Yarnbombs

Two new yarn art installations

October 9, 2013February 17, 2015By Lorna Watt 4 Comments

This past weekend, Jill of The Dapper Toad and I each installed a playful yarn installation at Downtown San Mateo’s annual Wine Walk. The energetic, inventive Downtown San Mateo Association colluded with the property owner of an empty storefront to convert it into a pop-up art gallery for the afternoon.

I tried an Aimee Diamond yarn installations I’ve admired for a while. I designed a reusable installation so it can pop-up again. But even better, I designed it to twist and move so I can discover what fascinating abstract geometric shapes emerge from string art. (more…)

Yarnbombs

New Squid Tree Yarnbomb

September 11, 2013February 17, 2015By Lorna Watt 84 Comments

Our biggest yarnbomb yet!

Introducing #squidtree, the latest transformative yarnbomb from @TheDapperToad and @KnitsForLife. Time and again the story goes: we love our idea, then halfway through we fear it’s going to be crap, but end up falling in love all over again when the result exceeds our expectations. (more…)

Yarnbombs

4th of July Weekend Yarnbombing Spree

July 10, 2013February 17, 2015By Lorna Watt 1 Comment

Hope you American guys had a great holiday weekend full of “oooh’s and aaah’s” at sparkly fireworks. We took the opportunity to get some yarnbombs up around the sleepy lagoon town, Foster City. You may remember that we threatened to publish the patterns for these. Jill demanded more photos for the pattern layouts, so more installs were in order. Cycling the shores on our PUBLIC bike and Schwinn, we found an amazing spot for a future yarnbomb. Sign up to get notified when the patterns come out here. (more…)

Yarnbombs

Epic New Yarn Bomb Collaboration: Etch-A-Sketch

May 6, 2013February 17, 2015By Lorna Watt 3 Comments

I have a plan

Two questions crossed my path and stumped me recently: What are your creative goals for 2013? If you could make something for anyone in the world, what would it be? The easy answer is that The Dapper Toad and I are transitioning our focus from making handmade items–which are difficult to profit from–to designing them, allowing us to create anything we can imagine. However, these questions made me realize I wasn’t dreaming big enough: given the opportunity to design anything, what would it be? (more…)

Yarnbombs

Help yarn bomb San Mateo

April 2, 2013February 17, 2015By Lorna Watt 9 Comments

Calling all silly people!

If you’ve never yarn bombed before, this is a perfect way to start! And if you’re a pro, it’s a great chance do something epic because we have permission to yarn bomb almost anything! When the local Public Works department saw an article about my pay phone yarn bomb, they invited me to help beautify the city on clean up day with more yarn bombs. Now I’m inviting you to yarn bomb with me, either in person or by mail. (more…)

New Products, News, Yarnbombs

A whirlwind first quarter for 2013

March 15, 2013September 13, 2013By Lorna Watt 5 Comments

So much has been happening lately that I’m excited to tell you about!

I went on vacation to Manchester, England and left a yarnbomb at my favorite tea + cake shop. Anyone catch the Little Britain reference?

The people at Purl City Yarns in the Northern Quarter were absolutely lovely and had some nice English heritage yarns.

The clerk was wearing Berroco’s Beatnik sweater, which is now on my knitting list!

Next up was the city of lights, Paris–on Valentine’s Day, no less. Did you know about the growing trend to click a padlock onto the Pont des Arts? The bridges overflow with lovers’ tokens.

Of course I had to leave one in yarnbomb style–on Valentine’s Day evening with sparklers while the Eiffel Tower twinkled on the hour. Très romantique! (Obviously photography was not my focus at such a moment.)

One day in Paris I took a walking tour of some yarn shops and discovered a few beautiful ones: Le Bon Marché, L’OisiveThé, and a cute shop in a Marais courtyard.

Upon my reluctant return, I finished my iPhone yarnbomb and made the front page of my local paper! My sister over at The Dapper Toad made some wonderful photographs.

I realized I’ve never seen a yarnbomb in my city. Have you? Since I see them every day in The Yarnbomb Daily I forget how rare they are.

In Manchester I discovered a stellar string artist so tried my hand at it in my local park. I’m planning to do a big one on my wall next.

Guests are the only way my house gets clean, and this month I had two. Yarn organization plan, activate! I went from a pretty good storage plan to an amazing one! Grab a yarn winder and some pegboard and DIYODS (do it your own damn self). You can even knit or crochet from the skeins on the wall. I call it knitting like a boss.

All play and no work makes… well, no money! I wrapped up two unique custom projects that turned out just swimmingly: a fangirl hat based on the cheetah movie Duma and a replica of a vintage Christmas stocking. The stocking pattern dates all the way back to 1935. How cool to help keep a family tradition alive–and they want 4 more!

And speaking of products, chain scarves and lacey laptop sleeves are getting popular lately. I’m designing new products for spring, but it seems these will stay alive–in popping, new colors.