Brilliant Birds Raise Funds for St Leonard's Hospice

Brilliant Birds Installation in Rowntree Park, York - Summer 2017

Just to keep you up to date - the #BrilliantBirds yarnstorm had raised almost £400 for St Leonard's Hospice by the time the flock flew out of the St Leonard's Hospice Shop on Scarcroft Road, York.  We hope the birds will fly on to raise funds in different stores across the local area.

Thanks to everyone who took part - making, buying or donating.  We couldn't have done it without you!

 

Brilliant Birds Prepare to Migrate!

A selection of Brilliant Birds

The Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm has been enjoyed in Rowntree Park, York. Since then, the birds have flown out and had a bird bath.  They are now preparing to migrate for the winter (or the rest of the summer and autumn etc.)  The #BrilliantBirds are flying into the St Leonard's Hospice Shop at 5, Scarcroft Road, York, YO23 1ND and from Saturday 26 August 2017 will be looking for new homes.  They will be on sale and there are over 500 to choose from.  Let's have a little look at some of them...

St Leonard’s Hospice is an independent charity, providing specialist palliative care and support for local people with life limiting illnesses. Whilst their care is free of charge to patients and their families it is not free to provide.  So, the birds are being sold to raise funds for their services.  

Please go along and #buyabird to support the Hospice.  You could stock up on robins for (dare I say it?) Christmas, make a brilliant birds mobile or bunting, have one perch on a shelf or let one roost on the sofa!  You could even post a picture on social media of your brilliant bird in its new habitat using the hashtags #buyabird and #brilliantbirds. 

Do spread the word.  We can't do this without you - thanks so much for your support!

How to Wash a Tree in the Bath...

Extreme knitted tree with some very large brilliant birds

You may remember the extreme knitted tree from the Brilliant Birds Installation in Rowntree Park, York.  Once it came down it really needed a wash.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit in the washing machine.  However it did fit in the bath...

Tree in the bath

I managed to carry a very heavy, very wet but clean tree from the bathroom and with some assistance got it on the line...

Tree goes on line

It didn't manage to get dry outside and had to spend a week hanging around the house till it was finally dry.  I have to admit it was nice to pack it away when it was dry - it's amazing how much space a soggy tree takes up indoors!

Big birds on the drying rack

The big birds, leaves, finger knitting, flowers and information notices went in the washing machine and dried quite quickly indoors.  Now they have all been tidied away for another time and order at my house is at least on the way to being restored!

If you want to read more about the #BrilliantBirds project click here.  And don't forget, the small birds...

A small selction of the Brilliant Birds

go on sale on Saturday 26 August 2017 at the St Leonard's Hospice Shop, 5 Scarcroft Road, York, YO23 1ND.  Go on, #buyabird and support St Leonard's Hospice - it's a great charity.

Brilliant Birds take a Bird Bath

Post bird bath Brilliant Birds

Once the Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm came down from it's spot in Rowntree Park, York, it seemed like a good idea for the birds to take a bird bath.  After that, they'd be ready for their flight to the St Leonard's Hospice Shop, Scarcroft Road, York for sale.

Finally, there seemed to be a good drying day - so five washloads later, they were all on the line...

Thanks go to Pie, Sue and Kate for the extra peg capacity.  Hundreds of pegs were needed!  And thanks to Lily too, for helping peg them out.

These chaps are tiddly so I kept them separate so they didn't get lost...

and these ones got the handwash treatment indoors...

Don't forget to put the sale date in your diary - Saturday 26 August 2017 and #buyabird at the St Leonard's Hospice Shop at 5, Scarcroft Road, York, YO23 1ND.  It would be great if the birds can raise lots of money for this great charity!

If you want to read more about the #BrilliantBirds project click here.

Brilliant Birds Fly Out of Rowntree Park

A selection of #BrilliantBirds

The Brilliant Birds in the Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York, really were brilliant and we had loads of positive feedback about them.  However, all good things come to an end so on Monday, Deborah New & I, with Lily's help, took them all down.

It went from this....

Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York

Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York

Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York

Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York

via this...

down comes that finger knitted text

Deborah takes down the final info sign

all packed up again!

to this...

the tennis court fence no longer has a tree growing up it...

and the birds have flown

in a few hours with not nearly as much rain as when we put them up!

