K and L:Karma and Lattice

 

We came out to have breakfast one morning, and look what we found growing on this chair!  Looks as if the yarntags are working their way into the house.  I have a feeling that this is just the start of what may appear here. It was dubbed "Karma" for the nice energy it brings. 

Real story: my inspiration for this bit of tagging is a knitting-embellished chair by Karen Searle called "Homage to the Goddess".  It’s on the cover of her book, "Knitting Art".  It took a bit of searching to find just the right chair, but this one has great curves and a nicely worn finish. 

Who says yarntagging can’t be practical?!  Even our most pragmatic neighbors seem to like "Lattice" and the useful information it provides.  The front panel is knitted and the sides are crocheted. 

 

 

 

No, this isn’t a yarntag for the fence, it’s a shawl/scarf knitted as a gift.  The pattern is on ravelry.com; it’s called Silk Kerchief.  It’s all garter stitch and very fun to knit as it alternates two rows of a solid color (burgandy) with two rows of a vareigated (browns/pinks).  I used dk weight yarn and a sz.7 needle to keep it loose.  I ordered the vareigated from handpaintedyarns.com--beautiful colors and very reasonable prices.  
  

This is Rupert the Owl, crocheted from a pattern I purchased on ravelry.com.  He was just resting temporarily in our little apricot tree, but has since become the pet of Baby Ryan.  This tree looks so happy holding him that I might need to make another to roost here permanently.

I’ll readily confess that creating this blog has been very challenging for me since it involves learning so many new computer skills.  However, the challenge was compounded by the quirks of Blogspot, including losing the entire text of this post TWICE, for no apparent reason.  Does anyone else find this program difficult to use?  My heartfelt appreciation goes to my son Roger for finding "Live Writer", a program which allows me to compose the post and import it to the blog very easily. 

J: Juicy

This crocheted creation is done to honor the wonderful artistic spirit of Marsha Burtt, a Santa Barbara artist.  It hangs in front of her gallery on Laguna St., in a white rose bush.  

I found myself being quite concerned that this tag might disappear, so I managed to hang it  so it's not visible from the sidewalk, but only as you come out the front door of the studio.I hit on the idea of hanging it with wire, which isn't so easy to remove.  In addition, it's being guarded by this awesome creature: 

While we're talking about guardian spirits, I decided that the "headless" pole on the corner of our street, which by now has multiple sleeves, needed a topper.  

I: Invitation

It was a good idea while it lasted.  "Invitation" started out as a cardigan sweater from the thrift store.  I  removed the back and sleeves,  and sewed it together  to make a very skinny sweater.   Then I embellished it with felt flowers, rubber stamped fabric patches, an extra pocket, etc.  I included a note which invites others to add to the decoration.  I found a small tree next to a supermarket which was very happy to wear it. 

Unfortunately, a week later Invitation had disappeared.  I hope it's adorning someone's dorm room, rather than the bottom of a dumpster.  Oh well.  From the start of my tagging adventures, I knew that some would vanish quickly for one reason or another, and tried to accept that.  So this was a good test and yes, I did mind when one of my creations disappeared.  So now I can either make them harder to remove, or get more used to the idea that all of my work is "permanently temporary." 

While I didn't get any interaction with that piece, I was delighted to find some "tag backs" from my friend Mary.  Please check out her wonderful blog called Art Spirit: http://marystanley.blogspot.com.  You'll see Mary's logo, a heart.  She works a lot with felted wool, so her tags are cut from felted sweaters.   Mary placed her tags in the vicinity of our favorite meeting place--the thrift store at Magnolia Center.  Check her blog for her most recent tag on Hollister.  

H: Hole Foods

We have a new grocery in town, and our knitting group likes to meet there, so I thought it should be favored with a yarntag.  I've altered the name slightly to protect any innocent bystanders and to fit in with my alphabetic scheme.  But when I saw the amount of security personnel, fright reared it's ugly head again (see the CalTrans trauma in the posting Foothill Fright).  Also the landscaping was so uniform that I didn't think a yarn aberration would be tolerated. 

 Actually these are just firefighters having a coffee break,  but there were several security dudes as well.
 This on was very complicated.  After carefully reconnoitering the area, I decided on a spot across the creek from the store in question, and visible from there.  In this picture, Hole Foods is the large white building in the background.   
 I was very pleased with my new tag, crocheted in a spike stitch.  I love to try out new stitches on these little squares.  My green gnametag is visible here (see last post).  I went back to Hole Foods to see how it looked from there...

