Friday, March 25, 2011

Viva the Yarn Revolution !




June the 11th has been named International Yarn Bomb day! It is so exciting !
What? I hear you say. Yarn Bombing? What is that!!!??????? And no, it is not aggressive, it has never killed or maimed anybody: it is a Revolution in its most colourful, soft and fluffy way. It can be political, heart-warming and it is funny!
I bet if Che Guevara would have been a knitter, he would have joined the gangs of the many yarn bombers and guerilla knitters that are making the city streets so much more colourful and quirky!
Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, graffiti knitting, guerrilla knitting, or yarnstorming is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted or woven piece of fibre art, rather than paint or chalk. While yarn installations – called yarn bombs or yarnstorms – may last for years, they are considered non-permanent, and, unlike graffiti, can be easily removed if necessary. The practice is believed to have originated in the U.S. with Texas knitters trying to find a creative way to use their leftover and unfinished knitting projects, but it has since spread worldwide..
While other forms of graffiti may be expressive, decorative, territorial, socio-political commentary, advertising or vandalism, yarn bombing is almost exclusively about reclaiming and personalizing sterile or cold public places. Yarn bombs can also be used in rural areas enhancing the spiritual character of nature. Instead of hugging a tree you can wrap it up and give it a nice coat.
On city street corners all over the world, yarn graffiti is seen being wrapped around telephone poles, woven through barbed wire and attached to car antennas. The movement originally started in Houston, Texas by a gang called Knitta Please (aka Knitta) and there is now an international gueriilla knitting movement that is embraced by artists of all ages in countries from Canada to China. Yarn bombing is a merge between installation art, needlework and street art. You can see yarn bombing in a lot of different shapes and sizes and forms and it generally involves the act of attaching a handmade item to a street fixture or leaving it in the landscape. It can be as complex as a sweater credated to cover a statue or as simple as a crocheted rectangle wrapped around a lamp post. Some tag items as tiny as door handles but others create works large enough to cover a public monument. You can seek out a certain project to tag oir do it on a whim: anything goes !

Why yarn bomb you say?
· it’s a fun thing to do
· it’s portable
· it’s a way to self expression
· it challenges social convention
· it allows you to use knitting and crochet work for a purpose other than garment creation
(also called “taking back the knit”)
· it challenges preconcepions about knitting and fibre art in general
· small projects are low pressure and do not require a lot of planning
· it’s a new way of experimenting with new fibres, stitch patterns and techniques
· it inspires joy and surprise both in yourself and others.

Here are some examples of what has been Yarn Bombed:







Bunny bombed: variation on a theme..lol


I have been wrapping and adorning trees and all thing inanimate (and animate I might add ) for years but hey, that is just me and I have done it privately in and around where I live, never venntured out to adorn public property on city streets.. This time on International Yarn Bomb day, we can go out and spread the revolution. I have started a thread on my Ravelry group and an event on facebook to get as many people together in and around the Yarra Valley to join me, but there is also a group on Rav that you can join to get a group together close to where you live. The only thing you need to organise is to get together, seek out objects we want to wrap up with our colourful knits, yarns or other pieces of fibre art and most importantly : get creative! It’s fun! Please let me know if you want to join up with the Yarra Valley Fibre Guerilla Movement ! All the Fibre Guerillas will meet at a certain place (to be disclosed closer to the date: we do not want to attract too much attention of the establishment that has no idea what’s going on and will def be a bit ..eh…confused by the movement…).
Even if you cannot make it to our Yarra Valley Yarn bombing, do not hold back! You can do your bit by knitting up a storm and yarn bomb your fence, a tree at the front of your house, your mailbox! , anything goes! Be creative and go beyond the limits !
Think outside of the box and you will never look back! Besides, people will SMILE when they see knitting or yarns in a context they have never imagined. The world will be a happier place: one stitch at the time !
You may never have imagined that Yarn and Anarchy to be used in the same sentence, but in a way all of us spinners, knitters, weavers and fibre addicts are doing what we are doing to create something oursleves and take a stand against mass produced goods and corporate ideas. Crafting is subversive ! You could see it as a political statement even and as Betsy Greer stated on her website www.craftivism.com “Each time you participate in crafting you are making a difference, whether it’s fighting against useless materialism or making items for charity or something in between. (…) We create to connect beyond ourselves. Craft and activism both take and inspire passion. When used as a joint force they can quite possibly begin to slowly challenge and change things.”

