Yarnbomb II – The Black and White Buggaloo January 30, 2012
Posted by Mitchell in Art, Home, Yarncraft.comments closed
Not finished obviously but I had to stop at that point because of the supports in place. I’ll continue up the rest of the way this week.
I’ve been looking around the neighborhood and noticed that the stop signs are on poles that happen to have holes drilled every inch or so on all four sides. They would be PERFECT to tie a bunch of pompoms to. Can you imagine? 😀 That would almost certainly get me A Visit though. I can see it all now…
HOA Hardass: Sir, we need you to stop putting pompoms on the stop signs in the community.
Me: What makes you think I did it?
HOA Hardass:
Me:
HOA Hardass:
Me:
HOA Hardass: Seriously? Stop putting pompoms on the stop signs!
Me: (Eyeroll) Fine.
Yarn Bomb Stage 2 – Strange Fruit January 20, 2012
Posted by Mitchell in Art, Yarncraft.Tags: Yarn Bombing
comments closed
It’s a Pom-bomb!
Pretty cool eh? I’ve added (and am going to add) more since this picture was taken this afternoon, but I was losing the light. I’ll post another update tomorrow. Now, I’m not saying nobody else has ever done the pom-bomb but I haven’t seen any to my recollection. This is a fun and very easy way to do a yarn bomb on something and you don’t even need to know how to knit or crochet at all. Pom-pom makers are cheap and can be found at any craft store that sells yarn & accessories.
Here’s how the original wrap was made and put on:
I just crocheted a long scarf-like thing alternating colors every hand width or so until it was about five feet long. Crochet material is very stretchy so I didn’t have to pay all that much attention to the width except for the very bottom. Then I just wrapped it around the tree and zipped up the back with the loose ends. Sprinkle with pom-poms for extra whimsy and there ya go.
Also Too Fun Not to Post January 19, 2012
Posted by Mitchell in Art, Music, Politics.comments closed
I like it!
Unrelated but I like this too: Octopus Chair. It probably won’t eat your soul.
Too Fun Not to Post January 17, 2012
Posted by Mitchell in Art, Knitting.comments closed
Tree Sweater!
Yes, I have trees in desperate need of being more interesting, so I’m yarn-bombing them.
The tree sweater wasn’t quite ready when I took this picture but I finished it off last night. Tonight I’ll put it on for good. The next tree is going to get a more formal look in black and white stripes. Or, I guess it will look like it’s dressed up in those old timey prison uniforms. An escaped convict tree. lol.
**Edit**
I suppose I should add a few technicals: I used cheap (on sale! half off!), double-thick acrylic yarn in (mostly) double crochet (treble crochet to those of you Across the Pond) using my biggest crochet hook. It came together pretty quickly and was a good way to practice the basics after not doing any yarn craft in such a long time.
I put it on the tree last night but it was too dark to stitch up the seam. I suppose it doenn’t matter much since the yarn sticks like velcro to the bark of the tree. It looks cute! And I’m not quite done with it yet, but that will have to wait for the weekend.
I Used To Be a Blogger… January 13, 2012
Posted by Mitchell in Art, Home, Yorling.comments closed
Until I Took An Arrow In the Knee
There’s no sugar coating it, this place is fading fast and won’t continue much longer. I’ve simply lost interest in doing the blogging thing anymore. But, I do have some few things to put up before turning out the lights. Let’s get to it.
Peter Lik
Last weekend The Parental Units & I went to our favorite Japanese restaurant (Hamada of Japan) but first we dropped by one* of the Peter Lik galleries at the Forum Shops. The Parental Units loved the small Elements set I bought them for Christmas and wanted to see more of this guy’s work. As always his stuff never fails to impress and they were interested in perhaps buying something. Oddly the sales staff were not very engaging though and I actually had to initiate things. Long story short they went back the next day and sealed the deal on a larger piece. Click to embiggen and impressivify:
***EDIT***
Apparently there’s an issue for some people with the Lik pic above though it looks fine to me. Try this link out instead: Peter Lik -Endless Flow
The size they bought is one meter on the long size and whatever’s the appropriate ratio is on the other. So, it’s big. And also unframed. The image is adhered like it’s under glass to a clear 1/8 inch thick plastic top. The piece will actually float about an inch or so away from the wall sitting just above the Elements. It’s going to be stunning. And also surprisingly affordable (relatively speaking). They were given a lot of credits to their first purchase so that dropped the price down a fair chunk too. I guess they figure that once you start buying his stuff it will be hard to stop. I suspect they’re right.
*Yes, he has TWO galleries dedicated only to his photography in this VERY expensive mall. As someone who used to work in a gorgeous, yet failed gallery at the Forum Shops, and who used to buy from another gorgeous, and also failed gallery at the Forum Shops this is quite simply amazing. Not only that, he has at least TWO OTHER galleries at other casino shopping districts on The Strip. This guy is moving some serious product.
Magnets
I’ve always been fascinated with magnets. These Buckyball things have consumed all my time and imagination lately. As I indicated previously I was frustrated with the small set I got for Christmas. I now have another three full sets of 216 and one additional 125 set in different colors (gold, black, nickel and blue respectively). All told that’s nearly 900 balls and I’ve enjoyed the expanded capacity to make stuff only hinted with the very small set. Here’s a few builds:
Neat but painfully small. I’m already chafing even with the greatly expanded capabilities. Browse through youtube to see what people do with thousands of these balls. Amazing. One of the things I noticed about these big builds is the fact that almost nobody is using the Buckyballs brand balls. I looked into it and ordered a set from Zen Magnets who claim that they have the better product. I have to agree. Ball size consistency is a problem for BBs. With the basic set I have if you lay it out in a hexagonal sheet it will not lay flat like it’s supposed to. Zen Magnets lay flat. They’re somewhat more expensive since I have to pay shipping (as opposed to ordering from Amazon Prime) but they are a better quality, better packaged (with useful extras) product. I’m hoping to score one of their big Mandala sets when they next come available. It seems they sell out very fast though. Now I have a problem, I don’t want to mix my Zen Magnets with the inferior corresponding uncolored Buckyballs. I’ll probably just give that set away so it isn’t an issue. But…now I’m down a set of balls! Obviously I’ll have to order some more.
The Big Chair
Many years ago when I was still poor I bought a low-end yet very comfortable La-Z-boy recliner chair. I loved that chair and probably slept in in more often than the Murphy bed I had to pull out of the wall in my tiny studio apartment. Time and the cat took their toll on the chair & it’s looking a bit ratty. A couple weeks ago I dropped by a La-Z-boy showroom nearby. I thought perhaps they might be having a year-end or new year sale. Sure enough they were so I picked out a new, bigger and better chair in a nice burgundy fabric. The Crandell model in fact. It just got delivered this morning and is sitting in my library area, waiting for me go over there and start crocheting again.
That’s it for now. I’ll have a few more parting words before I close up shop though.
Amazing Look-alike January 5, 2012
Posted by Mitchell in Home.comments closed
Found via the Twitters. Yeah, I got nothing.
The Center of the Anomaly 