October?! Yeah!

How have you been, lovely readers?  I took a little break from blogging after our piano got to its permanent home (though I still have to get over to Day Nursery and tighten things up). Things have been busy here, but I knew I needed to get over here and give you a recap!  Among recent highlights:

1.  We got a new baby nephew!  This is the first time I've become an aunt as a grown-up, or lived nearby, and it's thrilling!  He is easily the most adorable boy I have ever seen, and Merino and I keep wondering what we ever did before we were so busy texting each other our pictures of him and changing our computer backgrounds with updated pics!  

2.  Have I mentioned I finally bought my own spinning wheel?  She's beautiful, but it took me a while to get her adjusted like the one I have been borrowing for years!  

3. I'm volunteering for a local "exotic" animals rescue (EARPS.org), which has led to us fostering two single gerbils, and man are they different than hamsters!  (Which reminds me, Carmelita's birthday is coming up; she wants sunflower seeds!) 

4.  I'm having fun conceptualizing custom knitting orders.  Coming up: an elephant hat and an owl hat!   

5.  The Film Festival I volunteer for is next month - yay!  Just so you know, I may have an embarrassing fan-girl meltdown if I get to meet Del Shores.

6.  My sister came for a visit, and we got to meet her husband!  He has laugh lines, and they held hands; it was very heartwarming.

7.  The Yarnburners yarnbombed the Indyfringe Theatre Festival, and I attended a couple of Fringe shows... LOVE!

8.  I applied to, and was accepted into the Handmade Promenade, which is a holiday-shopping-time pop-up shop that will be in downtown Indianapolis!  In November and December my yarns will be available in person, in addition to on Etsy!  

Yes, these are just a few recent happenings!  I'll keep you posted on these and other developments - but if you think I'm being too quiet on my blog, be sure to connect with me on various social media platforms for more frequent updates; I hear Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are all the rage.  

Thanks for reading; I appreciate you!

Tickled Pink about her forever home!

This just in... I think the Yarnburners' piano is going to be well-loved in her permanent home... take a look:

"Tickled Pink" arrives at Day Nursery thanks to the GO Ahead & Play project! @womensfundindy @Stockannette @ece pic.twitter.com/QFL6IWVp6o
— Ted Maple (@TedLMaple) August 21, 2013

Read about Day Nursery here.  Oh, how it warms my heart to know that our piano will be able to bring joy to the children, families, and the staff there!  

Our pink knit & crochet #Indypianos unsung heroes...

There are certain features of our yarnbombed piano that will only really be enjoyed once she reaches a forever home at a Women's Fund grantee organization - but that does not make them any less fabulous!  In fact, these wonderful knits are two of my very favorite parts:  

If you've visited any of the pianos out in public, you've seen that they have uniform, gray, custom-made benches, equipped with GO Ahead & Play information and maps, tethered to them. Here is Claire's gorgeous piece that covers the seat of the "permanent bench" (the one that came with the piano - bench and piano will be reunited when she retires to her indoor life of luxury).

We lined the inside of the permanent bench, leaving some of the music books and a notebook of the child (Emily) who once learned to play on our Betsy Ross Spinnet.  See that bright pink book on top?  That "sheet music" was knitted by Wenchciara, who transcribed the notes of "You Are My Sunshine" on one of the pages!  (She's also responsible for making all the lovely treble clefs that we've attached to the piano!) 

Indianapolis, you've only got a few more days (until August 18th)  to head down to Monument Circle and find "Tickled Pink, Tickling the Ivories" - GO Ahead & Play!

Young? That depends. Restless? Yes!

The excitement is building!  I can hardly wait!  The Yarnburners' piano, Tickled Pink, Tickling the Ivories, is about to make her outdoor debut!  What will you play when you meet her?

Today's video features our newest Yarnburner, my best friend Kevin, who doesn't even knit (yet?)!  He came along to the GO Ahead & Play workspace one day to help me (thank goodness!) and the next thing I knew he had a needle in hand and was miraculously, expertly stitching pieces to other pieces in contrasting yarn, which really makes for a fabulous finished look.  Don't worry, this is not the last you'll see/hear of him!   

This blog entry is meant not only to share an inside look at our process with you, lovely readers, but to tell Kev that his love, support, and humor throughout the years mean the world to me - especially his involvement in this crazy piano project (though he never once told me I was crazy for trying to cover a piano with yarn).  I love you, Boy.

Drum roll, please!

[Insert big official announcement music here!]  The Yarnburners' piano (titled Tickled Pink, Tickling the Ivories) will be on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana!  She's yarn-clad and tuned up and ready for everyone to visit August 1-18, 2013! 

The exact location will be 40 Monument Circle (Southwest quadrant - right in front of our sponsors, radio stations 93.1 WIBC FM and Soft Rock B105.7).  Here's a link to the interactive map.
 
