Sunday, February 22, 2009

Guerilla Knit Up

When Dneese announced her Global Guerilla Knit up I thought it would be a lot of fun to join. I was not disappointed. However -- it is summer over in Australia! It's a bit hard to sew a "pole sweater" (a passer by's word) when it is below 0!!!!! Many thanks to my neighbour Martina who admiringly called this a "senseless act of beauty". And a big thank you to Ray who provided the moral support as I stood on a stepladder on the side of a semi busy street, sewing a sweater onto a pole. He took hundred of pictures on our new Camera (a Nikon D40x)(Ray WON IT at a trade show!) He did a great job -- you'd never know that I was incapacitated with stomach flu for the past few days.
This was truly a family affair. Lauren knit many rows and my mom and Ray each had a go too. While, we did measure the pole first -- my finished wrap was over a foot too wide -- what a waste of stitches!!!!! there is a big overlap at the back.
Hopefully this will stay up on the pole. some possible outcomes are:
a) it becomes a pole legwarmer when it slides to the ground
b) one of the neighbourhood old men cuts it off (definitely a possibility)
c) a homeless person takes it off to use as a blanket (I welcome this possibility)
I added some tags and a pencil so people could add comments (I got this idea from Seth) -- I'll swing by tomorrow to see if anyone actually does. And if they do, I'll add more tags.I'm going to add more decorations throughout this park over the next few months (years? decades?) for those of you in Toronto -- the park is McCormick Park -- on the East side of Brock Avenue between Dundas and Queen. Enjoy!

28 comments:

Ingrid Mida said...

Wow Martha your pole "sweater" installation is fabulous.
I'm going to walk over from my studio tomorrow and see it in person.

Leslie Jane Moran said...

This is HILARIOUS! I can't believe I was just in your area, and didn't know of your most clever idea. Quite amazing. Please keep us "posted" on the adventures of pole dressing. Love it.

Anonymous said...

fan freakin tastic Martha!!

How big is your knit up? You may win biggest geurilla! I love how you outline the possible demises for your piece and how you are OK with them.

3rdEyeMuse said...

Hi Martha, I'm here by way of grrl & this grand guerilla knit up - such a pleasure to meet you! What an incredibly FANTASTIC contribution you have made - 10 gold stars & three cheers for taking on such a LARGE pole! hugs to your family, too, for not only supporting you in your efforts, but being part of this ... it's times like these that I wish I lived in Canada. :)

Our Hands For Hope said...

Oh you brave soul. I chickened out! Even under the cloak of darkness couldn't lure me out!
Terisa

Kim Mailhot said...

Wow, Martha ! I didn't know you were a guerilla girl ! Is T.O. ready for you ? Ready or knot, she's knitting !!!

It is fun that you will be able to kind of see what happens to your pole as time goes on !
Congrats on your exploits !
Cheers to your contributors too !

sandee said...

Love the pole sweater! What a FUN idea!!!

Joanne Huffman said...

What a great idea. I hope it stays (although, it would be kind of cool if it gave comfort to a homeless person) and I hope you get lots of cool comments.

Joanne

Anonymous said...

It looks beautiful, Martha! Well done....and I like the leg warmer idea too. :)

A bird in the hand said...

I am so PROUD of you!!!!!!

Unknown said...

OMG that is so hilarious! I just love the idea and I admire you for doing it! The cosy is lovely and you look perfectly bundled up for the weather yourself!

Sand

Leslie said...

Wow, Martha. This is a big knit-up! I love that the whole family got in on it. And it's so pretty! I hope it stays up!

Kelly Snelling said...

you are a treasure, martha brown. i've seen that gal that does these knitted pole warmers online. i think it is utterly fantastic.

Seth said...

Fantastic wrap!! I love the fact that you brought out a step ladder to do this! Now that is Guerilla dedication!!

Elizabeth said...

You are too much!! It is freezing, you were sick and you are stitching a swaeater toa metal pole!!! What a scene!! Did anyone stop to ask you what you were doing?? I love this and I just watched Julie's video from San Diego. If some crabby old man cuts it down it will be a crime!! i love th tag idea- as Yuo add more tags, you could take a few of them down bit by bit, photocpy them and then put them back. Alot of work I know but you DID do the knitting and the tags are soooo sweet!!!
you Rock!!
Hugs !
elizabeth

Deirdra Doan said...

How cute is that!!! Thank you for sharing it....I loved seeing you in the photo too.

I got the darling OWOH gift...I can't wait to wear it...such detail and so comfortable...

The post office was hard on the buttons though...one of the blue buttons in the back broke...so I have to find another to replace it with...

Thank you so much it is so much fun and I really love it.
oxoox

Heather Simpson-Bluhm said...

This is awesome. We should totally make a project for your park at AF. I have been following the Guerilla Knit Up and wish I had participated. I guess its never too late. I may knit something myself.
Can't wait to see you. One month! Yay!

dogfaeriex5 said...

wow, this is so cool...see you soon..xo

sloeginfizz said...

Go Martha Brown! The tags and pencil are truly inspired. Yay! Thanks for sharing.

Maija said...

OMG! This is such a totally fabulous idea!! I love that people write on the tags!!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
toronto craft alert said...

would love for you to post a picture of this in the Craft Toronto flickr pool

this would be a great one to feature on Toronto Craft Alert blog & mailing list as Pic of the Week.

the tag aspect is total genius...

sukigirl said...

Oh that is great, is it still there?
I'll have to find out where the park is and check it out.

I've just gotten into yarn graffiti and I had never seen one in Toronto so I was really happy to see that they are being done here.

sweetie pie press said...

my sweetie and i visited last night on the way to dinner at a friend's. it looks amazing!

Anonymous said...

WOW is all I can think to say, I think I'll go an knit something for my town's trees. We don't get snow here in my part of New Zealand but it gets cold so I'm sure the trees will be happy to get a jersey/sweater. What a fantastic idea. I think my locals are going to think I'm nuts but my family and freinds already know that so al gud lol

Lisa PN said...

you are so cool.
this is the coolest thing ever.
just sayin!

Angelika said...

OK - where's the latest? I love this!!!!

hailey said...

Hi Martha, I'm a reporter for The Grid. I love what you've done here and I'd like to include your photo in my story. Please contact me at hchan12@gmail.com if you have any concerns. I'd also love to chat about your little project as well.
Hope to hear from you soon!