2009 July

Fiber Arts Friday

July 31, 2009 By Katy

photo by Jonathan Hokklo

My husband is an artist. We have spent numerous hours working on public arts projects. In fact, 90% of the art he does would be considered public art. (He’s a sculptor who creates bronze monuments.) So when I saw knitting and public art in the same sentence I almost fainted from joy!

There is a remarkable group of knitters who do public installations. There name is “Knitta Please” – isn’t that fabulous? The above project involved 69 parking meter cozies in Brooklyn Heights, NY.

“You see the streetscape as being hard and forbidding, but the contrast with this soft, fuzzy, colorful yarn is inherently charming,” said Chelsea Mauldin, the executive director of the Montague Street Business Improvement District, which commissioned the project through Magda Sayeg, an artist whose claims to fame include covering an entire Mexican bus with her knitting. ~ from New York Times article.

One of our Fiber Arts Friday Participants knitted two cozies for this project and brought it to my attention. In a technical glitch, all the FAF particpants from that week have been lost from Mr. Linky. @*&!!?#! So, if the wonderful Knitta who told me about this would please let me know, I would love to post one of your pics of your cozies & tell everyone about your contribution. Email me at katy (at) alpacafarmgirl.com. or tweet me at @AlpacaFarmgirl.

If you know of other public Fiber Arts installations, please leave a comment. Stay tuned next week for the Alpaca-Bunny Smackdown. While there is a competition involved, we will be celebrating alpaca and rabbit fiber with posts and GIVEAWAYS! It all starts Monday. On to this week’s Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!

To participate:

Add the permalink to a specific blog post that features something Fiber Art related, rather than your general blog address and not your Etsy store. (Please DO put a link in your blog post that takes us to your store though.)
Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Use the button or a text link to http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com.
Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

Filed Under: Alpacas, Fiber Arts, Fiber Arts Friday ~ 12 Comments

Are You My Big Brother?

July 29, 2009 By Katy

Paca Buddies Xman and Colt McCoy are Participating in Wordless Wednesday.

Filed Under: Alpacas, The Daily Stuff, Wordless Wednesdays ~ 5 Comments

Alpaca Ice Capades

July 26, 2009 By Katy

Ice

I was so thrilled when my husband, the Artist, offered to take our herdsires, SCA Peruvian Magnum and Brutus’ Firecracker, to Colorado. Sending them to Colorado for August through November works for us because it’s too hot here to breed during that time, and breeders out west can take advantage of these boys’ breeding services. Magnum and Firecracker love the arrangement. They get to “Summer” in lovely Colorado and get to “work” too!

The Artist checked the weather and saw that he was going to have to drive the boys through some 100+ degree temperatures. The had him a bit cautious because they are really precious cargo, but we have an air conditioner and generator so we thought it would be okay.

The first day was fine. The generator and air conditioner ran great and everyone stayed cool. Day two started out fine with cooler temps. They left the air conditioner off for the first few hours. When they stopped for gas, the generator wouldn’t start. At all. The Artist gave me a call. I mentioned that if he got some ice and lined the back of the trailer with it, that could help keep the boys cool.

Things were going well, but between 4 and 6pm the temperature went from 93 to 98. It was climbing and they were in the middle of nowhere in Kansas. The Artist started to worry.

After driving for hours without seeing anything, he finally saw a Walmart in the distance. He went into the store and brought an empty shopping cart up to the cash register.

“I’d like 20 large bags of ice please,” he told the cashier.

“You want 200 lbs. of ice?” the cashier asked. The Artist nodded.

“I don’t EVEN want to know where the bodies are,” the cashier said, taking a step back and raising his hands in the air.

All that ice overflowed the grocery cart, and kept the alpacas cool. They felt like they were in hog heaven. Thank goodness for ice and resourceful husbands!