International Freeform Guild 2011

I seriously need to catch up on blogging, before I make/do anything else. So, here we go...

While I was in the midst of packing for The Body and Soul Festival, the International Freefrom Guild opened its online show. 50 Freeform Artists from around the Globe were challenged to create one freeform piece interpreting a chosen theme.

We had a vote on the theme for this years show. During the voting, recycling was winning the vote, so I was trying to be organised and started on a recycled project. (That's another blog post!). This is a new thing for me, I'm usually an up all night the night before the deadline kinda gal. Then, to my dismay and well, delight, my actual favourite theme won the vote: Mythologies, Stories and Fairy Tales.

When I lived in Dublin, many moons ago, I spent 2 years doing night classes at the loveliest but strange little college Saor-Ollscoil na hÉireann in Stoneybatter. (Which celebrates its 25th year this year). I enrolled, just to do Folklore, but it was actually a degree course, and so I ended up doing a few other subjects; History, Archaeology, Environmental Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies (was more conflict than peace...) and more. Anyway back to Folklore, the course was taught by Dr. Micháel Ross. I loved every minute of this course, you could just listen to Micháel forever, a born storyteller. I ended up writing essays on Tolkien's use of old English poetry in his work, on present day Wiccan activities in Ireland, and The History and Construction of Irish Tower Houses, and well, lots more. It gave me an excuse to read lots of very unusual yet interesting books. The place is like mecca for knowledge; all ages, all types of people. I wasn't interested in doing the degree really, I just wanted to learn, and be around other people who like also liked learning.

So, I had to make something for this exhibition, something freeform, crocheted, based on mythology, and since I'm still in my lace phase, it would have to be lace, and of course it has to be Irish, and because I love Celtic illumination, and especially zoomorphics... etc. Enough said here's the piece....

Cú

Crocheted with a fine black wool yarn.
(Yarn weight and type unknown. Hook size, cant remember...)

So, the exhibition can be viewed online here http://www.freeformcrochet.com/2011/Pages/index.html and it can also be bought! Its published on Blurb http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2241770. All proceeds of which go to very worthy causes!!

Since I had a lace piece made, I decided to enter it into the Lace category of the RDS Crafts competition. I have never entered before because as much as I love the promotion of Irish craft, I don't like how expensive it is to enter, (€15!!). It seems that Irish artists and craftspeople are constantly having to pay out for the privilege of just entering competitions, exhibitions, etc, let alone the actually crafting, framing, travelling, etc, expenses. We are struggling to make ends meet, and galleries, arts centres, administrators and the likes have nice regular wages. It just doesn't sit well with me. The piece got into the finals which was quite a surprise, I never expected it to. I should be delighted, and I don't mean to bah-humbug, but a part of me wished it hadn't, as I then had to get it framed, and couriered it up to Dublin. I'm trying to save up for a new marquee for doing festivals and every penny counts at the moment. No marquee, no Electric Picnic!!

So, anyone want to buy a lovely framed piece of Lace??

SOS - A Crochet Meladrama

I started to make flowers and scrolls, practise my Irish Crochet. I am in love with scrolls at the moment. They are my favourite motif, and while making a few, playing around with them, I noticed they looked like letters, so I tried to turn them into letters.

At the back of my mind, was the piece for this year’s International Freeform FibreArt Guild online exhibition. The theme for this year was picked just after the awful Haiti earthquake. "Somewhere in My World". A reaction to the terrible devastation the earthquake caused, but also to the community spirit that can rise from disasters like this. The monies raised from the sale of the exhibition book will go towards Mercy Corps Haiti Earthquake Response. (You can donate here http://www.mercycorps.org/fundraising/intff)

The theme was decided in January. Since then, the world has had many far-reaching global events take place, worldwide recession, volcanos, oil spills, floods, droughts, etc. I was also going through some personal distress of my own at the time. This made me feel isolated and small. I couldn’t help myself, I couldn’t help the world.

So, I took the theme literally. Somewhere in my world, there is a person, a child, a family, a population under duress, emotional, physical, economic. Somewhere in my world someone is saying SOS, whether it is silently cried or shouted out. This has been one of the hardest pieces I have ever made, because of the thoughts that came with it. It also made me think of it's history, of lace, of my cultural history. How beautiful things come from poverty. The need to create beautiful crafts, in order to sell them to get food to feed a family.

I was beginning to be weighted down, by a little bit of lace. I thought I would never get the idea to work, the pieces made, the whole damn thing finished, before I had a nervous breakdown. But then, as the piece came together, so did my thoughts on hope. In each individual motif of antique crochet lace, in each stitch is hope. Hope, that they can feed their families, buy medicine, live their lives. That is what an SOS call is. It's a cry of hope, to be saved, save us, save me. My personal hope, and my hope for the world. First there was fear, and then there was hope. My little piece of lace became a distress call.

