We love inspiring people to make the world a sillier place. Last week we saw so many monster benches and monster feet on Instagram that we decided it’s time to bring a fun, new transformative concept to life. To brainstorm, we headed to an auspicious place to get our gears spinning: the park directly adjacent to the home of the original Maker Faire: Bay Meadows Park. A new park in a windy spot, all the trees are young with support poles. At first glance, this could pose a problem to the imagination, without any grand shapes in which to envision giant squid and palm trees. Instead of being deterred we embraced those skinny little trios of poles dotting the field. Within minutes, one cute, leafy tree top in particular sparked our make-believe session with visions of vegetables traipsing across the field. A few measurements later, and off to the studio we went to bring him to life. As always, here we post a bit of our process to inform your own yarn bombs. You’ll notice we’ve begun documenting the process with Snapchat. Follow our story to see what we get up to and show us your work too! (more…)
San Mateo
Photo tour of our new fiber art studio
Earlier this summer my sister, Jill, and I moved into a new art studio space at the Claremont Art Studios in San Mateo, California. I’ve been meaning to share Jill’s great photos of our space for a while now, so here we go. If you still want more, we love studio visits! We have an open house every first friday of the month. Contact me to schedule a visit.
This is where the magic happens. (more…)
New Crochet Pattern: Snake Yarnbomb
We love yarnbombing street art that transforms everyday objects into surprising characters. While we expected kids to love these crochet yarnbombs, we were surprised how much these characters took adults out of their daily doldrums by adding a little fun to their lives too. Now with this yarnbomb crochet pattern, you can help fill the world with whimsy and bring a smile to the faces in your neighborhood. Purchase this Snake Yarnbomb Crochet Pattern on Ravelry, Etsy, or Craftsy. (more…)
Story Time Yarnbomb at the San Mateo Library
A few months ago I tried out my new Addi Express knitting machine on a few bike rack worm yarnbombs. The Very Hungry Caterpillar yarnbomb from the popular children’s book was so loved by patrons at the San Mateo Public Library, that when it recently got shaggy I knew I had to replace it. My sister Jill and our new intern, Magine, dreamed up a new installation to span all 6 bike racks with characters from kids books. That required we expand our search to include any tube-shaped character, and we found 5 more! So, pop quiz: how well do you know your kids lit? The answers are in the photo titles of this Flickr album. (more…)
Two new yarn art installations
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…)
New Squid Tree Yarnbomb
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…)
Help yarn bomb San Mateo
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…)
Crochet Face Fun
This week I modeled The Dapper Toad’s handiwork, based on Howie Woo’s Anti-Facial Recognition system. What fun we had lolling around Downtown! Jill at The Dapper Toad made them for the kids at summer camp, where she teaches knitting and crochet. I think it it would be a blast to make a stop-motion video with it. What story line would you like to see in crochet?
Do check out Jill’s silly photoessay. And if you’re not a fan of Howie Woo, snap too it–he’s the bomb-diggity!
KNITS FOR LIFE 
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