Tuesday, March 11, 2008

For all you wacky knitters out there……..


My friend Wendy has become a knittingfanatic. Other friends, though not quite as addicted have either discovered the joy of knitting, or realized that they still know how to knit and have returned to the needles.

I suppose the knitters of Yellow Springs, Ohio have clothed their family in friends with enough sweaters, hats and scarves – so those wacky knitters have started to knit sweaters for their trees. Above, you can see the tasteful sweater on...yes....a pear tree. The trunk’s brightly coloured sweater also has charms, photos, poems and jokes in the design.

This article tells us that dressing trees and other outdoor items such as benches, signs, fences is part of a trend. This desire to knit for the trees has spread to many communities ..."it's fascinating what's going on in the knitting world," says one of the knitters. "Graffiti street art is going to a whole different realm. It's gone beyond just painting on sides of buildings."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can understand knitting for trees--they are probably easier to fit than hats and sweaters. I recently finished a hat which I suspect neither daughter wants to wear and spent last night trying to figure out how to add onto it to make it fit. Actually, I would not knit for a tree -- that seems kind of wasteful, but I love the idea of public "knit art". Basically I knit because it feels so good on the fingers, the colours please my eyes and nourish my budding sense of textile aesthetic and lastly knitting gives me an excuse to sit and watch t.v while knitting. While I am not an enthusiastic shopper (witness my use of cataloguesfor clothes shopping), I always love going to yarn stores. While knitting has been around for ages, something about knitting, makes me feel modern, productive and even creative. Krista -- you would like it!

Wendy

Anonymous said...

I have started knitting again but so far I stick to scarves, no predetermined size and I can enjoy the various yarns, colours and techniques without counting rows. And yes, watch television without any feelings of guilt. My favourite yarn is ribbon yarn; made over 60 scarves in the past year. One of these days, I must mail one to Wichita.
Apparently, knitting is now part of the Slow movement which started with food and is now branching out to fibre arts. Nice to be trendy which I rarely am.
Nora