Adorable Bento!

I've been on this fitness regime (god, I hate calling it a diet) for the last four weeks, which means I need to prepare and take my own lunches into work. It's a distinct improvement on the stale (but free!) sandwiches we get provided!
To celebrate being halfway through the challenge, I've treated myself to a beautiful Bento lunchbox from Japan, complete with a lovely furoshiki cloth to wrap it in.

All wrapped up:



Owl Box-



Two compartments and some little extra sauce pots!

TV fame

A little clip with me in it was show on NDR Hamburg Journal on Tuesday! I did a few special "Strickbomben" for the occasion.

First we went to Mönckebergstraße and decorated some sheep


then we gave this rider and his horse matching socks


and finally some nice frills for pirate Störtebecker's boots!


The clip is currently watchable online here , fast forward to about 20 minutes 30 (it won't work in Chrome but Firefox and IE are ok).

I am quite pleased with how it came out! I didn't even feel particularly embarrassed watching it. And no one has been in touch to fine me for defacing public property either.

Hafencity knitting

Long time no post, but I've still been knitting.
I am currently spending some time in Hamburg, my native city, for work purposes. Hamburg has been growing a whole new part of the city in the last few years, with lots of new office blocks and flats springing up in the harbour just beyond the old warehouses. Being new and thoroughly town-planned, it has the same weirdly artificial feel as, say, Canary Wharf in London and Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Thus, it is clearly in need of a bit of humanising, and a prime candidate for a little yarn bomb attack.

Streetlamp cosy


Chain


Striped/barcode style cosy on a bridge in front of the building site of the new concert hall which has been eating everyones taxes in Hamburg for three years.


I also made this little spiders web (not knitted but knotted), which is a reference to the fact (urban legend?) that the Hafencity is infested with millions of spiders, either due to import of exotic species via ships, or superior breeding conditions near the water. I like that even though there is nothing natural about this part of the city, you still cannot keep nature out. Or yarn.


PS: Someone wants to make a little TV documentary thing about me. I feel embarrassed already, but stay tuned.

continuing to plushify Bristol...

Contrary to appearances, I have not been idle. Although I've been busy with non-knitting activities (I have recently joined Bristol's new Roller Derby team), I was spurred on by the appearance of a little railing cosy on Gaol Ferry bridge, by Pod Knit. I've been planning something for that bridge for a while and I finally finished this thing:

Hopefully it'll be useful as well as pretty and cushion any cyclists knees that might knock into the barrier!

I also completed a project that was inspired by limpets that I saw stuck to bollards on our holiday in Wales. This one I put up in Bristol's street art hot spot, Stokes Croft. Every time I pass it, it's been moved around a little, so it's obviously getting noticed. Today it was all soggy and in danger of sliding to the bottom, but someone had tucked it in a bit to keep it up. Now I just have to hope it won't get co-opted for the Stokes Croft Museum...


I also seem to be getting quite a bit of online attention, from Podknit, Knit Hacker, Stitch'n'Ting and something called e-democracy. Thanks for all the love!

Fungal infestation

My yarn bollard mushroom lasted about a week but I was so pleased with it that I've decided to replace it with a new version, this time yellow with red spots.



I've actually spotted quite a lot more bollards around the harbour that look like they are not in frequent use and could do with amusing cosies, but it does take quite a long time to make these so I may need to think of a new technique.

I've also been working on making some knitted necklaces in a variegated grey sock yarn that try to look like iron chains. I found some very nice little carabiner clasps and have tried adding in some metal rings. I'm quite pleased with the results but they may be a bit too itchy to actually wear.

(yarn) Bombs of Bristol

After my previous attempt at knitted graffiti didn't survive its first night, I decided to change tack slightly. I made sure that my next tag couldn't possibly get in anyone's way, and I incorporated it in an existing chain on Bristol harbour.



In spite of being in a variety of day-glo colours, I don't think too many people have spotted it as it's hidden within the chain. I like the idea that it's a reward for people who are a little bit more observant, though.

So, encouraged by this success, I embarked on a larger project. Knitting this (and adding crochet spots) took me several weeks and I was worried it wouldn't survive the night again, but this cute toadstool has already graced one of Bristols sunniest days of the year!



I'm thinking of making more in various Super Mario colours - but these mooring bollards are surprisingly large, it's like knitting a small sweater!

And now I've got started, I also did another spontaneous tag while sunbathing in the park yesterday:



More to come!

Der Lauf der Dinge

So there's a new video by that band that make the viral music videos (and apparently the soundtrack too, but who cares about that) that later get turned into adverts for vitamin tablets.
It's a pretty cool video of a gigantic colourful contraption that even plays parts of the song as it runs.



This is clearly not a new concept, although done very well here. For example, the Bravery had a video that looked very similar a few years ago:



In fact, I think the Bravery's version is closer to what I am now going to call the original - "der Lauf der Dinge", a 1987 movie by a Swiss duo of artists, Fischli/Weiss.
Clearly, the concept of an overly complicated machine or chain reaction in which one element triggers the next is much older - there's Heath Robinson, for one thing, and the whole Dominoes thing. But there are elements in both the OK GO and Bravery videos that come straight from Der Lauf der Dinge, such as the twisted bin bags being slowly undone as they turn, or car tyres bouncing down a ladder.

I'm not really trying to pinpoint any plagiarism here, but what I think is interesting is that Der Lauf der Dings derives most of its wit from the suspense that occurs when you are not *quite* sure whether the next link is going to work. The times where some strange foam drips off a board, a rolling cone goes slightly off track - the times where you suspect everything might just go wrong. Apparently the Independent said at the time, "Watching 'Der Lauf der Dinge' is like watching a Hitchcock movie by objects instead of people." which sums it up quite well. I think it's probably just showing its age though. Youtube videos can't really afford to have many moments that will allow people get impatient, because there's always a cat video to watch.

In any case, to prove my point, Fischli/Weiss seem to have removed the original version of Der Lauf der Dinge from Youtube, and the only version you can watch is a sped-up one set to music.