Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Bears 307 to 316 moved on without being noticed

Ten Bears have been sent to Minneapolis recently, without being properly documented here. They are Bears 307 to 316. Five pairs, sets of twins, as far as clothing is concerned. And here they are.



Bears 307 and 308 - Efua and Kofi


Bears 309 and 310 - Roberta and Montgomery





Bears 311 and 312 - Scarlett and Hunter




Bears 313 ad 314 - Ashraf and Mohamad




Bears 315 and 316 - Alanis and Wade




As their group photo indicates, I spent roughly 67 hours on them.
My Mandela Day project for 2014. I love you Madiba!



Saturday, August 9, 2014

Fairyland

When finding and testing a particular crochet stitch becomes all-consuming I usually just smile.

"A little weird! It's o.k! Nobody cares!"

But when I suddenly become aware that this stitch is meant to indicate a narrow, grassy border to a road on a Fairyland landscape, the underpinnings to a tree stump, some flowery cushions, and five rainbow-tea drinking fairies, whom nobody knows but me, I halt my search for green novelty yarn and a loop stitch, and sit down to document this slightly insane urge to build yet another island community that, upon completion, will be rolled up and stuffed away in my storage shed.

I had done this with close to 100 stuffed rabbits and one teddy bear, years ago, displayed them at a country fair, then shelved them in six or seven big boxes, until, one Christmas, I gave the complete set-up of caroling, baking, tree decorating bunnies to a homeless shelter. I assume eventually it all got mixed up in their mass of decorations and give-aways.



Two years of hard work had gone into that project; luckily Fairyland is just a summer fling, a ravelry.com knit-along, which, theoretically, only asks that I knit or crochet one fairy, with a name based on my initials, created by a fairy name generator computer program.

My initials are G.F. My fairy is Columbine Beamspider - she brings light and enlightenment. She lives in mushroom fields and quiet meadows. She can only be seen when the dry seed caps pop. She wears lilac and purple like columbine flowers and has bright lemon-coloured wings like a cicada.


Number two is for my mother. Her fairy is North Windshimmer. She brings gentle breezes to change the weather. She lives where the Celts and the Norse people live. She can only be seen when the first flowers begin to blossom. She wears pure white and has silvery lilac butterfly wings.



I am working on my grandmother now - a devious spirit - Ember Agaricglow - she brings hallucinations. She lives where fireflies mate and breed. She can only be seen in the light of a full moon. She wears dresses that glow with fiery colors and has russet-colored wings like a brightly coloured butterfly.



I gave her black wings instead. She deserves to be a bit sinister.

After that my daughter and granddaughter will have their fairies produced, then the big task is the ground they occupy. I have already made a tree stump for serving tea, a mushroom house, some cushions to sit on, a flower meadow, and parts of the basic ground. Right now I obsess over the little country lane that cuts through Fairyland. It must have a grassy edge to define its outline.



I have calmed down, turned off the news channel that tells me about wars around the world and makes my crocheting questions seem silly. I realize it is my coping mechanism that lets me drift into something beautiful; I am grateful for yarn and hook and fairies and the image of a tea party. It doesn't seem so crazy any more to want tufts of grass sprouting by the wayside.