So called “abandoned” Fibre Art can be seen as a defiant act in our ordered society: a form of anarchy. More about Yarn bombing in this great book written by Mandy Moore (www.knitty.com) and Leanne Prain “Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti” or go to www.yarnbombing.com.

Help make International Yarn Bombing Day happen!
There also a Ravelry page (you must also be signed in to join this): http://www.ravelry.com/groups/international-yarn-bombing-day.


Here’s this weeks update AND the information on all the IxCHeL clubs (fibre, yarn and Batt clubs) that will start in April. Sign are still open until the end of the month! so if you want to receive a wonderful fibre, yarn or batt parcel every month let me know ! Email me , message me on Rav or on FB.

Enjoy !

IxCHeL Club Sign Up information:
Fibre Club #9 (april-may-june)
here is all the info for the fibre club sign ups :
The subscription is for a period of three months (april-may-june 2011) and you will receive one special hand dyed top/roving per month to the value of AU$20 or more !
All the tops will be hand dyed and will be especially made for the members of Ixchel Fibre Club !
Sign up now and you will receive an Ixchel Hand dyed special top for three months!
Price to join the Ixchel Fibre Club #9 and receive your special hand dyed top :)) for three months is AU$60 + postage (parcel post or airmail). AND double and triple serves are available !!! So in short:
For Australia :
single serve $60+$15 postage (parcel post)
double serve $120+$18
triple serve $155+$18
For USA + Canada:
single serve AU$60+AU$32 (Airmail)
double serve AU$120+AU$50
For UK,Europe, rest of the world:
Single serve AU$60+AU$38 (airmail)
Double serve AU$120+AU$58
For Asia:
Single serve AU$60+AU$28 (airmail)
Double serve AU$120+AU$39
If you want to receive a fibre surprise every month then join the IXCHEL FIBRE CLUB #9 now. Numbers are strictly limited ! Deadline for signing up for fibre club #9 is march 30th ! And the first installment is going to be shipped out mid april:)
Payment via direct deposit or credit card. Just PM or email me your details :))


Ixchel Sock it to me yarn club April-may and June 2011 :-)
What is the deal? hmmm it is sooo good and fun and sockaliscious you just will HAVE to join :)
Here are the details:
Every month for three months you will receive:
enough hand dyed luscious yummy yarn to make a pair of socks; (the hand dyed yarn will be exclusive for the Ixchelbunny SOCK-IT-TO-ME Yarn CLUB and will range from a sockweight yarn or a 3ply or a 4 ply);
Every month a new sock pattern, tips and instructions ! Now is that GOOD or is that GOOD ??! :) I will even offer a double serve for those of you who like their socks extra long :)
Here is the nitty gritty:
For Australia :
single serve $78+$15 postage (parcel post)
double serve $130 (= one skein FREE!!!) +$18
For USA + Canada:
single serve AU$78+AU$32 (Airmail)
double serve $130 (= one skein FREE!!!) +AU$49
For UK,Europe, rest of the world:
Single serve AU$78+AU$38 (airmail)
Double serve $130 (= one skein FREE!!!) +AU$57
For Asia:
Single serve AU$78+AU$28 (airmail)
Double serve $130 (= one skein FREE!!!) +AU$42
Numbers are strictly limited ! Deadline for signing up for the Ixchelbunny SOCK-IT-TO-ME Yarn CLUB! is March 30th ! And the first installment is going to be shipped out mid april 2011 :) among the yarn blends on offer this time will be an amazing handspun 4ply blue faced leicester bunny sock yarn and some other awesome yarns?) ;-))
Payment via direct deposit or credit card. Just PM or email me your details :))
By the way: you don’t HAVE to knit socks if you don’t want to.. the hand dyed yarn is amazingly nice for scarves, cowls, beanies and even tops ! Anything goes :)


