Take What You Need

'need' flyer

ready to go

'need' flyer installed at Viento y Agua coffee house

'need' flyer ready to give freely

I found this idea on Pintrest, and just had to pass it on.  The sign is fashioned after a 'for sale',  'for rent' or 'a service offered' flyer with phone numbers at the bottom of the paper, cut into strips for easy tearing.  There is a board for such things at a local coffee house, Viento y Agua on 4th street in Long Beach, California, so I put one up there.  Plans are in the works to make many more and add them to boards around town.  Maybe you will feel like passing this on too, make one and put it up at the grocery store, laundromat or even in your break room at work.  Take What You Need and feed the hungry...delicious.

Yarnivore bites 500 hearts

on a tree in the middle of the street

it does not say, no 'heart' parking

Scratch bakery love

two hearts on a pole

uh...scratch

hearts on a bike rack and a heart on the bike

meter with a heart

Luna's door has a heart

bite a crepe

bite a Jamba Juice

It's my birthday and there are 500 crocheted hearts gracing the streets in Belmont Shore.  Oh what a lovely morning, 4:30 a.m. found the yarnivore hanging hearts at Scratch bakery and in front of Twig & Willow.  We were then on to 2nd street, Belmont Shore.  My youngest (16) son and a friend in yarn (Nancy) were there to assist.  Luna, Battalions of Beauty, Pussy & Pooch, Jamba Juice, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Mira di Bello, and even the Grunion Gazette were some of the businesses bitten by the yarnivore's heart bomb.  The hearts were hung perfectly from so many perches, each one oh, so adorable...and delicious.

Hungry for Hearts

heart bombs

one hundred and eighty hearts

The yarnivore is hungry to bite on her birthday.  February 13th is the magic day.  I so adore February with it's red, pink and purple color scheme.  Love is in the air (to which I am a bit of a cynic) but I am quite attracted to the trappings of the day.  Rain has often graced the 13th of February but of late it has been warm and sunny, this year is proving to follow suit. A bomb is in order so the streets will be decorated in yarny splendor for my birthday.  Hearts shall be the decor of choice, crocheted hearts in Valentine-y colors to hang along the way.  The plan is a minimum of 500, more if my little yarny hands can crochet that fast.  A late night or early morning bomb time will need to be chosen so the hearts will twirl in the breeze for the 13th.  There is the possibility of a filmographer on this bomb, the yarnivore is still deciding on that one, sounds exciting though!  So off to crochet more hearts.....yummy.

turbines

Turbines, a cowl, draped

Turbines, a cowl, folded

Turbines, a cowl, folding

I bought some yarn, enough I thought for a vest.  My calculations, sadly, were a bit off in the negative direction.  I love the yarn, Rowan Cashsoft Dk in a wonderful smokey gray so I decided to knit up a cowl of my own design.  As of late I have become enamored with the stitch pattern of YO, K2tog and the opposite, K2tog, YO.  This makes what to me looks like a trellis or a turbine.  Using these patterns in a circular fashion with the dark gray yarn it just looks so industrial, Steam Punk even.  I love it.  So I wrote down the pattern and it is available here, on ravelry as a free PDF download. 
Gray turbines to warm your neck, delicious.

oh look! shiney!

toe up sock on magic loop

toe up sock, yarn colorway: Zombie Barbeque

I must admit that I am easily distracted.  (this is an understatement).  I do so adore things like the internet because I can click and hop from place to place, from blog to blog and image to image.  There are always new things I want to do, items to make, things to knit and objects to buy.  It is quite a feat for me to commit to knitting a garment, much less an entire pair of socks (you mean I have to make a second one that looks just like the first one that I just finished?  Really? really, Really?).  Because of this I have what is termed in the knitting world as SSS, or Second Sock Syndrome.  Alas there is no cure aside from intestinal fortitude to press on to make the second sock and complete the project or to actually knit two socks at one time,.  I have attempted this but along with my Attention Deficit Disorder comes a touch - well, maybe a bit more than a touch - of Dyslexia.  This poses a unique issue for the 'two at a time' concept wherein I became quite fouled up with the endeavor and many curse words were flung about.  As you can see in the photos above there are socks, an actual pair of socks and another on the way, I have found my sock mojo and it is called 'The Magic Loop'.  It is a process where the knitter uses one long circular needle instead of two circulars or 5 double pointed needles.  I am enamored with the 'toe up' option and see many more pairs of hand knit socks in my future, there may just be a few new sock bombs to come!  That is a yummy idea.

yarnivore bites, snowflakes Scratch

detail of snowflake bombs

crocheted snowflake bombs

It has been cold and windy here in Long Beach California, actually dipping down into the 40's at night (I hear the frozen snickers from readers in more northern climes).  It is December, so befitting of the weather and the season I crocheted some lovely little snowflake bombs.  They were set out tonight, three hanging from the now infamous 'fork' bike rack at 4th and Termino in Belmont Heights.  Two hang on the door handle of the amazing and tasty Scratch Bakery and one on the awning.  As I left the scene I saw them dancing in the cold late night breeze, so white, so frosty and oh so delicious.

hair bites

keeping hair tidy with a yarn bomb.

