Red inspiration to a monumental knitting

A postcard with red knittings from the knittingproject on the Faroe Islands.
A piece of the folder own our own time, designed by Susanne Ekelund SE IDEA

Description of a monumental knitting

Here are two beautiful examples of the 80 knittings that are included in the monumental piece from the Faroe Islands. They are made by Aqiyo Murono, Japan and Vinca Thile, Denmark.
Hope you get inspired and start your own knitting circle. Beneath is a description of a monumental knitting. Welcome to take part, and please, send a picture when your knittingcircle is created. It would be fantastic to collect on the blog. Photo: Björn Granqvist
knitting.in.circle@gmail.com

Description of a monumental knitting piece.

Agree on a common theme.
Sharing a common story raises the value of the event.

Individual work

Needles: A circular knitting needle 4,
60 centimetres, per person.

Number of stitches: 150 pc depending

on the materials and technique.
The finished knitting should be at least
75 centimetres wide. Just knit back and forth,
don’t knit a closed cylinder. Knit about
25 centimetres. Stop after a purl row. Cut off
the yarn. Leave the knitting on the needle.
Secure the knitting needles with a rubber band.

Collective work

Stand in a circle, facing the middle. Each
person has their own ball of yarn. Give your
left needle to the neighbour on your left. Start knitting.
Your knitting will move to the right.

The invitation looked like this for

the knitting done in the Faroe Islands:

Individual work

Theme red. You can unravel an old worn
and loved sweater and reuse the yarn. Knit
a sample, which shows your own tradition.
Produce a happy, crazy red message.
Create your own story.

Collective work

Each person was given a small ball of natural, Faroese yarn.
The origin of the yarn is part of the story.
An accordion player and twenty
Faroese dancers also took part in this
performance. Duration: Approximately 1 hour.

Project of the Year 2012

The project has been awarded as Project of theYear 2012 by The Swedish Handicraft Council www.nfh.se.  
Project leader has been Handicraft consultant Ulrika Bos Kerttu at Västernorrland County Museum. 
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the project.

See some video cut

photo: Gunnar Bäckman, Vaasa, Finland
Own our own time is documeted as a 14 minute video.
See some video cut at http://youtu.be/m4jcFd8-m8U
or http://vimeo.com/36139047

Documentation

Soon the documentation of the project is completed. Here you can see Björn Granqvist at the County Museum of Västernorrland, http://www.murberget.se/ in the photostudio and an image from the digitalstudio at The artist workshop of Härnösand http://www.kkvh.se/.

Circle on stage

A time for story-telling

A whisper from an other time

 

In the performance "Owning Our Own Time" July 6, 2011 in Gjógv in the Faroe Islands 20 dancers participated . They formed a small dance circle inside the larger knitting circle and performed a Faroese chaindance "in Gotu ein days". The evening ended with all participants together with the audience, about 120 people, dancing in the meadow by the sea. The dance has its roots from the 800's, a whisper from another time
Foto: Gunnar Bäckman, Vasa, Finland

A circle of human warmth

The knitting tells its own story. The context changes but the artwork expresses
the women saved time and care. A circle of human warmth.
Pictures from Gjógv and Eithi on the Faroe Islands.

"Owning our own time" - A knittingperformance in Faroe Islands, July 6, 2011

On the evening of 6 July 2011 the artperformance "Owning our own time", was taking place in the small village Gjógv on the Faroe Islands with 80 knitters from Nordic knitting symposium. The participants marched through the village to gather on a beautiful meadow by the sea. At the front of this last picture, with the black bag, you can see Handicraft Consultant Ulrika Bos-Kerttu from County Museum of Västernorrland. She has been one of the main organizers of the project.
The performance also included the accordionist Knut Olsen and about 20 Faroese singers / dancers. They showed their native dance in the middle of the knitting circle. It all ended with everyone dancing together.

During the performance the participants knitted together their beautiful red pieces into a single monumental knitting. One way to materialize this common time and experience in the Faroe Islands.
The wonderful pictures are photographed by Gunnar Bäckman, Vaasa, Finland. See more of his works on www.gunnarsphotoart.com

To materialize time

In the Faroe Islands there are an unknown number of sheep. The Faroese company Sirri www.sirri.fo working with development and processing of domestic wool. Sirri has sponsored the performance by indigenous, Faroese yarn.
One of the questions in this project is if you can get help to materialize time by knitting, to see the time. If true, this old fishing box contains about 35 saved hours, 35 balls of yarn, waiting to come in handy.