The funky bunny batt club #9 (april-may-june)
Here are all the details and just pm me when you have any questions or want to be part of the funky bunny batt club Movement ;-) Welcome to the blingy dark side ;-D
At the request of so many fibre fans and bunny lovers I am starting this thread so that everybody who wants to join the 9TH funky bunny batt club can put their name on the list.
The subscription is for a period of three months (april-may-june!) and you will receive one special hand dyed funky bunny batt per month to the value of AU$32 or more . The batts will range in weight from 100grams to 150grams with luxury fibres like camel , angora, cashmere, silk, yak, llama even buffalo and wolf this time ! is on the cards for the next funky bunny club!! )
All the batts will be hand dyed and will be especially made for the members of Ixchel funky bunny Club ! Every month you will receive a HUGE luxury funky bunny batt !
Sign up now and you will receive an Ixchel Hand dyed , super luxurious funky bunny batt in april-may-june 2011 !
Price to join the Ixchel Funky bunny #9 :)) for three months is AU$96 + postage (parcel post or airmail). So in short:
For Australia : $96+$15postage (parcel post)
For USA + Canada: AU$96+AU$32 (Airmail)
For UK,Europe, rest of the world: AU$96+AU$38 (airmail)
For Asia: AU$96+AU$28 (airmail)
If you want to receive a fibre surprise every month then join the IXCHEL FUNKY BUNNY Batt CLUB#9 now. Numbers are strictly limited ! Deadline for signing up for the funky bunny batt club #9 is March30th! And the first installment is going to be shipped out mid April 2011 :)
Payment via direct deposit or credit card. Just PM or email me : ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au


Hand dyed Angorino Tops (95% superfine organic 18micron merino+5% angora bunny)
100g AU$20

Super soft and amazing to spin! A unique IxCHeL blend !

Serpentine -2 left-

Smithsonian -2left-


Orsay -SOLD-

Picasso -2left-

Hermitage -2left-
MOMA -2left-

Louvre -2left-

Van Gogh -2left-

Guggenheim -1left-







Email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au if you want to adopt any of these babies or message me on Ravelry or facebook where I am Ixchelbunny !


Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm:

Saturday April 16th!
Thursday April 28th
Bring your wheel, spindle, knitting, crocheting and a plate to share with everybody. There is cake and coffee and tea and a lovely bunny to cuddle and lots of fibres and yarn!) very important ! : Please, please let me now beforehand by email or message that you would like to come and visit so I can prepare the infrastructure and cake ofcourse !
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny, message me on facebook there or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au
Thanks heaps for your support !

Monday , April 18th
Doncaster and Templestowe Spinners & Weavers Spin in Day
“Celebrate the year of the Rabbit”
10am-2pm
The Upper Hall at Templestowe Uniting Church, Woods street, Templestowe.
I will be doing a bunny talk and a very nice way to get information on angora bunnies, their care and their fibre. You will also be able to get close and personal with an English angora rabbit that will get a haircut AND last but not least: there willl be heaps of fibres and yarns and Batts for sale as well ! Don’t miss out and RSVP Pat of the Doncaster + Templestowe spinners and weavers by april 11th.

Saturday 28th of May
Brunswick Town Hall
Handknitters Guild of Victoria Wool show
An absolute MUST for every fibre fan !

Saturday 11th of June
International Yarn Bomb Day ! Want to get involved in a public Yarn Bombing avction in the Yarra Valley? Come to a bunny spin in to discuss a plan of action , call me or email me or message me on RAV or FB ;-)



RABBIT ON !
((hugs))
Charly
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