Hide ya kids, hide ya wife

Get ready Providence, RI... we're going to be IN YOU tomorrow for the Waterfire Festival!

 

 And of course we'll be up to some mischief afterwards.... keep an eye out for our handywork!

Snitches & Stitches

Hooker, baby.

Rainbows and Unicorns!

Hello! Yes, yes it's been far too long since we have spoken. Had a little Life to attend to.

I am here today to talk about Kim Boekbinder. Short answer: we need to fund her show so that she will play for us in Hartford. Now for the long answer...



Kim Boekbinder is just straight-up magic. I've listened to her music and felt like she had lived inside my heart for a year, then wrote about it. But I would have noticed something like that. She's hard to miss!
She took a minute before dashing off to Australia to answer a few questions for me. Thanks a bunch!

What are audiences like in other countries compared to the US?

I find that my my audiences tend to be quite international so it's hard to say how an audience is different in another country. I think quite a lot has to do with the venue too.


How do you feel about all the buzz regarding your Kickstarter campaign?

Seems like I thought about just the right thing at just the right time. I'm excited about it. I hope it helps me reach the next level in my career. I have grand plans for my art and want to be able to better execute it.

Are there any plans for a new album soon?

I leave for Australia in a few hours, I'll be writing my next album for the month of September. I'm SO excited!


Kim is organizing a US tour for the fall. She is using Kickstarter to pre-sell the shows, and will play the cities that are fully funded. Hartford is on the list, but we've only got 6 more days to fund the show! I know it's short notice, but I didn't think Hartford would leave it hanging 'til the last minute. C'mon, Hartbeat! Let's show Kim how we do art. It's in our name...hARTford. (Yeah, it was corny. Fund the show, and I will quit it.)




Let's bring Kim to Hartford, people.

Back in the Beat

Hey kids,

We've been under the internets for quite some bit, but don't fret - we're still kickin' it every Tuesday.

Our meetings are open to absolutely everyone, no matter the skill (or lack of) level. Don't have yarn/hooks/needles? Thanks to the lovely donors of this city we have plenty to go around.

Wanna be a part of something? Shoot us an email for more details on when/where/what we do.
knittygrittycommittee@gmail.com

And yes, we do have access to kittens.

Road Trip!!

Well this crochet queen has been road tripping across the country...I did not leave empty handed...



We went from CT to Cali. It took soooo long, but it left so much time to crochet/knit/take pics. We needed gas as soon as we got there, so I decided to take a little walk down to the roadside and make mischief.



Once we got to Cali, I promptly yarnbombed the sign at the corner of Haight and Ashbury.



Check out this sweet graffiti I found too!



Then we traveled to Vegas, and to the Grand Canyon. It was amazing how small it made me feel. The world is a crazy place. This was the yarnbomb that I did after being super bored in an Arizona Econolodge.



Just for fun, I made this little beauty in Albuquerque, New Mexico,



And this one is from Santa Fe. It's one of mah favorites :-) I had just learned that stitch before I left, so I had toons of time to practice in the car.



We stopped at Third Man Records, which is Jack White's new recording studio, so that was really neat...



And we ended our trip in DC...before going home. I believe this is my masterpiece.



All in all, it was amazing. I saw a lot of the country, and I'm pretty sure the country saw a lot of the KGC.

Life Experiences

I have plenty of excuses for not blogging in such a long time. But odds are if you're reading this, you know me personally. Therefore, you know those reasons.

Life in Flux!

Anywho, after all these delightful oils have been sitting around/moving with me for months, I decided to make some soap. How is this KGC related? Oh, I'll get to that eventually.

Here are my ingredients:

Organic all vegetable shortening
Organic unfiltered extra virgin olive oil
Organic (Food-grade) Cocoa butter
Unrefined Organic virgin coconut oil
Organic fragrance oil (white tea & ginger)
Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
Water

First I started by mixing the Lye and water.... very carefully. It became quite hot (and stinky) so I put it outside.

Then I melted down all of my oils to around 100 degrees. Didn't take long at all!

I mixed in the lye and stirred. There was a bit of a chemical reaction at first... you could see some soap-like suds forming - really cool.

Then I poured it into my "mold," consisting of an old cardboard box and shower curtain. This mixture stayed hot for a very long time. It eventually cooled off and solidified about 24 hours later, but still needed more time to cure.

I broke off a little chuck to see if I did everything right!

A day later I took the whole mass out and cut it up. It was a little flakier than I had hoped, I probably should have stirred it longer... but not bad for my first attempt. It definitely leaves my skin ultra soft. I'm about to take some into the shower to make sure it's safe to share... I'd rather not have to pay for skin grafts!

 The flakiness doesn't really matter... I'll be covering these babies with some local hand-spun (and naturally anti-fungal) wool.... once I get it! Thinking about taking a trip to Madison Wool to support the local shop, new friend, and fellow yarn-enthusiast!

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Here's a really awesome link brought to my attention by friend and local artist, Barbara Hocker.

Here’s something wacky and awesome that I’ve never seen done before. Minneapolis yarn bombing artist HOTTEA (previously) strikes again with this amalgam of street art techniques including a canvas made of yarn, two stencils, and spray paint to create this holy trinity of non-destructive street art. How long does it take for one man to unravel 12 skeins of yarn? Longer than it takes for the sun to rise and set. Jump to around 00:45 in the video to watch the time-lapse. That guy is a yarn wrapping animal!

WILDLIFE from Hot Tea on Vimeo.

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We still meet every Tuesday, and open to absolutely everyone. If you're interested in hanging out with us, shoot an email to knittygrittycommittee@gmail.com

Wool...Movie Star!

I wish I had a 36 hour day. I do not have enough time in one day to do everything I want to do. I got a new guitar this week, but I have not played it as much as I'd like. I have silk to sew into bloomers. That I may be able to get to this week, along with the crochet roses I'm making. BTW, keep an eye out on that project. Hehehehe.

But then I see something like this:



And now I would love to knit and shoot a movie. But I know damn well I do not have the time.

Maybe if I got an assistant to help with the sewing? I can only pay in pie right now. :P

Curb Appeal

This is basically my life right now.

In other news, I ordered new business cards. They should be in pretty soon.

As you all may know, the rapture has passed.... but not without any repercussions.  I lost quite a few family members over the course of one month, and it's something that I meditate on while crocheting. Going through my late grandfather's belongings, I found a nice wooden chair by the dumpster. Instead of throwing it away, I chucked it in the back of my car. Now it's being covered by beautiful grandpa-reminiscent yarns. Once it's done I'd like to leave it in a nice place. He always liked to sit, listen & talk to friends.

This has started a whole new yearning for curb-related crafts. I also was given this near-death wooden flower stand. Once it's finished with a new skin, it will be donated to the Hartford Farmer's Market.

We have so many ideas for this summer.... we just need a cohesive plan. Also, if anyone else has any other free time during the week to meet, that would be great. Sometime during the week I am going to put together an online photo album of all of our work.

I finished most of the baby gifts... making baby things is so much fun! Everything is so tiny and quick to make. My friend is due in July, so I'm going to take a break for a while and finish everything up for his very first New England winter.

I'd like to get some sort of conversation going about the recent New York Times article on Yarn-bombing... if there are any other crews reading this PLEASE comment with your thoughts.

Lastly just another HUGE thank you for all the donations we have been receiving. We will probably never have to buy yarn ever again. Please feel free to contact us regarding donations of yarn or things you think we should bomb at knittygrittycommittee@gmail.com