yarnivore bites! guerrilla linguini

Fork as bicycle rack, sans unlawful decoration.

Fork as bicycle rack, complete with unlawful decoration.

I saw this 'fork' several days ago.  A new installation on dear little 4th street.  I had to look at it twice to figure out what it was...fork as bike rack.  Here in Long Beach, deep in the SoCal artsy beach scene, the city has created bike racks to reflect the businesses in front of which they stand.  Cups of coffee in front of Viento y Agua or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  Slices of pizza in front of Olives and flowers in front of Kava Yoga.  A lovely little Greek deli recently moved out and now the sign sweetly beckons me with the word 'Bakery' in large buttery letters.  Out side of this soon to be den of waist enhancing joy is said fork/bicycle rack.  So lonely, so bare, it needed...something...something starchy...something yummy...something pasta!
Here we have it, linguini as 'unlawful decoration' (thank you Sara for this new description).
I now have a 'fork' to decorate....big piece of crocheted lettuce perhaps?  Crochet bacon? An egg?  The comestible ideas are endless. 
Dropping this bomb on my way to work just made my day that much more....delicious.

yarnivore bites! linguini...

who doesn't like pasta? this guerrilla does.
I dropped a pasta yarn bomb on my way to work.  A giant fork marks the delicious spot.
Photos to come...after work. 

yarnivore bites!

The yarnivore bites 2nd street, Belmont Shore in Long Beach CA, June 11th, 2011.
It was misting in the sleepy beach town at 5:00 a.m. when she arrived with yarn b*mbs in hand/trunk to spread yarny goodness to all who may notice.   Jamba Juice employees just showing up for work and a few pups being taken for early morning walks were her only company.  This was a lonely venture for the yarnivore, after days of solo crocheting, it was time.  The day had arrived, International Yarn B*mbing Day, 2011!  Hurrah!
Several parking meters offered up their stems to be covered in crochet as one crosswalk button and a street sweeping sign became yarn graffiti targets.  
Where will the yarnivore bite next?
Veni, Vedi, Acubus Texui.

parking meter bitten by the yarnivore

a flowery yarnivore bite

yarnivore bites the street sweeper sign

a pink yarnivore bite left for a hair salon

yarnivore sharpens her guerriila teeth on a crochet hook

Looks like crochet....really a yarn b*mb.

crochet graffiti

crochet hook responsible

okay, deep breath....here we go.  I am going to do this.  I promised myself and I am going to do this.  Saturday, June 11th 2011 is the first International Yarn B*mbing Day (it is also Knit In Public Day).  I am  going to do it.  yes, yes I am.  I plan on getting to 2nd street in Belmont Shore around 5:00 am and covering some parking meters.  I have several long rectangular pieces of crochet and a few flowers....my hands are getting sweaty just thinking about it.  Should I include a card?  a website?  this one by chance?  knittaplease, yarnb*mbing, I just don't know.  and time, what about time?  I have to work all day today....I have been crocheting furiously for the last day as I have been so busy.  eeegads.  So I will take photos of the guerrilla installation....and post them here for all my little yarnivorites.  The yarnivore is getting ready to bite!

velvet grape leaves

Saroyan is a small shawl.  Saroyan is a scarf.  Saroyan is a shawlette.  Saroyan has leaves on one side. Saroyan is delightful to knit.  Saroyan sits comfortably around the neck, layered or not and is mesmerizing me at the moment.  I had just finished 'Summer Flies' when I found Saroyan.  How fortunate for me.
It is supposed to be knit in a worsted weight yarn, but true to my form I am using sock though still with the size 8 needle suggested for the worsted.  Malabrigo sock to be specific, color?  Velvet Grapes.  ohhhh, ahhhh.  Malabrigo and Velvet in the same project.  delicious.

may bites

Logan (second from left) at regatta in Sacramento.

Same boat, same race, same son., fourth from left.

Baby sweater started on bus.

Baby sweater finished.

Citron Circe

Summer Flies.

