Sunday Sept 9 in Melbourne City

I belong to the Group Yarn Corner on facebook and we have regular meetings in Melbourne, and work on community projects.  Our latest was to cover the tree outside the TRUNK CAFE in Exhibition Street, and the poles down the side in Lt.Lonsdale Street.

The above piece was a joint effort from several girls.... this was during the construction...

My piece was a long No Standing pole .. I covered the top half in black / white / grey and silver yarns.

and another member did the base in purple and white and purple and silver yarns.

Unfortunately the shadows don't show off my black and grey piece in the best light.

When we had all finished we had an amazing display, and people were stopping all afternoon to ask us about it, including one man who thought we were doing it to soften the blow for any drunks coming out of the nightclubs who may bump into the poles !!!

.. another successful project completed, and we even had a few snails on one pole....

If you are in Melbourne City this week, maybe walk by the TRUNK and see for yourself, or check out the 200 or so photos on our facebook page.

Seven months later .. .. ..

My very first 2 pieces were on opposite sides of the road at a Bus Stop, I put them up in January, and they stayed in place until this week.
One still looked good, tight and not too weather worn, the other was definitely shabby, so I wasn't too sad to see them gone.

Today was a lovely sunny day, so I went for a walk and replaced both of them with a few scraps I had in my stash. 

I have been working hard on a couple of Community Projects for September,  so not had a lot of knitting time to devote to ''local poles''
Hope these two stay in place for another 7 months.

Bourke Street Melbourne ~ spring flowers for a lovely Spring Day

Today was the perfect Melbourne Spring day ~ warm sunshine and loads of people out and about in the city. My facebook friends from over at The Yarn Corner  had organized to Yarn Bomb a squiggly piece of metal in the Bourke Street Mall just outside the  G.P.O.Building.  I am not sure what the metal piece really represents in the way of street art, but after we all added our crafty bits to it, it looked spectacular.  My very small contribution was just 4 hand knitted flowers, not much compared to some, Kylie even managed to spell out BOURKE STREET in Knitting !
We all wanted to go and have coffee after we finished, but people kept coming up, taking photos, asking us about it, so we dawdled for quite some time, chatting to all these interested locals and tourists.

I'm sure some of the girls got to go for coffee afterwards, but I headed back home. I just love the different bits each one did, all joined up as one.  I can't wait for our next project, maybe a tree somewhere that needs a pretty coat?

♥

International Yarn Bombing Day .. and .. Knit in Public Day ... click clack!

Arrived at Federation Square {Melb} today to fine the place abuzz with knitters of all kinds, kids, grannies, Husbands and Wives ... everyone was knitting!  Particularly pleased to see that there was a couch set up for knitters right in front of my yarn bombing installation, yippee!
Today was International Yarn Bombing Day, and there was lots to see -- it is also International Knit in Public Day, and there were seats, beanbags, couches and even deckchairs everywhere for knitters to get on with their knitting.



Australian Country Spinners (Patons) and Spotlight Stores have joined forces to assist the Save The Children Fund, by getting the public interested in knitting squares for blankets to send to children who need our warmth. ONLY pure wool is used in the knitting of these squares, which will be sent to children in India, Cambodia and Laos.  Last Year Save the Children received 153,438 knitted squares.
They were handing out starter kits at Fed.Square today, or you can pop into Spotlight and buy a kit for $10
If you'd like more details of the Funds current campaign check out their website

My grand daughter LJ and I knitted squares last year, and now I've started some for this year's campaign.  Individual pure wool squares 20x20cm are what is needed, and if possible stitched up into 80x80 {16 squares} blankets.

So lots of blankets to make and more yarnbombing to do.... here are some glimpses of the guys and gals knitting in Melbourne.

Mission Accomplished .. .. ..

I arrived at Federation Square [Melbourne] today at 1.30pm to find this HUGE installation, and 'Bali' from over at Twilight Taggers hard at work sewing her, and other knitted and crocheted pieces to the railings.
She quickly found me a spot and I set about attaching all my knitted pieces.. ..

now the workmen were all still there, with their boxes, ladders, cords, drills, lightfittings, mess..... but I think the finished installation will look amazing.

apart from the great Yarn Bombing pieces, knitted and crocheted, there will also be yards and yards of fabric, bunting and all sorts added during the day today, and tomorrow.  The whole thing will be there for all of JUNE.
I saw a few of the contributions from overseas sent to Bali too, including a super cute one from U.S.A.
If you are in Melbourne during JUNE, please drop in for a look. All of my pieces have my 'tag' on them, and apparently, the organizers are happy for ANYONE to add a piece at any time during June, especially on June 11th, which is  International Yarn Bomb Day.

