HANNAH'S UFO HEART ATTACK JUMPER.

Linda was living in Earls Court when she knitted the first lilac raglan piece and and Battersea for the second.  She wanted to be Molly Ringwold in 'Pretty in Pink', but when she bought the yarn in Peter Jones she was sure it was more pink than that. She thought it might have been the strip lighting, but anyway, she went off it, and the pattern is lost and she's keeping the needles.

It was in a quaint 3 ply cable for a size 10.  There was 32g of yarn left.  Purple is a very under estimated colour. I read on the internet that it symbolizes spiritual freedom and royalty.

Hannah in Nunhead struggled with this UFO. She didn't choose it, I sent it to her.  The colour and the lace pattern drove her crazy.  Racking her brains over what to do, she watched 'Pretty in Pink' and was shocked to discover that they never actually got it together- the love didn't happen.  As the Jerwood deadline approached, Hannah felt the stress mount up and then squeezed out the brilliant 'Heart Attack Jumper'.  Hannah said she had no previous experience of heart attacks, but has learned a lot about them through the making of this piece. 

LUCKY GLOVE.

Last Saturday was all about gloves. Fleur had a hole in the finger of her vintage crochet glove, about which we had a consultation. A red UFO glove arrived from Clare in Hackney. Her aunty had started it in rayon, which had slipped off the bobbin and got in a terrible tangle.

Later in the day we visited the Museum of British Folklore - a brilliant exhibition in a painted caravan run by a jolly chap called Simon. He had this beautiful glove with a heart in the palm, used to ward off nasty things. I have been moved by this glove and urgently feel the need to have a glove like this in the UFO plan chest. Us UFO knitters have been battling against all sorts of weird ghosts and spooks and dead ends, and we have fought them all off with grace, skills and humour. I want to finish a glove like this, just to make sure that everything will be alright. 

CELIA'S SHADOWS.

Finished UFOs are flying in now ahead of the Jerwood Contemporary Makers show where they shall be proudly displayed. We are loving Celia's finished UFO piece which she dropped in on Friday, and is one of the more unusual pieces.  Here is a picture of the original UFOs.

We didn't know what was going on here. No pattern, no clues,  and the pieces were all different and unfinished. It's hard to see in the photo but the yarn has a special radio active quality.

This piece came to us from LMB recycling and were the most unidentifiable objects we found. 

Celia really  struggled with her UFO. Should it be made into a garment? A memorial blanket? Should she unravel? Re knit? Preserve? Destroy? Cut up? and what to do about the colour which was so strong?

She looked at it a lot. She imagined herself being a police crime scene investigator, discovering the history of these strange objects. Celia pinned them on graph paper  traced around them and pinned them on the wall.  She lived with them for a while. Celia tried to get to know them but they were foreign to her. Celia thought these pieces would never be practical.  They were not cast off properly, there was no extra yarn and it was impossible to unravel.

The strongest aspect was the colour. She had lots of blue and green yarns around her and they all seemed to match.

Celia started to knit the shadows of these pieces. The shadows were going to be smaller than the pieces. They reflect all the stitches of the original pieces, and like real shadows, they were a different size to the origional object.

It made her think of Peter Pan and Wendy. When Peter looses his shadow he tries to stick it back on with soap but it doesn’t work so Wendy helps him sew it back on.

We can't stop looking at these pieces. They are very much alive.

WE CAME BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH THE WONDERFUL HOUSE OF FAIRY TALES.

Thank you to everyone who made and went in a black hole with us at Tate Modern on Saturday. We had a really good time. We were hosted by those incredible people at the  The House of Fairy Tales. 

THE LOCKSMITH.

Today a handsome Locksmith came in the shop and bought a 0.6mm crochet hook for picking locks. I think he might be quite good. His number is 0793 11 44 770 if you need him.

CROCHET AT TATE MODERN.

Please join Prick Your Finger at the Tate Modern this Saturday 12-6pm, and help us crochet a BIG BLCK HOLE! We will hanging out with the wonderful House of Fairy Tales as part of the Tate Long Weekend. For more information go to http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/musicperform/18495.htm

Expect all sorts. The House of Fairy Tales are curating lots performences and activities. Pictured above is a picture from a workshop at House of Fairytales called "Gordon Brown's Brain" picture by Max Reeves 

SPORTY HAIR BAND.

This is one of my favourite stories so far on the UFO Project administration Service.  Camilla left her 'blue' school 'St. Annes' for a 'green' school after the Lloyds crash in the 1980's before her Granny could finish knitting her hockey hair band. The UFO has flown from Cumbria to West London, where Shiv has finished it off for her daughter Molly who plays Lacrosse at 'St. James's'. 

WIG OUT WITH COREY FOGEL,

MAPS>

And here we all are! The UFO Project Administration Service Maps are finally in action. In between the knitted frames are little flags on various destinations around the UK, waving UFOs. In the next couple of weeks, I will be adding flags waving the finished pieces, and there will be threads joining start to finish. It looks busy, I'm really pleased. If you would like to be on the map for the Jerwood Exhibition, there is still time, but not much time....

LOUISE'S UFO'S TAKE OFF.

After many years of dedication to knitting and crochet, Louise ended up with a lot of UFO's in her cupboard, and turned them all into this amazing bat wing cardigan. One day I will interview her about all the different parts, but for now, let's just watch her be beamed up.

MY FIRST UFO.

I started this jumper for my Dad when I was a teenager, mis-judged the tension and ran out of wool. My dad is an architect, so I turned it into a building. I asked my Dad about his favourite brick work and then made English brickwork on the right sleeve, Flemish on the left and an Anglo Saxon arch for the neck with Dog roses growing up and over. It means the original blue bits become some sort of tiling or something. I made the arms long because Dads should always have long arms.  I don't think my Dad will wear it, but it does kind of look like his studio/shed. 

