London's Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square has been home to some inspiring crafty art. From Gormley's One and Other folk knitting, paper-aeroplane folding and body painting to the most recent Ship in a Bottle by Shonibare. What will end up keeping Nelson and his lions company next?
Today saw the announcement of the contenders for the prized pigeon-perched place in one of London's busiest squares.
Offerings include:
You can see the proposals exhibition in the St Martin-in-the-Field Crypt till October 31.
Personally I quite fancy the giant chicken. Possibly with a giant knitted moustache...
The crochet bus by Madga Sayeg has been doing the rounds of the web for a while but here's a new one from the yarnstorming lady that's a little bit zippier: the crochet car cosy.
Magda apparently created the car cosy for the Il Lusso Essenzial, an art festival which attempts to reinterpret La Dolce Vita (the good life) in Italy's historic city of Rome.
She also created a piece entitled Knitted Microcosm in Pink involving sound and natural and artificial light.
You can read a little more about it on the Knitta Please blog.
The 2012 Olympics are thundering down the track towards us and many British traditions and things we can be proud of are leaping onto the band wagon. One of those chasing the Olympic bus is the loveliness that is British Wool.
With the Campaign for Wool kicking off in January, launched by HRH The Prince of Wales in an attempt to revive the fortunes of wool, all the wool producing nations as well as major retailers such as John Lewis and M&S are being brought together and with the Olympics grabbing the attention of the world what better place to showcase our woolly talents?
So The Woolie Petition was born. It's an attempt to calling on the organisers of the London 2012 Games to provide a showcase for the fleecey stuff. The ideas go from the obvious such as carpets/upholstery etc in the new buildings being commissioned to getting a commemorative badge or brooch made from wool for every competitor in the Games.
Find out all about it here and sign The Woolie Petition to help reach the 5,000 signatures they're after. Be proud of your woolly heritage!
(Derek the Sheep image courtesy of Gary Northfield)
"As the evening drew in on the 30th of June at around 6.30pm a pattering of tiny stitched feet could be heard echoing through the innards of London's Science Museum." So begins the grand finale of Stitch London's Stitch Yourself Project with one of the city's most famous museums.
For one night only 259 knitted, sewn or crocheted Stitched Selves from all over the world (from London to Israel to Australia) found their way to the Science Museum and packed themselves into a display case in the main Energy Hall.
You can see Stitch London's many photos from the night here. Featuring hoards of Stitched Selves all trying to make the most of their moment in the limelight.
Was your Stitched Self the in their fibre-filled ranks?
Also featured are two knitted chromosomes that will be part of the Who Am I? gallery's permanent exhibit.
Craft and science in perfect harmony.
What's that crawling from the sewers of New York intent on eating you, your friends and anyone else who wanders into its woolly path of tiny destruction! Aiiieeeee! It's a tiny knitted alligator and it's free! FREE I TELL YOU!
Hang on. Since when has a free knitting pattern been something to run away from? Run back! Get your needles into some gorgeous green and get stitch your very own Baby Alligator with a free pattern from the ever so lovely Queen of the Tiny Knit, Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land.
Why is she sharing this reptilian lovely with us? To celebrate the US release of her new book Knitting Mochimochi. Woo hoo!
It's out in the UK in August. I snagged an advance copy from Anna at our Tiny Perching Pigeon Party and may I say that it is one of the most 'Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!' books to hit the world of the knit in ages.
Mochimochi Land is taking over the knitting world. Hooray!
Knitting can be a cathartic thing when you're going through the shock and sadness of losing someone. It's with this in mind that residents of Oak Hill in West Virginia, USA came together to knit an epic scarf for someone they had loved and sadly lost.
The 1,700-foot pink hand-knitted scarf was stitched in honour of Terri Massey, a 41-year-old Oak Hill woman who had recently been lost to breast cancer. From a small idea the scarf grew until it was large enough to surround the local stadium as a decoration for their charity 'Relay for Life'.
Charity knits like this are comforting for those who feel hopeless in the face of cancer and other illnesses. I know this very well after the London Lion Scarf project I ran with Stitch London in 2007. We were sent scarf contributions from 15 different countries around the world and each had a story some sad, some silly and all heart-squeezingly poignant.
The Oak Hill Scarf will now make its way around other events to raise more awareness.
There are even instructions to knit or crochet your own part if you wish to join in.
World Cup Craft is an odd world and it doesn't get much odder in my eyes than cross stitching the face of a member of the England squad. Still if you're into cross stitch and you feel like stitching yourself a footballer's face then why not?
The Empress of All Things Crafty at The Guardian, Miss Perri Lewis, introduces us to a "strangely compelling" cross stitch pattern for "Wayne Rooney's massive face" from Crossstitcher Magazine.
It's a shame they didn't make one for Defoe after the goal against Slovenia, eh? He'd be on tea towels and samplers across the nation.
Still there's time before the next match if anyone out there wants to give it a go.
digg this |
del.icio.us this
| 
Stumble It!
