close knit finale

After what felt like an impossibly long wait the Brisbane festivals Close Knit program finished up in a big way this Saturday with a cherry picker reaching to the high limbs of this gum tree to create the most spectacular sight- a knitted tree!

The Close Knit project has been a beautiful community project-life affirming,
joy giving and funI know a few people who think yarn bombing is a waste of resources and time but for me it's a way of elevating the status of both womens work and yarn work.
And I just love the way the colours work, it's such fun to see people noticing, seeing, stopping and examining something familiar because it's been wrapped up in wool.
I love yarn bombing!

It was amazing to look up and see all the individuals work joined together to form a whole.
Knitting and crochet were the traditional skills which provided for the various communities involved in the Close Knit project to come together, to share conversation, create, learn and reach out.
The tree is a perfect symbol to me of the beauty of healthy close knit communities-they are well grounded but also extending, growing and a part of larger systems.

Who(hoooo?) would think yarn could be so useful? ;o)
xKate

Trees and banks and breasts

My latest brooches...what do you think of these?

Felt applique and teeny tiny hand stitched details.
I really like them even if they seem to take forever to make.

But I suppose these doilies took a lot longer to create!
I cleaned out all my local op shops yesterday to fit out a bank in Ascot with these crochet pretties.

I wonder what the customers think?

I also made some bunting out of some gorgeous hand dyed organic yarn.
It is perfect for yarn bombing and stall decorating and I am making more for no purpose at all beyond the fact that it is just so pretty and cheerful!

This installation was placed in the Westpak bank, Racecourse rd, Ascot, as part of a breast cancer fund and awareness raising campaign.
I would have enjoyed creating a themed installation for the cause but unfortunately I only found out the purpose of the installation on the day!

But I still am glad to have the opportunity to remind myself and others to be gentle on ourselves and look after our bodies-eat well, move about a lot, check yourself out and get all those bits checked out. We all hear it all the time - get regular pap smear tests and do breast self examinations but when do you find the time?
How about now?
X Kate

my creative space

Crochet is taking a back seat this week to knitting, as I prepare for some exciting workshops. Unfortunately I didn't realise black wool is impossible to photograph. It is not doing justice to the fact that this piece contains moss stitch, double cable, single cable and other random stitches...I am actually even enjoying it.

I will be very shortly working in West end for 6 weeks with a small group of women, who arrived here as refugees from Africa.
Our knitted textile efforts will be shared with many other groups across Brisbane to create something very exciting and special...more updates on this later.


This Autumn/winter craft has been taking over Brisbane in a big way, with projects like the Saviours of the lost arts, guerrilla knitting, suitcase markets and pop up markets...
Brisbane is getting it's craft on!


xKate

p.s- i might just sneak a crochet hook along to the workshops too...and to see more craft from all over the world head to http://www.kootoyoo.com/