Keep in mind, she has 19 piano friends in the area and all around town - transformed with everything from paint to paper, sculpted to carved - who would also love to see you!    If you're like me, you'll want to print out the downloadable map so you can plan your trips to see each one!  Play a song, take some photos, have a seat and sing a little ditty anytime - and when you're tweeting, instagramming, pinning, etc., use "#indypianos" so we can see how you like her!

pink yarnbombed piano in Indianapolis: girl plays "Heart & Soul"

Just waiting to get the official word about where our piano will be...

When in doubt: YouTube!

So, The Yarnburners' GO Ahead & Play piano is done!  At least, that's what I've thought since the last work day (June 30).  However, we hit a little snag.  We stitched (very securely, I might add) over some parts that had to be opened for piano-tuning purposes!  Silly me, I thought it was just the top that had to open!  I should have paid attention when my childhood piano was tuned; failing that, I should have looked on YouTube just to make sure.  I swear I have learned so many things from YouTube, I don't know why checking there didn't occur to me!  Tim the Tuner sent me a link to this informative video - isn't it amazing?

I went and removed some of Kev's delightful seam stitches yesterday, and will go back tomorrow to alter the design ever-so-slightly, so "Betsy's" innards can be easily accessed for future tunings... we want her to sound her best!  It's just a few minor adjustments; she's still going to be breathtaking when people in Indianapolis see her in public (August 1 through 18 - stay tuned for location specifics, coming soon!)

Here's another sneak peek for you:

Piano publicity!

Neat!  I've been profiled by Kristen at the Women's Fund of Central Indiana.  Thank goodness there's no photo of me lying on the ground the other night, stapling knitting to the Yarnburners' GO Ahead & Play piano!  This is what the underside of an upright piano looks like, by the way:

Whatcha doin' Sunday?

 

Wanna help stitch pieces together and/or apply them to our piano this weekend?  Leave a comment with some way to contact you and I'll send you details. 

Yarnbombing a piano in Indianapolis!

Remember when we tagged the inside and outside of the Harrison Center for the Arts with yarn?  Well, there's a new project on the horizon - I submitted a proposal, it was accepted, and work has begun (let me know in the comments if you want to join in; there's still plenty of time)!

First, a little bit about our group: the Yarnburners are a group of central Indiana knit graffiti (“yarnbombing”) artists. We enjoy beautifying and bringing attention to the beauty in everyday objects by dressing them in knit, crochet, and weaved yarns.

And now, about the project: we will be fitting an upright piano with a custom-made yarn wrap for the Women's Fund of Central Indiana's GO Ahead & Play pop-up pianos public art project.

The overall theme of our installation will be “Tickled Pink, Tickling the Ivories,” and the main colors of the knitted/crocheted work will be various joyous shades of pink! The choice of colors was made to symbolize women and honor their vibrancy and strength, while at the same time inviting passersby to smile, gather together, and maybe even sit and play for a while!  Here's our "concept image":

We have three workshop times set up in the next couple of weeks:

TODAY: Tuesday April 30 from 5-7 pm
Thursday May 9 from 6-8 pm
Saturday May 11 from 10 am-3 pm 

Bring: knitting needles or crochet hooks and a folding chair or something comfy to sit on. We have some yarn, but bring any stash you want to contribute and/or knit with.  Can't join in, but have some pink yarn to contribute?  You can drop it off at Mass. Ave. Knit Shop!

The workspace where the piano is being housed is at 5358 W 38th St, Indianapolis (in Honey Creek Plaza at 38th and Moller Rd.). The space has been donated, so when you see a “for lease” sign and white-papered windows, you’ll know you’re in the right place! It’s between Machu Picchu and the tepanaki place.

The completed piano (ours is one of twenty working uprights, each showcasing a different artist or group's medium) will be placed around Indianapolis in August, for the public to enjoy and interact with.

More pics from yesterday!

Woot woot!

Guess what I did this evening? Yup! It was really fun! Something's up with flickr; I'll upload more photos when I can.

Well, I did it.

I took some of my profit from the scarf sale and put it right back into the EtsyKarmaUniverse. Yep; same-day service! I bet you think I bought yarn, huh? Nope. I bought a print of a cyclops using yarn! It's called Gary Takes Up Knitting, and it's the non-yarn thing I have coveted the longest since starting my shop. I know y'all are jealous that I snatched up Gary before you could, and you should be! I kid; you can come visit him at our place in a week or so. Or perhaps you should obtain one of Gary's compatriots for yourself.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go sweep the feather boa shrapnel up off the living room floor. What? I just finished my second piece for Friday night's knit graffiti install.

Fans of Mass. Ave. Knit Shop

Darling readers, you know how I love my local yarn shop, Mass. Ave. Knit Shop. I asked the owner if it was okay if I started a Facebook fan group, and she said yes... now several people have emailed me, "What about Ravelry? We need a Mass. Ave Knit Shop fan group on Ravelry!" So, since the FB group has 28 members, that seemed like a pretty good sign, so I went to the shop this afternoon and said, "Can I start a group on Ravelry?" and the rest is history! As of today you can support your local yarn shop on FB by typing "mass ave knit shop" in the search box, and on Ravelry by clicking here.

