Sunday 30 March 2014

Guest post by The Detangler & KnittingYoshi

It was a bright and chilly end-of-March Sunday morning, and The Detangler and KnittingYoshi decided to put up one of their yarn bombs. After filling up with a good breakfast, they headed into the Downtown Core.
KnittingYoshi  couldn't make up his mind as to whether we would stitch our bomb onto a tree or a lamppost, but after scoping out the trees we decided that the trunks were too small and the branches were too high (The Detangler has some height deficiencies!).
With the KnittingYoshi standing guard, and ready with camera in hand, The Detangler got down to business!
(The picture above will give you a great hint as to where the bomb is located!)

The piece had to be stretched significantly, but The Detangler has some very strong muscles! When she finished stitching up the seam, we realized that we had quite a long bit of leftover yarn, and not wanting to waste even a centimeter, we decided to make a quick pompom.

So, The Detangler wrapped the yarn around her fingers over and over and over until there was just enough to tie a knot around the strands, then used her handy-dandy pocket snippers to cut the loops. Voila! Instant pompom!

After attaching the pompom, and the slick tag for identification, we were done!
THE KNITTING KNINJAS STRIKE AGAIN!
Now, can you find this bomb?

Saturday 29 March 2014

The Big Reveal

 Alright... here are the photos I promised.  The tag.. fully completed... hanging up.

The yellow side

The green side
 
The blue side

You can also see how fancy our new label looks:

See.. not as big as the first makeshift one we did

This is what the front of our new label looks like with our logo (we have lots of fun sayings/puns... this ones says "Keep Calm And Knit One!)

And on the back of the label, we've put who knit it... since soon, you'll be able to see all sorts of tags from the Knitting Kninjas!

And... (drum roll please!), since some people have already told us they've spotted it, we are going to reveal the location of this tag (this time we're actually going to tell you... no cliffhanger!).  This particular tag is hanging out at it's new home on Hunter Street, downtown Peterborough, ON.  It's between Alymer Street and George Street, right in front of the Historic Red Dog.

Click here to go to Google Maps for directions


If you have a chance, get downtown before this tag ends up gone and check it out.  Let us know what you think.

Thursday 27 March 2014

On A Cold Wednesday Morning...

It was a cold and frosty morning.  The date was Wednesday, March 26th, 2014.  Even though it was spring... the weather was not obeying.  It was bitter outside.... it was -12 C outside (but felt like -17 C).  For you American readers that is 10.4 F and feels like 1.4 F.

KnitMama and I decided today was the day.... our tag had to be placed!  We had been working long and hard at our tag and it was finally ready.

Excitement was in the air... it was bursting!

Knitting Wonder Woman had gymnastics first thing in the morning so that seemed like a perfect time to place our piece for the public to see.

We bundled up, but not well enough, and loaded into the van.  Knitting Wonder Woman and Little Knitter joined in on our mission.  Their role: The Lookouts!

We arrived at our destination... but knew we had to hurry. It was cold and Knitting Wonder Woman had to make it to her gymnastics class on time.  We had only 18 minutes to put up the tag and make it across town.... but we felt up to the challenge!

KnitMama was The Seamer and got right down to work.
 

KnitMama started seaming right away

This was not sew easy (teehee) because it was sew cold out!

I was The Photographer and The Organizer.  I had to make sure to get KnitMama the scissor when needed and pass her the final tassel when she was ready to tie it on.

This was on a busy street in downtown Peterborough, ON... and it was morning time.  We wanted it to be in a location where it would get noticed (and we chose bright colours too so it would easily be seen).  But.... there were cars driving past us the whole time we were putting up the tag.  I didn't notice them though and just did the jobs that needed to be done.

Cars to the West

And cars to the East
Knitting Wonder Woman (and Little Knitter) stayed in the van and kept a lookout for us.

Knitting Wonder Woman and Little Knitter keeping a lookout

Knitting Wonder Woman saw a man in a wheelchair coming down the street.  Fortunately, it was on the other side of the street.  She thought this was fine because we were on the other side of the street.

But then, she saw a woman in black coat and black boots carrying a rainbow purse.  She started on the other side of the street, but before we could do anything about it, she crossed the road!    Knitting Wonder Woman was worried we were going to get caught in the act!

KnitMama saw her from the corner of her eye and began to worry.  She just stayed focused on the job at hand and kept on seaming!

I was not nervous.  I am barely ever nervous.  And sure enough, the woman just walked right by and didn't even notice us.

Whew!

KnitMama was wearing her fingerless mitts again.  These are the best choice when it's cold and you have to seam.  These are the same ones she wore on our first adventure out to put up a tag (see While You Were Watching The Superbowl...).

KnitMama's hand being kept as warm as possible.

With how cold the weather was though, this was not good enough for KnitMama's fingers.  Her fingers were just aching with cold.  I didn't have on any mittens as I worked the camera.  I thought for sure I was getting frostbite (again!).  It was so cold!

Finally... the tag was finished being seamed!


We quickly inspected it and took a few last photos.

I double checked our label to make sure it said what it was supposed to

With such a busy spot for this tag, we really hope that our mission comes true of bringing cheer to the world!

We we done!  The tag was placed.  We rushed back into the van and sped off... across town and made it to Knitting Wonder Woman's gymnastics class just in time.  But it took longer than that for our fingers to thaw.

