Farewell to the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm

The TreeLeaves Yarnstorm

The Tree Leaves Yarnstorm has been on display for over a month and on Friday it was time to take it down.  Deborah and I packed up our dismantling gear and spent the morning taking everything down...

Deborah Working Hard

All gone on the tennis court fence

 I hope everyone who wanted to see it, got the chance.

No more trees and leaves in the arbour

But if not, here is a recap of some of the lovely trees and leaves on display...

Contributions to the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm

Contributions to the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the #TreeLeaves either in Rowntree Park, York or online.  We've had lots of positive comments and lots of different people have enjoyed seeing it...

 

Clockwise from top left - Ted, Attila & Timea, Helen & Helen, Lily

We are selling the trees and leaves from the yarnstorm to fundraise for the Woodland Trust. Here are the sale dates for your diary...

Saturday 21 September 2019 – Rowntree Park (just below the cafe)

York, YO23 1JU 
10:00 – 15:00

Thursday 26 September 2019 – Trafalgar Bay
7 Nunnery Lane, York, YO23 1AB
19:00 – 21:00

Please spread the word.  We would like to raise as much for the Woodland Trust as possible.  If you'd like to contribute but can't make the sale, there is a donation tin in Rowntree Park Cafe...

Woodland Trust Donation Tin in Rowntree Park Cafe

or you can donate directly to the Woodland Trust here and please mention the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm.

If you want to read more about the project take a look here.  

Thanks to everyone who took part and to our sponsors and supporters, the Friends of Rowntree Park, Bettys & Taylors Group & Boyes.

Treemendous Tree Leaves

All loaded up and ready to go!

Today Deborah and I installed the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm.  It was a lovely day for it.  We arrived at Rowntree Park with all our equipment and everybody's fab makes and set up camp...

Tree Leaves Base Camp

And look, we had an audience straight away... 

 
We definitely made progress, with Deborah concentrating on the little trees and leaves...

Deborah hangs all the little trees and leaves

while I concentrated on the big ones...

and finally it was finished...

Extreme knitting, big knitting, finger knitting and some fab knitted, stitched and crocheted leaves

So if you are wondering what this is all about, keep reading.  The installation was designed and made by Deborah New & I with the amazing help of the local community and those further afield.  We came together to celebrate craft and creativity, to put “Art in the Park” and to fundraise for charity.  This installation will be in place for about one month. (It will be coming down in late August).

The charity we are supporting with this project is the Woodland Trust. They protect and campaign on behalf of this country’s woods, plant trees, and restore ancient woodland for the benefit of wildlife and people.  Their vision is a UK rich in native woods and trees, for people and wildlife.  After the display is taken down, the trees will be sold to raise funds for the Woodland Trust.

Sale dates are as follows: 

 Saturday 21 September 2019 - RowntreePark (by the café) 10-3pm

Thursday 26 September 2019 – Trafalgar Bay Pub, York 7-9pm 

Or if you've enjoyed seeing the installation, why not pop into Rowntree Park Cafe where there is a tin (just by the till) for your Woodland Trust donation.  Alternatively you can donate directly by visiting the Woodland Trust website - click here.

What do you like best about the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm? And which tree or leaf is your favourite? Please post your pics on social media using #TreeLeaves and #urbanforest.

If you want to see more about the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm check out these  blogposts:

Tree Leaves Yarnstorm - The Details

Tree Leaves at Spark:York

Tree Leaves at Rowntree Park Cafe #1

Tree Leaves at the Trafalgar Bay

 Tree Leaves at Rowntree Park Cafe #2

Extreme Knitting the #TreeLeaves Conifer

 

 

Tree Leaves & the Fairfax Court Yarnstormers

The Tree Leaves project is sponsored by the Friends of Rowntree Park, Bettys & Taylors Group & supported by Boyes 

Hula Hoop Weaving & Brilliant Birds

Hula Hoop weaving

I've wanted to have a go at hula hoop weaving for some time but somehow just haven't got round to it.  As an incentive I decided it would be on offer at our #BrilliantBirds workshops.  And, in order to do so, I had to test it out.

First warp up your hula hoop

I cut up a yellow T shirt into 2.5cm (1 inch) strips and used these stretched across a hula hoop for the warp.  Then starting in the centre, I tied the first piece on and started weaving in and out. After a while I changed to blue and carried on until the hoop was nearly full but there was enough warp to tie off all the ends.  Then I cut all the warp loops and tied them - a little too tightly which made my blue tit curl a little.  You can find out more about hula hoop weaving from wonderfuldiy here.

Finished weaving cut off the hoop with the ends tied off

This was quite a small hula hoop - approx. 55cm (21.5 inches) diameter, but still took 4 or 5 T shirts to make my bird.  The blue tit has a 70cm (27.5 inches) wingspan and is about 43cm (17 inches) from the top of his head to where his legs begin.

For the features I made pompom eyes...
 

Pompom eyes

and recycled some finger knitting into a beak and legs...

Finger knitted legs and beak

Then using some of the cut up T shirts, I knitted some wings.  I used the same pattern for the wings as in the Blue Tit Knitting Pattern but with a few more stitches and bigger needles...
 

Knitted wings

Then I laid all the pieces out to see how it all looked...

All laid out

I sewed the wings on and then stabilised the body and wings by stitching it to some plastic fencing, added some more blue to cover up the yellow ties and then attached the other features...

Finished blue tit with his smaller knitted cousin

and off he flew to join his little cousin. 

Linda at Rowntree Park Cafe - photo by Peter Bayliss

Linda started another blue tit using selvedge edge ribbon from the Cone Exchange.  (The Cone Exchange is a community scrap store in Harrogate set up by Bettys & Taylors which recycles and reuses waste materials from their own and other local businesses.  It's an amazing place!)

Selvedge edge ribbon from the Cone Exchange

Lara also helped and in the end the size was constrained by the amount of blue ribbon left...

Not much blue left

Once finished it was cut and tied off the hula hoop...

Bird cut off the hoop

and it'll look something like this when finished...

Laid out ready for pieceing together

with a wingspan of about 80cm (31.5 inches) and a body diameter of 38cm (15 inches).

Watch out for the hula hoop birds flying in to join the Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm supporting St Leonard's Hospice in Rowntree Park, York this June.  You can find out all the details here.