WW KIP Day

WW KIP DAY, world wide knit in public day. It's coming up next week! I love WW KIP DAY, it gives me the chance to hook up with my old Stitch 'n Bitch friends. I never get to go to our meetings since I teach classes every tuesdaynight, their hangout night. And so I get a condensed S'nB day once a year. Lot's of catching up, swapping books & Yarn and showing off our latest projects. This year I'm hosting a KIP Day in our city. For those who can make it, these are the details as posted on the original WW KIP Day site:

Netherlands, Zuid Holland, Rotterdam
Hosted by: SAS Knits It Again
Location: Noordplein, Rotterdam Noord
Time: 12;00
Date: June 11, 2011

How to get there:
Het evenement vindt bij mooi weer plaats op het Noordplein in Rotterdam Noord. Het is het plein tegenover de winkel 'Kookpunt'. Een paar honderd meter verderop, aan de Zaagmolenkade 42, langs het water, zit Niche, onze uitvalsbasis. Deze woon-, cadeau-, bloemenwinkel heeft een toilet waar we gebruik van kunnen maken.

Please bring:
Lekkere snacks en drinken voor eigen gebruik en om eventueel uit te delen. Een stoel of krukje voor eigen gebruik. Alles wat je extra mee kunt nemen om op te zitten is handig. Er zijn ook bankjes om op te zitten aan de rand van het plein. HET BOLLENGEVECHT:1.Neem max 4 bollen garen van hetzelfde type/kleur/bad mee waar je afstand van kunt doen (het liefst wat mooier garen, zodat de ontvanger er ook echt iets aan heeft)2.Bind de bollen aan elkaar zodat je er in z'n geheel mee kunt gooien. 3.Als het signaal klinkt begin je je mede brei(st)ers ermee te bekogelen. 4.Dit houden we twee minuten vol, 5.Als het signaal weer klinkt, pak je de dichtstbijzijnde bollenkluwen op en die neem je mee naar huis of je start er meteen een nieuw project mee.

The backup plan is:
Bij slecht weer kunnen we terecht bij het eerder genoemde Niche en nemen we plaats rondom de grote tafel in het midden van de zaak.

This KIP is not knitting exclusive
There are free bathrooms available nearby

If you need directions in English, or need help otherwise, please mail me here, I'd love to help.

ALTERNATIVE STREET ARTS

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In this piece I was interviewed to talk about the knitting variation of the new street arts: yarnbombing.
I love the guerilla gardening idea! Might take that up one day. Sounds like your cup of tea Tijm?!

YARNBOMBING & WILDBREIEN

The last couple of months I've been interviewed by a handful of journalists talking about my yarn bombing activities. Suddenly something I did on the side became a small label, a (knit) tag if you will.

Thing is... I haven't been extremely active lately. All around me, everywhere people have decided this form of street art is a fun, cool and creative way to spread some joy and wonder. My scraps were calling me from the attic and so I spent my weekend working in 3 small yarn bombs. I started one and made it an exercise in 'letting go'. it was a challenge.

And I'm not making the story better. I seriously found it hard to just let go and knit without thinking about the looks of the item. I had to correct myself several times and keep myself from 'designing' it too much.

As I finished 'the therapeutic bomb', I found myself knitting another one. It was a reaction. I couldn't help it. I knitted 'something'. A figure. I can't be cured, it's a curse....


Another small piece I whipped up in a couple of minutes just to have an extra yarn bomb to make the group complete and have more recognition chances with the public.

I made 'Berkely M.' my accomplice and at 22:30 we took gaffer tape, scissors and a needle and got to work.
We were joking around each time a car arrived. Not taking it all too serious. Two minutes after we left the scene, 3 police cars drove by. Now let me explain. I live in a village. There is only one copper.... so they must have called for backup from the city. Just saying...
This morning I spotted 2 of the 3 yarn bombs, still in place. Tonight I'm checking the third. Hope they'll be there for a while. Gotta go, the scraps are calling....

Gisteren heb ik samen met 'Berkely M.' in ons dorp, Berkel en Rodenrijs, 3 wildbreisels opgehangen. Wildbreien is zo populair aan het worden dat ik onmogelijk mijn eigen dorp 'ongebreid' kon laten. Zeker niet omdat ik de laatste tijd veel interviews heb gegeven over het fenomeen wildbreien. Mijn restjes op zolder riepen steeds harder en dit weekend heb ik een therapeutisch stukje breien gedaan. Een wildbreisel moet vooral vrolijk zijn, maar ik kan het niet laten om er (te) hard over na te denken en er meteen maar echt iets tofs van te maken. Maar daar was geen tijd voor, ik heb mezelf gedwongen om gewoon maar te breien en niet na te denken. Leuk joh!
Twee minuten nadat alles hing kwamen er 3 politie auto's langsrijden. Bizar, want volgens mij heeft Berkel maar één politieman. ;-) Toch wel spannend. Niet omdat ik bang ben voor een discussie, maar omdat ik het zo zonde zou vinden als het breiwerk erafgehaald zou worden. Maar we waren op tijd weg van de 'crime scene'. Moet gaan, de restjes roepen me weer....

SPOTTED!!

click to see larger image

picture: Zita B.

MY BFFL

Do you feel neglected? I'm sure you do. And I'm really sorry. I should be posting more. I should be posting more about my life, about knitting. But when I scroll down my last posts it looks like I've mostly been bragging. It's just... I'm so proud. I don't want to brag at all I just want to share the jumping frogs (and some butterflies too) in my stomach with you.

I'm working hard to get my little company running and I just love doing it. But since I have a limited amount of time I have to choose the things I want to focus on. Most of my energy has gone into publicity and shouting out loud in every which way I could.
There's been a lot of knitting too and -as ever- the designs keep piling up in my *Moleskine notebooks and I can't find the time to work them into patterns. I NEED AN INTERN!! One that doesn't need payment, a workspace and can turn up at extremely flexible times. (Spare Elves anyone?!)
So choosing.... I've slimmed down my knitting focuses to two:
1. designing for the beginning knitter,
2. teaching new blood how to knit.
That seems like a fairly clear plan to me.
So now the next step. I want to professionalize my appearance online (I'm already seeing a beautician each month so that's covered...) and so I've decided to put a big chunk of my earned dough into a new website that more clearly shows what SAS Knits is and does. In two languages: Dutch for my students and English for the pattern buyers.

So next week I have a meeting planned with my personal graphic designer (and good friend) Job. Next a meeting with this cool new studio that's making my new site: Rox Media. (I'm getting good prices, so there you go guys, links and labels and a twitter post and a Facebook post!)
Talking about personal designers... I love working with other designers to use combined talents to get a new item, shape or idea. Dianne B once mentioned leather needle bags and I swooned at the mention of it. I kept the idea in my head and when I met Christina K. of Tarra-g (an extremely cool & nice gal/leather bag label) I mentioned the idea and she jumped to it.

This is the result of her work and my needs: I'm in love. That's all I'm saying. My own CUSTOM MADE leather needle case by Tarra-g. This is going to last a lifetime and I'll be able to give it to my son or daughter one day. There's so many things that make this needle case perfect I can't even mention them all. Ok, one more: It's green! Ok, enough ranting! Mail her if you want one too!