ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

WoolOn™ Creative Fashion Event Oct 2010 is the creative fashion event of Central Otago, New Zealand. All the garments or outfits must be there by 15 September 2010. Yikes!

So I must go knit and knit and then knit some more as stuff posted from the Netherlands can take a long time to reach the New Zealand destination.

So you can see how they do Creative Fashion at WoolOn™ and if you are in New Zealand and intend attending then please take some photographs for me.

Do consider celebrating the arrival of spring as they do in the south at the Alexandra Blossom Festival, in Alexandra, Central Otago 24th September to 9th October 2010.

Laurel Judd was Supreme Award winner in 2009 at WoolOn.

Best Beloved phoned me before lunch today – he was out on a short break and walk after a heavy morning. He who never took much notice of the state of tree trunks on his walks rang to say that seven, 7 no less trees have been yarnbombed on Bos en Lommer (Amsterdam Sloterdijk) – way to go.

Have photos via a trusy Vodafone phone – thank you Best beloved.

And then of course because I am a librarian I went on the hunt to find out more about this event Read about it in Dutch here sorry but it really is all in Dutch – and I haven’t discovered an English explanation – what I do know is that it is an urban knitting project in Almere-Haven, Flevoland (an area of the Netherlands) and the artists are listed on the website with links to their own sites – and they are worth a look.

The photos here were taken by Harald Walker – in March this year. So it is not a recent event, this yarnbombing.

Pity my ball warmers didn’t survive.

Best Beloved walks here now and again and has just spied them.

Trees with designer coats.

The shops windows all have orange decorations, the orange merchandise is flowing out the doors, and the country will be in an orange shambles by the end of tomorrow.

In Amsterdam there will be an orange mess for some days because the cleaners strike at the railway station has become a Queens Day cleaners strike all over.

So an orange mess everywhere after the celebrations for the Queens Birthday.

I have an orange hat and have been knitting a crown for fun. Trouble is I decided to knit it out of crepe paper and not yarn. My wrist is not coping.

My crown will not be in use this Queens Day – maybe next year instead.

Crepe paper is interesting to knit with – but it is slow knitting and doesn’t flow well. The knitting looks okay – and the texture is great, so I will complete it just not for this Queens Day. it might turn out to be something else of couse. Since I have been in the Netherlands I have added shadow knitting, felting, knitting with plastic, moebius with magic cast on, carbon footprint graphs, knit graffiti, Danish shawls and now knitting with crepe paper to my list of new experiences.

It is not so quiet outside – 10.20pm and the party is already on in the park.

I think we have said it already – we (Best Beloved and I) installed a ball cover / disguise on a ball outside Vodafone offices yesterday morning in Maastricht.

Maybe Vodafoners are so used to odd ball things which is why they just walked by without so much as a sideways glance.

So successfully installed.

Ball Cover was tooo Big

We were not accosted by anyone

TNT deliverers noticed. Vodafoners walked by.

It was still there at 3.30pm

Our very local yarn shop has just been sold. My Dutch language is not very good – so I don’t know yet if that means that the business has been sold and it will still be a yarn shop, or if means that the shop only has been sold, which means there will not be any yarns available within 500 metres of where I live. And those yarns in the little shop are all reduced in price, and some reduced very heavily indeed. It makes my pulse race the thought of lovely yarns at reduced prices. What to do?

Of course I have been in there looking at the yarns, (only at the ones at reduced prices of course), and trying so hard to justify buying some more yarn. Why!!!!

I have so much yarn already.

But then “Is it possible to ever ever have sufficient yarn?” I don’t know the answer to that question, do you?

But there is an event coming up, a huge national celebration all over the Netherlands – Queens Day Koninginnedag the biggest, most orange party you could ever ever imagine.

But, back to the yarn – they had orange yarn (now that is such a coincidence), acrylic yarn, entirely suitable for a yarn bombing, urban art, graffiti art knit, knit art graffiti, guerilla art, you name it – this orange yarn is so suitable for a piece or two for Queen’s Day.

I do not usually have very much Orange yarn in my collection, nor do I usually have very much acrylic yarn in my collection. Now I have both of those and it is only 19 days to Queen’s Day.

