Author: Anna

Bonney’s Yarn Bombing

Don’t tell anyone, but the person who recently yarn bombed a small town near New London, NH, is my mother-in-law!

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It’s interesting to me to see yarn graffiti in a non-urban setting. Instead of street art, it looks more like a sign of an ancient ritual, or some mischief done by forest sprites in the night. Or, as Bonney told me that a neighbor surmised, trees marked to be cut down. (Let’s just hope no one with a chainsaw makes that mistake.)

Bonney tagged seven trees in all, and it seems to have whetted her appetite for delinquent behavior, because she’s planning more yarn-related surprises for her town!

Bonney’s Yarn Bombing

Don’t tell anyone, but the person who recently yarn bombed a small town near New London, NH, is my mother-in-law!

bonney_tree1

bonney_tree2

bonney_tree4

bonney_tree3

It’s interesting to me to see yarn graffiti in a non-urban setting. Instead of street art, it looks more like a sign of an ancient ritual, or some mischief done by forest sprites in the night. Or, as Bonney told me that a neighbor surmised, trees marked to be cut down. (Let’s just hope no one with a chainsaw makes that mistake.)

Bonney tagged seven trees in all, and it seems to have whetted her appetite for delinquent behavior, because she’s planning more yarn-related surprises for her town!

Nipsey Being Still

Every few days Nipsey sits still for minutes at a time. (Usually he’s asleep or being restrained.)

Here are some rare not-blurry shots of this bafflingly energetic creature!

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I took this last one with my phone a few months ago, but it’s my favorite!

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The Story of Puppet Love

I released the Puppet Love pattern about a year ago, but did I ever tell you how it came to be? The pattern was originally commissioned by a New York knitter named Katy, whose brother is a clinical psychologist who works with children. He had asked her to knit some hand puppets for him to use with his younger clients, and she was in need of a basic puppet body shape that she could modify to make into different types of people and animal puppets.

I worked with her to come up with a size and shape that was best for what her brother needed, and since last year, Katy has been hard at work making all kinds of puppets for him! Here are some of her photos.

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I asked Katy to tell me a bit about the different characters she’s created, and this is what she said:

I made one for myself and ten for him. I sent him a picture of the yarn/unfinished puppets and asked him what he wanted each color to be. He sent me back a list. The ideas were mostly his. The execution of the ideas were mine.
He specifically asked for three different kinds of puppets. First, there is a family – Mom, Dad, Girl, and Boy. Obvious choices to act out events in the childs’ life. Second, there are some animals – Bird, Lion, Whale. I don’t know what the inspiration was for these, possibly the colors. The lion is my personal favorite. Third, there are what I call movie stars – Godzilla, Vampire, Avatar. I’m guessing recent movies inspired the choices, but we did need some fantasy creatures too. His bosses think they are great and from what I understand they are all using them in their practice as part of the play therapy toys.

I was so happy to hear that she’s getting a lot of use out of the pattern and her brother and his kids are getting a lot of use out of the puppets!

Designing this pattern was a fun challenge for me, and Katy was nice enough to let me add the pattern to my shop last year, so others could make their own customized puppets. And boy, have they ever! There are lots of creative Puppet Love mods on Ravelry, so I’ll have to share some of them here soon.

Anna Sui Giveaway!

I was doing some organizing this weekend and came across some little goodies that I got at the Anna Sui show at Bryant Park a couple of months ago. Since several of you have commented that you like Anna Sui, I thought I would do a little giveaway!

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Let’s see what we’ve got here… some cute buttons, samples of cologne and eye shadow, and the thing in the black pouch can remain a surprise. Just leave a comment on this post if you would like to get these goodies, and I’ll randomly select a winner at the end of the week!

Tiny Alien

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He came to Earth for our sheep… which didn’t look quite so big from outer space. (He may have to settle for yarn scraps instead.)

tess b left a comment suggesting that I make a Tiny Alien in January, so she gets a free pattern!