Thursday, September 22, 2011

Spring Fling





I've been super busy lately with lots of fun projects. Firstly the Wooly Walk a Long which is a collective Yarn Bombing on the Devonport Wharf, Devonport, Auckland. It will hopefully remain there for the duration of the Rugby World cup. If you are in Auckland do take time out to go and see it as it is amazing, with over 90 pieces of knitting/ crotchet from over 9 different countries. Theres over 80 metres of knitted wooly goodness to see.

For my first piece I started out with the idea of travel; people would travel from around the Globe for the RWC, and also people would travel by ferry across the harbour to Devonport. So I came up with the idea of " the other side" which lead to " the grass is greener on this side" and well then along came sheep ( perfect since NZ has so many) so then the sheep became wooly walkalongs along the handrail on the wharf.

For my second piece, I spotted some impossibly furry red wool, which was just wanting to be made into Elmo - everybodies fav. furry red monster! I thought Elmo would be fun for kids to see when they went past the yarn bombing. Most of Elmos fans are rather short and I figured that if I made Elmos arms dangle from the railing they would spot them and interact with Elmo. Elmo has been enjoying meeting new friends and giving out lots of free hugs. He had a slight mishap when some meanies pulled off one of his arms, but luckily Elmo has an angel who found his arm and we were able to replace it!

My third piece for the Wooly Walkalong is called Lowri ( say Lowri like "low tree" but without the "t") in the sky with butterflies. Its a special piece for a friend who's missing their gorgeous daughter. You might wonder why its called ..butterflies when you can only see one there, sometimes you don't need to be able to see something to know its there.

I really enjoyed creating something that was just for fun, knowing that it would spread some random hapiness about Auckland. I hope you can find time to visit Devonport Wharf and have a photo with Elmo, and if not enjoy these photos and check out;
ttp://www.localist.co.nz/milfordtakapunadevonport/articles/devonport-wharf-gets-woolly

Monday, September 5, 2011

Spring has sprung...




September already, and I'm happily welcoming Spring into the garden and the new studio, which is nearly ready for visitors. I'll do another blog post about the studio with before and after photos just before opening day. Good things really do take time, and more so when trying to reuse and repurpose rather than buying new. With a lot of effort from my husband and some great help from my Dad the double garage has been converted to a studio and extra room. I'm lucky to have gorgeous picture windows that let the sun and garden in. I'm hoping a little futher down the track once I'm settled in, I'll be able to offer workshops or classes in the creative room. Anyone care for a cloche hat making class?
A few piccies of the outside of the studio/shop space, and know that I am super busy preparing for all the spring markets , lots of new handmade happiness on its way.Oh and a shot of my homegrown grapefruit & lemons because even though I'm not a fan of yellow, I loved the yellowy goodness of them sitting in the pot about to be turned into Marmalade. Perhaps Mother Nature knows that we need a shot of colour at the end of winter and send us the promise of sunshine in the colour of citrus! Mmmmmm I love spring!