Yarnivore likes biting bike racks.  Long Beach California has so many to choose from in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.  My most recent target is the bike rack that looks like a ...wait for it....person riding a bike! (how novel). Now the 'person' riding this bike (rack) has hair that is blowing back in the imaginary wind.  Well this just won't do.  Yarnivore needs to tidy that up a bit so I knitted some lovely little triangle head scarves to help them out. There are many of these but my main target bike rack is on PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) and Loynes Drive near the 'Local Spot' coffee house.
One bright Friday morning the scarf was applied and off to work I went.  It lasted two days.  Not the quickest removal of one of my yarn bombs, but pretty quick I will say.  I plan to re-bomb it today.  I thought it looked adorable...and delicious. 
Photo credit, Judy Kilpatrick/Alamitos Bay Yarn Company

biting twigs and willows

twig and willow bomb

There is a lovely little store called 'twig and willow' on 4th street in Long Beach California right next to a terrific eatery, The Coffee Cup Cafe.  Out side of this pleasant boutique are two red bike racks shaped like hearts, how quaint.  They need to be bitten, so I crocheted up some orange-y cherry blossom shapes with bright green centers, attached together with a brown twig like chain stitch to bite them with.  I will be bombing in the morning....delicious.

yarnivore bites VK Live!

Oh the glory of a knitting convention!  Classes, tutorials, yarn, needles, bags, yarn, patterns, demonstrations and more yarn!  a-mazing.  Alamitos Bay Yarn Company had a booth at Vogue Knitting Live Los Angeles and I was able to work the show and shop the show and do demonstrations at the show and sell yarn at the show and buy yarn at the show and Yarn Bomb the show.  I was gobsmacked to see that I was the only bomber to grace the Hyatt Regency in Century City with some yarny goodness. Fun was had by all and I can hardly wait for next year, maybe, just maybe we will see a call to knitterly arms with more yarny decorations...delicious.

granny guerrilla

granny bombs

granny bomb hanging

granny seat bomb

toast bomb

toast bomb installed on 'fork'

granny bombs installed above Egg Heaven door

a cozy granny bomb installed

Granny guerrilla's bombs hit 4th and Ximeno tonight, late, hoping to catch the eyes of early morning patrons of Egg Heaven in Long Beach.  Granny is hoping to make those waiting for a seat in this popular eatery more comfortable, cozy and yarn aware.  This place has terrific food and a hippy atmosphere from the early '70's.  Egg heaven is a little bit of breakfast heaven on 4th street, a true local's choice. 
My citrus slices are long gone from the 'fork' in front of the now named 'Scratch' baked goods bakery (not open as of yet) and have been replaced by ... toast!  C'mon, who doesn't like toast?  Toast, all warm and buttery, yeah, toast rocks. 
Yarnivore + toast = happy face.  Tasty!

citrus guerrilla

guerrilla citrus

citrus yarn bomb

'fork' bike rack with slices

handle slice

granny bench cozy

Ah, successful citrus!  The slices went up with ease as did the delightful granny square bench warmer.  The slice of orange door handle addition lead me to an interesting find.  My lettuce leaf yarn bomb disarmed, abducted and now being held in solitary confinement inside the still undone 'bakery' shop.  As I installed the door handle slice I looked into the building and there she was, just lying there on a bench, limp, next to a roll of blue painters tape and drywall dust.  Perhaps they are saving her, holding her for later use as 'fork' decoration, one can hope.
Citrus yarn bombs...juicy!

lettuce leaf, disarmed

no more cookies

several summer citrus slices for the fork

citrus yarn bomb

slices...for a fork/bike rack

an adorable, non threatening granny square yarn bomb.

the cookies are gone, the fork stands bare once again.  I will remove the dangling cupcake that is worse for the wear of hanging on the still unoccupied establishment door handle, to be replaced with a luscious orange citrus slice. 
there is a nearby (just doors down) business with a lovely green bench out front.  a granny square bomb will soon grace it's seat if all goes well.

all to be installed on the morrow.

yarnivore bites cookies!

cookies down the fork

string of cookies

cookie cluster

cookie cluster too

a string of cookies now adorn the fork/bike rack on Termino and 4th street in Long Beach California.  A little bitty cupcake with pink frosting and a 'cherry' on top is dangling from the front door of the soon to be bakery there.  these little cookies just went so well on the fork.  this yarn guerrilla has sunk her teeth into some delicious crocheted cookies....mmmmm, tasty!

cookie bomb cookie

guerrilla's like cookies, don't they?  this guerrilla does.....yarn cookies that is!  my leafy green is gone (stolen? tossed? removed? wilted? never the less, no longer there) so the soon-to-be bakery needs a little sweetening up.  yarnivore will string cookies to grace the fork/bike rack on her way to work tomorrow.  gggrrrrr.....cookies, yum.

yarnivore bites....asteraceae

fork/bike rack sans salad.

ah, salad.

salad, up close.

lettuce on fork/bike rack...street view.

Romaine? Butter?  Green leaf?  Iceberg?  It's all salad.  The fork/bike rack on 4th & Termino now sports a large leaf of asteraceae, you choose the order.  I used several greens to produce this fresh forkful.  An easy installation on my way to work.  I remembered to bring scissors and a tapestry needle to secure the leaf.  Hopefully this fare will stay crisp for many to view.   mmmmm...mmmmm...tasty.

hungry guerrilla

the guerrilla is hungry and the yarnivore is ready to bite.  the linguini is gone, eaten up by some passerby so the the fork stands bare again.  last time I served up a pasta dish, this time it will be salad...a lovely piece of leafy green has been crocheted and is waiting to be served up on the street corner 'al fresco'.
I will 'plate' the large leaf on my way to work, so check back to see what the yarnivore bites.