A Solo and a Collaboration!

Gotta say, these days that are not so illuminated are great for tagging, as we noted before. I prepared a stone cozy, went to the county Health District office, carrying my knitting bag, expecting a wait for the free H1N1 shot. Alas, no wait. Most people think no wait is like hitting the jackpot, I like to sit and knit and observe people.

They were observing me, apparently. Not only no wait, but I agreed to smile for the local paper's photographer while getting poked (no double entendre, please!) AND answer interview questions. The interviewee could not tell me who knit her clearly hand knit scarf, however. She acquired it at some function the paper had, and I know the knitter of another scarf she owns. I pulled out my latest piece and asked her if she'd ever heard of knitfiti. Nope. But perhaps there will be some media attention when our tags in this community are noticed. She was writing in shorthand, and I don't know if she took any details down in terms of the yarn bombing. Don't think so.....Interview question: what do you do? Answer: I knit. I heard a soft snort, but added, "I'm a professional knitter." Don't think they'd gotten THAT response before.

After my trip to the Health Dept, I swung around to a park and while driving down the road which parallels the bike/running path in the park, saw a guy doing pretty good time. I pulled into the parking lot, placed my rock tag, took pics, and was back in my car to see him run by - he had just checked his watch to see what his time/running pace was, then saw the tag and I grinned when I saw him notice this brightly colored, knitted covered piece.

On with the other drudgeries of my day. One of the banks we have accounts with is near a small shopping center. After banking, I swung in, tagged a sweet Volvo, left our card, took a picture and scooted off. I know the owner of the car, and collaborated with someone who could give me the All Clear! Cozy on, card under the wiper blade, drive-by photo shoot, and who needs aerobics when you can get your heart rate up by being a self-proclaimed law-abiding citizen who feels like she's breaking some law???
The antenna is on the rear of the car which is parked next to the car you see. The cozy is from my "hydra" series! =0)

knit4peace!

SK1

Tagging "Technology"

After SK2's and my first joint tagging expedition, I started thinking about how to bomb with more expediency. (Note to self: try to find a bulky knitting machine - they use a worsted weight yarn and if I'm going to be bombing all over the place, hand knitting will kill my hands.) Sewing went fairly quickly, but was a little cumbersome, especially in freezing rain when fingers don't cooperate the way they might on a rare warm spring day. Other yarn bombers speak of using tie wraps to quickly attach their pieces, but they can be aesthetically offensive unless they can be completely hidden.

My favorite stitch markers are the soft black ones. They come in a variety of sizes. Off I went to the big box hardware store and in the plumbing section found little packages of 10 (and couldn't find any packages that had more). Each pkg was had rings of equal size, although you can obtain different sizes, and each pkg was an amazingly expensive at $1.97. Does anyone know where I can get these in bulk? I'll be trying the competitor's big box hardware store in the meantime.

I can get 20 rings from my LYS for $3.50, and I really don't care if the sizes are different, although in a perfect world, I'd rather have a consistent size.

This is what I did:

I slipped the 10 rings onto the yarn before I began knitting, just like you'd do if you were going to knit with beads. Every now and then I slid one up at the beginning and end of a RS row. I think it might be better to stagger the rings on each side.

With the configuration I came up with, I could certainly easily thread through the rings, and at this point I'm thinking that zig-zagging across and making 2 passes would work better than going "straight", matching up rings on each side, if you know what I mean (like lacing up your boots or corset). For this first experiment, it might not go any more quickly than the sewing we did.

It might work to leave "live" stitches on one side that could be zipped through with a long tail and sewn onto the cast on edge.

Here is the tool kit I came up with (sans camera, since I needed it to take the pic):


What we've found useful so far: bag with lots of pockets. And a mini-bag (do you see the little red bag in the center that SK2 gifted to me from Alaska? Handy for needles and crochet hooks). Identifying cards already sewn onto the pieces. And include more yarn than you think you might need to sew your tags onto posts, trees, ballards, park statues, etc. Scissors are essential if you are using an acrylic that you can't break with your hands, like you can with wool. Cards not sewn to pieces are handy for when you hit a car antenna so you can place the card under a wiper. Don't forget the camera!

The tagging ribbons arrived today! Pics to follow! Bombing schedule: T minus 1 day! YAY!

k4Peace

SK1

Tagging "Technology"

After SK2's and my first tagging expedition, I was thinking that it might be nice to have a quicker way to attach our tags rather than sewing. Tie wraps are used by many yarn bombers, but I think they probably take as much time as sewing and aren't all that attractive.

Another cloudy day - another tag

Knit4Peace! ---SK2

Seriously, this is too much fun!

As SK2's blog noted, we went downtown, mid-afternoon, weather a little lousy, and were able to tag with what we had in our bags to tag with. Does that sound confusing? (Does to me...)


