i think the first piece of hers i saw was center (the one in this post) & there’s so many others i love.  the colours & texture get me every time.

until the end of september, you can see her stuff at the New York Foundation for the Arts Gallery (in brooklyn) and at the Fiberart Intl in Pittsburgh until Aug 22.

now i see ‘what not to crochet‘ is picking on the square (& aussies) by proclaiming ‘NO MORE GARMENTS CONSISTING OF SOLELY GRANNY SQUARES’.

they’re right.  it started with an aussie label called romancewasborn. then australian cate blanchett did the granny square dress and now there’s an unnamed brit designer who’s created one too.

all i know is i need to start making some squares so australia can take over the world

btw, i should mention the PJ pants aren’t crochet or yarn.  it’s just a print on cotton/poly normal PJ pants.

The flower scooter helmet is also fantastic.  You can see it & more on Lushlee‘s site.

so…. my current work in progress is a pair but in a larger size.  one hand is complete.  i think i need to find someone to try them on.

When I looked at colours, I wanted something non gender specific, bright & a good washable yarn from my stash.  The turquoise & green jumped out at me.  It wasn’t til 20 rows in that i realised i failed on the gender blue = boy front which is why the multiple coloured yarn made an appearance (with a bit of blancing pink = girl).

it was definitely inspirational for me with the way they used wool/yarn.  the idea was to pair 2 international artists & these 2 were great together.  there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of pix of their work online which is a shame (a couple pix here & tokyo art beat has a few).

both artists used wool in some of their work, especially ito.  here’s what the guide said about his:

zon ito creates intricate embroidered canvases & flags, cut paper, clay & fabric assemblages & layful hand-drawn animations.

ck them out if you get the chance.

My Scarf Festival entry from 2007

One of the things I look forward to every year is Craft Victoria‘s Scarf Festival.   It runs from 18 June to 25 July with scarf entries being taken thru 24th of May.

This year’s theme is Reflections…  reflecting on your cultural heritage, roots & inspirations to ”create a scarf that reflects their heritage and identity”.   I have entered in the past & am not sure if I will this time around but I found it amusing this was the theme as I’ve been musing on this for a few weeks now.

For months I’ve had some ideas brewing about wool, embroidery & aboriginal art.   Back in October (?), I went to MCA in Sydney & saw an exhibit of Louisa Bufardeci & Zon Ito.  Ito was pretty much all embroidery (sample).  I think right after that I went out & bought hoops & such – and did nothing with them.

Except the thoughts have been roaming around in my brain & getting added to as I’ve gone to a few more aboriginal art exhibitions.   Which lead to me ‘reflections’ of my cultural roots & how I could use embroidery, wool and the style of aboriginal artists to tell that story.   I’m not there yet but closer.  Maybe I’ll take a detour & create a scarf for the festival.

Fairy floss, or cotton candy, or candyfloss (depending on what country you’re in) fascinates me.

It must be pink.  It must be airy, floaty & sticky.

It’s a theme I’ve returned to a few times in my crochet.  I have a bright classic pink coloured scarf/hood combo I made of fluffy airy yarn.

This purple one was also inspired by cotton candy. The wool was warm but not heavy and it had the fuzziness that you need when thinking about fairy floss.

Along both ends is the fringe.  I didn’t want a straight across fringe though.  I grouped multiple yarns with different textures and created individual mini balls of cotton candy (just minus the paper cones to hold onto them!).

Addition: Came upon this link re: a chinese version of fairy floss called Dragon Beard Candy.  There’s a great video on the page of how it’s made.