UFO HANGERS.

The question of how to display saved Unfinished Objects in a presentable manner, to entice people to take them home, form relationships with them, solve the problems that arrested the project in the first place, and make new discoveries and masterpieces in the process, has been taxing me for some time.
My best solution so far is the 'Space ship shaped coat hanger' shown here. I cut them out of hardboard, found in a skip and painted them silver and gold. It wasn't the easiest job I've ever done.
The UFO Project Administration will be landing in Farnham Maltings this Saturday 28th February, for 'Unravel' with lots more spooky shaped pieces of knitting to seduce you into making things you never considered possible, so do please, come and visit us.

AI'S LOCKS.

Ai misses her boyfriend.
She left him behind, in Japan.
She cut her hair and he doesn't know.
We spun her locks, so she can knit a bow.
Which she will post, and he will wear.

Ai's hair was mixed with 25% Black Welsh Mountain for a fuller yarn.
Hair hand spun is £2.50 / 10g.

ROSEMARY'S LOW CALORIE CURLY WURLY.

How does one stop one's boyfriend eating too much chocolate?
Rosemary is conducting an experiment, by embroidering Richard's favourite vice, ensuring his sweetie jar is always full.
Almost as smooth, curly and chocolaty as the original - beautiful.

LUCY'S NEW MAT.

Lucy has been a good dog for Zarah, but as she heads into her golden years, she has developed some problems with bladder control. Zarah wanted to make Lucy a mat which could repeatedly go through the washing machine, and be tough enough to protect her wooden floors.
Crocheted carpet yarn is the answer. It is a rough pure wool, and any shrinkage in the wash, will make it even more resilliant to doggy dribbles.
We think Lucy looks grand on her mat, which matches her beard perfectly.
Carpet yarn 40p/10g.

CECILIA'S HANDSPUN EMBROIDERY THREAD.

We are delighted to present a new range of hand spun, hand dyed embroidery threads made by our friend Cecilia. Inspired by wild flowers of the countryside, they are spun in 2 ply 100% kid mohair, which gives a fluffy sheen.

These threads are almost too good to use. The spinning is out of this world. Anything made with this thread, will look beautiful.

I therefore thought it right to try and make an 'out of this world', hand spun embroidery thread display system, from model spinning wheels, stuck together and sprayed gold. The display will soon spin round, as I've just bought a Lazy Kate mechanism.

Each skein is approx 12m long and they cost £4.50, and come wrapped up in a bit of tissue paper.

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN JONES.

MIRIAM'S MALTESE FALCON.

Congratulations to Miriam, my editor at Simply Knitting Magazine, who threw caution to the wind, and successfully knitted a Maltese Falcon. Miriam has never knitted anything like this before. There are very few patterns avaliable for Maltese Falcons so she made it up as she went along.
The Falcon has been posted to New York where he guards a collection of Film Noir.
I was pleased for Miriam, because I gave her a really difficult project to tackle for the UFO Project Administration Service, and through that, she discovered that knitting off road and making exactly what she wanted was much more enjoyable.
Hooray!

SAMPLER CULTURE CLASH FOR TAHITI.

David Litter, DJ and embroiderer, has gathered his collective to decorate two arm chairs to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake. David's collective love their threads and vinyl, and we imagine they had a very thoughtful party in the making of this piece.
It is part of the Open Source Embroidery Exhibition, curated by Ele Carpenter, and the piece will be auctioned on 21st February at.
Tiburn Town Hall, 1505 Tiburon Blvd, USA.
The silent auction is from 12-4.30pm and the live from 5.
David's blog is at http://sampler-cultureclash.blogspot.com
and these are his photos...

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN R.I.P.

We are very sad to hear that Lee McQueen has passed away. He was a bright star and his death is a huge loss to British culture.
We were inspired by the way he constantly developed his craft skills, starting from his apprenticeship on Saville Row. He was not afraid of hard work, business, fame or fashion.
He said,
"I'm interested in designing for posterity. People who buy McQueen are going to hand the clothes down to their children, and that's very rare to-day."
Only a great artist and craftsman would have that vision. He also once said,
"I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists, I have to force people to look at things."

On the evening of this tragedy I was lucky enough to be drinking champagne at the top of Centre Point. I looked over our beautiful city, and thought about how incredibly dedicated he was, dashing around London, bringing us the spectacular. We never bought his clothes, but ever since we were students, he entertained and more importantly - guided us. Every season he would show us how you can always step up and push ideas further.

I hope his death will force the world to look at how important it is to protect and nurture fantasy, romance and beauty. His talent was second to none, and he will inspire generations to come.
McQueen got on with his own thing, and for that he will not be remembered for his clothes alone.

THE LAUNCH OF THE PRINCE'S WOOL PROJECT.

At last! Someone up there is doing something about it! Thank you Prince Charles.

PYF IN GIRLMONSTER @ DONAU FESTIVAL 09.

IN PRAISE OF BISHOP BLAIZE!

Textile friends of the world unite, we are supposed to pay tribute to St Blaize, the patron saint of wool carding, the day after tomorrow. We forgot that 4th February is traditionally a day off for textile workers. We have to offer candles or make big blazes in conspicuous places.
In the past, textile workers were so poor that they often had to sacrifice their tools to the blaze to make it big enough.
It's a liberating service, and not nearly as painful what Bishop Blaize went through. The order of Licinius ordered Blaize to death by wool comb in A.D 316, but he would not die. Maidens covered themselves in his blood, and they were combed too, but their wounds brought forth milk, and they didn't die either.
Why not symbolize the milk with a mug of cocoa? He's the Saint of sore throats too, so perhaps light an extra candle if you have this affliction.
I've written the full story, with all the gory details in Simply Knitting Magazine to be published next month.