Community Cast on: a knitting circle

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

this is the bind off at the DIA











Wednesday, September 14, 2005

I would love to hear what you think

Please leave comments on what you thought of this project and how you felt. Because that is what this piece was about not the product. The physical piece is the evidence of the art.

Thanks,
Lisa

Fiber Night in Dearborn was a BLAST!!!

So Fiber night in Dearborn was a BLAST! I know I am being redundent with the title and saying it here but it is true. Just look. Thanks to Jofran and her amazing family for opening up thier home to us. Maybe we can do this again sometime.
So. We have a big day ahead of us. I have sent out the final notice for the "Community Cast on: A Knitting Circle". This Saturday September 17th is the bind off at the Detroit Institute of the Arts from 12 noon to 4pm. I am hoping that everyone that knitted on this piece while in progress will be there for it's final moments. The actual bind off is at 3:30 but I want everyone there for the lecture too. I am going to have someone bring a video camera so that people can sit and give their thoughts on this project on tape. ALSO we have one last ditch effort to get one more foot on this project at the knitting circle I am apart of in Ferndale, at the Java Hut, on the south side of Nine Mile, west of Woodward. I will be there from 7pm to 10ish. Visit my web sight, and the DIA's web sight.
http://www.communitycaston.blogspot.com/
http://www.dia.org/calendar/programs_and_events/item.asp?webitemid=435





















HAPPY KNITTING!
Lisa Whiting
gnitihwasil@gmail.com

Friday, September 02, 2005

Web Sights CCO is on....

This one was for the TasteFest.
AND this one
AND this one
AND
AND this one
AND this one
AND this one
AND this one
AND this one
AND THIS ONE
AND THIS ONE
and THIS one, union bank of CALIFORNIA??
AND this ONE
AND
This one is one of the Sponsors... CITY KNITS!! http://www.cityknits.com/4_events/current/tastefest2005.html

This is on the Great Stuff to do in Detroit web sight. It is down a ways but it is there. http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lfTcOFSGdkIJ:www.greatstuff2do.com/events.asp+lisa+whiting+knitting&hl=en

LOOK AT THIS!!!!!!! I am on the DIA web sight. I am so excited! Look....

http://www.dia.org/calendar/programs_and_events/item.asp?webitemid=435

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Monday was a blast!


Monday was fun. Karen and I went to Campus Marshus. It was a blast. We met a woman Kim who works for Govoner Granholm. We Taught her to knit. I think we had a total of 5 people come to the circle. We didn't get a chance to knit on the people mover. I am thinking I am going to bug a few people to come and we will be above birds as we ride around town. After the park I got a call from Kirsti and she invited me to the knitting circle at Sweetwaters Cafe. lookie...

Friday, August 26, 2005

fiber night in Dearborn

Fellow Knitters, Fiber Night in Dearborn is on the first Wednesday of the month, September 7th. Jofran called CityKnits the other day and talked to me about the community cast-on project, she asked me to bring the project to her little fiber night. "I am so excited I can hardly stand it." She tells me over the phone. So for her and her little circle we will be meeting on WEDNESDAY - September 7th, 7 to 9 pm. Dearborn, MI there will be healthy snacks..Please bring anyone you think might be interested. Please let me know if you are coming. Thanks so much. One very excited (can you tell?)Jofran and Lisa

If you would like more information or would like to host this at your knitting circle Please call..... Lisa

Thursday, August 25, 2005

This Sunday and Monday

Calling all Knitters

This sunday August 28th is the Indian Festival! We will have a space on the lawn at the Hart Plaza from 11 am to 10 pm. So come and hang out with us I think I might buy a Sari and wear it there! You will see our benches! Come and knit with us... we have 2 and a half feet to go!

Also Monday... we had to reschedual the Campus Marshes Lunch time knitting. We will be there On August 29th from noon to 2. Please respond to let me know that you will be there. I need at least 5 people to do the people mover tour. The only thing that you will need to bring is 50 cents for the token. We will leave the park a 2 and you can meet at the park before 2 and we will probably board the Grand Circus Park Station #13.

Hope to see you there.

happy knitting,
Lisa Whiting
gnitihwasil@gmail.com

The Michigan State Fair.




Well, I took the project to the State fair last Sunday. Karen and Larry came with and we had a blast. I think we knitted about 4 more inches on it, maybe more. It is really getting big.

We taught so many people to knit, I would say over a dozen people learned Sunday including Ken Cockrel's little girls.






