These are knitted/fulled (felted) cranes. There are 100 of them so far that have been collected for an art instillation for peace. The artists are looking for 1000 felted cranes, (although I believe that the deadline has passed for those who want to participate in the project.) The idea is to build a woolen version of the 1000 folded origami cranes for peace that came out of Japan after WWII. How wonderful to have that many people putting that many hours into focusing on peace. (Click on the link to find out more.)I read about this project yesterday at work in KNIT.1 magazine and was intrigued. Later in the day when we were at the "Sleepless Goat", doing out bit to celebrate the:
World Wide Knit In Public day, it occurred to me how much knitting, or indeed crafting in general, is a lot like the prayers invoked in the folding or felting of cranes. Whether in a group or by oneself, when we make things with our hands we are reminded to slow down, we think of the recipient, we think of how the exercise pleases our senses, we are thankful for our abilities, the materials, and in many cases, for the time to spend doing something that we enjoy so much.Speaking of time, I notice that on many knitters' blogs, people have such a great selection of projects that they are working on. What a treat to see. But you may have noticed that that isn't the focus of this site. When I was doing an Entrepreneurship program before opening the store, they warned us that if you have a business based on your hobby, you no longer have a hobby. Unlike most of you, I knit because it's my job. Not that I mind my "job", in fact I love it. But it is a job nonetheless. I take it very seriously.
It's also my job to know about the world of knitting and knitters, to know what's coming that's interesting in that world,and what others are having fun with right now. It's my job to find teachers for new techniques and to introduce them to my customers. It's my job to keep the store stocked with lots of fun things, new things, enough things. But to be quite blunt about it, it's also my job to keep the store going for all you wonderful people who visit us and shop with us.
And now, by extension, I find that it's my job to stay in touch with all of you great crafters by bringing these things to you via this site. It's my job to report on all the fun that knitters everywhere are having, both here in Kingston and everywhere...how cool is that?
P.S. To help me in my "job", I'm always happy to plunder other people's research on the net (with their permission of course). If you find something that you think would be of interest to the knitters who come to this site...let me know. I'd be so grateful.