What a whirlwind my life has been this month.  Beginning with my son at a rowing race in Sacramento, with the obligatory bus trip, hotel stay and bevy of teen boys.  Their favorite toy on this trip was zip ties!  "Mrs. Carter, someone zip tied my wrist to the back of the bus seat when I was asleep."  Thank goodness I brought my pink mini Leatherman tool, it made me Super Chaperone!
I was able to knit a baby sweater on the bus, yes, yes I did.  For a friend of mine who has a 2 year old daughter and is expecting a second in September.  Unfortunately her husband passed away (in May) suddenly, after a long battle with depression, he took his own life.
I was stopped at a stoplight when the person behind me decided it was a good day to pay attention to something other than what was in front of her and rear ended me.  That was a drag.  I am currently driving rental, Kia Soul.  The one with the hamster commercial?  It does have a great sound system. I now have chronic 'head bob' syndrome from the rockin' stereo system and Sirius radio. 
All of this plus work, end of the school year teen stuff, their grades, one's broken wrist (lacrosse) and the hilarity that ensues.
It is no wonder why the call of yarn beckons me with it's soft, silky, merino wool voice.  Patterns that promise with only a size 6 needle and one skein of sock yarn I can have a sweet little fashion accessory to toss around my neck, oh so enticing and semi-circular.  I fell for it and started two of them!  The ever popular 'Citron' from knitty.com and an easy, flirty pattern called 'Summer Flies'.  Madeline Tosh was kind enough to create the lace weight yarn for my 'Citron' in 'Norway Spruce'. A dark and stormy teal green that reminds me of the poisoned sea of Circe fame.  There was a Lacy Baktus of Prism sock yarn in my knitting bag that I had decided was ugly, I frogged it,  now it will become 'Summer Flies'. 
June is around the corner, and I have knitting to do, life is good...and delicious.

in my perfect world....

In my perfect world there would be free knitting for everyone.  This is my delicious, yarny, dream....

on the hair isle

Fair Isle style ear warmer...black

Fair isle style head band.. blue.

Fair isle style hair band... beige.

Every quarter at Alamitos Bay Yarn Company (where I work on Fridays) we must come up with a class to teach.  I wanted to teach a Fair isle technique class but did not want anything with steeks, or dpns (double pointed knitting needles).  So I came up with a Fair isle style head band, hair band, ear warmer, whatever you call it or however you spell it.  It goes around your head and keeps your ears warm, that's for darn sure.  The one I will be teaching only has two colors, green and white.  The ones pictured here are the product of my Fair isle fueled binge.  I will come clean here, I admit it, my name is Sandra D and I am addicted to Fair isle style knitting.
I don't know exactly what it is, the tidy little charts, the sharp cornered squares, the subtle blending of colors or  the opportunity to stash bust like there is not tomorrow.  Whatever it may be, Fair isle hits me square in the pleasure center of my brain.  Every thing just falls away around me as I  follow the chart with a color in each hand...two stitches blue, three stitches green, one stitch blue, four stitches green....I just want to be left alone with my yarn and my chart, ah fair Fair isle, I do so adore you.
So if life is getting a little crazy for you, and drinking or drugs are just not convenient (or socially acceptable) try my drug...Fair Isle....its delicious.

space, oars and lip balm

Space Girl, in progress....

the most wonderful lip balm, ever.

Long Beach Jr. Crew coming in second in the NorCal race.

I have had this sweater in my ravelry queue forever it seems.  I have told myself to finish what I have already started, or make something smaller that I can finish in an evening.  No, this sweater has appealed to me from the git-go.  'Space Girl'.  yeah, I'm there.  So....after volunteering to chaperon  some 100+ teenagers on a rowing meet, assisting with feeding, corralling and lastly, a bus trip of up and back from Long Beach to Oakland California.  Yes folks, driving to and from Oakland.  Let's see, just how far is that? 370 miles.  ahem, 370 miles in a bus,with 32 teen aged boys (boys), twice, that is up to Oakland and then back to Long Beach in less than 48 hours. Tah-dah!  it is confirmed that I am out-of-my-mind.
On this little trip I figured I would need some lip balm as the kids would be rowing, on the water.  I would be helping in the 'hospitality tent' shoveling food at them making sure they were well fed and hydrated. I found this wonderful balm called 'Labello'.  oh, I do so adore it. Firstly, it is pink, it smells like roses and it comes in frosted!  I bought two tubes, one with frosting and one without.  It now lives in my pocket to be applied often during the day.  I actually hate lip balm.  I have never understood how people could wear it all day, it was just too weird feeling on my lips.  Not so with Lobello, it is not sticky, heavy or waxy.  It is just right!  I am now a faithful Lobello consumer.
Oh yeah, the sweater.  Well when I signed up for this gig I really only heard '8 hour bus ride each way' and imagined all of the knitting I could do with so much time in a seat.  I started the sweater before getting on the bus (smart gal as I am) and settled in to knit as we got underway.  I soon realized that riding a big, bouncy, bus with 32 jacked up teen aged boys watching "Anchor Man: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"  is not like sitting with my knitting group chatting and sipping a flavored coffee beverage of my choice (smart gal as I am).
I did not get as much sweater knitted as I had planned, but wow, I've got hydrated lips.
Space girl sweater?  Delicious.
Bus ride to Oakland? Not so delicious.
Labello Lip Balm?  Absolutely Delicious.