Would you like to see what the completed tag looks like all set up in it's new home?  Would you like to know where it is?  Well too bad... you'll have to wait until the next blog post to find out.

We've heard from some fans who have seen it already.  Let us know if you spot it.








Wednesday 26 March 2014

And We're Ready To Go

So... yesterday we showed you this:

What could this pile of yarn be?

Did anyone guess that it was going to be tassels??

Here are the tassels

We've made six large and six small tassels to adorn our piece of art.

Here's a shot of what our final project looks like.

This will be wrapped around a pole downtown.

And in other exciting news... today is the day (or technically.. today was the day).  This masterpiece has been placed in it's final home... finally!  We packed our supplies: a bag, a camera, our tag with our label on it (doesn't it look so much better than the first one?) and a pair of scissors.

Everything all ready to go!

Tomorrow we'll tell you about our adventure... but you must wait until then.  And... we will not share a picture of this piece until then.

Has anyone seen it yet?


Tuesday 25 March 2014

Guesses Galore

So... no guesses have been made yet for what KnitMama has been working on.  Maybe if we broke down the pieces so you could get a closer look at them.

There is one of these:



There are two of these:



And there are four of these:



And when they are all put together, there will also be a wooden spoon involved.  Any guesses now??

The piece that KninjaNeedle8 and KnitMama were knitting together is done (even more done than in this picture).

Here it is just after binding off

We mentioned that we were going to add a little something to it.  We want to be sneaky (and have you guess!)... so... here's a sneak peak at what we are using for an embellishment:


Anyone know what this could be?



Monday 24 March 2014

Look At What's Begun

So, as we've hinted at a few times, our big group tag is happening... soon.  We cannot tell you when and we cannot tell you where... but we will tease you with some pictures of some of the pieces that have been created.

Soon, you will be able to see these pieces in the homes they are being created for.

Stitchy Mama has been busy!


Stitchy Mama has a few pieces on the go

And so has Mother Of Purl.

The piece is almost completed here

And here is the finished project.

TINKerbell has been working hard too!

Her completed piece just waiting to be placed

Where do you think this project might go???

Mother Of Purl and TINKerbell have a piece they've been working on together.... I wonder where this piece might end up?

Where will this go?

And... we have one more teaser for you today.  Can you guess what this piece is going to be?  Knit Mama has knit it up and we want to see if anyone can guess what it will be.


There are seven different pieces... what could they be?

I wish you 'knits' of luck for guessing what those pieces are going to make!












Saturday 22 March 2014

Oh No (And Yay)!

The results of the poll are in.... and it was a strong lead for my least favourite choice... the pole that the man in the tan coat commented on!


Out of all the options, that pole was the largest measuring in at 36.5 inches (Are we turning into Americans???  We didn't measure in centimetres!!!  Look at what the distress of trying to be quick and discreet will do to us!!)

I am not having a very good time with this tag.  It is slow going.  So far, I have knit up 6 inches unstretched (this works out to be about 9.5 inches stretched).

Unstretched

Stretched

This particular tag is a red acrylic (unknown brand... but very old.... most likely from the 70s based on all the other yarn we got at the same time as it).  We're guessing a worsted weight.  I'm using a 6.0 mm needle (US 8) to knit it.  It's been slow going... March Break was very distracting for a younger knitter like me!  But now, I'm determined to knit five rows a day... just five rows a day will hopefully get it done in time (that's how close we are to our big group tag day!!!).

On the other hand, KnitMama and I are doing very well on our tag. It's almost done!

This is the first picture we've shown you with the blue knit into it!

Again.. all these colours are an unknown acrylic yarn... old!  We're knitting it up on much bigger needles, 9 mm needles (US 13).  We only have a few more rows to go.

And... to complete this gem... we're adding a little something to it.  Can anyone guess??

Wednesday 19 March 2014

The Meet Up: Part 2

There were many things that happened at the meet up.  We'll tell you them in order.

First... everyone had something to eat.  KninjaNeedles8 had the Olde Stone Poutine, Knitting Mermaid had a bowl of ice cream and Knit Mama enjoyed the Garden Dip.  Other Knitting Kninjas enjoyed a variety of other treats.

A carrot stick with some Garden Dip

The Detangler is using 'knitting needles' to eat

Suzume's dinner looks yummy!

Then some knitting happened...

TINKerbell working on a tag

Knitting Mermaid working on a tag

The Purl-ice... not a tag!

Knitting Yoshi's colourful tag

Winged Warrior.... these look like socks.. not a tag!

Knitting BlackOps has a nice tag started!

But... the most important thing that we did was organize some details for our upcoming group tag.  We will not be meeting again until after we have done our first tag.

KninjaNeedles8 had her agenda all organized

YOMama studying the guide to make sure we didn't forget anything.

Everyone got given their labels to attach to their tags that they do.

YOMama looking at her new labels

Important pieces of information that we discussed:

1. When and where to meet (I know you want to know, but it's very confidential!)

2. What the different roles are going to be on the night of our tag (A lookout, a Photographer, a Seamer, a Flashlight holder, an Organizer)

3. What to bring the night of (everyone needs to bring their piece with a label attached already, a flashlight, a camera, extra yarn, darning needles and scissors)

4. We discussed the measurements of all the items in our location that we can possibly bomb (there are big things and small things)

KninjaNeedles8 poll closed the other day... so stay tuned to fine out what the results of that poll were and what KninjaNeedles8 will be tagging!