Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And I have a story of three mothers my age nearby who discovered they had breast cancer and started their fight against this disease. Well, when I read about the October event to raise awareness through yarnbombing, of course, I wanted to participate.

After I finally managed to knit 2 pairs of boobies I also made some special BCA tags. This Saturday October 1st I set my alarm and went out early in the morning to yarn boob these benches. They look a bit lumpy in the picture, but I was satisfied with the result.

O yeah, I managed to make a short video before installing them:

Status: one pair was gone after a couple of hours, the other pair status unknown.

A knitting beginners mistake

 Ok, so I just wanted to share how big of a dunce I felt when having trouble with the knitted boobies pattern on the posterous site. I also participated in the globaltitknit by knitting some boobies, but it took me a while (actually three tries!) before I finally realized that "(k1, kfb) to end of row" means repeat the stuff in parentheses and not just k1 and then kfb to end of row. If you do so, like I did, you'll end up with the cauliflower like thingy on the right. Good for a sponge bath flower or something else...

At the beach

Me and my family was taking up some final sun rays of summer at the lake. We left quite late and not too many peoples around. Ideal for leaving this crochet flower.
Had to lie a wee bit to my kids, saying I was going to wash off my feet while they headed up to the car parking.
After this day it has been raining a lot, so maybe the flower has grown. Who knows, maybe it was taken down right away. I have no idea, I won't be passing by in the near future to check it out.

Status: unknown

Dancing shoes

This dancing couple was missing something...

So I thought, if the shoes fit, why don´t I just try them on:

Luckily they fit, I had made some measurements (with my daughter´s hand) some days before and what-da-ya-know, my ´calculations´ were correct.

Here the complete picture of the dancing couple with shoes on:

Status: dependable source has said that they are still hanging, no reactions yet however...

Hotel de Ville

Sitting in front of my tent (come rain or shine) in France I did some knitting and some crocheting. Of course I had to leave something behind. Wasn´t much, but I was glad I did it. It was in front of the Hotel de Ville in Gerardmer. Anybody seen it?

Status: no idea

The Giraffe

This was my entry to the Giraffe contest set up by Francis from the new shop KnottenWol. I entered with an illusion knit giraffe scarf. It was quite a lot of work (lots of counting). The pattern can be found on ravelry.
Today was the official opening of the store and although I didn´t win the contest, my scarf is covering the entire left front leg of the giraffe. I am very honored!!

Here the leg up close.

Status: the giraffe will be put in the shop´s window, so I hope the leg will be covered by my scarf forever!!

Yarnbombing at midnight

This must be the worst picture ever, but I was returning home from a Jazz festival when I dropped these two yarnbombings. This was way back in June. Haven't updated my blog in a long time.
Next day the one on the pole was gone and the little guy on the bench, I don't know if it was there. There was a fat guy sitting on the bench, I did not have the guts to ask him to move over.

Status: all gone within the week.

Yarnbombing in Serbia

I was away on a short trip to Serbia this weekend and it coincided with International Yarnbombing Day. Well, of course, I had to do some preparations so I could leave something in the city I was visiting.

My little green friend over here went with me in my suitcase and I made a special tag for June 11th.
I was traveling with a group of 6 girlfriends and it was hard finding an excuse for some needed alone time, but I managed and planted my green pal on a big statue. Wasn't quite at ease because I don't know if they appreciate this yarn art, but I didn't see any police men around so I just did it.

He looks very happy and my tag said that if you should take him with you to let me know and send some pics. The next day we passed the statue during a walking tour and he was already gone, snif...Unfortunately haven't heard anything about his whereabouts. Please let me know if you have seen him!

I was so upset and luckily I found a lost crochet flower in the pocket of my jacket so I tied it to a bush in front of our hotel.

It made me feel better and this morning when we left the hotel it was still there, yay!

status: green fellow didn't last more than a day; flower still there (I hope).

Avond 4 daagse

Avond 4 daagse means "4 days of evenings a walking". This is something we do with the kids every year. They walk (run/skip/whine) 5 km (sometimes less, sometimes more) every evening and on the 4th day they all receive a well deserved medal.
Well, this Monday was the start and I made a piece to hang on a pole which was on the first route. Luckily it is also on the route to work, so I could sew it on Monday evening before the start. On it I embroidered the text AVOND 4 DAAGSE and the initials of the school.

I don't think anybody noticed however, but I sure had fun making it.

Like I said, I pass by there every day to and from work and I am always happy to see it is still there.

status: gone after 2 days

International Yarnbombing Day

I read all about International Yarnbombing Day on June 11th. You can find more info about it on yarnbombing.com. I saw the post of NippyHook where she calls on all yarnbombers in this country to come to Amsterdam to cover up some 'paaltjes' in Ajax colors. She even posted a pattern, how lovely!

Well, I am no an Ajax fan, but I wouldn't have let that be an issue. The problem is I am going to be out of the country. But hey, I can still leave something behind where I am that day, right?
I was thinking of leaving this little fellow somewhere:

Still haven't got a name for him though, any suggestions?

Straatspeeldag

Meaning: "street play day". This is the day where the street is blocked for cars and kids are able to play freely on the street for 3 hours. It is a big thing in our neighborhood and I thought I might just yarn things up a bit by placing this one.

It is not very clear by the pictures, but I sewed on the letters "STRAAT SPEEL DAG 2011". I intended to put it on a black pole, but my work wasn't the right fit, arggh. Luckily this pole was waiting for me beside it, only problem was the waste basket hanging along side. I, of course, had to sew it on in the dark, which was quite a hassle.