seeing clearly

I suppose I have reached that magic age where little things get blurry and your arms get too short.  Words that used to be crystal clear are now fuzzy. I used to have amazing eyesight, I could see anything and with clarity.   Now the writing on a bottle of Ibuprofen looks like so much dark blur. Menus in low lit restaurants where people go who are old enough to appreciate and afford it are beyond my range.   I now know why women say, 'Oh, just order for me', or 'I'll have what she is having'.  I have discovered that at some stores there are little magnifying cards hanging near the shelves by bottles of remedies.  I have availed myself of them after realizing I had better not chance poisoning.

So I found a pair of reading glasses at Whole Foods, non the less.  They are black, cat eye glasses with little white polka dots on a green background inside.  "They look great on you mom".  My 15 year old son said, "They're cute." So on the advice of my youngest son I made the purchase.  To ease the sting I crocheted my latest life stage augment a little case in Liberty wool (a new favorite) by Classic Elite, with a matching 'eye'-cord strap.  I don't feel much better about the glasses, but being able to add knitting sugar made it go down easier.
Not so bitter.

boysenberries

     Ah, now that's better.  I finally got my new photo editing software onto my new computer...and am having a time relearning how to edit photos.  Not to mention trying to find my old photo files and just getting all comfortable again.  It is amazing how our bitty brains get used to a certain way of doing things and then, Kapow!  We must relearn, rethink and retool ourselves, reboot if you will, just to get back on track.  Sometimes I feel like I am swimming as fast as I can with technology.  Now I adore it mind you, and would have every new gadget available if I had the funds to acquire them.  I dream of an ipad, an iphone, an ibrain and an icar that runs on compressed air (there is such a thing you know).  For now I settle for my desktop, my slide phone and my Subaru (which I adore, it has heated seats!) knitting and my pug.
      So, here we have photos of both.  Some new knitting and a handsome portrait of the pug himself, Professor Q. Grubleton Esq. looking rather regal.  Trees is a pattern from ravelry for a lovely cowl or scarf depending on how you wear it.  I had already made one with Madeline Tosh pure tussah silk lace yarn.  It was delicious.  A friend also thought so and off my needles to her neck it went, lucky gal. So I started a new one, for me, in boysenberry Madeline Tosh lace yarn....oh yes, quite yummy.  Also a new light sweater in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.  I chose brown.  I am trying some new colors this year, brown, gray and dark blue.  We'll see how that works for me.  My usual clothing color of choice is black, not usually, always. 
     I do love that boysenberry color, it reminds me of the way Knott's Berry Farm used to be when I was little.  They had burro rides, cowboys, saloons and seals that you could feed.  I even remember the little waxed paper bags the fish would come in.  There were big windows you could look through and see ladies making lollipops, boysenberry lollipops.  You could smell the pies baking, boysenberry pies that stained your fingers and lips.  No big roller coasters or fancy rides, just animals, trains, cowboys and ....boysenberries, delicious.

bacon

this is not my dog, but it is close.

deep teal Classic Elite Liberty wool.  I want some, no, I take that back.  I want lots.

