We are locked and loaded knit, last night's final in house stitch up had us dining on champagne and salmon, while we practiced our yodelling. Someone came up with the working name for us all - The Von Trough Family. I think it's going to stick.
Ravelling in queer history
Local queer artist and guerilla knitter Denise Litchfield hopes to take out this year’s Sydney Design 09 Festival in August with a rather ‘cosy’ installation piece on the Taylor Square North’s toilet block.
Litchfield is looking to the queer community to help achieve her goal of covering the heritage site with yellow knitting and crochet produced by GLBT people.If the phrase ‘knit one purl one’ means something to you, get in touch. Even if it doesn’t, Litchfield said she can incorporate even the simplest knitted square into this work which is to be as much about community as design.
“It’s mainly just to have a bit of fun, I wanted to knit around a space and I wanted to do it to a building that was a bit absurd to go with the nature of what it is,” she told Sydney Star Observer. The project will come to fruition on August 8.
“It’ll be a giant cosy in a way. People have been going to the blog [theknittedconvenience.blogspot.com] and adopting a space to knit a section for and setting up little stitch ‘n’ bitch sessions to bring it together.
“I’m a pretty average knitter so people don’t need to worry about that. It’s more about the community effort that goes in. I can patchwork parts in — we just want to see many people involved in the journey.”
Litchfield came to the attention of Design 09 organisers after a Sydney Morning Herald article about the knitting revival movement. Popular in the United States, stitch ‘n’ bitch groups are growing in number in Sydney, including two queer women’s sessions in Newtown and Enmore.
info: The Enmore queer stitch ‘n’ bitch session runs Monday nights at 22 Enmore Rd. For more information on knitting groups in Sydney visit ravelry.com. To get involved with Litchfield’s project visit theknittedconvenience.blogspot.com.
Knitting has left the comfort of the lounge chair and is loose in Sydney. Guerilla knits are popping up on trees, poles and unsuspecting busses.
Join the gang of knitters to create Australia’s first knitted installation and make your mark. There will be a series of “knit ins” happening in the Powerhouse Museum and various other public places in Sydney.
Come and have a yarn while we knit for convenience and be part of the biggest resurgence in handcraft since the 70’s. There was the knitted tank in Denmark, and the knitted bus in Mexico. Now YOU can help knit for Sydney.
Built before World War one, the Taylor Square public amenity is Sydney’s last surviving underground convenience, and worth spending a knitted penny on.
Pay tribute to Sydney’s first female public toilet and explore a heritage site normally out of bounds to the public. Ways to join:
·Knit, crochet or anything in between and send it in
·Donate spare wool so others less abled can help?
·Be “toilet attendant” on the day of installation
·Join us in comfy chairs to knit in various “knit ins” during the festival.
This is an open community event that links crafters, knitters and artists to blur the lines between maker and viewer. The knitted installation will be on display to all for a period of four weeks.
Denise Litchfield http://www.dneese.blogspot.comis the guerilla knitter claiming responsibility for this act of street art as a part of Sydney's Design 09 Event. Want to join in? We want you!
As sorry party goers stagger up Oxford St and the local wildlife go about it's business, this will be what greets their eyes.
Artists impression created by "knittorious".
OK, so get knitting, crocheting whatever. Looks like the four columns you see here have already been adopted, so we now have the centre structure in all it's glory to cover.
Also, know that this heritage building will not be harmed in the making of this cover, and all surviving knits will be washed and given to local Sydney charities. I want it to stay in Darlinghurst.
Say hello to Sydney's oldest surviving semi functional heritage toilet. It sits neatly in Taylor Square, and is currently in need of a giant make over.
1: Rummage in your stash, your partner's stash or the op shops for yellow, gold, or tan wool. 2. Select your instruments - crochet hook, needles, loom, fingers. 3. Start looping.
It all counts.
I need thin strips of wool 1/2 inch wide and 52 inches long for some things, and up to 41 inches/104cms long in others.
It does not matter what size you knit, all will be gratefully accepted and stitched into the final piece.
On Saturday August 8th in Taylor Square, a team of lavatory assistants, urban knitters and crocheters will descend on the heritage listed amenity on Oxford St to reclaim it back into the public eye.
Knit your bit and be part of Sydney’s Design ’09 event.
Blur the lines between graffiti, art, and the role of knitting in a contemporary world.
When: Saturday August 8th from 11am Where: Taylor Square, Oxford St Darlinghurst Sydney Contact: grrlandog@bigpond.com Send knit: Denise Litchfield PO box 149 ENMORE 2042
Come to Stitch'n'Glitz
The Oxford Hotel 134 Oxford St Darlinghurst August 1st noon -3pm
Spend a penny
How to help
Knit your bit of the convenience Get your mum to do it instead Tell other knitters Or crocheters Adopt the hand rails to knit as a feature Adopt another bit as your feature Make pom poms Come to other stitch'n'bitches advertised Visit this blog Spread the word Become a friend on facebook Donate yarn - any color as long as it's yellow Come to the installation on Saturday August 8th Tell us stories of vintage toilets Wear lots of yellow Find a vintage toilet brush and send it in Be a lavatory attendant on installation day Add the badge to your blog Or just sit with a beer at the Oxford Hotel and watch.
The knitted convenience shines strong now after a month.
Otherwise it is untouched and glowing.
