International Yarn Bombing Day 2012

Today marks the second annual International Yarn Bombing Day! Knitters, crocheters and fiber artists from around the world celebrate knit graffiti by going out and decorating a public space. See what we did last year for IYBD.

This year we did three things, we yarn bombed the Acorn Park Little Free Library, the office of the Eugene Saturday Market and our downtown public library.

First up, Eugene is finally getting their first Little Free Library at Acorn Park. This is so exciting. I love it when neighborhoods get together and create something wonderful. Their grand opening is tomorrow so we decorated their fence with little knit and crocheted flowers.

Then we head to downtown Eugene to the office of the Saturday Market. We recently found out that the last door cozy we made for them had disappeared so it was time for a new one! I made them a bouquet of red roses.

Lastly, we had made nearly 75 little trinkets and hid them throughout the shelves and books in the downtown public library. A little like geo-caching, a little like an Easter egg hunt. We hoped that patrons searching for that perfect book would randomly stumble across our little tokens of love. Some were hidden with specific intent, some were just hidden in random areas. If you find one, please keep it but let us know! We'd love to hear what you found.

You can view more photos on our flickr page, and keep in contact with us through facebook.

Confessions of a Yarnaholic

Last night's Knitting is Knotty went back to the coffee house. A lot of us didn't get very much knitting done while drinking beer at the last meeting. What did we talk about this time? Pretty much everything. Children, family, Twilight, health, schools, art, money....

Candice brought roving, foam and felting needles and showed us how to needle felt. It's so easy and so much fun!! Here she is crocheting a cord.Maiya was knitting socks, but took a break to try needle felting. Candice said a great place to get supplies for felting is at ETC, here in Eugene. By the way, Maiya ordered a Chai Nog. It's chai tea mixed with egg nog. Very recommended!!Spring was working on several crocheting techniques. She crocheted a flower using a lot of chain stitches.
Kelsey is knitting with a HUGE ball of yarn! This yarn was upcycled from a sweater. She took a used sweater apart, then unraveled the yarn and wound it into a ball so she can knit what she wants. This is a great way to get good wool for very little money. Check your local thrift stores.
Sandra was super tired last night but she made it anyways! We're very glad she did as we love her company.
And lastly, Mary came for the first time. She has been knitting on and off for the last several years. She was frogging a baby blanket to reuse the yarn. Here baby is now 3 years old. (Hey, we all have those UFOs- UnFinished Objects.) She learned how to use circular needles to magic loop so she can knit herself a pair of Alice Mitts.
Next meeting, we're going to have at Maiya's house. Maiya is going to show everyone how to dye yarn with Kool Aid!

It's Knitting Circle. Holy Shit!

That's the response we got last night at our knitting group. A woman walked up to our table, watched us knit for a few seconds then exclaimed, "It's a knitting circle. Holy shit!" Very funny. It pretty much set the tone of the evening. I think we would all have to agree that last nights' meeting was the best. We couldn't stop laughing. What were we laughing at? Pretty much everything. Our kids, other people's kids. Other people's kids names... Chinook, Apple (yes we're talking about you Gwyneth)... As we were rounding up our things to leave an older gentleman came over and insisted he must learn how to knit as it looked like we were having a lot of fun. We also agreed that the next Knitting is Knotty, we're going to meet at McMenamins. So the next blog should be fun too. Instead of drinking coffee, we'll be drinking awesome beer and wine. But then that means, we'll spend the next day frogging our work.

Christina is forging ahead nicely with her cable work. The yarn is GORGEOUS and is striping beautifully in the cabling pattern. Unfortunately, Christina's work schedule changes and she will no longer be able to attend Knitting is Knotty. We're going to try to work out an alternative schedule so she can come some more.Kelsey is also working on cables. She's knitting Bella's Mittens. She just learned how to work double pointed needles and is totally rocking it. The pattern calls for the mittens to be worked in magic loop method. Maiya showed everyone how to do magic loop. Soooo easy! Here's a link to a video that shows you how.Sandra is still knitting on her amazing purse. We just fawn over the yarn color whenever we see it. She accidentally purled a row instead of knitting it, but it works out great, because she's just going to use that row as the bottom edge and fold up the knitting from there.Spring didn't bring her crochet work with her, but did bring some crochet books for us to look through. We love looking at patterns, but it's always frustrating when you see something you'd like to make and then notice it takes 13 skeins of yarn. 13 skeins of $9 yarn.... you do the math.Maiya is still working on the same scarf as last meeting. She hadn't had the time to knit on it since the last meeting. It's a nice project to bring to Knitting is Knotty since it's a mindless knit of stockinette stitch in the round. She doesn't have to concentrate on following a pattern and is left to talk and laugh freely.
Candice wasn't able to attend this week, she just started back at school again and is so tired! We missed you Candice! Last week, we mentioned that Candice and Maiya were collaborating on a project. They made Dia de los Muertos fascinators and pins. Candice made the sugar skulls and Maiya made the flowers. On the back, they have a hair clip and a pin so you can attach it to your updo or your sweater, purse... whatever. So far you can find them at Nobody's Baby in Eugene and on Etsy.

Our Third Meeting, Our First Blog

Hi! A bunch of us friends decided to have a knitting and crochet group. We meet every other Wednesday at Allen Brothers coffee house in Eugene, Oregon. This was our third meeting tonight, and Candice had the great idea of making a blog. Soooo.... here we are! Maiya, Christina and Kelsey have made it to all three meetings and we had some new friends show up tonight. Candice, Spring, Melinda and Tressa came. Candice and Spring were crocheting. They both have had knitting lessons in the past and want to relearn how to knit. Melinda is just learning how to knit, while Tressa has been knitting for some time. Tressa is working on a sweater- her first one. So she was figuring out sleeve increases and decreases at the meeting. Kelsey was also working on a baby sweater out of some fantastic black and red sock yarn. Christina just learned how to knit at the first meeting and made a purse! She finished knitting it earlier this week and brought it with her tonight and learned how to sew up the sides and weave in the ends. Maiya is the most experienced knitter there, teaching the newbies and offering help. She was knitting some baby pants for a Halloween costume.