Doily installation... 15 Jun 2010 11:30 AM (14 years ago)

As part of this project, ArtYarn also created a small outdoor installation made from crochet doilies and motives. This piece is installed outside the main visitor enterance to Towneley Hall and introduces the Tea Cosy project quite nicely.

Here are a few images of the installation...

If there had been plenty more time to work on this part of the project it would have been interesting to cover all 6 concrete balls, but this is a big project in it's self - maybe next time.

Until then, I'm really happy with the finished result as I have never covered anything spherical before. I really liked piecing the motives together and playing around with the arrangement. It's really made me thing ideas for future ArtYarn projects. Watch this space!

Tea Cosies At Towneley Hall 15 Jun 2010 10:51 AM (14 years ago)

A massive thank you to everyone who participated in the Tea Cosies For Towneley Project.
All the tea cosies are now on display at Towneley Hall for the next few weeks for the public to admire. We've had some wonderful comments from Towneley Hall about the project and they were admired by many at last weekends Tea Party event.

Here are some pictures of the Tea Cosies in place at Towneley Hall....

Week 3, the final weekend of workshops! 6 Jun 2010 4:09 PM (14 years ago)

It's come around all too fast, but this weekend was the last scheduled series of knitting and crochet workshops. This week the cosies will be making their way to Towneley Hall to be installed for the Tea Party event next weekend, and i'll also be installing a new piece of work in the grounds of Towneley Hall made form crocheted doilies.

I will be in the shop again this week, Wednesday morning 10-1 and Thursday morning 10 - 1, to collect the last of the tea cosies, from the participants , and finishing off one or two final bits. If you haven't made a trip to the shop yet , please come and say hi and have a knit with me before I pack up my yarn and needles.

Here is a round up of the weekends happenings at the shop in...

Tea Cosies In The Making...

This tea cosy was knitted up by Jan, which was then decorated with lace, crochet and some button embellishments by me! ...

This Tea Cosy is a rather late addition to the collection and has been pieced together with some granny squares that we're kindly donated to the project this weekend. Infact, there is a whole bag of these beautiful squares, all in different colours, waiting to be sewn together to make blankets for several charities in Burnely.. i will have to rope in my knitting clubs to help sew them together.. any takers??

For this tea cosy I chose blue and burgendy... the colours of Burnely FC, and i'm trimming it with a cream crocheted ruffle. Very nice!

There has been a great mixture of knitting and crochet going on this weekend and as a slight change to the scheduled knitting workshop on Sunday, by request, I ran a beginners crochet session attended by some very enthusiastic crafty ladies who picked up the technique very quickly.

Finished Tea Cosies...

And here we have the collection of tea cosies that have have been made in the shop over the past few weeks, and there are still a few to arrive later in the week. This should make a lovely display in Towneley Hall next weekend.

This wonderful tea cosy was created by Susan, who has really embraced the project and made 2 tea cosies in all. This particular one really captures one tea pot in particuar, which has an image of Towneley Hall painted onto the front of the tea pot. Susan hasn't been crocheting long, but she has really improved her skills by attending some of the workshop sessions and talking to other crocheters to learn more about the craft.

In The Shop...

Some of the Towneley Tea-ware finally arrived in the shop for visitors and participants to admire this weekend... the full tea ware collection will go on show at Towneley Hall this coming weekend..

Making Doilies...

I have been crocheting away this weekend to make more doilies for the outdoor installation at Towneley Hall. Keep posted for more on this as I will be installing this piece of work on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Crochet bits and bobs for Towneley.. 3 Jun 2010 12:41 PM (14 years ago)

As part of the project for Towneley Hall I am making a small outdoor installation using crocheted doilies and movites. I hope that this will cover one of the concrete spheres at the entrance to Towneley Hall and I'll be making a visit hopefully on Monday before i go to the shop to size things up.

Here are a selection of the crocheted bits and bobs I've been making - since I took this picture on Wednesday I've made tonnes more! I'm really into improvising on existing doily patterns at the moment - maybe this could be the foundations for project in the future - free formed doilies!

This weekend is the last weekend of scheduled workshops at the shop and I'm hoping that lots of tea cosies will come flooding in as many people who have popped into the hop have taken patterns away to work on at home.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day in the shop becuase some of the Towneley Tea set collection will arrive for visitros to look at. We have a display case ready and waiting to house them all.

Next weekend (12th & 13th June) will be the Tea Party event at Towneley Hall when all of the tea cosies will go on show for the public to admire .. more info on this event to some very soon.