A tag is the piece you're using to tag, or "plant". I think some re-definitions might be helpful, but for now, I'm not going to be the one to get into a conversation over what all this verbage equates to. So a noun and a verb. I tag, you tag, we tag. Ala Queen, "We will, we will TAG YOU!" You have been tagged. I have knitted many tags. The last tag I knit was so cool!


I'm adding pics I took of SK2 working her subversive magic. Plus other shots of my stuff. We thought having measurements of possible targets might be helpful. Of course that is true, but knitting can be really stretchy so I wasn't so concerned about size - I figured we'd find something that my tags might fit. And we did! You can use your hands to estimate sizes of things. My middle finger is 3" long. About 6" from the top of the longest finger to the bottom of the palm.


Surprise to SK2: SK1 (moi) is a confirmed rule-follower, for the most part. We had an opportunity to tag the antenna of a truck parked next to us - I couldn't do it! (For heaven's sake, it was the middle of the afternoon!) I've got my own ideas of when and how to place something on someone else's personal private property, aside from the private property (IS it private property?) of the city and a non-profit museum. That none of this is invasive or destructive is crucial to me and SK2.

Questions arise. What is street art? What is intrusion? Where is the line? Are we breaking a law? Or two? What the heck are we saying here?

Knit4Peace

Please comment!

We're adding to the crew - stay tuned!

SK1

Downtown Tagging

Having dabbled our toes in the knitfiti pool, it was time to dive on in. Today we braved sleety rain to install a variety of tags in the downtown corridor. SK1 added cards to each piece with our blog URL, so if you are reading this, you may have found one of our tags. If so, drop us a comment and let us know where you found us. Turns out that freezing rain is great for anonymous tagging, since the streets were pretty much empty of curious passersby.

Here are some images of today's knitfiti:








Knit4Peace! ---SK2

Information, Please

I'm working on creating more tags in preparation for a dedicated tagging day. And I was thinking that it might be a good idea to have our blog imprinted on some ribbon (lots cheaper than woven labels) to attach to the pieces. I placed an order today - hopefully it will be 2, not 3, weeks before they are here.

In the meantime, here's what I'm doing

Knit4Peace
SK1

Tagged

Tada!! I chose to tag a state-owned Cushman for 2 reasons: first - it obviously needed cheering up; and second - I could reach far enough to slide it on without having to climb onto someone's hood. I think it adds a bit of pizazz to the grubby little vehicle. And yes, the antenna was already bent when I encountered it. --SK2!

Snakey wire cozy

OK, it is not a tag, but here are a few blurry (sorry about that) images of my completed Mac power cord cozy. I felt it needed a little something extra so I put a snake head on the computer end. The I-cord was knitted directly around the cord, so it doesn't come off (without scissors). Henceforth my power cord will never be mistaken for another white Apple cord. --SK2

Getting started

SK1's successful first tag inspired me to get going on mine. But first I needed to acquire some materials. Since most knitfiti is installed outside, the yarn of choice has to be eye-catching and stand up to the elements. Ignoring the yarn-snob beasty inside, I set out to buy (oh no!) acrylic. Not just acrylic, but the brightly colored inexpensive skeins of Red Heart worsted, that will no doubt survive intact long after mankind has vanished from the planet.

I slunk into WallyWorld, hoping to avoid running into anyone I know. I sidled up to the mountainous shelves brimming over with every bright cheerful color (and a few unfortunate colors) and quickly stuffed my reusable shopping bags full with an assortment of hefty bargain-priced skeins. Keeping my head down I managed to pay and duck out to the car without being recognized.



Not having the forethought to measure any targets for size, my first project is also an antenna cozy. Tomorrow I will seek out an appropriate vehicle. Meanwhile, knitting the oversized I-cord inspired me to knit a cozy around the power cord to my laptop. If you try this, you can knit the cord into the piece as you go by throwing the yarn around it each time you slide the stitches back to the right end of the needle. Be aware though that you may have to pause occasionally to recharge the computer. :-)

K4Ps (Knit for Peace)
SK2

Our First Tag

A gift can lead one down a number of choices of paths to take. My friend, SK2, gifted me the book, "Yarn Bombing", yesterday. I've been contemplating knit-ffiti for a while, loving the art, the subversity, the chance to make a small change in the status quo around me.

Tonight, after giving my first ever knitting lecture, the hostess told me, "Thank you so much! That was incredibly interesting!" During the lecture, a woman brought up the subject of knitting graffiti, and out of my pocket I pulled an antenna cozy I had knit this afternoon, for the express purpose of tagging someone after the lecture. "Someone will be tagged tonight," I said, mysteriously.

Hard these days to find an actual antenna on a car that is not retracted or imbedded in the windshield. But I managed.

With my first ever tag, I've broken my own rule about anonymity. That's going to be the tough one, but we'll persevere and make our marks on this part of our world.

Knit4Peace

SK1