International Yarnbombing Day

Hello loves,

I just found something so, so, very, very interesting… and fun!  I’ve got a great project in the works for International Yarn Bombing Day on June 11th.  Read up on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Yarn-Bombing-Day-June-11th-2011/104441312968198?sk=wall or on the official blog: http://iybd.blogspot.com/

I think this is a great idea and I encourage any knitters in Vernon who want to get a little rogue to get some scraps out and get ready to make Vernon COLOURFUL!!!  (Speaking of which – it was explained to me the other day that Hospital hill is quite grey to walk along.  Plenty of opportunity for more colour there…) I’d love to organise something to make Vernon colourific.  Let me know if you’re interested!

knitified* out.

Knit or Die, bitches.

Hello loves,

Sunday night was amazing.  Stucer and I drove out to Kelowna and had such a great night.  Yummy dinner and then the concert…  I’m short on words to describe it.

We were a bit late, arriving part way through Kingdom Cloud’s set.  I’d never heard of them but am SO GLAD that I caught what I did of their set.  I gotta say that the drummer was the best part – that girl was smiling the whole time as she worked her percussive magic.  Fun to watch and fun to listen to.

Aidan Knight was next up with the Friendly Friends (Julia, Olivier, Dave and Colin) and they fully blew my mind.  This group of people is so talented it makes my sick.  I’m already a huge fan of Aidan and his music (and so is Swimmy, evidently, as he swims around in my belly enthusiastically anytime I put Aidan’s music on) and I’ve seen him play three times, and each time it only gets better.  I love his music for all the complexities and intricacies, the instrumental nuances.  And the TRUMPET!!!  I get goosebumps when I hear Altar Boys.  But I have to say that my Very Favourite Part of their set this time round was Aidan’s friendly shout out from the stage before Knitting Something Nice For You, “this song is dedicated to my friend in Vernon and everyone else who loves to knit or bake or any craft that’s considered socially marginal.”  Rad.

Said the Whale was next and I loved every minute.  Their set seemed really short, but maybe that’s just because I was having a great time.  Awesome stage energy, great live show.

We Are The City closed the night and were also really awesome.  High energy and lots of fun.

Stucer and I rounded out the evening with a little yarnbomb I created just for the night.  I thought it was quite apropos.

Retrospective Yarnbombs of En Zed.

Hello loves,

Best intentions, right? Of course I’ve been home for 10 days and just now am I posting the yarnbombs I did in NZ.  Oh well.  We had a great time and though I didn’t get to post while I was away, I’ll be doing lots of posting this fall and before it gets too freeeeeking cold this winter.

I only did two wee yarnbombs after Auckland (that I could find pictures of – I thought there were more, but I can’t find evidence in my camera…) So here is one of my little magnetic flowers in Welly and a woogy warm fishnet by the Avon in Christchurch.  And a bonus couple of pix from Dunedin & Chch – not exactly yarnbombs, but I really loved Dunedin and wanted to share how steep it is and I really loved Chch and wanted to share the Coolest-Lady-Who-Makes-Amazing-Work-in-Felt-at-the-Chch-Art-Centre-Market-

Whose-Name-I-Failed-to-Ask.  She was rad and posed with the Meemats Monsters that I carried through NZ with me.  And we talked about Amelie and our shared love of that beautiful French movie.

So, maybe another post later this week…  I’m working on some little projects to

ease the autumn chill here in Vernon.

Knitified* out.

Yarnbombs, Fire Alarms and Randoms from the 19th Floor

Hello loves,

Auckland was beautiful.  It’s a gorgeous city with lots of park spaces and funky little avenues and tall buildings and old trees and statues.  We left the city a few days ago and have made our way to Welly over the last few days via Coromandel and Rotorua.

We spent quite a bit of time in Albert Park on the way to and from our hotel and town, so I wanted to leave a little something there.  Two little yarnbombs – a sexy pink fishnet and a sassy pink flower.

I’ve only been in NZ for a week (I think…) but I’ve already learned a thing or two, cheif among those things is that fire alarms sound different here from at home.

This was a lesson of Auckland at 3:30 am when big brother came speaking at us through the ceilings and walls “The fire alarm has been activated in another part of the building.  Please stand by for directions.  The fire alarm has been activated in another part of the building.  You may evacuate if you wish.”  He repeated this for about 3 minute and then, “The fire alarm has been activated.  Please evacuate the building.”