Then, to top it off, I had to write a little bit of blurb about my piece. And I needed to do it without coming across as a complete loony, overwhelmed by lace-making and sailors stories.You can read it here http://www.freeformcrochet.com/2010/Pages/orla.html

On a happy, hope, kind of note, this piece managed to win me 4 tickets to The Knitting and Stitching Show! It was part of a Radio 1 'Knit Your Way Out of Recession'' competition. Talk about timing...

(apologies for the font mess, blogger being anti-font at the moment)

WWKIP, pears, exhibitions and books

I went to the World Wide Knit in Public event, which was on in The Crafty Alley shop in Killarney on Saturday. It was lovely to get a few hours off, time to have a nice relaxing latte before going to meet some fellow..knitters. Well, I didn't bring my knitting, but my crochet of course! And I successfully made half a pear, while chatting continuously to ladies I have never met in real life before. Two I had met in our Munster group Shebeens, the only illegal pretend drinking den in Ravelry! It was a lovely afternoon, and hopefully we'll meet up again. The Crafty Alley is going to start a weekly knitting circle, and the two fellow Ravallers want to organise a monthly meet-up, which would suit me much better.I'm trying to learn how to use a sewing machine properly, and the pears are my first real project, where I'm making up the pattern. It took 3 goes at the pear before I could get the pattern right. Whereas one go at crochet, and it was done. God, I love crochet! I have some really ugly large cushions, with torn covers, and I've wanted to make something fun out of them for a while now. I'm going to make some large fruit-shaped cushions, and I want some sewn and some crocheted, as I dont have time to crochet them all. I tested my sewn pears on my toddler. As I made each one, I gave it to him and asked him"what's that?". If he gets the answer right, its right, so third time lucky! So we had a ball, then a ball, then a pear!! (He loves them, he won't go to sleep at night without his balls...crazy kid... I know he's going to hate anything to do with fabric and fibre when he grows up...)

As I mentioned before, I had a few pictures accepted into the online International Freeform Crochet Guild exhibition, but this year they are doing one for real. All the ones in the online exhibition were invited to send their piece into a real exhibition. Its at the The San Luis Valley Folk Arts and Fiber Festival. And this baby is winging its way to the States as we speak, to be part of the exhibition. Its exciting to have a piece in an exhibition with the likes of Myra Woods and Prudence Mapestone, the Queens of Freeform!!


This is a sneak preview of the pattern that has just been accepted into the Crochet Liberation Front's Third Ever Book. It's a Silly Monster Peg/Pin Bag. Once the book has been published, I'll put up proper pics, but for now, you'll just have to wait!! Thanks again to my merry little band of helpers who tested out the pattern for me.

Felted Crochet Hook Bag

I'm having a little lull in activities, well, I mean the crafting activities. (Not the toddler, garden, shopping, cooking, washing activities, that's just standard relentless. Thought how could you not indulge that face...)
I needed a break to just sit back, and well, tidy. Oh, the endless sorting of the supposed studio! I have gone to extremes and decided to completely compartmentalize myself. It's the only way of saving me. I have a needtoknowpathic need to know where everything is. That perfect button, that scrap of fabric, I haven't seen in 10 years, etc...so, I went shopping in Argos and bought boxes. I have spend days thralling through my lovely collection of old suitcases and wooden boxes, and have gone plastic. To this..It has already inspired me. I found a few pieces of felt, and decided to finally make myself a decent crochet hook bag. I have meant to make one for years, but couldn't get my head around what I wanted. I really enjoyed working with Felt again for the CTN exhibition, and loved doing this even more. Its a mix of wetfelt, needlefelt and stitching, and has got the sparks going...

Sorry, having a bad photo day. Felt is one of the hardest things to photograph. When you physically see it, the uneven edges add to it. On a photo they just look wobbly...

Still, its appropriate that I'm re-discovering felt, since October 3rd 2009, will be the very first International Day of Felt! Have to get practising...

World Wide Knit in Public Day

We got a great venue for the Kerry WWKIP day this year. We are meeting in The Crafty Alley, a craft shop in Killarney. They have just started doing yarn, and are possibly going to start a regular knitting group. So if you can get an hour free, come on over! We need to show them, and the rest of the world that knitting (and crochet!!) is alive and kicking in the South West!

Its also a great way of putting faces to avatars, meet people you have been chatting to in textile forums such as Ravelry...

All the details are on the WWKIP website, but here they are for you again, so you have no excuse!!


Location: The Crafty Alley Shop, 6B Scotts Street, Killarney
Time: noon-ish
Date: June 13, 2009
Hosted by: The Crafty Alley Shop

How to get there: Located on East Avenue Road at the Scotts Street development (Heatons and Peter marks). Carparking available beside and below the shop.

Please bring: Water, a chair, umbrellas, snacks, etc. Your knitting bits and bobs!

The backup plan is: If it rains dont worry as we will move into the shop to knit away!

This KIP is not knitting exclusive. So, please fellow crocheters, embroiderers, general stitchers, come along too...

