!
P.S. If you ever get the urge to crochet apples, pears, oranges or strawberries like I did for this yarnbomb, there is a link to the pdf pattern in this blogpost. The fruit were originally designed by Louise Howe. They make excellent coasters. Which is what she designed them to be…. until this yarnbomber got her hook into them.
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.
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 Saturday my friend Liezel and I went to the Natural History Museum in London to see three giant crocheted lions. If you don’t know what I’m on about, the lions are the creation of Shauna Richardson for the Lionheart Project, one of twelve submissions to Artist Taking the Lead as part of the London 2012’s Cultural Olympiad. They symbolise the three lions on Richard the Lionheart’s coat of arms.
Shauna Richardson is an artist known for her life-size crochet animal creations, a unique body of work she calls Crochetdermy
You can read more about Shauna here and more about the Lionheart Project here.
But enough talking, you probably want to see the lions!
All the photos were taken by Liezel. She did an amazing job, considering the lions are housed in a glass box which made for a lot of reflection from the surrounding trees, the Natural History Museum, and the photographer. If you like Liezel’s photography, have a look at her blog. This is one talented snaphappy lady!
To appreciate the Lionheart Project, you need to get a sense of the scale:
Now you can enjoy the close-ups and beautiful crochet:
If Liezel’s photos have intrigued you to find out more about Shauna and her lions, have look at this interview. *Spoiler alert: Shauna says she used the wool of 150 sheep to crochet these three 9m long lions!*
These crochet decorated bus seats, is art installation by the Finnish artist, Vesanen Virpi Laukkanen. It’s called Lace Bus and is part of the OTTO shows, hosted by the Art Museum Vantaa, Finland. On the artist’s website you can see more photos here. Virpi sourced the doilies from flea markets and second hand shops.
From what I can gather from the Google translation of the original article, the bus is used daily by commuters in Vantaa so it’s not a stationary piece of art in a museum somewhere. How cool is that?! People’s reactions to the seats were recorded on video and showed at the Art Museum – I would love to see that video!
The objective of the project is to add color, joy and humor into the routine of people who use public transportation daily – I think they would have achieved their objective! There’s no way you could get onto this bus and not leave happy.
Should I have a word with London Transport and get them to reupholster bus seats in crochet doilies? London would be such a happy place if everyone travelled bum-to-doilie don’t you think?