We had a marathon knitter, Kylie Hess, who spent the whole day with us. Her family decided that the state fair would be "family fun day" and she was not in to it. Well when I was 17 I didn't want to spend an entire day at the fair either. This project was her saving grace. She even got a job offer from Karen at the end of the day!


So, I have had three diffrent people sugest that this project be a scarf for the spirit of Detroit at the end. Let's take a survey...

What would you like to see this be at the end of the project?

a. scarf for the Spirit of Detroit?
b. A sculpture at a gallery?
c. A house cozy?
d. you make a sugestion.


happy knitting,
Lisa Whiting
gnitihwasil@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Taste Fest, July 4th, 2005


Thanks to Suzan Grant for these great pictures of the knit fest at Tastefest! This is our cast on. I think we got 3 inches that day.
The orginal cast on crew was me, Lisa Whiting, Lynne Wardrop, Karen Kendrick-Hands, Bruce Mathieu, Ruth Quah, Deanna VanAsche, Kelly Cronin, and Charels our DPS prodigy.



Project updates!

Hello Fellow Knitters:

First and formost I want to thank you for being apart of this project! It could not have happened with out you. I am so happy to be apart of a community such as this. I am looking forward to seeing you again! We still have more places to see and more people to teach to knit. So here's an update on the Community Cast-on Project:

The piece is now 2 feet long. Our goal is to reach at least 5 feet before the bind-off ceremony at the DIA on Saturday September 17. We started at the Detroit TasteFest with the cast on at the Knit Fest in the park. We had a great group of people who started and continued to work on this for those first few days. It has also traveled to Clair Michigan to the Apple Tree Lane craft fair per Karen Kendrick-Hands, owner of City Knits, "The best place for yarn in Detroit" We need you to join us to knit on the following dates to reach and exceed our goal of 5 feet:

Saturday August 13th , at the Woodbridge Summer Festival in Scripps Park, along Trumbull at Grand River. From 3 pm to 10 pm
Wednesday. August 17th , at the New Center Farbman Picnic from 11:30 am, to 1 pm at the New Center One building on Second & Grand Boulevard.
Sunday August 21st , 9 am to 10 pm, Agriculture Building, Michigan State Fair, on Woodward, South of eight mile.
Monday August 29th, Touring Day, Plan to ride with us on a SMART BUS, Knit at noon at Campus Martius, and knit in the round as we ride around Downtown on the People Mover. Request details from Lisa at gnitihwasil@gmail.com.
Sunday August 28th, noon to close, Taste of India Festival, Hart Plaza, Jefferson at Woodward, Detroit.
Monday September 5th, Noon to close Arts, Beats & Eats, location TBA,
Saturday September 10th, 3 pm to close, Dally in the Alley, look for us around Prentiss and Second, near Cass in Detroit.
BIND-OFF DAY!!!!!! Saturday September. 17th, 12 noon to 4pm in the DIA Galleries and Studio.

Also, if you want to host this at your knitting circle we can travel to you. Just let me know when and where and I will be there. To plan this give me a call ... or email me at gnitihwasil@gmail.com If you have blogs or chat sites that you can post this on, please feel free to spread the news.

Again thanks for everything and Happy Knitting,

Sincerly,
Lisa Whiting
gnitihwasil@gmail.com
313.930.2388

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

About this project

This blog is to document the progress of a performance knitting piece conceived by Lisa Whiting, BFA, (CCS 2005) and assistant manager of City Knits. “Community Cast-on: A Knitting Circle” will engage eight knitters and 16 hands simultaneously knitting around a 16 foot circle to create a giant tubular soft sculpture. The piece was cast-on at Noon July 2, to kick-off the Knit Fest, using yarn donated by Cascade Yarns and rosewood circular needles courtesy of Colonial Needles.

“I chose ecological wool in various natural shades to reflect the diversity of our community and region,” noted Ms. Whiting. “The piece is not about the product itself, but the proximity of people, who may be strangers, working closely together as neighbors to create a community. The sculpture will be the evidence of the joint effort to create something beautiful and meaningful with the simple elements of sticks and string.”

Ms. Whiting will supervise the first round of a community performance effort that will travel to area festivals throughout the summer, and be bound off in a celebration at The Detroit Institute of Arts on a Friday in September. Knitters of all skill levels are welcome to jump in and knit a round (or portion thereof) and are invited to donate in any amount to the Stitch to WIN campaign.