LOUISE CUTS THE MUSTARD.

Louise has finished her gorgeous mustard alpacca cardigan with a brown trim. It is made in UK Alpacca, which we sell in the shop and it is so soft and floppy. We all want to wear it now.

99 LIZARDS ON THEIR WAY.

As I write, Mieko Tozawa is trying to persuade 99 knitted lizards to go in her suitcase. Her 99 knitted lizards will do as they are told, because of the good hearts she made them. Meiko is coming to London to knit the 100th Lizard at Prick Your Finger on Friday 5th June. You are all invited to come and witness the birth of this creature. 

Meiko's lizards are keeping it real. They believe that man and lizard are one, and believe you me, when you meet them you'll know what she means. 

Meiko will be holding two workshops on Saturday 6th and 13th at PYF and then her show will travel to 'Ruby in the Soda' in Japan. 

We are very excited to be receiving Meiko Tozawa and her 99 lizards and we hope you can all come to witness this fascinating right of passage.

To see more of Meiko's work go to http://yaplog.jp/yoshieda and http://blog.drecom.jp/yoshieda

SHEEP AND WOOL FAYRE.

Here is a lovely date for your diaries, the Sheep and Wool fayre at Spitalfields Farm (near Brick Lane) on Sunday 24th May 12-4pm. There are a variety of sheep, waiting to meet you.  Could be a fine day out, and it's free!

GABRIELLE'S HANDBAG.

The UFO's are flying in fast now! 

Today we would like to congratulate Gabrielle, who in under a week has transformed Freda's headache in feather stitch into a sophisticated evening bag. 

We can't argue with that!

Well done!

Tomorrow we shall see Sally's hand bag for a clown.... 

FILMING CANCELLED.

We regret to inform you that tomorrow's  UFO Project Administration Service film day and the Jerwood Space has been cancelled because we thought it was better to make the film another time. The UFO Administration is however in full swing and if you'd like to be involved, there are still plenty to choose from on the website http://ufoadministration.blogspot.com

YAY CUSHION.

Rob is excelling in being a good boyfriend. He visited us a couple of weeks ago to ask our advise on how to make his girlfriend a cushion. The cushion says 'Yay' on one side and 'Fuckin' Ragin' on the other, so she can hit him with the right emotion when she does not feel like talking. 

Rob chose a type face, cut out the letters in felt and carefully stitched them on.

Beautiful job Rob!

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

Here is a film to advertise Felix's new podcast. It features me on spinning wheel. And here is the press release. Put it in your diaries.

The Domestic Soundscape is a specially comissioned podcast series for Cut & Splice: Living Rooms. Researched, recorded and produced by Felicity Ford, the series will feature an aray of sonic experiments, artist's conversations, sounds, home recordings and compositions. Exploring the relationship between domestic space and the artists' imagination, the Domestic Soundscape podcast series will investigate the role of domestic appliances, daily routines, habits, rooms and home-recordings in a contemporary sound art/ composition practice.

The first one will be coming out on the cutandsplice website http://livingrooms.cutandsplice.com/ on 28th May and will focus on tape and domestic soundscape. this episode will feature Rachael Matthews (ME!) and Analogue Amnesty as well as experimental recordings made from putting speakers inside a tea pot and some versions of Alvin Lucier's 'I am sitting in a room' and many recordings of everday sounds...... 

GLASS PINGLE - IN MY GARDEN I AM QUEEN.

This is Fleur Oakes's corset entitled,

"In My Garden I an Queene'

It went on display at Prick Your Finger this Friday last the first of May.

Most corset makers don't sign their work, but Fleur has embroidered her name and left a little pouch at the bottom  of the front in which she will leave the following information.

The corset pattern is from 1585 and this style of embroidery was fashionable from mid 1600's.

The animals were an idea from some embroidery from the book "House of Spirits" by Isabelle Allinde. These animals are from original pen and ink drawings by illustrator Richard Gray. They take an average of eight hours each.

From left to right;

Peepus has colourings of a Kestral. He is made with bullion stitch, Turkey stitch, and normal long and short stitch.

The Goatle, half goat half turtle is made in turkey stitch, long and short stitch, raised satin stitch with a needle lace shell.

The Boarfinch is the colours of chaffinch or Goldfinch and he's mostly long and short stitch with needle lace wings.

The Marbat, a combination of a Marsupial with bat wings has the colourings of a Bluetit.

The Mallardapard has a Mallard coloured head and a leopard coloured body. He has raised satin stitch, turkey stitch and long and short stitch.

The two fruit trees, one silver apple and one golden pear, both made in varying sizes of French knot, done in hand dyed threads. The apple tree has a bee in a loose french knot.

 The pear tree has the Mallardapard's nest with a padded satin stitch egg and a hand dyed gimp nest. The fruit are needle lace covered wooden beads. Two leaves and a pear take about 3 hours.

The flowers Snowdrop and Cyclamen represent hope and doubt. The snowdrop is a specific variety called the Hefelump.

 The cyclamen was the most complicated thing that Fleur has ever made with each petal taking over an hour!

The moths are all made in needle lace and are based on tiger moths, but made in ivory to look like lace.  

When the corset is closed the eyes come together at the back. 

And underneath, the corset is lined with old kid leather evening gloves which are faggot stitched together using the fingers of the gloves to resemble the fans that come out t the hip on Elizabethan corsetry.

Wow.

EMBROIDERY ART SHOW HELL.

Miss Rosie Cooper came across this hilarious picture and sent it to Miss Fleur Oakes.  Fleur is hopefully resting her fingers after finishing an incredible show, which went on display at Prick Your Finger, Friday last, and of which I shall write tomorrow.