Weekend 2 at the shop 30 May 2010 9:26 AM (14 years ago)

The shop has been full of activity this weekend with lots of people coming along to learn how to knit and crochet, how to follow a pattern and i demonstrated lots of new techniques to jazz up their tea cosies.
Over the weekend we have had around 40 people in to the shop to find out more info and to take part in the project.

One of the most wonderful comments, which I have heard a few times from different workshop participants over the past few days, is that this project has inspried people to pick up their needles again after not knitting for years, it didn;t take long for those people to rememeber how it's done!

Many people have said that they thought no one knitted any more, that they thought it was a forgotten craft and that it's really nice to see this project happening in their town centre. I'm really happy that through this project people will continue to knit, some ladies have even said that they would like to start their own knitting club in their local communities after attending the workshops.

Here are some snaps from over the weekend:

Participants ::

Sarah and Lorna from Burnley attended the Learn To Knit Workshop on Saturday and did extremely well learning how to cast on, knit, purl and cast off. Sarah also learned how to add in a new yarn colour and says she would like to make a stripey tea cosy.

This weekend I've had a few ladies from my local knitting club in Salford working in the shop with me. Jan (who writes the blog: Enthusiastic Crochetoholic) has been with me for the whole of the three days has been crocheting and knitting away and is on her 3rd tea cosy already!!

Marie, also from my knitting club, come along to the shop today. Marie always takes part in my community knitting projects and is always really enthusiastic about taking part. She is making a tea cosy from my 'Tea Cozies' book called 'Counting Sheep' - i can't wait to see how it turns out.

Artist Liz Noble visited the shop to make a tea cosy with her mum and friend - they are making a collaborative piece for the project. Liz is the artist who will be covering the bandstand, opposite the shop, with knitted leaves and flowers for the Big Knit event on June 19th.

Cosies ::

Valpuri Vihriala (who writes the blog: Purlpuri Handknits) is based in Manchester and is currently creating her final installation for her Interactive Arts Degree at Manchester Met University. Valpuri is an artist who works with knitting and crochet as her primary medium and commented that this project had given her a well earned break from her uni work! She is currently making a strawberry themed tea cosy.

This wonderful tea cosy has been crocheted by Jan and has been inspired by a particular tea pot from the Towneley collection which has a scalloped pattern in the ceramic design.

I knitted up a fuzzy green tea cosy today and trimmed it with a brown crochet ruffle. Lots of people said that this particular tea cosy has a quirky personality about it... i'm not sure why! but was flattered by the comments. I was inspired by the earthy tones and colours featured on some of the Towneley Tea Pots and by some of the decorative trims painted onto the tea pots.

Thank you to every one who came along to the shop this weekend, i'm really looking forward to next weekend when we shoud have some more stunning tea cosies to show. I have given out lots of patterns to people interested in the project but unable to attend the sessions in the shop.

Burnley's Big Knit Day 26 May 2010 8:21 AM (14 years ago)

Tea Cosies For Towneley isn't the only knitting project currently taking place this summer in Burnley Town Centre.

Artist Liz Nobel is making a project for Burnley's Big Knit Day and you can take part in Liz's project by knitting flowers, leaves, bugs, bunting ... all manor of decorative knitted items that will be installed on the band stand on St Jame's street in Burnley Town Centre on the 19th June.

You can download a pattern guide HERE for many wonderful flower and leaf designs.

So get knitting and see your work on display in Burnley Town Centre in June.

For more info please visit: liznoble.com/knit, and www.burnley.gov.uk/arts

Ravelry Group 23 May 2010 1:36 PM (14 years ago)

We now have a Tea Cosies For Towneley group on Ravelry for you to join if you are a member of this fabulous social networking site for knitters and crocheters.

In the group you will get all the info you need to take part in this project and be able to share ideas and tea cosy patterns.

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/tea-cosies-for-towneley

Week 1 @ The Open Shop. 23 May 2010 1:05 PM (14 years ago)

This week ArtYarn moved into the shop, or the 'knitting studio' as I am now calling it. With great thanks to Janes Wool Shop in Burnley, and to people who have stopped by to make a yarn donation sover the weekend, we have plenty of yarn and needles to create some super tea cosies for Towneley Hall.

Here are a few snaps from over the first weekend...

The Knitting Studio... come and pay me a visit and have a knit!

Setting up the shop with plenty of yarn and some lovely furniture which has been donated by the Burnley YMCA charity shop.

Isabelle teaching a beginner how its done!

Here she goes again!

Tea cosies in the making!

A very nearly complete tea cosy.

I will next be in the shop, knitting away, on Wednesday morning and then on Friday and Saturday 10-4pm and Sunday 11-3pm. Please come and join me and take part!

