Ok, the Yarn Storm is not
actually in honor of my Eighth Blogiversary (although that's kind of a neat idea...Hmmmm). It just happened to fall on my Blogiversary and I got to help!
The Loft Cinema inspired all this by having the good taste to plan to
show a Fiber Artist documentary called "
Yarn". They also had the excellent taste to invite the
Tucson Handweaver's and Spinner's Guild to be a community partner and to apply yarn graffiti (aka "Yarn Storming" or "Yarn Bombing") to their courtyard and theater lobby.
Excellent Yarn Storming definition courtesy of the very spiffy
Deadly Knitshade :
"Yarnstorming: The art of enhancing a public place or
object with graffiti knitting or crochet
(and running away giggling)."
I won't be dropping names here since I don't have permission from everyone, but I have to say the folks that embraced this concept and ran (knit/wove/crocheted/knotted) with it are truly stellar! And the woman who organized the whole shebang is amazing and I'm pleased and proud to know her.
Artists and crafters from outside the guild joined us in planning the Yarn Storm decorations as well as how to utilize the strips and squares knit/woven/crocheted/etc. by sooooo many folks.
We had a few meetings to plot/craft together and many people came by to drop off knit swatches, woven samples, partially completed sweaters, placemats that had woven up just a little too small, experimental or beginner projects as well as nifty crafted items (like a snake) that were well-executed but awaiting the revelation of it's true purpose in the series of Yarn Storms planned for this year.
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| Our first Yarn Storm meet up. |
I know...ignore all the glasses and focus on the fiber and busy hands. By the way, our meeting was also an ode to
World Wide Knit in Public (WWKIP) day - and we were very public (although a week early).
The above is a coiled (and very cleverly made) snake and a pi-shawl that was donated to the cause.
I wish I'd gotten a picture of the snake being passed from person to person down one side of the table looking like it was slithering it's way down the long edge of the table.
The pi shawl was someone's 1st design effort but she indicated it had too many errors and she didn't really like the color - so it was donated to the Yarn Storming effort!
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| Our 2nd Yarn Storm meet up. |
I mostly knit strips and squares and offered my 2-cents worth on various sub-projects during our meetings. I expected to be at work during the installation so I didn't pledge to graffiti anything specifically but I did my best to support the effort and enjoy the atmosphere.
Ooooh - the atmosphere for the 2nd meeting was at the
Spirited Hands studio. (One of their workshops will definitely be on my Christmas list.) They felt such lovely things and they created an amazing felted face for the Yarn Storm!! (Picture included further below
**, although the picture doesn't do it justice!)
Our fearless and creative Yarn Storm leader started making wigs from the donated roving and sheep locks. Fun, clever...and
warm to wear. ;-)
I continued to knit strips and honored
WWKIP day the next week when I hung out with the DH and his best friend (a Cleveland Cavalier's fan) as we watched the
final NBA playoff game. (I had concerns if the best friend would make it through the game or fall over from the stress.)
One of our last meetings was at our newest LYS,
Birdhouse Yarns.
Folks had been creating more things for the Yarn Storm. LOVE the knitted legs, crocheted Converse sneakers and especially the
Flat Rat underneath the right shoe. Why knit legs? You'll see.
The sheep you see above...well, aside from being very cute, he surprised me later with the size of his fleece! The apple was cleverly created....yep, to go with the snake.
And people were knitting, crocheting and making loop flowers!! A full garden (or courtyard) worth.
So the day of the install, (
turns out I didn't have to work!) we met at the Loft Cinema with knitted, crocheted, woven, and stranded fabric strips, water, hats, needles, yarn, scissors, stepstools, etc. in the early morning hours.
{Our thanks again for the Loft Cinema staffers who answered questions, met with us in the early morning, sat and waited for our creativity to run it's course, and especially for bringing the Yarn documentary to Tucson!}
Kudos and appreciation are offered to all the folks, like me, who provided strips of fabric, supplies and much encouragement.
Admiration and thanks are also offered to the various folks who worked to create a particular look, theme, project, and all the general spiffiness you'll see in the following pictures.
**
Talent and imagination lives in Tucson!
Hmmmmm. Sorry.
** No, really - sorry.
I'm going to pause here. I will finish this post tomorrow. I just realized it would be mean of me to post pictures of the full Loft Yarn Storm when folks would/should see it tonight at the theater without spoilers from me being posted earlier in the day.
So - more tomorrow - after we've dismantled the Yarn Storm at the Loft Cinema and enjoyed the Yarn Storm by twilight tonight along with the
YARN fiber artist documentary.
Kind of appropriate for a Blogiversary, really.
With the promise of another blog post - tomorrow.
