Like clockwork

   I'm not talking about the end of daylight savings time. But just in passing....for my latitude and longitude, I would rather stay on DST all year 'round. When our kids were participating in sports after the public school day, the end of DST meant a huge reduction in after-school sports outside.

To the point, though, the clockwork I'm referring to is election day tomorrow. Raise your hand if you are sick, sick, sick of the ads, lies, rhetoric, and knocks on the door which get the dogs crazy. Things settled down here after we all voted early, contributing to the record early-voting numbers in my state and county. Nice that our personal information was disseminated to volunteers at lightening speed so they knew not to bug us any more. Does anyone else find this creepy? Even so, I put up a Post-It on my door saying "Everyone here has already voted =0)" and someone wrote on it saying, "Call me if you'd like to volunteer!"

   Our youngest daughter who is extremely social-  and environmentally-minded is one of those people who is working a phone bank and herding cats to bring to the forefront the importance of voting, with the focus on our planet and the consequences that ignoring the science of climate change (think Irene & Sandy, for instance, 2 "century" hurricane events that happened in 2 years) will have on our futures, and future generations. My current president believes in the science. The opposition does not. Without a healthy planet, we have no future.
   So the latest in knitting is the LCV (www.lcv.org - League of Conservation Voters) logo (a really cool logo!) It's in my yard, next to my Vote sign, which is making it's 3rd election cycle.
   I sure do hope that passersby will stop and make note of the tag which I place on all my tags - a ribbon with the link to this blog.
   Unfortunately, some neighbor took exception to my "Women for Obama" signs which were on the mailbox post. Or maybe they thought they needed them for their own yards. 

)

Vote with conscience. Think of the future. The money doesn't matter if we are killing the earth.

And treat everyone you meet with kindness, no matter what. That will get you a long way down the road.

As always, Knit For Peace!

SK1

Let the CReaTiVIty Games Begin!

Surprise to me - I did actually manage to make my first hit of 2012 without witnesses!

I put it off until this morning - I was nervous that coming in too early on a Sunday morning would attract unwanted attention.

There is a learning curve to hanging wallknitting, albeit a short one. The knitting behaved in ways I didn't expect. It also behaved differently whether hung vertically or horizontally.

Perhaps not the prettiest of bombs (where else could one write a sentence like that!) but it's funky and a work in progress and I'm proud of it! There is plenty of yarn in my stash to continue. I'll be happy once the nasty acrylic is used up, but on the other hand, it's cheap to experiment with and easy to come by. Then on to delving into my oh-too-immense stash of natural fibers. So many odd balls that I can't bear to just toss out and which knit up much more nicely, even on the knitting machine.



So back to the knitting - I'll whip up a few more panels and add them now and then.

Hasty Bananas!!! And Happy New Year!
SK1

A Winter's Saturday Afternoon

Yet again another long stretch without posts or bombing. This does not mean that I haven't been busy!

I was finally able to manifest not 1, but 2 knitting machines. They are old but work smoothly. Both are Toyota's, which is awesome because it will help me with the learning curve. And I can part out one machine to the other if need be.
I've been working on knitting wallpaper, or should I say, wallknitting!

Here's what I did a couple of months ago, finally figuring out how to knit with a worsted weight yarn on a standard machine, which really prefers a fingering/sport/dk weight. Not a needle broken, and only one bent so far.
Knitting i-cord is easy, but in the worsted weight not very satisfactory. So it will be done in the lighter weights from now on. And I plan on making MILES of it!

Tomorrow, the first of January, will be Bomb Day and the christening of a quiet little spot in a corner of the warehouse where I work. A sofa, rug, coffee table and lamp have been placed and have done much to cheer things up in a 15,000 square foot space. Meetings sometimes take place there, or a quiet lunch. It's a spot as far way from "regular" business as one can get.

My goal for the spot: "Beans Wall of Self-Expression"! I'm putting up the wallknitting, and welcoming acts of creativity to be added to it! Not sure I can get all of this material up and stapled into place before the start of work tomorrow (yes, these guys will be working on New Year's Day!) and if not, that's fine. I'll keep adding wallknitting alongside whatever my creative co-workers might add on their own. I can't wait to get this rolling (it's crept into my consciousness at 3:30 a.m. every morning for the last week, keeping me up, but also allowing me to refine my hit!)

YAY!

In planning, I wasn't thinking this should necessarily be a "New Year's" deal, and I question why a winter's afternoon rolling over to a winter's morning makes any difference. But we seem to like these markers in our lives, so I'm going with it. And hoping I can hit-and-run before the peeps in my circle find me leaving the little surprise of a gift.

More tomorrow -
Hasty Bananas!
SK1
Peace On!

Independence Day

I set these out this morning on a busy street corner a few feet from my favorite coffeehouse not only to continue to celebrate Artown, but Independence Day as well. Although not flashy, they are in their patriotic colors of red, white and blue. My little burst of anarchy is my own statement of independence.

A note about my blog of 7/1: all but one of the bombs are gone! I would love to know what happened to them. It would be great if they are relocated to another part of town!

Knit for Peace and Independence!
SK1

Stop the car, Dad!

More Reno is Artown enhancement! I placed these new pieces at the entrance to a local park this morning. They now look more like gifts - with yarn twisted ties to close them up. All you get is a rock inside, but that could change.
I've started work on the next batch. I'm still not sure what direction these will take.


Knit 4 Peace!
SK1

RENO IS ARTOWN! YAY!

In honor of our first anniversary bombs placed during Artown July of 2010, I came up with the idea of covered river rock. I knit tubes, then close one end and make the tube long enough to cinch at the top of the rock, leaving a flare of knitting over the top. I'm not sure if they are urchins, flowers, or pretty little gifts. This morning I planted 5 of them a hundred yards from the door to my place of work.


Within an hour or two, Sharon came to work and saw the plants. She parked, walked over hill and dale and grabbed one up for herself. Came into the shop all excited about the gift she'd found. It's gratifying to me that she took it upon herself to help herself - it wasn't a reaction I'd expected, which makes it so very cool, and which makes it art.

My plans are to add to that pile. First I was thinking of scattering these around Reno for Artown, but with the exception of a single here and there, I think it will be fun to just add to that pile during the month. If you're in town (Reno) and need a clue to where you can find these, drop a comment here. And when you find them, help yourself to one. All I ask is for you to let me know how you feel about it.

Enjoy a peaceful holiday weekend.
Knit for Peace.

SK1

Stitches West

SK1 and I made the migration to the knitting whirlwind of Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA. Despite harrowing wintery conditions and near-nonstop precipitation, we immersed ourselves in fiber splendor. The workshops were great and some of the food was fine, but we did not want to leave without at least a little bit of tagging activity.

Since the Hilton Santa Clara (across the street from the Conference Center) was suffering from Anonymous-Convention-Hotel-Decorating Syndrome, we concentrated our efforts there. It seemed only appropriate to decorate with the products of our workshops.

Our final tag was left as a cheerful message for a fellow yarn bomber.

Knit 4 Peace! SK2