Dragonback - my first yarn guerilla mission

It's been in my head for a while now, I've seen pictures of others doing it, I've read blog postings and I wanted to do it myself. What am I talking about?

YARN GRAFFITI!

At first I had a hard time getting ideas, so I postponed any action and just found the general idea very appealing. Then I got a smashing book for Christmas: Yarn Bombing by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain (our German readers will certainly enjoy this blog posting about the book), whose blog can be found here. It is full of ideas, pictures, interviews, instructions/guidelines, it's absolutely fantastic and inspiring. Suddenly, ideas started pouring and I couldn't wait to get home, grab some yarn and knitting needles and start doing it.

I wanted to start with something simple and I wanted to start close to home. I decided on a stylized dragon because the idea was suddenly there and I planned to decorate the public park behind our flat. So, when my sisters in law sat down to read the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the older one, 28, reading to her younger sister, 9), I saw my chance to both knit graffiti and listen to a good story (normally I listen to Jim Dale reading it to me, thanks to my father who gave me the whole audio book series for my last birthday). When we had to leave for the restaurant I took my knitting and made good progress while sitting in the tram, while waiting for dinner and while standing outside waiting for the tram back home, which was slightly uncomfortable/freezing. When we got home I crocheted the spikes and then around midnight my husband and I went outside - I to sew the tag onto a lamp post, he to document it for you ;-) (He did get a tripod for Christmas, so he kind of jumped at the chance).



I know some people think it's about letting go - you should walk away from your graffiti and never look back, but I like the idea of walking past my first one whenever I need to go into town or somewhere else the tram can take me. I'll try to be less sentimental with the next ones ;-) I am curious how long it will last, though - and whether my favourite neighbour will ask me if I did it, since she knows about my spinning and knitting.

(By the way: my hand/wrist warmers are new, too - I hope to take a better picture of them soon)

I want a Klingon Shawl!

Yesterday it was suddenly very clear: I want a shawl with stockinette Klingon insignia on a lace background. I even have quite a clear picture in my head - but I have no idea how to accomplish this. I am not a very good knitter (though advancing) and I have to learn a lot about knitting until I can design stuff like that. Oh my... Have to plough through a heap of knitting books now and hope to find something that'll help me :-D
Think I'm weird? Well, yes - I am called Weird, ain't I?

How funky is your Christmas tree?

As funky as this Christmas Tree yarn? :-) This is what I made from the felt orbs and batts I wrote about a few days ago:

Soon to be in our shop!

TDF - Weird's Day 7

Spun on my new spinning wheel (Kromski Sonata): fluffy yarn that glows in the dark. It's soft, it's lofty, it's kind of weird - and i love it :-D


(please click for a larger version)

77 m
30 g
about 8 wpi (probably about 35 wpi if you don't count the fluff)

It really glows!

Remember the glowing stuff I wrote about? I used some of the thread for the yarn you see here. It's called "Marine Phosphorescence" and - as you can see - it does glow in the dark.

I was lucky to witness real marine phosphorescence once or twice (years ago) and it was absolutely stunning and soooo beautiful! It started on our last evening in England, where we had spent our summer holidays, and continued when we were going back to Germany. So I was able to see it both at the beach and from the ship. It was slightly eerie and unbelievably wonderful...

This yarn will be listed in our Etsy shop soon.


(Edit: I've added another picture to show the yarn in daylight - thanks to GrannyWeatherwax for reminding me! More pictures can be seen on my flickr-Page.)

What kind of invasion is THAT!?

:-)
That's the new yarn I'm about to spin, of course! Somewhere deep down in my fiber stash I found this hand dyed merino wool, all dyed in soft and chilly blues with a hint of green. I don't know any more what I wanted to do with it, so I thought I'd try something new. And bright and springy! I mixed it with soy silk in cream and the brightest orange merino wool you can imagine. It really rocks! :-D

And then it came to liiiiiiiive! ;-) I think this wooly things look like little fishes or mice or something. I'm sure the yarn will be great!