Summertime and My Ukulele

So far, it's been a HOT summer!  I've been involved in a bunch of fun stuff though and I'm looking forward to heading down to Hodgepodge Farm in a few weeks to get my hands dyeing and weaving some stuff! 

Farmer Fern Craft Time.

Since April, I've been involved in this amazing program called, The Farmer Fern and Friends Puppet Program.  Farmer Fern is the invention and a wonderful young guy (18 years old!) who invented this program to help and empower children through learning about gardening, nature and the importance of ecology and horticulture!  I'm a puppeteer for the program (often playing the part of Cousin Cassidy).  We have done several performances this summer.  Last Monday, we were able to perform at the Silent Voices Summer Camp in Toronto and this week we performed for a group at the Guelph Enabling Garden!  It's been a wonderful experience and I'm having a ball working with such a creative group of artists. 

Farmer Fern and Cassidy!

A butterfly puppet.

I've also been participating in an abstract quilting class that has been a great experience.  I've never quilted before and this approach has been a great way to introduce me to quilting and it feels very natural to me.  I have one more class, then we will be having a show at the end of the year of all our quilts.  I'm piecing together my quilt now and I've hung it on the wall to piece so it feels very much like putting together a puzzle.  

My quilt so far...

Ukulele is my new obsession!  I've been taking lessons and it's been great!  My first song is, Here Comes The Sun and it's F-U-N!

Here comes the sun little darlin'

I also finished my Coquille Shawl.  It's made out of Kauni yarn which was amazing to work with - so amazing I went an bought another colour way....  now I have to find something to make out of it!

Coquille Shawl!

Lanesplitter Part Two – The Alterations

The skirt obsession started when Tamaralda exploded into the shop with the Knitty pattern for the Lansplitter Skirt. Tamaralda, Jaqual and myself all picked out our Kureyon and each made a skirt. It was so fun and exciting and competitive (in a fun and exciting way)… We all finished and Tamaralda wears hers all the time, Japual wears hers too. When I put mine on, I felt that it was kind of bulky and long and it just didn’t feel comfortable for me… I was sad… I folded it up and put it in my closet knowing that I would never wear it. But every time Tamaralda wore hers I was jealous. When she talked me into modeling our Lansplitters together for the Downtown Knit Collective’s annual fashion show (I have no idea how she convinced me!), I decided that some alterations needed to be done.




Firstly, I removed the waistband and undid Jaqual’s perfect seaming job (sorry):


I know that Kureyon felts really well so I rolled up my sleeves and got to felting the thing. I thought, “If it turns out too small, I’ll at least have a nice bathmat.” The felting was successful!


I then seamed it back up. It was a little difficult to re-seam since the fabric didn’t felt to accurate dimensions. It worked out just fine though.


Since I didn’t want to add any length by doing an applied waistband, I decided to go to the fabric store and buy some jersey material. I cut a strip wide enough for the elastic to thread through and the circumference of the inside of the skirt. Then I got to hand sewing.


I feel great in the skirt now! It fits better and is more of a mini style. I also feel like it’s more stable. It was a wonderful exercise in learning about fit and what to look for in a pattern to know it’s suitable for my body shape. (Here's a pic of myself wearing the altered Lansplitter with knitter extraordinaire Irene):


Tamaralda has been researching skirts for several months now and we’ve been working on combining yarns and working with different fibres to get the perfect fabric for skirt knitting. Our friend Irene has been helping us with advice and knitting expertise. I love knitting and crocheting skirts. It covers as much of your body as a sweater does and you don’t have to worry about fitting in arms or sewing up a bunch of seams like a sweater. They are warm and comfortable and fun to make. It’s been really challenging and interesting figuring out fibre combinations and gauges to make them viable to wear for many years. Tamaralda has several hand-knit and crocheted skirts. I’m currently finishing up a crocheted skirt from a Drops pattern. It has a shaped waist and I think it’s going to provide a much smoother fit and show off my curves. I now know what to look for in a skirt pattern! I can’t wait to finish it and post about it. Then on to the next one! Yay Skirts!

Yarn Bombing at the Textile Museum of Canada

Hello Fellow Yarn Bombers,

We are excited to announce a special project we're working on with the Textile Museum of Canada. As patrons of the museum we've noticed that there is fairly low visibility from street. After talking with one of the museum Board Chairs, and observing the many city bike racks and planter in front of the museum we decided that it would be fun to form a crew and "yarn bomb" the racks and planter.

Yarn Bombing is the act of re-claiming boring, sterile areas by creating colourful knitted, crocheted, woven, macrame, etc. covers or cozies out of yarn. Usually a group of yarn lovers will form a group or "crew", make the cozies, and do the installation late at night - creating an overnight transformation of a space.

We have taken pictures and planned a large project for the front of the museum Here’s what the planter looks like now:


Our plan is to decorate it with a large cozy made up of a multitude of swatches.

Here’s what the bicycle racks look like now:



Our plan is to adorn them with a fantastical arrangement of adornments.

Here’s a work in progress:

If you are interested in submitting knitted, woven, quilted or crocheted items such as flowers, swatches, granny squares, amigarumi, etc., please mail them to the address below by May 15th! We would love to get this project up in time for the Museum’s annual Yardage Sale.
Please be advised that your submissions cannot be returned to you.

If you are interested in sending swatches please do not send any that are bigger than 7" square. Please have fun with textures, colours, fibres and applications.

We installed a "teaser" at the museum earlier this week:


If you have any questions, we invite you to contact at: fibrelabyarns@gmail.com

Address for submissions:
Alisa McRonald
23 Murdock Ave
Toronto, ON M4C 1E3
Attn: Yarn Bombing

You may include your name… or you may remain anonymous, if you wish.
Contributions and participation will be acknowledged on the Textile Museum Volunteer Blog.

To read more about yarn bombing please see the link below:
Yarn Bombing Wiki

Thank you!
http://fibreperson.blogspot.com/

PS- I just want to add, that this project is open to anyone, anywhere! You don't have to live in Toronto or Canada to participate... I wanted to make that very clear so , send away!

Some Pics of Performances

Here are a few pictures of performances I did in Tokyo. They involved being out in public in costumes handing out different handmade goodies and smashing pinatas!