Gnomes vs. Snowmen: The Battle for Mochimochiland

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Today I was lucky enough to attend the opening reception of Gnomes vs. Snowmen: The Battle for Mochimochiland, a brilliantly inventive and imaginary land created by fiber artist Anna Hrachovec.

The story was charming and told over 45 foot-long panels that are bursting with woollen delights. The details in the panels suck you into the chaotic and extremely cute battle scene. Want to know who won? Well you'll have to go and see it for yourselves! The exhibition runs from November 3 through to November 18th, 2011 at Gallery Hanahou.

My So Called Scarf

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Wow has it really been nearly 4 months since I've blogged? That is shameful...I hope now that work has calmed a bit and with the break coming up, that I will be able to rectify this. I have a ton of things I want to blog about so please bear with!

So I will begin with telling you about my new scarf. Recently I've just got back into knitting, and there has been one pattern that attempted several times but to no success. So after 5 years, I decided that now was the time to try it again, especially as last winter someone stole my gorgeously long and cosy scarf one bitter December evening.

I found the My So Called Scarf pattern on this blog while searching for a fun scarf to knit, and it turns out that the pattern originally came from a San Fransisco knitting shop called Imagiknit. They were giving the pattern away free with any purchase of the Manos del Uruguay wool. I was drawn by the interesting pattern and the gorgeous colours but I just couldn't knit it! It actually turned out to be a very simple pattern, and one that I very much enjoyed knitting.

The best thing about this scarf is that with each purchased skein of Manos del Uruguay yarn you will be helping a woman support her family. The hand-crafted and hand-dyed Fair Trade yarns are each signed by the woman who made your yarn and the village she comes from, so not only is it beautiful, but you are helping someone as well.

The original pattern was knitted in Wildflowers (113), however I decided to go for Bramble (114) as it was more autumnal and I bought mine from Purl Soho. Get the pattern here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Hoot-enanny!

Top row (l-r): Accessorize necklace; Owl Party paper art by Helen Musselwhite; Fingerless gloves by Manic Knitter; Thank You card by Kate Sutton.

2nd row (l-r): Cupcakes; clock by Decoylab; Paperchase stationery range; Where the Wilds things are cushion from Urban Outfitters.

3rd row (l-r): Mr Owl by Matte Stephens; Charley Harper's Twowls; Sweater by
Kate Davies (also includes free pattern); Wall vinyl by One Up Design's.

Bottom row (l-r): The Little Owl restaurant NYC; Cast-iron trivet from Three Potato Four; Door stop by Rose & Grey.

Happy New Year! and farewell 2009: the year of owls or so it seems...they kept appearing everywhere. Above is a small collection of owl things that I have spotted throughout 2009 and I wanted to share it with you, being that I am the intrepid owl.

I've always liked owls but it wasn't until I cleared out my mum's loft (attic) of my childhood memorabilia that I realised how far back it went...I actually owned a fair amount of owl ephemera. The list of owl 'things' included: 3 stuffed owl toys - ascending in height- from the 1970s (a hand me down from my mum), a photo of me with a tawny owl from when the owl man came to my primary school, a small stained glass window disc, pencil tops, a bag, a t-shirt, a small ceramic owl and the list just went on. I also found one of my favourite childhood books up there: The Owl Who Was a Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson - I still love the cover of this book!

I really liked owls and I guess I still do, hope 2010 is good for you.

Knitted monsters

Whilst having a photo clear out, I found images of knitted monsters I created a couple of years ago. Having grown up on Sesame Street, I have a fondness for cute monsters and I was inspired to knit some once I saw The Thifty Knitter's adorable own creation, Thrifty Critter with Long Striped Scarf, who is made out of scraps and leftover bits of yarn. How cute is he?!


I knew I couldn't knit something as lovely as the Critter, but I decided to make up my own pattern and see what would come out of it (I'd only been knitting for a year at this point, so I really jumped in feet first)...they turned out ok in the end, slightly mis-shapen, but that adds to the homemade charm!

Knitting graffiti

Knitting graffiti (also known as Yarnbombing) is a phenomenon that has been in the press a lot recently. It is thought to have started in the US in August 2005, when a group of knitters called Knitta Please were becoming frustrated with their unfinished balls of coloured wools, half-knitted jumpers and scarfs etc and so decided to 'tag' their city with wool with their 'art'. This 'tagging' craze has spread like wild fire and has even reached our side of the pond. There are hundreds of guerrilla knitting groups popping up everywhere, so here is a small snippet into the fad.

These images of urban knitting, are creations of the guerrilla knitting group called Knit in the City, where they covered a classic London telephone box in their stitched art.

These next images come from several sources, from top left - a knitted handrail cover near Tullikamarinaukio Square, Finland by Knit Sea. Top right - a tagged guard chain in Stockholm left by the Prolific Masquerade crew. Bottom left - a mooring ring tagged in Stockholm, again by the masquerade crew. Bottom right - a grateful and warm lamppost in Houston, Texas dressed by members of Knitta Please.


This tree - entitled 'tree cozy', is an incredible crocheted outfit by Carol Hummel and took her 500 hours from start to finish. It was up in Cleveland heights city hall for 3 years until just recently.


These sign posts are territorial knittings, an unauthorised project by Lauren Marsden. Her aim was to cover the signs of every street on which she has lived in Victoria, British Columbia, with knitted replicas. all fonts and dimensions are exact and there are/were 6 of the signs in total.


And lastly, here is an old abandoned gas station in Syracuse, New York, which was knit graffitied to within an inch of its life after a worldwide effort was initiated by artist Jennifer Marsh. Over 3'000 panels were stitched together to cover the building and not even the pumps were left uncovered. more info here.

Also check out: Knitted Landscape; Ladies Fancywork Society and Yarnbommbing.

Sleepy Cow - Kate Sutton

I've been keeping my eye on British illustrator and maker, Kate Sutton, for several years now and have always been envious of her deceptively simple but comical style and the shear volume of work she manages to create. It's been fun to watch her blossoming progress from Sleepy Cow (her first website) to the client list she has managed to achieve, all without the aid of an agent. She has definitely embedded herself into the craft culture as alongside her commissioned illustrations for clients such as Howies and Roxy, she creates playful handmade toys and badges that really bring out the child within whilst reminding you of more innocent times (this stems from her love of children's books - something that we both have in common!). Complete hat's off to you Kate :D

Kate's Cafe

On the way back from seeing Jonny Hannah's exhibition I stumbled upon another in Rebecca Hossack's gallery called Kate's Café.

Kate's Café is a fantasy café showing the intricate crocheted creations of Kate Jenkins. It's a visual feast of the nations favourite foods such as fish and chips and fried English breakfast. She has even knitted condiments and a wonderful array of cakes. Each are beautiful artworks in their own right. The crocheted fish were beautiful and completely covered in sequins for that fish scale look. I did take some pictures of these but they didn't give the pieces any justice. The exhibition is running until the 27th of June, so if you fancy a nice cup of tea (yes they serve real tea and cakes too!) in a magical setting then pop along to Kate's Café.

Knit and Cosy...

I've been knitting for a couple of years now but I've been very bad lately and not knitted for a while, mainly because I ran out of things that I could/wanted to knit, that was until a month ago when I bought myself a London Pottery teapot. Here is what I made: