International Yarn Bombing Day 2013

09 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Yarnbombing

Tags

crochet, IYB2013, Thames Ditton, Yarnbomb

8 June 2013 is International Yarn Bombing Day. Were you aware? I wasn’t, until I read Christelle’s blogpost on Wednesday. Wednesday! IYBD is on Saturday! What to do? Well for one thing, I couldn’t in good conscious let the day go by without yarnbombing something. It’s the one day in the year when I’m not the only weird one for attaching yarny things to railings and benches!

Something had to be done.

Same as my last minute Genoa yarnbombing of Intrecci Urbani, I got out the squares from Rachel’s Crochet Along. I had 11 completed crochet squares, left over Stylecraft DK and a yarnbombing deadline. It was an easy decision to make.

My plan was to use the squares to add to my bench yarnbombing in Summer Road because it seems to be a hit with the local Thames Ditton residence. No-one has tried to remove the crochet or damage it. In fact, people play and interact with it! I think of it as a yarnbomber-friendly-zone*. The railing behind the bench has been calling my name for quite a while now. Just as a living room looks best with something on the wall behind the couch, so my crocheter mind thinks the railing behind the bench could do with a little yarn loving…

Behold, my contribution to International Yarnbombing Day 2013:

As you can see, I joined up the squares (all crocheted from patterns in 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton), and added an edging to the bottom.

The edging pattern is as follows:

Row 1: SC in purple

Row 2: DC in purple

Row 3: *2DC, 2 chain* repeat in deep red

Row 4: *2 chain, 2DC* repeat in bright blue

Row 5: SC in lavender

Row 6: *SC, skip 3 stitches, 9 DC in same stitch* repeat in yellow

John and I put up the yarnbomb on Friday evening so that the Thames Ditton residents would wake up with a yarny suprise on the morning of International Yarn Bombing Day 2013.

Here is a video of me putting up the yarnbomb.

*Unfortunately this video and blog post is the only evidence of my yarnbomb. When I returned to the park on Saturday afternoon, someone had already, probably during the course of Friday night, tried to remove it. Out of the more than 20 cable ties I used, only five remained. Not only did they try to remove it, but they damaged the border in the process.

My contribution to International Yarn Bombing Day 2013 was visible for less than 24 hours, but I did take part and I have a video to remind me. I was really heart broken when I had to take down my crochet work, but I guess it’s just the risk you take with these kind of things.

Yarnbombing a tree in Thames Ditton

18 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Yarnbombing

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Thames Ditton, Yarnbomb, yarnstorm

Another yarnbomb for Thames Ditton!

This time I covered a tree at the roundabout of Speer and Summer Roads. I love how it turned out!!!

The colours turned out to be a very wise choice. It really pops. What looks like a white horizontal border from afar, is actually a light mint green.

I wanted to make a big impact. The initial idea was to do three trees, each in a different colour, later evolving to a an idea for one tree covered from leaf to root in different pieces of crochet, but in the end I settled for this. Once I started work on the first “tree scarf” as Hubby likes to call it, I realised it was going to take a very long time (those trees are more than a meter in diameter!) so I changed my mind I did one tree in three colours.

I was also conscious of the fact that people will probably try to pull/tear/damage my crochet, as proven by the then nine, now four squares at Thames Ditton station. For this reason I attached my yarnbomb as high as possible to the tree. Stand-on-a-ladder high!

The scalloped edge won’t be visible if you drive past, but if you walk, you can appreciate the frilly, feminine, touch.

I really, really, like how this yarnbomb turned out. Can you tell?

I would have loved to cover the whole tree trunk in a beautiful piece of crochet but it’s just sooooo heart breaking for me when I see my crochet damaged. I had to think practical (as practical as any person who crochets coverings for a tree would think) and “held back” on the creativity in order that the one piece I did do, would stay put.

I actually said to my husband “I don’t want my crochet to get hurt”. Only when I had said those words did I realise how I truly felt about my yarnbombing. Every stitch is a little part of me. All I want to do is spread joy and cheer, so when someone removes or damages my crochet it really does hurt.

I’m a yarnbomber and proud of it.

About me in About Thames Ditton

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Natasja in In the press, My crochet

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Thames Ditton, Yarnbomb, yarnstorm

My yarnbombing shenanigans has made it into Thames Ditton’s local monthly magazine, About Thames Ditton!

I love that they call me the “talented perpertrator” and the comment “Make Wool not War” is great.

It’s so lovely to see that other people enjoy and appreciate the yarnbombs. I was planning to do another yarnbomb anyway, but after reading this, I’m definitely doing more (and making it Bigger & Brighter).

Yarnbombing in Thames Ditton

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Yarnbombing

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

Thames Ditton, yarnstorm

I did it! I did my first yarnbomb!!!!

I staked out my corner on Wednesday morning and planned the yarn attack all day Wednesday.

Wednesday evening I returned to measure the ~~location of the attack~~ fence. Measure is probably too technical a term: I put my hand horizontally next to the fence and took a photo, and stood next to the fence, making a note of where the top of the fence reached in relation to my body. When I got home I measured those distances et voila: I needed nine 10cm x 10cm squares. (Might I just add that I did the measuring when everyone from the 18:06 from Waterloo had left the station area so as to not draw too much attention. Yes, that’s right. I didn’t want to draw attention to the 2 minutes of measuring …… for a yarnbomb… using nine crochet squares… to be attached in daylight… on a Saturday… on a busy street corner. Sometimes even I have to shake my head.)

The look I was going for with this yarnbomb, was a zig zag design of floating brightly coloured squares, giving a stained glass window effect to the metal fence. I think I achieved this. Sort of.

As I wanted the squares to appear to be floating, I didn’t use yarn to sew them to the railings, but in stead used cable ties. It worked brilliantly! As a bonus the squares won’t slide down the metal when they get wet, so my squares will stay put.

The pattern is “Circle in a Square” from Jan Eaton’s 200 Crochet Blocks, but only did rounds 1 to 5. All the squares are done in Stylecraft Special DK with a 4mm crochet hook.

My ~~willing accomplice~~ lovely friend, Liezel, joined me on Saturday to attach the nine squares and to ~~get evidence~~ take photos of the guerilla crochet. It was so much fun! And such an adrenaline rush! Carrying cable ties and side cutters in your handbag tend to do that.

We weren’t doing anything illegal and we did it in the light of day, but it still felt sneaky and rebellious (says she who’s biggest act of rebellion to date was wearing a rub-on tattoo on holiday last year.)

I really hope people will enjoy the nine little pops of colour on their way to and from Thames Ditton station. If it makes just one person smile, that will make me smile.