I have an orange hat to wear to the party, but I might also have a little orange knitting to install somewhere as well. I’ll let you know.

There are no balls in Haarlem now

In case you want to check out how it looked at night when the balls were there.

The websites are back up – thank goodness.

I will upload the photographs we took in the rain today. That is the photographs of the Grote Markt (Town Square) of Haarlem in the rain, and no balls for the ball warmers to warm, or to protect from the rain. Hope the photos are okay as it was a dreadful day here.

If you should know where the great balls of Haarlem are please let me know – as you can’t take it (the knowledge) with you.

I have had an offer from Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, to send one of the Wellington balls to me here in Haarlem. Should these balls be the same size as the Haarlem Balls – I think I should probably send a Ball Warmer or two to Wellington for them instead. The balls are too heavy to send across the world. Nice thought though, bringing a Wellington Ball to Haarlem.

Someone out there has my first ball warmer – here are the photographs.

Help! They are gone !

Who took the Haarlem Balls?

Those elegant balls in the most gorgeous town square (Grote Markt) we have been in. Those gorgeous balls that were used to sit on and talk to your buddies in the summer.

Those elegant balls on an elegant curve delineating the road from the square.

Those balls that were so right in a town square of such age, beauty and elegance. No other shape, or style of divider could ever do in that space.

And then of course there are the Ball Warmers themselves, so far none of the measured balls in Maastricht or the loosely measured balls in California match the size of these Haarlem Balls.

So my knitting pattern suggestion will never have another use.

The snow ball and the formal ball gown – will not have a place where they can be proudly displayed.

Snowing, a grey ball being disguised as a snow ball

Why oh why has this happened?????

Is it because I cannot read sufficient Dutch to have known they were to be removed?

Or is it because the newspapers that I can manage to read some of, were not delivered?

I could have installed the Ball Warmers – even for a brief time. These Ball warmers will never be seen in all their glory. People using the square will not be able to smile at the silliness, or the surprise, or the delight of great concrete balls with covers; knitted art designer covers.

Right now I am so shattered, and as I didn’t take my camera with me today – I do not have a photograph of the square without balls.

I will add photos of the square without the balls later maybe, when I have the strength to return. Maybe, just maybe, they will be put back before I can return there.

And this will just have been a nightmare.

If you found the lost Haarlem Ball Warmer – what could you use it for?

First you would discover that I didn’t finish all the ends properly – sorry. That was because I was really excited or nuts. So finish the ends first.

then consider the following options:

1. Cover ball 13 (the original chosen ball)
2. Hat – for big hair
3. Cape for a small person (fold in half – place over/around the shoulders, pin
4. Add handles – BIG shopping bag
5. Nest liner – for a big big bird (stork or Grey heron – You will need help to get up the tree)
6. Cut it in two around the middle – make the top half into a bag by adding I-cord handles, and the bottom half into a hat by stitching together the cut edge.
7. same as 6 – but knit an edge around it – decreasing the stitches on each row so that it will fit around your head , to make one huge slouchy hat. Felt the other half – and see just how good it will be as a beret. I am not sure that all the yarns will felt – so it will be a really artistic beret.
8. Cut a hole in the top – crochet around the top edge – a skirt. The bottom edge is needs finishing as well – it has a thread through each stitch – so some work there as well – sorry.
9. Cut armholes and neck hole and crochet around the edges of these – dress for small person.
10. Unravel – knit a new ball warmer – using the intarsia technique
11. Unravel – knit a baby blanket
12. or cot cover
13. or pram cover
14. or childs sweater
15 Dog kennel liner
16 Cat bed
17 Knee Rug
18 Find a thick tree trunk and attach the ball warmer
19 Fill it with lots beans – sew together the bottom edge, voila a child’s bean bag. It might be sensible to make a bag for the beans first – or they could leak out.
20 Make a fat cushion
21. Fill it with little balls – ball toy for large large cat
22. Felt it – stretch it into a pleasing organic shape – embellish it and you have created a wall hanging

To be continued, brain is tired now, going to bed.

Maybe there will not be 100 ways to use a stolen ball warmer

Thank you to Sara of HotHive Textiles for the Article published on the HotHive Textile Directory on 28/01/2010.

See Hothive Textiles for interesting textile information and opportunities.