(Pictures of the dark will follow, can't seem to find my camera at this time).

I don't know how all you fellow yarnbombers do it, but for me it is still very stressful sewing on a piece in the dark. People passing by with their dogs. Nobody seems to wonder what I am doing, or maybe, they are just afraid to ask. 

During the day people did actually notice this yarn thingy hanging in the pole. Hope it made them smile and wonder who took the time to knit it and sew it on.

status: after 1,5 months I took it down myself because it was getting too ugly. Here are the pictures:

Tots units fem força!

So Barça won the Champions League last night and I am a fan. So I thought it would be fun to do a yarnbombing keeping with this theme.

I placed it at the local playground where they do lots and lots of soccer playing. Let's hope somebody notices and smiles. Haven't been very successful in this neighborhood, so please leave it hanging for a while!

Here's a picture with daylight:

status: taken down after 1,5 weeks

Andalucia, finally

Well, I finally got all my pics from my Spain holiday on one computer. Did I tell you I went to spain for 2 weeks and I left my iPhone at home! What a hassle. Luckily we had other picture taking devices with us, but it took me a while to get everything off them and on one computer.
And before posting my pics of tonight's yarnbombing activities, I must post these pics first...

I did tag all my work, but have not seen any reactions on my twitter. So maybe they were all taken down immediately, or maybe in Spain they haven't gotten used to the idea of knit grafitti. Who knows? I had fun and I hope I made some people smile by seeing something out of the ordinary at all these lovely places.

First stop was Nerja, lovely place. You'll have fun visiting the impressive Nerja Caves. This is what I left behind on the fence of our glorious apartment.

I really love all the flowers in Andalucia, especially in May time. I got very inspired to leave some more crochet flowers.

In Seville not actually a yarnbombing. My son had his 7th birthday there and we forgot to take along birthday garlands. So I just crocheted a nice flower birthday garland. He was very happy and I left it hanging for the owners to enjoy.

Then off to Cordoba. I love flowers and what do you know, they had the flower festival at the time we were there. A great big parade with lovely flamenco ladies throwing carnations at us and we were expected to throw them back at them. It was loads of fun for the kids as well. Google Cruces de Mayo and you will find lovely pics of red flower covered crosses, a bit of flower grafitti if you may. In Cordoba they also have the public bike plan Ciclocity. I left a flower on one of the bikes.

Finally made it to Granada and the Alhambra. Aaay, what beauty. It was a bit challenging leaving something behind with all the tourists blocking your way. But with a little help from my hubby (who is totally aware of my doings by now), I managed to leave some flowers behind.

(Hey, that's me on the left. Very bright pink jacket, not very inconspicuous....)
I did not bring a long any scissors as I did not know how strict security would be, so the end result was a bit sloppy, I apologize.

Here I leave you with some last foto's of beautiful Alhambra on the background.

And Granada in the distance.

status: unknown

Easter Happiness!

Here we have some more Easter yarnbomb placed in my town. Nice bracelets, huh?

Still haven't got any reactions on it. I placed them at night, had to make a few extra strolls to make sure no one was looking.

It took me some time to get the correct measurements for these beauties. My neighbours are probably wondering why I am so interrested in these 'paaltjes'.
Here they are all in a row:

status: probably taken down the next day

Happy Easter

On my way to work this Tuesday I placed this happy bunny on a road divider. The sun was out, it was such a beautiful morning. Thursday morning it was still there and it made me smile. I hope someone else as well.

status: still there

Illusion knitting

I read an article in the newspaper about Illusion Knitting. It is way cool!
I immediately looked up some tutorials at WoollyThoughts.This was my first try at a circle. It is not very visible in the picture, but I did like the end result myself. I placed this one in the town center on the church's fence. Two days ago it was still hanging. Will have a look tomorrow during the farmer's market if it is still there. Haven't had any reactions on this one. People just don't understand what it is, I hope it does make someone smile though.

status: taken down after 2 weeks

Tweep, tweep, little birdie

This little crochet birdie was put up in broad daylight at the Royal Library in The Hague. It took me quite some time to get sewn onto the pole, lots and lots of people passing by. But I did it and was very proud of the result. The week after I even had to passers by twittering about their find. Sooo cool!
I passed there today again, unfortunately the birdie has flown off...

This is still one of my favourite yarnbombs (as if I have so many to choose from). I submitted it to wildbreien.nl and it was placed under 'Gespot':

And I just discovered that my crochet flowers can be found there as well:

status: birdie taken away after 1,5 weeks; base still hanging

Crochet flowers on a stick

For my third project I decided to make some flowers on a stick. I really enjoy crocheting more than knitting. Maybe I just need to practice my knitting skills more to enjoy. I planted these in along side the road I pass through every day to work (on bicycle). I wonder if anyone has noticed them and discovered that they are made out of yarn...

status: taken away after 2 weeks

Second yarnbomb still hanging

This was my second yarnbomb. Put it up in the evening, it wasn't quite dark yet, so I could take some pictures. I made a flower crocheted garland. Very easy and fast to make! After 2 weeks, it is still hanging, yay!!

status: taken down after almost 2 months

First yarnbomb taken down...

So this was my first yarnbombing project. It was put up at night and the next morning it was already taken down. It was laying on top of the pole I put it on. My kids and I (on bicycle) pass by there every morning on our way to school. My eldest looked at the piece in wonder. I, of course, had to pretend not to know what it was. Unfortunately there wasn't time to take any pictures. The next day it was all gone, except one strand...

status: did not last for one day