I am actually a vegetarian, my dog on the other hand, is not.  Since getting a new computer and printer I recently realized that many of the transferred files from the old computer do not read/work on my new one, drat.  Aside from document files coming up in Cyrillic I have not had a working photo program, double drat.  Now this causes me concern because I cannot post projects to my raverly account.  I cannot add new items to my etsy shop and I have no way to post new photos here, on my blog.  So I am resorting to other peoples photos.  Here we have a hat that I purchased from this etsy shop for my pup.  It rocks.  I am also trying to decide on tags for him from this shop and this shop.  I am excited about a new yarn by Classic Elite called Liberty Wool.  It is a washable worsted that feels good and knits up like a dream.  I reeeeeealy want lots of it in teal to make a sweater jacket.  I would be delicious.

When it rains it pours

Ah, I do so adore the rain.  Solstice has come and gone, with a lunar eclipse to add to the magic.  I took the week off from work for the Solstice and my youngest son's birthday December 24th.  All of my jobs have been very busy, so many projects, responsibilities and things to do so I was excited to have some time.  Oh the Universe has it's ways of making us relax...well sort of.  My printer went out, two days later my motherboard fried.  I was computer-less for the holidays.  With that, the rain, a bit of a cold and much knitting to do I proceeded to take to the couch and be still.  My pup thought this was the best thing ever and decided to join me.  Now with new computer and printer up and running, me back to work and life beginning to ramp up once again I am happy to have had a few days of forced down time.  I did get much knitting done though I still have quite a bit to do.  I really like that thought.....yum, knitting and puppies, warm and delicious.

yarn is my drug

I have known about this show for months.  I have thought about it, lost sleep over it and gnashed my teeth for it.  I figured I would just use one of my already done felted sculptures and put a witty name on it to fit the show title 'soft'.  But it was not to be.  I had to make something new, something else, something 'soft'.  So at the eleventh hour I decided to start crocheting.  I needed an excuse to crochet like a mad woman, a reason to say to those around me, 'not right now, I'm working on a piece that is due in two days' so I could just crochet and crochet and crochet.  I could ask for tea to be brought, the dog to be fed and the channel changed on the t.v.  I had an excuse to just crochet.  The title of my piece for the 'soft' show at the Future Gallery in Los Angeles is 'hard drugs'.  This show is to explore the meaning of 'soft'.  I made 14 crocheted 'pills' of varying size and color combinations that look like capsules.  I like them very much and they will be very easy to hang.  I just may make a few to sell in my etsy shop, I just may make a few for gifts or even to keep for myself.  Yarn is my drug, and it is delicious. 

yarnafitti? knittafitti?, yarnifitti? yarnefitti?

I have so much free time (this is an untrue statement) that I have decided to take up a hobby....'yarn bombing'. Now, I need to make some decisions here regarding this endeavor. Firstly, what to call it. I was thinking 'Yarnifitti' to go along with the Yarnivore theme, 'knitfitti' is in the Urban Dictionary here. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Nextly, I need to think about if I want to put a 'card' on each piece with the yarnivore/yarniffiti blog address so people can tell me if they like/do not like it. If they took it, which would be okay too. If they have any suggestions as to where/what they might like to see yarnifitti-ed next and so on. Or am I asking for legal trouble, as in being fined/arrested for defacing property, but since it is easily removable it may not be covered under 'defacing'?
I could make a statement, be passive aggressive, political or social, I am open to all sorts of ideas.
Also, just in case you might be interested in a new hobby.....that involves yarn, knitting, and possibly 'defacing' public property, send me an email and we will talk.
Here are a few images so you can be inspired too....delicious.

flying fish

So I have a school of fish hanging in LAX, the Los Angeles airport in the Southwest airline terminal. There are 60 little wooden minnows flying high and wearing hand knit sweaters....yes, I knitted little fish sweaters. The show is a group show and is titled "Unwearable". I have other fishies in sweaters as well, they are all trout. One with a cable sweater, one with a fair isle sweater, another with a granny square sweater....you get the idea. I just love those little minnows! I do not yet have a photo of the show, but here are a few pics of the fish on land...the little ones look like candy...yummy.

cozy tp

Oh boy! New etsy items. I think we all need a bit of cozy in the bathroom so here are some updated toilet paper covers for your watercloset. I thought about campy, the poodle or doll dress but finally I chose to create my own contemporary toilet paper roll covers. They are simple and sweet, feminine or masculine. I can create them to match any bathroom colors...yup, I am amazing that way. So with my crochet hooks flying and my etsy shop humming I present; mid-century decor for the 21st century, toilet paper roll covers! Get yours today....sweet.