Artists Studio Tour 2013

The Artists Studio Tour is next Sunday, June 2 from 11-5. Please join us in Spiotta Park, South Orange. We hope to cover the park in orange this year. So continue knitting and crocheting anything orange. It will all find its way into the yarnstorm. As part of the Art & Business Connection, we have also hidden hundreds of orange butterflies in and around South Orange and Maplewood and their businesses. Participants must collect as many butterflies as they can until the day of the Studio Tour to win a prize. On June 2, participants can bring their orange butterfly collection to Spiotta Park in South Orange (on the corner of South Orange Avenue and Village Plaza) to record how many butterflies they each collected and to help tus hang them up around the park. Submission begins at 11 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. Winners will be contacted and invited to the Studio Tour after party, which takes place at South Orange Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m. Hope to see you on Sunday!

Signs of Spring Yarnstorm

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In early May we “stormed” the Hilton Branch Library (at their request) to help celebrate Dr. Seuss Birthday.  Thanks to the amazing Gina Provenzano, who was responsible for so much of the work, the library was covered in colorful and creative pieces in honor of one of my favorite authors.

Fun Times!

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What a great weekend!

Rebel Yarns troopers (Denise, Rona, Inken, Shauna, Miriam, Amy and an assortment of newcomers) braved the sweltering heat and humidity to come out to Maplewoodstock and yarnstorm.  And thanks to Meera of Knitknack for supplying us with such beautiful yarn for the weekend.  (And Glenn for teaching me how to really take pictures)

We were surrounded by friends, great music and a hillside of concert goers who seemed to really appreciate our work.  There were quite a few people who came up to see what we were doing and recognized us from our recent installation for the Artists Studio Tour.  There were also quite a few kids who stopped by to learn to knit.  We’ve begun to notice how many kids are drawn to  the fiberarts.  Those that come through usually comment that “their grandmother knits” or “their aunt crochets blankets for them.”  It seems that these  traditions have skipped a generation or two.  It’s exciting to see them make their way back.  It’s also satisfying to help pass these skills on in such a nontraditional manner.  To watch knitting and crochet evolve into a form a self expression.

Also a big thanks to Rona for inspiring some of us to take up tunisian crochet this weekend.  It’s so much fun and looks gorgeous.  More on that later…

First Day at Maplewoodstock

Despite the incredible heat we had a great first day at Maplewoodstock!
I’ll post more pictures later, but this is the current state of our Maplewoodstock tree.
We met a lot of friends, taught a few new knitters and had a lot of fun.
Hopefully, it won’t be quite as hot today.
More later……

Maplewoodstock this Weekend!

If you’re in the Maplewood, NJ area this weekend, don’t miss Maplewoodstock!
http://maplewoodstock.com/

Rebel Yarns will have it’s own shady spot underneath a tree at the top of the hill.  Just look for the Rebel Yarns banner. We’ll be there both Saturday and Sunday from 12-6. Bring your folding chair, lots of water (or your favorite beverage) and your knitting needles or crochet hooks. We’ll be knitting and crocheting all weekend to cover the currently bare tree we will all be sitting under.

If you don’t know how to knit or crochet, no problem.  We have plenty of spare needles and hooks and someone there will be happy to teach you.

Many thanks to Meera at Knitknack for sponsoring our booth this weekend.  She’s donated a huge bag of yarn for us to use. So stop by and visit us.

I’m looking forward to a great weekend of music, yarn and fun!

Maplewoodstock Here We Come!

We are going to stage a “Knit In” for Maplewoodstock this year!

We’ve been guaranteed a shady spot by a tree so we can
knit and crochet, enjoy the music, teach the kids and welcome other fiber lovers.
It should be great fun!
http://maplewoodstock.com/

I’m going to start thinking granny squares, tie dye and peace signs.

http://sofar-sogood.blogspot.com/2008/06/peace-granny.html

Here’s a link for the crocheted peace sign above.

CommuKnitty Success!

What an amazing two days we had preparing and celebrating the Artists Studio Tour. Spiotta Park in downtown South Orange was covered in yarn! There were flower gardens, floating fairies, a parade of butterflies and so much more. My thanks to everyone who made is such a special day. To all of you who took part in the yarnstorm by contributing pieces of your work and to those who showed up to appreciate it and even take the opportunity to learn a new craft. It left us all with a deeper sense of Community.

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Yarnstorming Update

We are meeting on Wednesday nites at 7 at the Baird Center in South Orange.
We will be there through May working on our Spiotta Park yarnstorm for the Artists Studio Tour on June 3.

Please feel free to join us or drop off your work for us to use.

We are accepting swatches of any size, color or shape.

Everything will be used for this project.

Good Morning!

I’ve added a link for a video tour of Spiotta Park.

In case you can’t get there in the near future and need a little inspiration, you can take the tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqFwJLrZYvc&feature=youtu.be