This past spring Jill and I turned a preschool gate into a knit and crochet banana forest with a cheeky amigurumi monkey stealing a banana. Our current yarnbomb installation is always our favorite, because we never want to let it go. Fortunately we’re learning to write things down when we improvise new designs, so we can make more for ourselves! (more…)
amigurumi
Banana Tree Yarnbomb
One of these days Jill and I will learn to do small-scale.
But not this day! A Bay Area volunteer group commissioned us to yarnbomb their community health and fitness festival at a San Mateo elementary school, so we had to pull out the big guns for the kids. The festival had a bumping DJ, an obstacle course, healthy snacks, free blood pressure and cholesterol testing, tile painting for a school mural, and a free photo booth. It was so rad!
We helped celebrate healthy eating with a sneaky monkey in a wildly botanically incorrect banana tree. (more…)
Free Crochet Pattern: Draft Dodger
My latest custom order was so fun and simple, I can’t resist sharing the tiny 10-line pattern with you all. Drunk past midnight at the Beach Boardwalk like a member of the Lost Boys after a reunion slash wedding, I picked my phone up out of the sand for like the fourth time and started reading emails. “Woah guys, what the hell is this? Someone just messaged me on Etsy asking for a draft extruder! What the hell is that? *kapow!* Oooooh, look over there, someone’s launching some leftover fireworks. Let’s go in the ocean right now. It’s not even cold! Hiccup. Geez, I seriously love you guys…”
A sunrise and several liters of water later, I remembered something about a confusing custom order inquiry. How wonderful is the internet to connect us with people all over the world, and muddle through translations to eventually communicate. The inquiry referred to a German post about a Türzugluftstopper, that is, a draft dodger. Mystery solved! (more…)
How to Electrify Your Weekend in San Francisco
San Francisco’s two hour lightning storm and tornado warning kicks off an electric weekend. In his museum-like Martinez basement, my amateur archaeologist grandpa kept local Native American artifacts he unearthed, and lightning makes me fantasize how it sung out to them. Last night in my sixth floor huge-windowed apartment I lay by lightning light reading of the local tribe on whose shell mounds my building sits. Dreams of dance, green spring hills, and blossoms led me to today – Friday – more thunderstorms, and a fittingly electric weekend. Here’s the line-up and a sneak peek into my new project; come find me!
Friday
Need a hero? Try Alonzo King. After an interview on KQED’s Forum, his modern ballet company’s performances live on my calendar. Give it a listen for some serious artistic inspiration. Describing his approach to this visual art form brings up words like “deeply rooted cultural traditions…new expressive potential…ballet as a science…geometric principles of energy…a new language of movement…a profound sense of shared humanity.” To say my excitement for rivals last night’s lightning storm is accurate.
The deets: Triangle of the Squinches runs April 12-15 and Scheherazade runs April 18-22
Saturday
Yarn bombing a chair is my latest display of enthusiasm for street art. Snapping shots of stencils, slap-ups, graf, and murals while getting run over by locals is one of my hobbies. Amping up for another top secret project, Lo, my graphic designer goddess, and I will be students of the legendary San Francisco street artists at 1:AM, the First Amendment Gallery for street art and murals. I’m turning my love back on all of you soon with a tool to bring more adventure and creativity to our lives. But first – research! For three hours we’ll hear how graffiti’s changed through its history, practice lettering, and weild a spray can. Lo’s already been practicing her OG vector graphics skillz! You know you’ve always wanted to say something in color in public. Come join us!
The deets: Three spots are open in our Saturday 12:30 class. If you miss us, it repeats monthly. Other class topics include stenciling, toy modification, and team building workshops.
Sunday
Get yer amigurumi on at this weekend’s 45th Cherry Blossom Festival, where your favorite hand made Bizzar Bazaar vendors pimp their hand made wares inside the beautiful sunlit building at New People. I’m looking forward to meeting Nerd Jerk, a fellow member of the San Francisco Etsy Street Team, and seeing her new neon plushies.
The deets: Both the festival and the bazaar are run this weekend and next, 4/14-15 and 4/21-22. Catch the San Francisco Taiko Dojo performance on Japantown’s Peace Plaza at 11:45 am.
Light up your tongue too!
Remember to squeeze in some time for noshes at Off the Grid (map & calendar) or catch up with one of San Francisco Magazine’s 10 food artisans to watch. Chocolate, cheese, bread, coffee, and charcuterie? Um, electrifying indeed!
Yours truly,
Lorna
For every hand made item you buy at knitsforlife.etsy.com, Knits for Life plants one rainforest tree with The Nature Conservancy.
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