the Blanton Project – a knitted wonderland

Photo courtesy of Carolyn Bettelheim, a project volunteer.

One week from Friday, Knitta Please and a team of over 140 Austin crafters will cover each of the 99 trees in the Blanton’s Faulkner Plaza with knitting (or crochet). The project, titled A Knitted Wonderland, is in collaboration with UT’s Blanton Museum of Art, and will be on exhibit from March 5-18, 2011, coinciding with the Blanton’s new exhibit Recovering Beauty and UT’s annual open house, Explore UT. Come out to see the installation and hear Magda Sayeg, founder of Knitta, speak on Saturday, March 5th.

The most exciting part, however, is this: community knitters and crocheters have powered 99.5% of the production and installation of this project. We could not have made this happen without these amazing volunteers. Over the next week, as part of our thanks, we will be highlighting some of these crafters right here on the Knitta blog. Stay tuned to learn about the talent and enthusiasm behind the latest Knitta Please project.

In the meantime, visit the project’s Facebook page and read about it over here at the Statesman.

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Update:

Meet our volunteers – Heather Sutherland of the Knotty Knitters,  Darrell Farris of Men Who Knit, The Girls’ School of Austin, The Griffin School

Willie Nelson

Photo courtesy of James Moody

Willie Nelson was in Austin this weekend for the opening performance at ACL Live‘s new venue in the W Austin’s Block 21, coincidentally located on Willie Nelson Blvd. And KnittaPlease was on site to welcome him. We teamed up with Guerilla Suit to dress up the giant W on the face of the building, Willie-style. See coverage of the concert over here on Austin360, and check out this video of the installation (and note the Knitta’d iPhone cover at 1:40):

Fiesta de la P, continued

Here’s a great video from the concert, filmed from a helicopter hovering over the show. To anticipate your questions: Yes, we did hang with the plumber and psychologist (characters from this great Personal ad). Yes, we do think the Argentine hipster guy in the billboard ad at 0:25 seconds is awesome, although a little creepy. And no, unfortunately MGMT did not play “It’s Raining Men.” That was dubbed in. Enjoy!

Also: a few more notes from our trip… 

Fiesta de la P

Luckily, we had a crew of men transfer the P to the beach on a truck, under a tarp. We finished the installation just as MGMT was doing their soundcheck, so we had our own private concert before the madness of 40,000 people flocked to the beach later that day.

Installing “la P” – part two

Today: more velcroing, stretching, and stitching.

Installing “la P” – part one

We came with two suitcases packed with pre-knit material (thanks Patricia!). In retrospect, we’re lucky we got through customs: “No, sir, really. We’re not trying to sell hundreds of 10-ft long scarves in your country. We’re making a big P!” Hmmm… sounds plausible to us.

Bienvenidos Argentina

This week we’re taking the show on the road to Mar del Plata, Argentina, a beach escape to the south of Buenos Aires where it feels like Southern California, but with the seasons swapped. (Yes, the toilet does swirl the other way, and so does the bidet…)

knitted iphone covers, now at Domy!

These are the iPhone covers I created in collaboration with Uncommon – they’re still available for customization on Uncommon’s site, but now they can also be found for a limited time at Domy Books in Austin, Texas. iPhone 3g and iPhone 4 covers available. Happy holiday shopping everyone!

Bali, revealed

Ta da! Insight just released their new ad campaign. Here are a few images of my work, but go check out the official site and then Facebook for more images and info. So lucky to have worked with so many talented people on this project. See the installation process here, here, and here. Cheers!

new piece in Austin

The lamp post at Domy got yet another sweater just in time for Austin’s annual E.A.S.T. pilgrimage. Make sure to stop by on your route this weekend – Domy’s hosting a reading tomorrow night with Bill Baird and Thax Douglas. Don’t miss it!

ps See the lamp post’s previous incarnation here.