It's turning out to be a pretty big week, with my first INCrowdteam Interview that published on Saturday, the Indianapolis Monthly article which I shared with the knittaplease group on FB and suddenly I'm tweeting with people in the U.K., my first ever reserved listing on Etsy, the knit graffiti installation at the Harrison Center for the Arts coming up on Friday night and oh, have I mentioned the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival? Yeah, going to that on Saturday, provided there is no flooding of epic proportions this year.

For those of you who do not feel compelled to buy a copy to send to your momma, like I did.

Here is a link to Indianapolis Monthly's mention of our knit graffiti crew, although if you don't go purchase the actual magazine, you'll miss out on the fun of trying to read my photo credit in the teeny-tiny print in the gutter (crack) of the magazine.

Really, I'm not one of "those."

Yeah, I'm in Mo'Joe on my laptop right now. So? I've got my knitting with me. And my camera. In fact, here is a photo I just took of the tag I left here during the Yarnburners' meeting last week:Check me out, experimenting with a subtle tag! Hee hee. It's harder than you'd think to tie that stuff to a table post without looking.

While I was ordering my lunch (a delicious iced peppermint latte and chicken salad sandwich) and asking how to hook up to the wireless network, the barista asked, "Aren't you going to be knitting?" to which I replied that I might do a little knitting and a little web-surfin'. The guy behind me in line chimed in with, "Excuse me - did I hear you say you are a knitter? My wife is a knitter, too! She meets her knitting friends at the library every Saturday morning at 11:00. But not this Saturday. There's no meeting this Saturday, because of the [Indy 500 Festival] Parade." I responded, "Very cool! The Central Library?" and he elaborated that yes, their meetings are right near the main entrance every Saturday - but not this Saturday - at 11:00 a.m. What a good Knitter's Husband he is! I'm going to try and go to that meeting sometime, just so I can find out whose husband he was, and tell her how proudly he proclaimed that his wife is a knitter! It warms my heart.

During the upcoming long weekend...

Since I've already put together a crazy Treasury (yes, I really did come up with the concept because two coworkers' kids and one salesperson's kid came down with conjunctivitis at the same time), I'll be trying to figure out a pleasing concept for photographs of the next item I'm going to list, a set of three notecards for knitters (at least I hope they'll appeal to knitters; see scan below).

The other two cards in the set feature an angora rabbit and an alpaca! It's kind of stumping me how to make a photo of flat paper items look dynamic. Suggestions would be appreciated! Otherwise, I'm going to browse around Etsy and see what other people do to have such darling photos of notecards.

I'll probably also be finishing a hat and the "tree sweater," since the office closes at 12:30 tomorrow and doesn't reopen until Tuesday!

Oh, here's another question: why is Star Trek only playing at midnight at our chosen IMAX this weekend? Crazy talk, I tell you!

Frogged.

I suppose I could have considered it a bad sign when I liked how the yarn looked when I pulled a little center chunk out of the skein to find the end. Last night we were at Mo'Joe knittin' for the outside of the Harrison Center, and I knew I should have cast on for my light pole sweater beforehand! Doh. Really, once I finished the tree sweater with the lei pieces knitted right into it, I had a feeling that my second project couldn't top it. Ah, well. So I cast on using 50s (big needles) and two strands. Everything proceeded to get all ugly and tangle-y and all I could think of was, "But I wanna knit the feather boa in there now!" I ripped it out. Take two, with smaller needles: tonight.

And now for something completely different: two weeks ago we named the new fish Jules Winnfield, and yesterday it came to me - the perfect name would have been Henry Rollins. I'll just file that one away for future use.

For future reference (or, things I learned my first time taggin'):

It takes longer that you'd think to stitch things to objects! It took me almost two hours to install my four small pieces (photos below). Oh, and a note on planning: think about how you are going to be installing a piece when you are binding off. Sometimes you'll want your long yarn tails to end up on the same edge of your work, and sometimes you'll want them to be on the diagonal, depending on the application.
It's exciting! People seem very supportive. A guy from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful wandered by and said, "Hey, I like your door handle!" The whimsical nature of knit graffiti makes the artist and other people smile. They can't help it.

Finally, whatever you do - don't get yourself involved with a knit graffiti crew; their stuff might make yours look like crap in comparison! I'm serious; I was literally flabbergasted when I saw what some of the other Yarnburners had done; it was immense, and detailed, and beautiful. I was completely unprepared for the quirky, random, thoughtful, colorful spectacle of it all!

Rebel without a list.

If only people actually knew about this blog and read it, I would implore one of you to remind me to bring the following things tomorrow when I go to install my pieces in the Harrison Center (as it stands now, I could review this entry... unless I were to throw caution to the wind and write a list):

• the actual knitted pieces - door handle covers, pipe cozy, and light switch cover
• pouch of scissors, yarn needles, etc.
• extra yarn, for sewing pieces on
• zip-ties, just in case
• camera!

Hee hee.