Lights in Winter Festival ... it's almost here !!

this is an event being held in Melbourne at Federation Square during JUNE.  I have been working on a few pieces to add to a pole.
"Bali" my friend over at Twilight Taggers introduced me to the Festival, and said they needed lots of bright red/yellow/orange pole pieces, and some white / blue snowflake pieces.  I don't crochet so did not do any of the snowflakes, but I have managed lots of bright pole pieces and one small blue/white/grey pole piece too.

June 11, 2011  is International Yarn Bombing Day and  Worldwide Knit In Public Day, so a lot of us will be hanging out at Fed.Square that day, why not join us,  post an entry on your blog about your yarn bombing journey, and share your yarning 'yarns' with us all.


I can't wait to see how Federation Square looks all 'prettied' up, and nice and cosy too.

Good Yarn Tagging on Good Friday .. a walk in the Park

Last day of gr'daughter's holiday here today, so we went for a walk in the Park and are very pleased to report that all Yarn Tags left in January are still in position.  Most are looking worse for wear, particularly as they have been out in the blazing sun and the wind and rain, rain, rain.
So to freshen the Park up a bit, we left two new ones today... on a Park bench overlooking the Creek....

and further up the Creek, one on the railings.  Pretty boring colours I know, but these were two from my stash of Op Shop Found knitted squares.

... still added a little brightness to an otherwise, somewhat overcast day.

Hope you all have a happy Easter, I' ll be knitting away getting some work done for the  International Yarn Bombing Day.

International YARN BOMBING DAY ~ Australia Celebrates in Melbourne in June

Saturday, June 11 2011 · 12:00pm - 3:00pm

Federation Square, Melbourne, Vic.  Australia

Cnr Flinders Street & Swanston Street

 

Just read this over at Twilight Taggers, and had to share.

Federation Square will play host to the 'Lights In Winter' festival for the month of June. A giant structure incorporating lights, lanterns, snowflakes and yarn bombing will be set up for all to see. This will be up for the whole month.

But why not come along on June 11th for International Yarn Bombing Day and see yarn bombing in person. Bring your yarn and knitting needles/crochet hooks/knitting looms and meet others that love this hobby. Never done it before? Come and talk to yarn bombers in person including Bali of Twilight Taggers, and Dee and Aysen of Knit Wits.

In the event of rain, this get-together will meet inside the Time Out Cafe at Federation Square.

Feel free to bring your friends and family along. See you there!

Yes, I will be there, and I will start tomorrow to work on a project for the display at Fed.Square.  I will keep you posted here about my progress.

If you would like to be a part of yarn bombing this structure, please leave a comment so I can give you the details ~~ or check out Twilight Taggers blog.

 

time for stripes

Not the most innovative of designs, just some pretty purple and white stripes on a pole in Riversdale Road.♥

Yarn Bombing . . .

... Knitting Tagging ... what ever you want to call it

For me it all started one November day in Sydney. I saw a pole with knitting on it. Amazing, never seen anything like that before. I photographed it and when I returned to Melbourne I started googling to find out more about this unusual Street Art.

I soon learned that it is called 'Yarn Bombing' by most knitters, although personally I don't like that term, and would prefer to call it Tag Knitting.
I thought ok I'll try to do one too.

That was in January, and it is still in position.
I then thought that instead of knitting all my own tags, why not use left overs from Op Shops etc. so I scouted around and found a few knitted squares, which I applied to poles in January.

.... and they are still in position too.

Then I found a lovely bright scarf in an op shop, a bit worse for wear, with a few little moth holes.  I decided to cut it up, by first doing a few rows of machine stitching.. then cutting between the stitches so it does not fray.

added at the end of January, it is still in position today, looking a bit sad, due to the weather, but firmly in place.

Granddaughter even knitted a whole length to add to a bus seat armrest in a local bus shelter, a nice comfy seat to sit and wait for a bus.

Unfortunately, it was removed within 24 hours. So disappointing.

So we added one to a street seat, and it is still there.

During February I met, via the net, 'Bali' from Twilight Taggers  and she has been a great encouragement.  'Bali' mostly crochets her beautiful installations.

For a Moomba celebration this weekend we went down to the Yarra and she released some lovely yellow ducks in cute crochet outfits, for her Float Away Duck Project.

I just managed to make one ramp on one pontoon all the more 'festive' for the Moomba Festival.

If you are a Yarn Bomber, Knitting Tagger, or Street Artist, follow my blog, and 'Bali's' blog for more inspiration. And please leave your comments, I'd love to hear from you.