Keeping on keeping on

Woah... Knitsch has been hard at work while I have been slacking off as far as knit graffiti goes. So I whipped this one up to practice stitches, work out placement of yarn overs in lace and generally brighten up the Wellington streets.

And weeeeeeee did it brighten! Hideously so... some might say.

This tree cosy outside Offbeat Originals generated a bit of attention seeing as everyone was sitting around sipping their lattes (actually... that may have been me) and enjoying the sunshine. I chose this place because of its proximity to the notorious graffiti alley of Left Bank. Sort of showing that we can afford to be a bit more open and transportable and obvious than the more traditional street artists I guess.

Knitta Please is getting some good press in the UK - yay!

The Sun

and the Telegraph

My blogger seems to be having issues. Grr. Why does it put photos in the editor in reverse to how i select them? And it seems to think that the text after the last image is always going to be a hyperlink. Boo, blogger, boo.

Anyway, wandering round town this morning I was trying to think of an appropriate place to put this tag. I like it. I didn't want it to go just anywhere. And then I thought of the perfect spot - outside Toi Poneke, as my little way of saying thanks to the wonderful people who are organising Cuba Street Carnival. There wasn't a suitable pole outside their office so I adorned the gallery next door instead. 

Left Bank, Cuba Mall, Wellington. 

I wonder how long this will last. What will the spray artists think of my critique? Will they get what i'm trying to say? Or think i'm aiming my words at them?

Also think that perhaps I should have blocked it so that it wasn't all bubbly. oh well. Live and learn.

Disclaimer: I am attempting to draw attention to the fact that both spray graffiti and knit graffiti may not be seen as art by all. Which begs the age old question: What is art?

oh goodness. opened a big old can of worms on myself, didn't i?

I found some more:

Art Yarn

Yarn Bombing

UK DiY

Covered in Knit

Having had a good nosey round these sites, and squirreling through others, i've read some pretty interesting things. There was one response that was 'oh, yawn, that's so like 2005. I'm so over it'. 

party pooper. 

I have many reasons why i do it - the main reasons are:

1. to show people that knitting isn't just for nanas, and the traditional perception of it being boring is well out dated. I knit because it challenges me, makes me think, and allows me to make beautiful fabric. Knitting tags is almost all i do now because i can try out new ideas, play, and make mistakes.

2. to show the 'boys' with the spraycans (and all 'traditional' graffiti detractors) that graffiti also isn't what it used to be, and that girls should have just as much kudos for what they do in the field. Graffiti is art (i won't go into detail about where i think the lines are) and so is craft - something that has a rep for not being 'art' either. 

We're challenging stereotypes. OutdoorKnit didn't come up with the concept, but we like to do our part. Plus, i'm all about the positive - we need to encourage each other to try something different, to be ourselves, and explore our environment. Whatever that may be.

Knitsch xx

New friends!

well, not sure they count as friends yet as I only found them today. 

Sydney

UK

Wellington

Grrl + dog made it into the paper - we haven't yet but we're working on it. Stay posted.

I was aiming for the concrete look. Not sure if it was quite successful - might need some more work.

The new next to the old

inspired by this