So there we were, marching down 19 flights of stairs (me with my crocheted monkey and our passports) and out into the rainy night with all the other hotel guests and renters.  And there were 7 fire trucks.  And this is where I noticed that I had forgotten my knitting… slight panic hit me, I won’t lie.  And when they had it all cleared, we had to march our sleepy asses back up to the 19^th.  That was fun, because by the time we got back up there, although we wereexhausted, our hearts were beating and our (my) adrenaline was racing and I couldn’t fall asleep.  So instead I listened to Auckland on a Saturday night.  Lots of laughing and crying and even a random haka.

More posts coming soon…

knitified* out.

One Tiny Yarnbomb in San Francisco

Hello loves,

On our way to NZ, we got to spend the day in SF and had a great time.  We took the BART from sfo to Embarcadero and walked around from the Ferry Building to Fishermans Wharf.  We had lunch at The Plant and enjoyed some really tasty treats at the fancy little bakery in the Ferry building.

I really wanted to see that big red bridge and one of those gigantic hills that the city is so famous for, but no luck.  But, I did get to see Alcatraz which was neat and WAY closer to the mainland than i would have thought.  It was Labour Day Monday, so the area was packed with tourists – I had only one of my little magnetic knitted flowers on me so placed that with a view of Alcatraz in the back.

The visit in sf was fun but fast with only 6 hours or so to bum arNow we’re in Auckland and I think tomorrow I’ll get to do a bit of knitifying…  we’ll see how it goes.

knitified* out.

Last Knitification for a few weeks in Vernon

Hello loves,

Yep, that’s right.  For the next 5 weeks or so, any posts I put up will be in the “knitified* out of town” category.  This is the last yarnbomb in Vernon for the next few weeks.  It’s a cute little crocheted fishnet and it’s at Okanagan College –  Kalamalka campus on the upper parking lot.

So in the next few weeks, I have plans to knitify San Francisco, Honolulu and large swaths of New Zealand.  Right now I have no idea how when or often I’ll get to post these knitifications, but I’ll do as soon as I can.  Subscribe for updates or check back often.

knitified* out.

New Yarnbomb in Vernon

Hello loves,

Well, there they are.  Riot on the Roof isn’t until Saturday night, but I’ve installed early.  Hopefully they make it until then.  It’s only 50 hours away…  Also, I think I made a good impression on the lady from Nighthawk security.  She was doing her rounds and as I pulled out the camera to snap a few shots of my fancywork, she came over and asked why I “put that there?” so I told her about the event that the youth ambassador at the VPAG has put together and she said, “Oh yes, that’s right!  I thought maybe that’s what you were up to, but I thought i should check” and she introduced herself and we shook hands, had a little chat and wished eachother a nice evening.  Nice lady.

This little yarnbomb comes with a challenge.  THINK.  And so now the parkade is cozied and I’m sad that I’ll miss the event.  I think it’s going to be really fun!  Like I mentioned in my last post, if anyone is at the event and happens to get some pics of my little cozy during the event, I’d LOVE to put them up here.  Sending them to knitified (at) yahoo (dot) ca would be very much appreciated.

In other news, I occasionally talk about music, because in addition to my knitting compulsion, I’m also a music freak.  And quickly, I just have to tell about my end of summer party.  We called it “See Out Summer With the Cool Kids” and we were lucky enough to be able to host Aidan Knight who wooed us with his melodic, dynamic and soulful tunes.  I was a huge fan of Aidan’s already – I saw him play with Dan Mangan in Kelowna earlier this year – but talking to him, he’s such a nice guy and so talented and of course his song Knitting Something Nice proves just how cool he really is.  (Moni, I know how sad you are that you couldn’t be there! You were in my heart all night long.  TO is a long way away…)  Seriously great guy and his band guys were awesome too.  I’m going to knit them all mittens.  I figure I can get 2 pairs done on the flight to New Zealand and holy fuck it just occured to me that I could guerilla knit on the plane ride!!! (I think I’ll stay away from the term “yarnbomb” when planes are involved… yea, good plan.)  But back to Aidan: if you don’t know his music, look it up.  Thanks be to Aidan, Dave, Olivier and Collin (if I remember correctly) for a great night and to all the lovelies that came out to support independant music and a good time.  Um, and if anyone has any good pictures from Monday night, send me some.  All mine suck.  Mostly I blame the absinthe.

knitified* out.

Riot on the Roof – new bomb coming soon!

Hello loves,

Riot on the Roof at the Vernon Public Art Gallery is on Saturday, and even though I won’t be in town, I’ll have a cozy there taking part for me.

Here’s a picture of it in progress.

You can read about the event here.  Small typo in there… apparently they’re expecting me to be YARD bombing.  Hmmm, that sounds more violent than what I normally do.  I’ll stick with the yarn.