The Brilliant Birds go on sale on Saturday 26 August 2017 at the St Leonards Hospice Shop, 5 Scarcroft Road, York, YO23 1ND - do go and buy some - it's a great charity to support.  If you can't re-home a bird but still want to support the project you can donate online to St Leonard's Hospice here - please mention Brilliant Birds.

You can still check out the #brilliantbirds on social media (twitter, facebook or instagram).

If you want to read more about the project, the details are here.  Click on the links for information about the workshops we held at Olive's Nest, Rowntree Park Cafe, The Golden Ball and The Winning Post. Or if you want to see our mention in Craft & Design Magazine click here.  However if your interest is more craft based you may want to check out the Brilliant Bird Patterns, read about the hula hoop woven birds, the big knitted owl or even extreme knitting a tree. You may also be inclined to read about the exploits of the Fairfax Court Yarnstormers - they have been great supporters of our yarnstorming projects since we began! And finally you may want to hear about the yarnstorm being installed on a very wet day in June - that's here.

Now don't forget that date for your diary - Saturday 26 August 2017 - #buyabird and support St Leonard's Hospice!

Extreme Knitting & A Tree

Extreme Knitting - A Tree in Progress

If anyone asks what I've been doing recently I'll say,"Knitting a tree," which will no doubt confirm their worst fears that I am in fact completely bonkers! And I expect if they saw the size of my extreme needles they'd be certain of it. 

First batch of extreme yarn - 2.8kg

It's not quite that simple however as such big needles (50mm diameter) require extreme yarn!  So the first task is always to prepare some yarn.  First I gathered together some suitable materials - curtains (a lifesaver from the charity shop as they were already the right colour!), an old brown tablecloth, a dark brown fabric remnant, then an old sheet, the curtain linings from the charity shop curtains and some blankets, all of which I dyed.  They ended up various shades from terracotta to brown to grey.  Next I cut them all up into long strips, 3.5cm to 5cm wide (1.5 to 2 inches).  I rolled them up into balls and knitted them into a tree using 2-3 balls at a time.

More yarn - 1.5kg

 
That sounds all very straightforward but I kept running out of yarn and having to either cut up more or dye and cut up more.  In the end I used almost 400 metres of yarn weighing about 4.3 kilos.  And, funnily enough, the resulting tree is uniquely coloured!

Knitting (detail)

I did manage to finish the tree but couldn't lay it out anywhere inside to see how it looked - so I took it into the garden....

Tree knitting

I only have a small garden and it took up most of it!  Once down, I added a few leaves and the odd bird and took another look...

Tree with leaves and birds

It'll be in Rowntree Park, York in June as part of the Brilliant Birds Installation supporting St Leonard's Hospice (#BrilliantBirds).  You can read about the Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm here.  My tree still needs stabilising which will be quite a job so I hope the weather stays nice for it.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Tree, birds and person!

And in case you needed an idea of scale, there's a small person in the above pic to help you visualise it.

Big Knitting Brilliant Birds Owl

Big knitted owl and his much smaller friend

To accompany all the amazing birds that keep flying in for the Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York later this month, we are going to have a display on the tennis court fence with birds of somewhat larger dimensions.  You may already have read about the woven Hula Hoop birds.  Well, now there's also a big knitted owl.

25mm & 15mm needles

Using 25mm knitting needles and selvedge edge ribbon from the Cone Exchange, Gillian knitted the owl in record time.  (Quick aside - 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 for the owl and black yarn for the pompom eyes

Gillian, having finished the owl, works on another #BrilliantBirds project at The Winning Post...

So fast, Gillian had already knitted the owl (see far left) before I remembered to take a photo!

 
Next, using 15mm needles, I knitted the beak and part of the eyes with a couple of pompoms to finish them off.  And there you have it - a big knitted owl approx 56cm by 30cm (22 inches by 18 inches).  Watch out for him flying in!

If you want to join in with the Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm supporting St Leonard's Hospice in Rowntree Park, York this June, you can find out all the details here, the patterns here and you have until Saturday 10 June 2017 for your birds to fly into Rowntree Park Cafe.  Go on, #whatwillyoumake?

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.