Yarn Bombing

Hello All,

I am currently working on my second last essay, ever! But I have been reading all day and I need to have a break so I thought I would talk a little about yarn bombing.

ThankYouTree CC BY-SA 3.0

Shrewdcat - Own work

I cannot accurately remember when I first found out about yarn bombing but I have always found it very attractive. Essentially yarn bombing is the act of installing an artwork made of yarn in a public space. It is sort of like graffiti but it is generally considered attractive and it is easy to remove and therefore not considered damaging to public properly. The most common forms that I know of are crochet and knitting yarn bombs.
Here are some examples of what I am talking about:

Apparently an entire town got together and "yarn bombed" their public spaces. You can see pictures here.

And here is a blog by someone who does yarn bombing.

Now here is where I have reached a dilemma. In South Africa, and Cape Town specifically there is a lot of poverty. At night when we are driving places I often pass people who have no houses. I specifically do not say home because I feel that a home is a very personal thing and anything can be a home. But there are many people here who do not have adequate shelter. I see them outside a closed shop sheltering from the rain and wind. There are some terrible news reports, during the cold winter weeks, of people who have died due to the exposure to the cold. Living in a city like this I just feel too bad to do yarn bombing. Although I would likely get no credit for my work and likely not be able to see people appreciating my work, I feel like my time and money would be better spent in crocheting clothes and blankets for the people on the street. We also have numerous orphanages where my donations would be appreciated as well.

I would like to make it clear that I am in no way trying to criticize those people who do participate in yarn bombing, I think that it is a really beautiful art form. But I just feel that personally I would feel happier with myself if I donated my efforts elsewhere.
   
Anyway, I should be getting back to work now.
Have a good day and keep drinking tea ;)
Diella

A Jolly Chunky bag of my own

Hello all :)

Recently I have been crocheting up a storm as I have been working on new patterns for my shop, xYoopx, and also trying to build up some stock.
Although I do so enjoy making up my own patterns, there is definitely something to be said for following someone-else's pattern too. To day my latest creation was made using a pattern from Attic24. Her blog is LOVELY so you should totally go and check it out. :) The pattern is Jolly Chunky Bag.

So I went out and bought my yarn for this on Friday. I decided to use acrylic yarn as I was not sure how it was going to turn out and I didn't want to spend too much money on something I wasn't going to use. I also decided to change the colours a little-bit to suit me. I still kept the colours in the same order as Lucy, but instead of dark blue I used dark purple (my friends all know my obsession with purple), and instead of medium blue I used a lilac type colour, instead of yellow I used a light green.

I started the base on Friday evening.
On Saturday my man had a hockey tournament so I went to go an support him. For the times when he was not playing I worked on my bag. I finished all but two rows of the actually body of the bag during that time. While I was working a couple of people commented that they had not seen anyone crocheting in a long time. I am always pleased when people say crocheting instead of knitting... because I get that a lot. I also had a couple of people asking me if I sell my work, and a few people asking if I was making a beanie, they were very disappointed that it was a bag not a beanie. At home again I finished the body and started the straps.
To day I finished the straps, made the flowers and leaves and sewed it all together. It was a lovely morning/afternoon. My sister was doing some hand sewing and I was doing my crochet so we got a picnic blanket and sat outside in the sun while we worked. It really was lovely.

And here are some closeups. It was me taking photos here, not my sister, so they are not very good. I was just playing around with the manual focus as you can see. I think that the photos are a bit over exposed.

 
If you are considering using the pattern I do strongly recommend it. The instructions were easy to follow, plus she tells you how to convert between UK and US stitches. And the bag has turned out wonderfully. I really love it and I am going to be using it as my yarn project bag. Just looking at the bright stripy colours makes me excited.

I hope that you have enjoyed this post.
Keep drinking tea,
Diella

What is happening when I don't post...

I haven't posted for quite a while and I found myself asking myself why? Life has interesting twists and turns. Just as Diella and I still enjoy each others company - drink tea; share stories, and do things together - I have been sharing my time with my mother who is going to be 83 years old next month.

Today Diella and I took her out for lunch and she shared with us about her memories of growing up with creative people around her - parents, aunts and uncles. It is an enriching  experience listening to older people, like a mother or grand parent, telling their stories, and experiences that contribute to their wisdom.

It is wonderful to be able to share and connect. If you would like to find out more about your grand parents or parents you could ask them things like:  

Where did you go on holiday?

What did your family like doing together?

Were they creative, sporty, practical, intellectual?

Were they spiritual?

What were the fun things they enjoyed?

You could also let us know of questions you might think of asking.


I have had a great time exploring interests too, over the last four months. Things like learning to play the guitar, taking water colour lessons and writing a story. Life is like a string of beads that continues - whether we acknowledge it or share it or whether we do not - it will continue - and it is better shared.

A warm smile,
Morag

Tshirt yarn

Hello again,

Today I am loving my over locker.  I was wanting to cut up some tshirting to make into tshirt yarn when I realised that I could use my over locker! I just set it up without thread and cut away. I find it a lot easier to get a consistent width this way, not to mention that using scissors for that long hurts my hands.

In the past I have bought tshirt yarn premade but I found that it was too expensive and there was not nearly enough. I am finding that cutting up material is much more satisfactory.

I hope that you are having a good day!
Diella

Hello again

Hi again everyone,  it is me, Diella here.

I am sorry to have been AWOL for so long! University has been getting the best of me.

Things that I have been doing:
Crochet, essays, exams, tests, gardening, business planning, seeing friends, studying.

Hopefully I will have time to share lots of exciting things with you soon. I know that Morag, my mom, should be soon. She is going away overseas for a while and I am trying to convince her to blog about it here while she is gone so that we can all keep in touch with her. :)

Keep drinking tea and enjoy the crazy weather here in Cape Town.
Diella