...and realized that it was just about invisible.  Bummer!  

Fortunately, I just happened to have some extra squares with me.  This bright orange-yellow color might look awful in your living room, but it really did the trick here .  

 I'll confess that I didn't make this square, or the ones used in Foothill.  They were "rescue tags" that I found in the huge bag of yarn (see the post "Dogtag"), probably someone's aborted attempt at an afghan (I think the colors went out of style before she finished).  Using these squares  made me realize that I really prefer making the pieces myself; I feel more of a connection to them.  But these granny squares really came through for me in a pinch.  
 So I went back to Hole Foods yet again, and found that this piece was much more visible.  Next time I think I'll be more brave and just tag the security personnel.  

G: Gnome and Gname

I've started adding a little  green"Gname Tag", which serves several purposes. First, it says, THIS IS ART, to give people a clue that my yarntags are benign (see my last post).  Next, the label carries my newly chosen logo, "j", which identifies it as my work.  My friend Mary uses a heart on hers, and we hope that each of the dozens who join us (ha!) will do likewise. (See the "I" post, two after this one, for pictures of Mary's tags.)  Last, it has the address of this blog so a curious person could find out more about a certain yarn oddity. The logo is done with a rubber stamp, using StazOn indelible ink, the green fabric is a cotton knit, and the white strips on the back are iron-on laundry labels, written on with a Sharpie.  Should be relatively weatherproof.

The Gnome tag was definitely planned for its location.  Driving up N. Patterson Ave. one day, I passed a familiar green wooden sign for the Noel Christmas Tree Farm, a sign which has been there for years.  Suddenly it dawned on me the farm closed several years ago, so here was another orphan sign--certainly in need of a yarntag.  This one was crocheted in very happy red and green yarn, using a chevron pattern.

I went on a scouting expedition and realized that the intended spot was out of my reach.  So the next day I brought along a folding stool and completed the installation.  I'm getting a little bolder; this one is quite visible along a busy street.  

F: Foothill Fright

My next tag was a little scary and complicated, but ultimately a good learning experience.  No matter how much you tell yourself that yarntags are benefiting the environment, a gift to the community, there's always this little fear lurking that you're going to be BUSTED.  This tag was not done in my home neighborhood, but several miles away in front of an old gas station along Foothill Rd.  which has been abandoned for years.  I seem to be drawn to locations that seem like they need some cheering up.  

As I was tromping through the weeds, casing out the area, my worst fears were realized when a big ol' orange CalTrans truck pulled up near me and a guy leaned out of the window and called to me.  In a flash I pictured myself being lead off to jail in big orange handcuffs.  At least I could get a lot of knitting done there.  But then I realized that he was asking me if I was okay and needed any help.  Guess I looked a little strange studying a chain link fence.  I smiled bravely and lied, saying I was cutting vines to use for making baskets (could be true; the place is choked with vines).  

I don't consider myself a very courageous person, so that experience was enough to completely unhinge me.  Or at least cloud my artistic judgment.  I hastily tied some squares to the fence and beat it back to my car.  

After a good cup of tea at home, I realized several things:

1. I don't like to make a quick decision about where to tag, especially in an unfamiliar location.  I prefer to make an exploratory visit and see what the possibilities are, take measurements if necessary.  

2. CalTrans doesn't own that property anyway; the only one to really worry about is the car with the flashing light on the top.  

3. People aren't sure how to regard something unusual in a public place, but often they're okay if you tell them "This is Art".  So I need to find a way to clue people in that my pieces are ART, not gang signs.  

So a few days later I returned to the scene of the tag, untied the poor droopy squares, sat in the weeds and sewed them together.  Then I adorned a big post with a silly mailbox on top of it.  Who's getting mail here??

 

Hats 4 Afghans 4 Afghans

Don't you love the versatility of yarn?!  Knitting and crochet can create frivolous and esoteric artistic expressions, or provide essentials for survival. This week I turned my skills toward making some very warm wool hats to be sent to Afghanistan by a wonderful program called Afghans for Afghans.  If you have any extra wool yarn and a bit of time, check it out: http://afghansforafghans.com.  It's an extremely well organized and highly effective aid organization.    The whole war situation is so confusing and sad, especially for the women and children; I love the idea that I can at least help a few of them stay a little warmer.