POSTCARD.

My Mother sent me this postcard, which arrived today. On the front was a slice of Post-It Note which pointed to the lady far right and said  "What is she knitting?"

Something seemed to happen to the lady in the middle though, she's doing something wild...

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