Visual Art Knitnotwar 1,0o0
posted by on January 23 at 12:58 PM
When I interviewed the Decemberists in PDX a couple months ago, talk turned to my passion for crafts, and Chris Funk told me about “an art installation of peace” called knitnotwar 1,0o0. Inspired by Sadako Sasaki, who folded 1,000 origami cranes after the US atom bombings of Hiroshima in 1945, Portland artist Seann McKeel is rounding up folks to knit and felt a thousand origami-style cranes. The whole teeming flock will be displayed in late 2007 in the Rose City. (There’s a nice pic of a modest gaggle of them here.)
For information on how to get involved, a downloadable pattern, photographs, etc., visit www.knitnotwar.com. I completed my first crane this weekend. Here are a couple photos. The actual knitting and finishing went very quickly — the felting was the only time-consuming part (it took three washes to get the quality I wanted).
Darling. Note to crafters: Felt by hand--I almost wrecked my washing machine felting a project in it last year. (A repair man was able to fix it, but what a pain.)
I used a lingerie bag! Honest. But I'm felting the rest by hand — you're not the first expert to pass along this advice since this post.
I use a lingerie bag with dish scrubbies inside, in a load of old blue jeans.
I get excellent machine felting results.
I also use All Small & Mighty detergent.
I heard the jeans can sometimes leave cotton lint on the felt, especially with wool yarn (I think). By hand sounds good to me, I'm not wasting my precious quarters for a felting project.
Do laundromats have top loaders? I'm told that front loaders don't felt well anyway.
I don't have a lint issue, but I shave everything I felt (bags & coasters mostly) in order to get a consistent texture.
Wouldn't it just be easier to throw the yarn away BEFORE you make the...thing?
I don't know about laundromats. My building has top loaders.
Fnarf, again you kill me.
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