it's the (yarn) bomb

Source: Black Cat Originals via Pinterest

Exciting times! My photo of yarnbombed lamp post in Moscow has been featured on Sarah's Black Cat Originals blog. Head over and have a look at some of the others - I really really love those yarnbombed weapons.

It's Only Fair

My last weekend working in a certain high street handmade cosmetics shop was during Fairtrade Fortnight. It was time to party and I organised an in-store tea party to promote fair trade practices and products.

We were encouraging people to step forward  and to change something they probably use everyday (like tea or lotion) to fair trade products. By us choosing fairly traded products through our consumer choice, we can help offer farmers and workers a better chance to work their way out of poverty, through fairer wages, safer conditions at work and investment in projects to improve life for their whole communities.

So we had fair trade tea, we had fair trade cakes and we even had people powered fair trade smoothies. But it's a party, the shop needed decorating. I have been well and truly bitten by the craftivism bug and made this bunting to help decorate the shop and to also enforce the fair trade message.

This was the first time I have made bunting and it was surprisingly easy. To save time I cut the flag shapes from some vintage fabric (I think it was once bedding) with pinking shears to prevent fraying. The letters are made from felt off cuts (so they also didn't need any additional hemming) and were simply handstitched on to the flag shape. The flags were then attached to some bias binding and machine sewn.

I think it was pretty but with an effective and strong message. Plus the eagle-eyed amongst you will also notice that it is grammatically correct...

I'm already embarking on another 'craftivist' project. It feels good to have found an outlet that meets my desire to be involved in craft and activism. Watch this space...

Yarnbombing

a 'yarn bombed' street light outside Gorky Park in Moscow

I'm a bit obsessed with yarn bombing at the moment. A bit like my cross stitch protest banner, it feels like a fun but also crafty bit of rebellion. As the wonderful Streetcolor Art says,  

"some think that yarnbombing is just silly and it is fun but it is also full of soul . Our cities belong to us'

 I saw quite a few of these street lights, wrapped up in little knitted coats, around Gorky Park when we went to Moscow.  They seemed really incongruous, mainly because I had a (unrealistic) vision in my head of the bureaucracy of Russia never allowing anything like this. But they were also really gorgeous against the backdrop of the snow...

This rather refined gentleman had been given a little woollen beanie to keep him warm in the freezing temperatures.

I'm going to have keep my eyes open for any more yarn bombs on my travels. Maybe I'll have to try a little bit myself and add some much need colour to my suburban surroundings? After all, like Streetcolour says, our towns and cities do really belong to us...

You could put something really great here?

I’ve been fascinated with guerrilla craft and craftivism (craft used for activism) for a while now. I like the way it can make people think, how it can prompt conversation. But I also like how it can be used to reclaim the human environment, so full of adverts and the constant bombardment of corporate images, yet being softer than more common street art. A little bit more incongruous.

This was my first mini-protest banner, made from a kit bought from the Craftivist Collective. The area outside of Reading train station is full of empty offices and a poorly designed 1960s arcade and bus station. It is run down and deemed beyond repair. Recently development consultants, employed by the local council, have put together a master planning vision to redevelop the area – to demolish the existing buildings and build flats, offices and shops. Completely uninspiring and a development that appears to not respond to any community needs. This is a town full of empty offices, full of empty shops, full of housing that people can not afford. A problem that isn’t going to be resolved by building more market flats.

Frustrated with the planning processes for the town where I live, my protest banner is a message to ask people to think about what else can be done to regenerate towns. I also hoped it might make someone think about the space around them and what it could be, not just what property developers think it should be… You could put something really great here?

This was my first piece of craftivism/ guerrilla craft. But it probably won’t be my last. I love the way working on it focused my mind, I found it a bit of a release. And, just between you and me, I loved putting it up and reclaiming my little bit of my town.

(I originally published this on a new blog - but I have since decided to 'come home)

There's a Mouse. Loose. About this House...

I made these little guys after reading about the Guardian's requests for catnip mice for cats at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

All three of our cats are rescue cats - all via the RSPCA - Daria was a single mother from a neglectful home, Headley was found as a feral kitten in a colony by some town centre bins and Monty was in an abandoned litter and reared by hand. So animal rescue is a cause close to our hearts.

I'm a pretty novice knitter but was able to make one of little guys in front of the box in an evening and it feels pretty good to make something that might make a homeless animal happy.

You can find all the instruction to make your own catnip mouse here.

Desconocida Unknown Ukjent

Almost exactly six months ago I blogged about an art project I had taken part in called Desconocida Unknown Ukjent, which I had discovered through the fabulous Craftivist Collective. Pallant Gallery were also kind enough to send me two labels to embroider at home.

Desconocida Unknown Ukjent is an international art project by the Norwegian artist Lise Bjorne Linnert to raise awareness of the murder, trafficking and abuse of women in Ciudad Juarez, on the Mexican/ US border. Since 1993, between 500 to possibly over 1000 women are believed to have been murdered in the city or have disappeared.

In this art project, each participant embroiders the name of one of the dead or missing women of Ciudad Juarez and also embroiders the word 'unknown' to remember all the unidentified victims of similar crimes worldwide, taking the time used to embroider the name or words to remember these people.

The Aussie and I were on the South Coast this week and were able to go to Chichester to visit the Pallant Gallery and see Lise's complete work.

When embroidering the individual labels it was difficult to even imagine how they would all look all together. The labels have been displayed to spell out the lyrics of the Mexican and the USA national anthems in Morse Code, which is why there are gaps between some of them.


It is difficult to describe the emotions of what it was like to see them all together. Embroidering the single label was very moving because you knew that person had faced hardships we don't even have to consider in the UK. But when I saw the whole wall of the labels, remembering that every single one of them represents someone that is dead or missing and that the authorities have so far done nothing to investigate a single one.

I find it very difficult to put in to words the combined feeling of utter sadness and anger at the injustice.

Please have a look at Lise Bjorne Linnert's blog to find out more about the project.