I’ll post pictures of it installed as soon as I’ve got it in place.  Also, if anyone is at the Riot, (Saturday at 8:00 pm) I’d LOVE a picture of my piece at the event with people around and everything… hint hint.  Like I said, I can’t be there.  (boo!)   Any kind people can email pics to:

knitifed (at) yahoo (dot) ca

More coming soon.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

So Atlantis waterslides has put a lot of work into updating their advertising, that god awful billboard, and has been busy putting up posters all over town.  I think they must be under new ownership or something.  I was at the fruit stand and couldn’t help but notice the gigantic “Indian” chief (I suppose) head at the bottom of their drive.  (I use here the term “Indian” ironically, with reference to an archaic and often offensive pattern of thought, whereby it’s okay to appropriate cultures to make a buck but that’s semantics and something else.  For an excellent podcast on the semantics subject, see CBC’s Revision Quest, Episode June 29, 2009, Labels.)

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

a) this is just missing a motion-sensor activated speaker that says “HOW!” to max out on the tacky scale.

b) this needs to be yarn bombed.

c) shouldn’t that be Poseidon’s head?

d) all of the above.

What are your thoughts?

From knitified* with love…

Hello loves,

This is a late update, I know.  I got back from Castlegar fully 5 days ago.  So all apologies for my tardiness.  Please accept this entry with all of its pictures.  Before I get into last weekend, let me drop in a pic from the Vernon Morning Star.  Hey look!  There’s me!!!  Clearly, the arts editor in Vernon knows what’s cool.

On to last weekend… I drove down from Vermin on 6 through Coldsore, Lumpy, Cherrypit to New Denver then headed south through the Slocan Valley.  Know what I love most about Hwy 6? The highway sixyness of it. Gorgeous drive.  Phenomenally beautiful. Curves that don’t quit. 

Castlegar was lovely, though I didn’t spend much time there.  And I didn’t actually even get to yarnbomb in city limits.  I really only got to spend about an hour in the park by the river with takeout from the local Indian restaurant (can’t recall the name) which was okay (6/10) and had overwhelmingly huge portions.  Anyway, pretty park.  There was a wedding on the other side of the river and I could hear everything that was going on and that was fun.  But this was all in the early evening, so everything was closed and so there wasn’t much bumming around to be done.   The closest I got was the rest area that overlooks Ootischenia and Castlegar on the Crowsnest Hwy 3.  I think it turned out well.  I like how the cable knit looks when it’s stretched over the metal pole.  There were some Dutch tourists in an RV who were watching me put this one up and though I couldn’t understand much of what was being said between them, I did catch a bit and I think they were confused by the whole process.

In Nelson, which is ever so lovely this time of year and crawling with people, of all the knits I had at my disposal, only one of them fit anything.  As a result, Nelson just got this little purple one.  It’s not down town, but in the park near the big orange bridge.  It always surprises me how big and orange that bridge really is.  The park was really busy and the day was warm and I bummed around town for about 4 hours before I went for a scenic drive through Ymir, Salmo and back to Castlegar. 

On Sunday I drove back home on 31 to Kaslo which stole my heart and my breath as it does everytime I visit.  Even on a Sunday with everything closed, Kaslo was super busy and I was starving so I didn’t stay long.  I didn’t get to knitify anything, but next time for sure.  When I left town on 31A, I had half a mind to head north to Shutty Bench (just for shits and giggles) but I didn’t.  Instead, I drove up the hill out of town and about half way to Retallack (which is about half way between New Denver and Kaslo – it’s where those old school house looking buildings are) I found a pullout with a metal post beggin’ to be cozied.  So I did.  Passing traffic was minimal, but those that did pass gave me all sorts of weird looks as they rubbernecked their ways past me.  Squares. 

My last stop was in New Denver which is a super cute place and I had lunch at the only place in town that was open, the Panini (which has good food by I hate going there because it’s one of those places that has a huge list of rules that don’t come off as cutesy but a bit dictator-like and which I find stupid and also because everytime i go in there, the woman that runs the place is being a horrible boss to the young people she has working for her).  So I took my food to go and went to sit on the beach.  There I found a walking stick.  So I knitified it and planted it in the water.  That’s Slocan lake and the Valhalla park mountains in the distance. 

From New Denver I booked it home and had a rather traumatising experience involving my car and a robin.  I stopped, cried a bit and then the rain started and, in the deluge that followed, washed everything away.  Which is good because it was very messy and without getting into detail there is no way I would’ve had enough washer fluid.  I’ve never killed an animal in my car before and I now know it’s a very violent and graphic way for a little birdy to die.  I’m sorry little robin. 

Lastly, tomorrow morning I’m heading out to Banff to go see Hawksley Workman with my ladies B and Meemats.  I promise I’ll behave.  He’s just the hottest man on the planet.  Oh dear god.

knitified* out.