Plant Pockets – GROW
It was only a matter of time before crafting words on plant pockets became something I wanted to try. After a few online searches, intarsia seemed to be a likely candidate. Boy, was I wrong as I embarked on knitting well above my grade level. I’m still very much a novice and I found myself caught well into the weeds of tangled bobbins of colours and sloppy stitches.
After graphing out the design for each letter, I decided to begin with the “o” in “grow” — as set of four pockets that we’d like to hang on the fence that surrounds the Hayes Valley Farm. “O” seemed a good place to start being rather simple in form, well, simpler than the “r” or the “w”. After completing two of the pockets with intarsiain, I realized that they just weren’t working out the way that I wanted.
Intarsia detail on the letter “O”
Julie came to my rescue tweeting about duplicate stitching, and I completed the two remaining pockets this way. There were gaps between the duplicate stitches so I went over the black with additional black yarn. I think that the pockets themselves will be more robust — the intarsia pockets don’t feel like they have the same structural integrity as a pocket that’s knitted from one continuous string of yarn. It could be that my lack of knitting experience is more to blame and perhaps when I’m more experienced, I’ll try again.
Duplicate stitching detail on the letter “G”
In the end, I think the pockets will come together once planted. I can definitely see a difference in the knitting between the four. The “g” was knitted and stitched last, and it’s the winner.
How much?
Mission, Contax T3 / Kodak Portra 160VC.
Life list: At some point I’m going to ask “how much for everything” and buy the whole shebang. Be it these inflatey beasts or a balloon seller, I want to walk away with everything. I’m still thinking through what I’m going to do from that point all. This is somewhat similar to renting a full on rabbit suit and walking up and down Market Street on any day other than Easter or Halloween – July would be a good month.
Hope
Impossible Project PX 600 Silver Shade UV+ Black Frame (Poor Pod),
Polaroid SX-70 w/ closeup lens
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Emily Dickinson
OMG Intarsia
The alternate title for this post would read “easier thought than done.” Text on plant pockets — what a keen idea, right? Intarsia is giving me fits. Then again, it’s likely an aspect of knitting that’s a little beyond my current skill set. I can’t quite bring myself to share with you what the ragged backside looks like before I weave in all the ends. Even, then I’m not going to flip this puppy over and show you. I’m hoping that once filled with dirt and planted, it will all come together. Derek pointed out that we could plant the current two with cacti and be done with it.
If you’re keen to try, I found this post on The Wooly Brew to be very helpful. The “r” (or “arrrrrr” if you’d like a pirate moment) looks a little fiddly, but I have high hopes of making it through the “g” without having to rip out rows and start over.
Juli shared duplicate stitching as an alternative. I might knit up a few tests and see if this is an easier road to travel.
Dandelions
Buena Vista. Canon Elan 7NE / Kodak Portra 160VC.
I can’t see a dandelion going to seed without thinking of my mother. If it wasn’t her constant battle with the ant hills that lined our drive, it was her vehement war on the weeds that dotted our lawn. One going to seed, like the one I hold in my hand, was a sure sign that someone wasn’t walking the grid, dandelion remover in hand.
Plant Pockets
Having falling in love with urban knitting, I wanted to follow up my International Yarn Bombing 2011 day adventure with something Derek and I could collaborate on. He likes to grow things and I like to knit. Bring these two things together and we came up with the idea of plant pockets. We’ve created a dozen and deployed the first two last weekend while walking down to the Mission.
Photo: Derek Powazek
I’m very much a novice knitter.* The design has changed a wee bit from pocket to pocket as I learned from the previous one. (I’m sure that all you champion knitters out there could tell me how I’m doing it wrong, and I encourage you to post your own plant pocket creations that are more better. The world needs more little gardens in our urban areas.)
The instructions below cover creation of the pocket. Please see Derek’s gardening site, Plantgasm for the planting portion of this adventure.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Yarn — I decided to use acrylic yarn for our plant pockets. Given how damp San Francisco can be, I wanted something that would be less likely to rot. And, as we’re going to be spreading the plant pocket love around the city, I wanted to keep an eye on cost. All of the yarn is Red Heart Super Saver.
- Needles — Size 8 US. I have both bamboo and plastic needles in this size and I’ve found the plastic ones easier to knit with the Red Heart yarn.
- Darning needle – To stitch up the sides and weave the ties through the pocket.
- Scissors — For the snipping.
- Tape measure — For the measuring.
- Optional, a glass of wine — For the drinking.
OPEN POCKET – Simple
- The majority of the plant pockets that we’ve created are open at the top. There’s a closed “pillow” top version that I’ll post about in the future. The opening needs to be wide enough to hold a plant, but narrow enough to avoid sagging. I found a 4 inch width to be ideal. Cast on 17 stitches and then stockinette stitch for 9 inches (knit a row, purl a row). Once you’ve got at least 9 inches, cast off. You’ve created the body of the pocket.
