Because our beloved editor Pretending Sanity must be shy, I am going to announce her terrific yarn store Tangle- the actual store in in Colorado but you can order anything online. I really dig the shop by yarn weight feature on the site, so handy.
Dear_Alex is a student piece by Richard Banister that I think I love. After having sex in his room mate's bed, he set up an eloborate apology that involves a postcard, 200 citizens of Philadelphia, and a database. WARNING obscene language and illustrations abound! See here.
Have you heard about Second Life? It's an entire 3D virtual world on the internet. (Addictive as all get-out.) You can create an avatar of yourself to inhabit it, and you can own virtual land and build a virtual house. You can meet people, buy clothes and furniture, join groups, and even fly.
. . . And now you can knit! I was wandering around Second Life the other day, and found this charming little knitting shop, Knit This, created by Ida Keen. (Ida Keen is the avatar name of a real-life person, but in Second Life, you use only your avatar's identity.)
Ida has created a series of virtual knitting needles, balls of yarn, and knitting bags, which she sells from these cute kiosks. They have a kind of motion-program attached to them, so that when your avatar picks them up, your avatar actually begins knitting! Crazy.
If you're a Second Lifer, then you can find Knit This on Amida: 88,140,27. If you're not feel free to email me and I'll help you locate it.
Although this kntting project took place last autumn, it seems worth mentioning once again before the opening of Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC on January 25th, 2007. The Knitting Site created a "knitted throw" for Somerset House in London exhibited and performed as part of the 2006 London Architecture Biennale. The knitting collective's photos of the event show the various stages of their very groovy installation process. The team claims that they enjoy using scaffolding and hard-hats as much as they do knitting needles. A pattern of their project resides online.
The Canadian Museum of Civilization (Gatineau, Quebec) is hosting Unique!: 30 Years of Outstanding Craft, an exhibition of the last 30 years of winners of the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in the crafts. Especially great were the wool and silk 'cloudscape' and a colorful glass sculpture called 'Sprout.'
Troy Dugas, a Lafayette, Louisiana native, is a label-conscious sort of guy. Check out his assemblage art work incorporating recycled labels from Miller High Life, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Green Bean cans, and Dr. Pepper. Is Dugas the Missoni of the trash bin? High art and low art - interwoven for all to consume.
LACE!
The Sublime Stitching embroidery kits I designed for The Decemberists are now available on their website! The patterns are wonderful illustrations by Carson Ellis.
Yes, you read right. We are all looking for a way to digest on the spot, particularly after the holidays - visiting family who love to cook "inside the box". Check out Amy M. Young's Digestive Table where worms, sowbugs, and live house plants are invited to dine. Food leftovers and scraps are gobbled up before one even pushes away the plate. Ms. Young kindly provides a detailed diagram of her design so that you, too, can have your cake and compost it, too. The Digesting Table is part of the vermiculture design movement where worms assist in the composting process. Not for "light green" types - as the collection bin needs to be cleaned and the worms need to be bedded properly!