Open Shop artists... 17 May 2010 12:46 AM (14 years ago)

ArtYarn are the first of 5 commissioned artists / artists groups to be given the wonderful opportunity of working at The Open Shop Project in Burnley Town Centre.
Visit the Open Shop Project blog to find out more about which other artists will be taking over the space during the summer months:

http://theopenshopproject.wordpress.com/

Tea Cosy 15 May 2010 10:12 AM (14 years ago)

We have been testing out some new tea cosy patterns this week, and here is a beautiful finished tea cosy by Sarah. We will be using the tried and tested tea cosy patterns to modify into new knitted creations which will be inspired by the colours, embelishments and shapes of the Towneley Hall tea pot collection.

Installed Yarn Bombs at Towneley Hall 15 May 2010 9:38 AM (14 years ago)

On friday we payed a visit to Towneley Hall to install 8 pieces of knitting in the gardens. We are joping that these pieces of knitting will stir up some interest for our residence at the old car shop in Burnley Town Centre.
Next week we'll be in Burnley town centre setting up our workspace in the shop and we'll be out and about knitting in local venues around the town. Come and join us !

Yarn Bombs for Towneley Hall 10 May 2010 4:20 AM (14 years ago)

This week Artyarn will be installing a series of knitted pieces around the beautiful gardens at Towneley Hall in Burnley.

Once they are installed we hope that visitors to Towneley Hall will enjoy discovering them as they stroll around the gardens and that they inspire people to come and take part and visit us during our time as artists in residence at the old Car Shop in Burnley town centre.

For now here is a little preview of some of the knitted pieces we have been making..

KNITTING WORK SHOPS !!

Our taught workshops begin on Saturday 22nd May, so if you would like to learn how to knit make sure you book your place ASAP! before all the spaces get snapped up!

The Saturday workshops are designed to teach absolute beginners knitting skills, so if you have always wanted to learn but don't know how to get started, or you want to refresh your skills, please come along and take part. All materials are provided on the day and it's absolutely free to take part! :)

TO BOOK YOU PLACE PLEASE CONTACT:

info@artyarn.org

laura.rodgers@blackburn.gov.uk

OR RING:

01254 677130

OR POP IN AND SEE US AT THE SHOP TO LET US KNOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO BOOK A PLACE:

The old Car Shop, 14 St James Street, Burnley Town Centre.

(If we aren't in the shop when you call, please post us a note with your name and contact number)

Yarn Bombing at Towneley Hall 29 Apr 2010 1:59 AM (14 years ago)

To kick start the Tea Cosies for Towneley project we have been busy with our knitting needles making some knitted pieces to be installed in the grounds of Towneley Hall in a few weeks time.
We are hoping that this will inspire people to come and see what we are making at The Open Shop in Burnley Town Centre and hopefully take part in our project.

There will be a small trail of yarn bombs for you to discover from the 10th May ... see if you can spot them all and let us know what you think by leaving us a comment on the blog.

For now, here is a little sneeky peek at one of the yarn bombs in progress..

(4mm needles, 2 colour DK yarn using Woven Stripe Pattern)

Workshop Dates Announced 28 Apr 2010 3:16 AM (14 years ago)

ArtYarn invite you to attend Learn to Knit - a workshop for those who have never knitted before, or want to refresh their skills.

Starting from the absolute basics Artyarn will teach you how to cast on, how to knit and purl and how to cast off.

Spaces are limited to 15 places per session, so we kindly ask you to inform us if you would like to attend these taught sessions.

Please e-mail info@artyarn.org to book a place on one of the three scheduled sessions:

Saturday 22nd May 10-12pm

Saturday 29th May 10-12pm

Saturday 5th June 10-12pm

Throughout our time at The Open Shop in Burnley town centre, we will also be running lots of open knitting circle sessions.

During these sessions you are invited along to drop in at any time, to help to design and knit the collection of Tea Cosies for Townley, find out more about the project, better your knitting skills and meet the artists.

The open knitting circles take place on the following dates:

Friday 21st May 10-4 pm

Friday 28th May 10-4 pm

Friday 4th June 10-4 pm

Saturday 22nd May 1-4 pm

Saturday 29th May 1-4 pm

Saturday 5th June 1-4 pm

Sunday 23rd May 11-3 pm

Sunday 30th May 11-3 pm

Sunday 6th June 11-3 pm

Artyarn will also be in the shop on other dates, if you see us there pop in and say hi, have a knit with us and find out more about the Tea Cosies for Towneley Project.

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