St. Patricks Day Competition

I was waiting until after Valentines Day, so I could post something about this. Yes, its still a long way until March 17th, but I have been working on a secret project..

And I can now reveal it to you! da da da da da da....silent trumpets blaring....


If you are into crochet or knitting, you are probably a member of Ravelry, but if you are not, then here's a reason to join...I got together with some members of different Irish groups to organise a competition for one lucky person to win HUGE GOODY BAG FROM IRELAND!!

The Prize includes:

• 1 KG (20 balls) of Kilcarra donated by StephaniesYarn of The Yarn Room

• A CD of Donal Donohoe, Ceol ‘s Rann donated by WonderWanda

• A Skein of Sock Yarn donated by This is Knit and the Dublin Dye Company,

• A Skein of Hand-Dyed Yarn donated by GaietyGirl and her up and coming Etsy Shop…

• 400g of undyed Aran Wool, directly from the Kerry Woollen Mills… and a bar of pure Kerry Lanolin soap, donated by Stitchlily of the Woolly Way of Ireland

This competition is exclusive to Ravelry. So, if you are not in, come and join up, its free. Rules and details of the competition are in St. Patrick's Day Celebrations Group


I apologise to anyone not in Ravelry, I would have liked to make it a more public event, but its the easiest way to manage it. Maybe if its successful we will think of doing it differently next year. For now, this was enough to manage..


So if you are in Rav, here are the details:

Competition Rules:

• You simply have to make something with an Irish theme, and take a photo of it on St. Patrick's Day.
• Any textile craft is allowed, e.g. crochet, knitting, weaving, mixed, as long as it has an Irish theme. Any Irish theme, so it doesn't have to be the colour green…
• Post the photo in the Competition thread, which will be open from the 19th of March until 6pm on the 20th March 2009 (Irish time)
• Voting will open on the 21st March 2009
• To vote for your favourite, simply click on the LOVE button
• Voting will close on 6pm (Irish time) March 27th 2009. There is only one winner so the person with the most LOVE votes wins! If there is a tie, the donors of the prizes will cast the final votes
• The winner will be announced and contacted by PM. We will then get your BIG IRISH PRIZE in the post…

So, you have a month to start making something, take the picture, 3 days to post the pic, then a week to vote...the winner will be announced on the 27th March.

Here is my new Ravatar to celebrate the coming event!

Knitting and Stitching Show 2008

Yes folks its that time again. I am really looking forward to having two full days of woolly chat. Most of the time I'll doing demo's at the Hyperbolic Crocheted Coral Reef exhibition, which has travelled over from the UK. come over and say hello! And since I accidentally (unconsciously on purpose) booked the wrong flight home, I get to spend an extra day in Dublin ALL ON MY OWN!! You parents out there know what I mean. I said accidentally unconsciously on purpose because I did mean to book my ticket back on Fri, and thought I had, until I printed out my check-in tickets and saw they were for Saturday. I didn't want to spend Halloween night in Dublin, I would rather be home. But at the back of my mind there was a certain unease about flying on the 31st of October and before you say pahhh, that's silly, I am easily spooked, dislike flying a little bit, and am slightly superstitious. So, my unconscious did the deciding for me. But what will I do? Will I go to the Knit and Stitch for a 3rd Day, or is that a bit obsessive, or will I just hang out in Dublin. I'm sure I'll be broke after the two days anyway, between lots of coffee, and tasty wool samples, and any other bits and bobs I find. At least having the Saturday gives me the chance of posting my goodies home rather than taking the risk of having them confiscated by airport security. I think that was what stopped me buying those giant knitting needles. Have you seen them, they're hilarious... Take a look at these babies!!

Knitting and Stitching Show

Its coming up to that time of the year again.

Knitting and Stitching Show!!

And this year I'm determined to get at least two days of it. Last year I did a day trip from Kerry, and it was exhausting. Also, since I was flying (I know, it sounds ridiculous, flying to Dublin but it works out cheaper than the train...), I couldn't bring back my spoils on the plane. So I ended up posting myself a parcel with felting needles, needles, and a lightbulb (a daylight energy-saving lightbulb to be percise).

This year I also plan to volunteer. Its been hard trying to decide who to volunteer with, my loyalties have been a bit tied.. So, I'm going first with the UK Hand Knitting Association. I know I've said my knitting isnt the best, but I'd be able to handle Beginners. They also are looking for Crochet people, so I think thats my calling. I think though, we might need to get them to change the title, the area is called Relax and Knit, but it should be Relax and Crochet and Knit. (The Crochet Liberation Front might stage a protest otherwise). Since the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is coming to Dublin, I hope to demonstrate some techniques for that.

On my second day I hope to volunteer at the Cork Textiles Network stand. Its our first year having a stand at it, so, hopefully it'll be a success.

The UK Hand Knitting Association are still looking for volunteer knitters and crocheters, so If you'd like an application form, email me and I'll forward you on one.