Finishing Up the Poncho Leftovers

In January I went to visit my grandparents in New Hampshire. While I was there I measured my grandfather so I could finally make him the sweater I've been promising him for years. I came home and started spinning up the left over poncho fluff, which I thought would be a good choice for him. The next day I received word that he passed away. Since then, I've continued the process of making his sweater. I don't really know what else to do. I won't be able to make it back out there for the funeral due to weather. In a way, this is my own way of mourning.
Here is the yarn:

Bob's Poncho

Recently, I tasted some of the very best coffee I've ever had. It's from a roaster in Iowa too! Bob and Teri Hager roast the very best beans in Quasqueton, and deliver their delicious brew to Newbo every week. Here is there website.

ANYWAY

I made him a poncho. And it's so preeettttyyyyy

First I spun up this beautiful Corriedale (Ames) and this lovely alpaca (Decorah)

Then I knit a bunch of squares using the woven stitch

I crocheted the squares together and attached that to a pieceof felt

And Ezry (my angora bunny) approved. 

Neeldes in the Dark: A Knoir

In the Cornell College art department, like most art departments, each senior has to put on an art show at the end of the year.  The student can do ANYTHING, which is a very stressful concept.  There are painters, photographers, and sculptors of course.  But there are also somethings a little out of the ordinary.  Megan Sass wrote a full comic book and presented it in a gallery space as a comment toward the disrespect of the art of comic books.  Eva Pitsch did an instillation of antiques and worn out items creating a homey space that showed the passage of time.  We had a realist charcoal artist, Josephine Liu whose work was often confused for photography.  Abby Shultz once presented her menstrural blood. (You can see all of these artists work at http://www.cornellcollege.edu/art/student-work/index.shtml)  And then, sometimes, there is fiber.  This is where I come in.
Surely we have all heard of this yarn bombing craze (because it's so awesome).  I was a big fan of it since the beginning.  I love the idea of a rebellious graffiti art form that is inherently feminine.  Not only that but it is based in craft.

After being obsessed with, and participating in yarn bombing for over 4 years, I began to feel like it was getting a little redundant.  You knit a thing, you put it on a pole or a tree or a something, people see it, they think "Awww... that's neat", the end.  Then I discovered a creature.  A creature made completely out of yarn that crawled out of my scrap yarn basket one day.  I know, I know, I'm crazy. but! I have pictures now for proof!
This creature, it calls itself the Kninja, creates a situation that to my knowledge, is new.  It yarn bombs on site, knitting the piece onto the actual structure.  While doing this, it intereacts with the people that pass by creating a shared experience.

Once I discovered this creature, I began to study it. I wanted to know it's motivations and how it was created.  I was also making my own artwork on the side, preparing some stuff for my senior show.  Ultimately though, this Kninja became my obsession.  Not only was it a fascinating biological discovery, but it was also following me.  It showed up where I worked, at Cornell, and even places that I was just visiting.
After making a joke to one of my professors, this obsession became my senior show.  I essentially presented all of the evidence and ideas I had about the Kninja, and let the audience make their own decision about who and what it is.

This included a crime wall

The octopus that she left on a rock to perish one spring morning

The yarn case that she originally came out of (her mom?)

Some evidence left over by her previous attacks.  This particular piece blinded on of her victims while she made her escape

And a video compilation of some filmed footage

About halfway through the show, the Kninja actually appeared

She admired her friends

Stole some more of my yarn

Took photos with her adoring fans

Gave gifts to some of the lucky attendees

Shook her butt at those she did not like

and knitted with her colleagues

By the end of the show I had a guest book filled with theories and opinions of the Kninja.  They ranged from the obvious (A superhero's minion gone rogue) to the insane and obscure (me in a suit).  I found myself having one thought by the end of it.  Belief is a choice.  You can choose to believe that Kninja is simply me in a suit, but why would you?  The world becomes a much more interesting place when you believe in the magical.  You believe in the idea that there is a creature made of yarn attempting to make posts and trees warmer by giving them sweaters.


Thanks to Sandy Dyas and Kurt Friese for the Photos and Jacob Strain for the title 

Wow.  Have I done a lot and not blogged about it.  I guess it's a good thing no one was reading this.  Here are the things that happened since the last post:

 First I got a lot better at Knitting (this is the Sylvi)

Then, I got a lot better at spinning

 and dying

 Then my art professor at Cornell College, Tony Plaut (www.tonyplaut.com), introduced me to Lee Bontecou

And that was really inspiring... so I got to work

And with the help of Lindey Anderson, I created the show Connected in 2012

It looked like this. (More pictures at www.taylorfriese.yolasite.com

Then I went to Rome and saw this

And ate this

I started spinning things for people

And knitting things for people

And then this guy wrote a rap about me:

T Friese, spin what she wool'd into a fleece
to the ukelele beats,
She clicks her needles on the streets
On the corner on the block,
make you a custom woolen sock
Catch her sitting, knitting, getting quicker by the minute
Find a flitting kitten, make a mitten for its paws
Don't think your hard, you cant intarsia
Like the way that she do
Makin' lace up in this place
With threads that she pullin' through
If your head is spinning she will make it into yarn
Fine alpaca slacker phat sack napper in a barn
Make a nifty knit tree in a fit she's yelling "Darn!"
She's the hardest fiber artist
This side of the state
Knit a leather coat together
With the fibers of fate
You think you knit
But face your lacing it's debasing
You cant even relate
To the skill of fibers spilling
From her needles as of late
-Jacob Strain

I started a shop

Where I sell things (www.etsy.com/shop/thefuzzbucket)

Then life got weird.  I met this strange thing...

And saw this strange thing

and made an art show about it for my senior thesis

And now I'm about to graduate.  I'm teaching a little bit of art at REM.  I'm working for the Coralville Micheal's teaching knitting and crocheting... and that's essentially my life.

a cool hat and wine cozies

So first of all I made this hat, it's the starcrossed beret found it on ravelry and haven't taken it off yet because it keeps all of my hair out of my face and neck which is always a good thing. It would be a really great first cable project I just wish I could find a way to stop it from stretching so much...
And now for some super great news. Shmuggle Knits (that's the name of my... "company" when I sell things) will be selling wine cozies at the local wine shop muddy creek! yay me! I'm excited about it.

things to make for other people and then keep

I am really proud of this hoodie, it's super warm and cozy. The pattern was "Hacky Sack Hoodie" from Son of Stitch n' Bitch. It started out for my brother but after I used the noro on the sleeves I decided that it was a girls hoodie and kept it. One thing I thought was really neat about the pattern was you start at the top of the hood and work your way down and which helps me because I like long sweaters so it's easier to measure.
This scarf gets a lot of attention when I tell people I knitted it because it really doesn't look knit. I got the pattern from that tv show on DYI, Knitty Gritty. I cast on 400 stitches and you knit it up and down instead of side to side... that doesn't make sense when I say it but... you get the idea. I really should have been more careful with the cast off, it's too tight so the scarf kind of archs, but I don't mind. The yarn was 51% silk and is suprisingly warm. I made this for my parents employee but we didn't make it to the birthday party because of weather and my parents only give birthday presents to employees when they go to the party so I got to keep it. SCORE!

some socks

Taylor Friese is a fan of self striping yarn... sweet