Calling all knitters and crafters! We need YOU for a top secret project in Newcastle!
Dear Crafty People,
Newcastle ScienceFest needs your help for a Guerrilla Knitting project to wrap Newcastle in coloured wool as part of the forthcoming Maker Faire.
If you’re interested and would like to contribute, come along to our informal lunch-time knitting at the Centre for Life this week Monday 1st to Friday 5th March. If you can't make, it don't worry - You can still start your own project or contribute towards some of the ones we’re already working on! Just send us an email at ScienceFest@life.org.uk or call 0191 243 8232 to find out how you can get involved and get FREE wool for your project!
Where: Times Square Café, Centre for Life
When: Monday 1st to Friday 5th March
Time: 12pm to 1pm
Who: Knitters and other interested crafty people
Why: To create Guerrilla Knitting to attach to city centre furniture at the Centre for Life, Discovery Museum, Great North Museum: Hancock and the monument area before Maker Faire
Background info
Newcastle ScienceFest is a 10 day celebration of science, creativity and innovation in Newcastle and North East England. The festival launches in two weeks with the UK’s only official Maker Faire (See here for details).
Maker Faire celebrates the things people create themselves – from James Bond-worthy electronic gizmos to homemade clothes. Inspiration is ubiquitous at the festival and there are surprises around every corner for people of all ages. It’s a massive and very popular gathering when held in the United States and Newcastle is proud to be the only city in the UK to have ever held a Maker Faire. Last year was the UK’s first and was a resounding success with over 7,000 people visiting.
We'd like the creative energy at this year's Maker Faire to burst out of Centre for Life, Discovery Museum and Great North Museum, and onto the streets of Newcastle city centre. One way we'd love to do this is through Guerrilla Knitting...wrapping city centre street furniture in coloured wool in the middle of the night!
The Guerrilla Knitting will be up and displayed prior to ScienceFest’s hula hooping launch on 12th March at Monument in Newcastle city centre. This knitting will have been done by crafting groups and organisations and also by individuals who want to express themselves through the medium of wool; in short, people like you!
What you need to do
Please come along this week or get in touch if you have an idea or would like to get involved. Don’t forget about the FREE wool we have to give away while stocks last! See below for the list of projects we're keeping so nobody duplicates work. If you want to add something to the list, just email us at sciencefest@life.org.uk or call 0191 243 8232 and we’ll add your project.
Can you help us?
Our resident knitter Ashley Kent will be at the Times Square Café this week 12-1pm to hand out FREE wool and explain what the Guerrilla Knitting is all about. She'll only take up 15 minutes of your time and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to meet you all and to speak with your group.
Ashley's direct office number is 0191 243 8292 or her mobile number is 07 929 789 727. We'd love to hear from you!
If you want to see some Guerrilla Knitting from other cities, check these links out:
Please pass this information on to anyone or any other groups who may be interested. The more the merrier!
Love,
The ScienceFest Team X
|
Name
|
Group/Organisation
|
Area/Project
|
Notes
|
|
Cassandra
|
Craft Mafia
|
The men statues at Central Station
|
|
|
Ashley Kent
|
ScienceFest
|
One tree in Times Square
|
|
|
Emma Pybus
|
Discovery Museum
|
Discovery Museum tree
|
|
|
Meriel Johnston
|
Centurion Knitters
|
Spirals and Leaves
|
|
| Janet Barlcay |
(Ravelry.com) |
2 Trees at Discovery Museum |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Below are a few guidelines for potential guerilla knitting projects at Discovery Museum and Centre for Life - we've measured a range of objects so you don't need to venture out with your tape measure!
| Target |
Circumference (cm) |
Height (cm) |
Width (cm) |
Length (cm) |
Depth (cm) |
Irregular shape? |
| Discovery Museum: Inside |
| Handrails |
17 |
|
|
|
|
|
| litter bins |
110 |
70 |
|
|
|
|
| Discovery Museum: Outside |
| Square planters outside the entrance |
|
50 |
50 |
50 |
|
cubes |
| Bike rails |
14 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Blue bollards under the arch |
36 |
|
|
|
|
assuming no lowering |
| DIscovery arch |
|
|
~60-70 |
|
~30 |
*this would be the most eye-catching |
| Car park 'In' sign |
26 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Times Square |
| Average white tree (clusters of 3) |
28.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Brown bark trees (6) |
49, 40, 38, 44, 35, and 36 |
|
|
|
|
only at the top where the brances begin |
| large support poles |
132 |
|
|
|
|
|
| smaller grey crossed poles |
56 |
|
|
|
|
|
| DNA double helix (base) |
|
|
|
|
|
oblong-ish |
| DNA double helix (top arch) |
68 |
|
|
|
|
triangular arch with sides = ~24cm,~24cm, and ~18cm |
| DNA double helix (individual slats) |
41 |
|
|
|
|
rectangle with ~10cm sides |
| Round Planters (4) |
188 |
|
|
|
|
|
| stone benches (6) |
|
10 |
|
195 |
54 |
these are fixed to the ground behind so are 'L' shaped |
Additional Important Guidelines
No Handrails (Discovery's handrails are doubled, please only knit the inside one).
No highway signs
Nothing that would impede visibility or cause harm to anyone.
Please add a tag to your knitting so people can see why it was done and who did it (you can remain anonymous if you like though!). There are example tags floating around at Life.
Big thanks to:
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