Yes, I know that I'm a crochet artist, but I'm honoured to be included in Lela Nargi's new book, Astounding Knits.
book cover ©lelanargi
So if you want to see knitting and crochet like you have NEVER seen before. (These are not your average knitted penguins. There are master sculptors at work here.) Head on over to Amazon and get yourself a dose of fibery goodness. Seriously, people, sticks and string don't get better than this.
So from tree looms attacked by squirrels and natural leaf doilies on frosty mornings to our favourite place in the world. The Adirondecks.
And then pumpkin carving with our buddies before flying to Portland.
The population of Portland prides itself on keeping it weird. A tradition that they seem to have perfected. Way too weird for me - and I never thought I'd say that. But if it means we can eat Voodoo doll doughnuts and laugh ourselves stupid over mimosa cocktails with our buddies at breakfast, then it was fun.
And then of course. We (hopefully) broke the world record for the biggest crochet hook.
We made a basic web out of yarn we'd spun from wool. We went for texture and lumps and bumps, navajo plying it badly for extra texture. (There's me and Jimbo)
Then we used the hook. (That's Laurie of the CLF.)
And crocheted the outer part of the web.
Yes I am gurning as I strain to lift that darn thing. That's a genuine sweat being broken. But we did it!
Next - the Coast Starlight train to Oakland.
Before surrendering to the beauty of Yosemite.
Marvelling at Lake Tenaya.
And crocheting and knitting my fugly sock on lake Tahoe.
More in a few days.....
6th of June 2009: Coventry: Bucketing Down: Best Fun I've Had in Ages One ball of 'normous yarn behind block-printed English Cookies cautionary tape.
One fibre activist in a Curious Tales corset and bustle.
7 hours of Cor Blimey! Crochet.
A bit of hanging with Bevboot's sock monkey.
A little Medicine sans Frontiers added to my new chair design prototypes....(the proper chairs go on sale in August. Watch this space.)
And all that's left to do is rest my tired feet and pull Betty Page poses.
The after party? Well those pics are under lock and key.....
It's coming up soon, people.......
Are your fibery fingers twitching? They should be.....
I'll be there doing my Cor Blimey Crochet! exhibiting a few micro-organisms with Ildi, and selling my batts.......
And eating cake of course....oh cake.....
Make sure you come by my stand. I'll be downstairs. Probably eating cake....
Get your tickets HERE.
p.s don't forget to enter my May competition. Click on WIN MY FIBRE! in the right hand column over there.
I'm EXTREMEly pleased to announce... That I've re-branded my crochet installations.
From now, on my practice is known
as
I'll be performing at Ravelry Day on 6th June in Coventry, UK.
And if you can't make it, here 'tis on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds9J_hcOOIw
For those of you who can't make it to the Turnpike, you can watch my (rather clunky) youtube video of me winding my ball and then crocheting the monster bacteria. It didn't turn out as big as I'd hoped, due to lack of stuffing, but hey, it ain't no granny square.
Oh, and who would you want watching you shed blood and sweat for your artistic practice? Well the UK Minister for Culture, Andy Burnham, of course.
Stay tuned for my next Cor Blimey Crochet! installation. This is just puppy feed.
I'm getting ready for the UK DIY show at the Turnpike Gallery.
You'll recognise one of my white reefs on the cover there (and Alabamawhirly's gorgeous gloves, Miso Funky's emo-broidery, Ildiko Szabo's freeform and the odd bit of yarn bombing, too).
But I'm not installing coral this time. I've cooked up a plan with Ildi to install micro organisms.
All are larger than life.
Some crocheted and felted.
And some gigantically, ridiculously, arm crocheted (as let's face it, hand crocheted doesn't apply to this monster!) I'm calling it Cor Blimey Crochet!
If you've ever wondered what a listeria bacterium would look like enlarged to the size of a car, then the Turnpike will be the place to visit.
Thanks to the lovely Jacob Semko and my one and only hub, MyTarPit, shaking their tail feathers for the last 3 days and helping me construct this filament, I've got 300m of the stuff to drag across the Irish Sea and tame on site. I'll not know if it works until we're actually in the gallery, so fingers crossed.
And so why am I doing this - because, let's face it, it's not for the fun of picking glitter out of my undies for the rest of the year! Well, I want people to think about who really rules the world. Here's a sneak preview of my wall text.
MICRO POWER
I've often wondered why the Human Race thinks itself so superior. By taming other creatures and bending them to our will, we assume that we have the greatest intelligence of any organism.
But I'm not so sure.
I'm beginning to think that micro organisms truly rule our planet. We rely on them to keep us alive, all the time hoping that they don't kill us. Meanwhile, they're mutating and evolving, making our defenses ineffective.
At only a few nanometers long, some of these microorganisms are so small that they don't even reflect colour. (Humans can see colour waves between only 400 and 700 nanometers long.)
Under a powerful electron microscope, scientists have to fire electrons at the microorganisms to 'excite' them and make them glow to be visible.
MICRO POWER lead me to enlarge these monumentally powerful, yet microscopic entities using crochet and felting. Featured here are the common cold, bacteria, micro fungi or other viruses.
As you visit the gallery, think about how you're trafficing these micro organisms unwittingly and look out for new clusters.
Not convinced of their dominance?
•Millions of Prochlorococcus can live in a drop of seawater, quietly making oxygen. They made one in every five breaths you take.
•About 100 trillion microorganisms live in your gut. Most of these bacteria and viruses aid your digestion.
•Some viruses use mind control. Rabies, which is fatal in humans, enrages its host, making it bite, just to pass on the virus.
•Then there's body control. Dengue Fever turns your immune system against you, so that you're attacking your own body from the inside.
•Myxamatosis, found in rabbits decides just how long it needs to keep its host alive to be bitten by enough mosquitoes in order to move to new hosts.
•And there are micro fungi that lasso roundworms before devouring them.
My advice? Think small.
So come down, help the viral spread of artwork both in and out of the gallery and rediscover your love of craft.
There are a few extra classes going on. I've tried to photograph the details. Hope they come out. If not, just go to the Turnpike site.