- Use the darning needle to weave the casting on and off ends into the purl side of the pocket. It’s best to run them down the inside edge of the pocket so it won’t be too visible in the finished pocket.
- The next step involves creating the bottom tie. Cut 6 pieces of yarn that are approx. 30 inches long. You can adjust the length of the ties to be longer or shorter if you know the circumference of where you’re going to tie your plant pocket. Put three pieces of the yarn aside for the top tie. Take the body of the plant pocket that you knit in the first step and fold it with the purl side inwards. You want the front of the pocket to me roughly 4 inches and the back 5 inches. The cast off row has more structure than the cast on row, so I use that for the front lip of the pocket. Take one of the pieces of the yarn and thread the darning needle. You want to loosely stitch three of the pieces of yarns through the width of the body pocket at the fold. You can use the stitches themselves if you want an even look. Make sure that you’ve got even “tails” of yarn on either side. Once you’ve woven three pieces through, braid them to the end, securing them with a knot. Repeat this on the other side.
- Next up, stitching the sides. Cut a length of yarn and knot the end. Push the darning needle through from the inside to the outside, starting from the base of the pocket where you created the bottom tie. Holding the pieces together stitch the front to the back moving up towards the top of the pocket. Repeat this step, sewing the other side of the pocket.
- We’ll use the three remaining lengths of yarn that you cut previously to create the top tie. You’ll weave the three lengths through the back flap and then braid the extra length on either side.
- The pocket’s complete and ready for planting. Check out Plantgasm for tips and tricks on planting your pocket.
OPEN POCKET – Fancy
The fancy version differs only in that you tile stitch the portion that will be the front of the pocket.
- Cast on 20 stitches
- 1st row: knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches.
- 2nd row: purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches.
- Repeat 1st and 2nd rows.
- 5th row: purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches.
- 6th row: knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches, purl 4 stitches, knit 4 stitches.
- Repeat 5th and 6th rows.
- Repeat 1st through 8th rows.
- Repeat 1st through 4th rows.
- Did you follow all that? When you’re done, you’ll end up with what looks like a basket weave with five columns and five rows. It’s pretty and adds texture to the front of the plant pocket.
- Follow steps 2 – 6 in the simple pocket above, using the bottom of the basket weave as the folding point for the base of the pocket.
* I’ve found YouTube and the myriad of great knitting videos there to be a great help. While I could remember how to knit and purl, casting on and off was a complete mystery. Much thanks to all those super knitters out there who are creating video to help people like me learn how to knit.
I’m still here
Or rather, posting bits and pieces in the following places:
Photos: Flickr
Verbose: Google+
Terse: Twitter
Onward!
Here-ish & There
* Have you seen Champalicious? It’s my new internet web site that celebrates the work of great photographers. I hope you’ll check it out. (If we were chatting, I’d say “out” and you’d snicker hearing my Canadian accent version as “oot”.)
* I sat down a couple of weeks ago and had a great conversation with Frederick Van Johnson that was recorded for This Week in Photography. You can listen in here.
Forty-eight
There are the normal birthday milestones that we will all (hopefully) hurdle: a first birthday, sweet 16, turning 21, the big three-o, etc. And then there are the more personal ones that develop from our own journey.
I remember the year I realized that I’d been alive longer without my mother in my life than with her. She had passed away at the age of forty-eight after a short, brutal battle with cancer. There were many tears that year.
When I was younger, forty-eight seemed a lifetime away. Forty-eight is old! At forty-eight you might as well have one foot on that ice flow.* It should come as no surprise that I’m backtracking on that a wee bit now. And it has nothing to do with the fact that there’s a significant lack of ice flowing past San Francisco.
I’ve spent much of the last year coming to terms with the fact that I was approaching another significant milestone. Today, I am now the same age that my mother was when she died. I can’t even begin to express how angry and bereft I am at the thought that this was all the time that she had. Forty-eight is nothing.
My friends have been wonderful as I talked about this over the last year, working through my fear and anxiety. Thank you for listening.
* “Did Eskimos put their elderly on ice floes to die?” Short answer: Not really. Also, as a Canadian, I’m uncomfortable with the use of Eskimo. Shouldn’t it be “Inuit”?
Pinhole and Leslie
My love of pinhole photography began with a gift from a friend in 2003. Leslie had spent months looking for a Snapdragon pinhole camera, Polaroid back and a bunch of expired film that I could burn through. She wanted to give me my birthday present just a little bit early that year and included a print out of the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day web site. Leslie passed away very suddenly a few years ago and we all lost something beautiful. She was an incredibly talented and funny woman with a brain unlike any other.
While every day can be a pinhole day, there’s something special about the last Sunday in April. As I drag my gear around looking for inspiration, I know that I’m part of something just a little bit bigger and I know that Leslie is with me.
Here are my contributions to the last nine Worldwide Pinhole Photography Days:
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Heather Powazek Champ never leaves the house without a camera. A Canadian by birth, she now calls San Francisco home. More »
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