Category: Knitting

Clothespins Wrapped Trees by Gerry Stecca

Clothespins Wrapped Trees by Gerry Stecca Wide

Clothespins Wrapped Trees by Gerry Stecca Long

Clothespins Wrapped Trees by Gerry Stecca

Now that is something else than knit covering trees: Covering trees with clothespins. I came across Miami, Florida, based Gerry Stecca via his first Kickstarter Project where he seeks funds for wrapping 4 trees in front of a newly opened museum, the Forth Smith Regional Art Museum in Arkansas, Arizona.

You can also find more about the project on Behancé

Says Gerry:

Well over 7000 wood clothespins are being drilled and connected by wires, creating the “sheets” which will wrap around the main trunk of 4 trees facing the front of the museum.
April 16-17 and possibly the 18th, 2013 will find me on site, mostly on tall ladders, adapting the pieces made in warm Miami to the cold Arkansas trees. On site changes will be made to accommodate branches, etc and secure the work against weather and passerby’s touch, which is encourage as it is an interactive piece.

Upon completion, the work will remain for an undetermined amount of time for museum guests and regular city traffic to discover and enjoy.

The project is partially funded however I need to cover personal and production cost.

But there is more

Wrapping trees is not the only way Gerry works with clothespins: What to think of this magnificient Hammer Shark?

Clothespins Hammer Shark

Russian Lace for a new Amsterdam Hotel Design Concept

Lace-Hotel-Amsterdam-by-Dima-Loginoff-01

I was just talking about the Dutch influencing the UK and the US in the 17nd century. But we also influenced the Russian Czar Peter the great who lived a couple of years in The Netherlands to learn the craft of ship building. The wooden Czar Peter house in Zaandam, north of Amsterdam where he lived is still a tourist attraction today.
This cultural bond with Russia has recently culminated in Russian president Medvedev opening the Amsterdam branch of the Russian St Petersburg Hermitage museum, the Hermitage Amsterdam together with our Queen Beatrix. In its first month it drew over 100,000 visitors, which is not bad for a medium sized museum.

Lace-Hotel-Amsterdam-by-Dim

Now I would like to introduce you to a young Russian Designer Dima Loginoff. He wants to bring Russian lace back to Amsterdam in the form of a concept of the Lace Hotel. I take it he has looked a bit to Dutch designer Marcel Wanders who also thinks lace. As I quoted in a prior “The future is back to knitting” and lace is the result of a sort of knitting isn’t it?

Lace-Hotel-Amsterdam-by-Dima Loginoff- Interior
Lace-Hotel-Amsterdam-by-Dima Loginoff- Interior

Dima’s concept won the prize “design without limits” at the Design Debut Contest 2008 in St. Petersburg, While Russian lace should cover the facade of a traditional Amsterdam canal house a textile ceiling is provided for in the lobby and restaurant, huge historical redesigned prints of Diane de Poitiers and Gabrielle d’Estrées. So the circle is full:-)

Dutch Design (42): Phat Knits by Bauke Knottnerus



What’s in a name? Bauke “Knot”tnerus (knotting is a variant on knitting isn’t it?) proves again what I’ve said and will repeat once more: The Future is: Back to Knitting:

dutch designer bauke knottnerus designed the ‘phat knit’ series in 2008. the series of oversized furniture
pieces each resemble knitting in a variety of scales. one piece features a series of multi coloured strings
that can be tied or woven together, while another consists of a single giant knot. the knitted pieces are
actually made using giant knitting needles. these needles and the over-sized strings can be used to
produce a variety of object from carpets to seats.

Via Designboom bauke knottnerus: phat knits

Travel (or Cruise) to Knit

I admit I’m a bit influenced by my Dear Quilting Wife, but I keep repeating my only prediction for 2009 and beyond: The Future is: Back to Knitting.

Now I can connect knitting with travel, since I found the Blog Textile Travel: They advocate Travel to Knit!

First I thought “How on earth can textile be an excuse for traveling?” Stupid thought, I concluded, when I remembered that DW used to organize bus tours to various Quilt Exhibitions across Europe successfully for a couple of years, and that I even traveled with her to one in Barcelona, which was actually my first and only visit of Barcelona.

Via Textile Travel I found out in August 2009 there is a cruise scheduled in the Mediterranean by the Holland America Line (Yes originally a Dutch firm, presently with its seat in the Dutch Antilles) for yarn aficionados like knitters and crocheters. Here is the Travel plan and Registration From. So they also Cruise to Knit!

From there to the site of one of the Cruise Guides Knot Just Knitting by Prudence Mapstone who has an amazing creativity and who Travels by Knitting if you look at her Workshops and Tours for 2009….

But you can also reverse the caption in Knit to travel. If you consider how much the tiny pieces of textile they call a bikini cost you as opposed when you knit or crochet it yourself:-)

Prudence could also inspire you to knit and to travel and leave your knitting as an enrichment of the landscape:

dimitri_medium
Photo by Christl Rijkeboer

Another fiber artist, but now a Dutch lady who is intrigued by Human Hair, Christl Rijkeboer, could inspire you to keep yourself warm when traveling with this bivouac.

Hah and in between I found a Down Under Guerrilla Knittin Lady Blog: Grrl + Dog Lol.

Street Art (11): Guerrilla Knitting


Knitted Tree Socks

I wouldn’t have thought that so soon after my post The Future: Back to the Past – Knitting, I would find more examples of this trend: Deputy Dog has a nice and informative post Urban Knitting: The most inoffensive Graffiti about the various forms of guerrilla knitting. I agree. It is the most inoffensive form of graffiti.


Knitted Road Signs

 

Added 1:


This one is from Deeply Superficial People

Added 2:


The Theresa Honeywell Knitted Bike:

Guerrilla Knitting brings us a smile in these dark times after Black Monday.

Do you have more examples?