I'm not dead yet! I'm getting better!

O.K. so I ripped that off from Monty Python!  Sorry! 

I suppose any of those few who read this silly blog are wondering what the Hippie Hooker has been up to these days.  Well, let me see here!  Hmmmm...



I have made an assortment of yarn bombs that are just waiting for me to detonate them!  I have been holding off as I wanted to make some calling cards to string up with them.  I have plenty to last me for a while.  I have been using my lunch breaks, you know, from that time that I spend laboring to pay my bills? Half an hour makes about one bomb, if I eat a light lunch, which I do most days.

Then there is the calling card situation.  I know most folds have little business cards made up and then laminated.  Not this girl.  Nope.  I got out my mom's set of quills that she gave me eons ago and a few ink wells and began working on my calligraphy again.  It's been a few years so my skills are rusty.  But it is coming back to me, slow but sure.  And with all scrap booking toys and papers I have, why just settle for plane Jane cards.  O.K. so perhaps I am just trying to build myself up here!  To tell the truth, I am cheap.  I am doing my yarn bombing on no budget.  I don't believe in spending money on it. I truly think that this art form can be just as amazing using all upcycled materials, found items, or things I currently own and am pack ratting. Not that I pack rat anything, never!!!!! (right!)

So the calling cards are covered, I even wrote this silly blogs site on it.  Bombs are made, and ready to go...... so what am I waiting for?!?! 

I am not sure! Being a lone bomber, it is hard to prove that it was you who did it, so I would like to employ a side kick to snap some shots.  This has held me back a bit.  Any takers out there in bloggersville?

I will end with a whoop whoop and a pat on the back to myself!  I learned tonight, at one a.m., how to crochet a peace sign!!!!!! Who's awesome and has two thumbs?   This hippie chick! 

Peace, Yarn, and chicks with hooks!

Stop sign fun!

Last night I had that crazy dream of getting stuck in a snow bank, trying to hang up my newest tag.  

I decided, even though I was almost ready for bed, to get dressed and run out and bomb the crap out of something!  I looked out the window and found only one sign that would be visible from my window.  That wouldn't do, as it wouldn't get much attention.  People drive by that sign too fast, may not see it.  

So at 2:30 a.m. I donned a hat, coat, grabbed my keys and bomb and left to find the perfect spot, on foot, bare foot.  (I love the warmer weather!  I can walk outside with no shoes and not freeze.)

There it was. Just as I got outside, I saw it.  A stop sign. Perfect.  People will surely see that!  Not sure how long it will last, but it will be visible. It is a lime green bomb with eyelash yarn stripe on the top.    I ran over to it, checking for cars of course, and bombed the sign with my tag.  I couldn't get a great pic of it, as my camera's batteries were wearing out and didn't want to power the flash.

  So I resign to going to bed, without the shot of it on the sign, and only hope that it will last until daylight.

Good night and happy hooking! (I just love it!  Sounds so dirty, but I truly mean it in a purely innocent way! )

Hippie Hooker Has A Dream!

It is I, the Hippie Hooker.  Last night as I was curled up in bed, cats snuggled around me, I had a dream.

It all started when, just before hitting the sack I finished a tag that was meant for a post of some sort, a sign post.  I used lime green yarn and topped it off with matching green and blue eyelash yarn for some pizazz.

By the time I had finished this piece and was ready for bed, it was nearly 2 a.m. I was feeling a little guilty for not putting up my tag right away, as I had the perfect place for it.  I wanted it in a location I could see from my window.  But, I shoved this tiny bit of guilt aside and went to bed.

I should have hung the tag.  I began to dream about the spot where I was going to bomb.  I had it in my bomb in hand, had made a tag for it, and was bundling up to go out in the elements.  Yes, snow, wind, freezing cold temperatures.  (In reality it is on the cusp of spring, and I would beat the teeth out of anyone who told me wished for winter again at this moment!)   I got outside and started to trudge through the snow.  Only as I got closer, the snow progressively got deeper.

This snow got so deep, that I lost my boot in the bottom of a snow drift. (This is actually something that had happened to me a few years ago, on my walk to work after a freak March snow storm had dumped over a foot of snow over night!  I got stuck in a plow's drift! Imagine, if you will, you are driving by and see someone's feet sticking out of a drift, one with a boot and the other with nothing but a sock.) My dream progressed in such a way that I had to dive in and get my boot, only then it was my yarn bomb!

I had grabbed it (magically my boots were both on my feet) and began to struggle to get out.  I was almost straight up and down, and was struggling to get out.

Needless to say, that tag never got hung up in my dream.  When I awoke this morning, it still was laying on my sofa, just where I had left it when I had finished it. 

What does it all mean? Will I get stuck in some trouble if I tag again?  Should I, the Hippie Hooker stop my dastardly deeds?

One word.....

No!

On to start more of my "chain" gang of hooked graffiti!

The Hippie Hooker Strikes (one!)

First Bomb, A.K.A. Leaky 

Leaky

  After doing some research into the different types of bombs out there, I decided to make one for a hydrant, one that would look a bit like water leaking from it. So I grabbed some spare yarn, remnants of cotton yarn I had from making washcloths for myself. It happened to be "blue lagoon" color.
 

I hooked up some curly-q's on one long chain. It was no where near perfect.  That is the beauty of this.  These are going to be in the elements, rain, wind, people, sun, perfection will only last a few moments, that is to say, if it doesn't get cut down right away.

 The first yarn bomb was done.  I was very eager to get it out there, but had to wait until I could have the cover of darkness to help hide me.  After all,  The Hippie Hooker tends to stand out.  It was Tuesday past, March 29th, around 9:00.  I had to do it now, or I would never do it. Before I left, I had written up a tag, saying that the Hippie Hooker had placed it there.  And wrote a brief  sentence about yarn bombing.

I got in my car and started to drive around town to find the perfect hydrant.  As I drove, I began to realize just how many there were.  Lots! And then, there it was, like a beacon. I parked my car around the corner, shoved the bomb under my coat, and walked up to the hydrant.  

I chose to bomb the hydrant right outside the yarn store that had inspired me to start bombing in the first place.  Only problem was, there was people inside the store, I had to plant it swiftly. No hopes of ever getting a picture.  The flash in the darkness would surely alert them.

The corner was a busy intersection, with a stop light and surrounded by bars just down the street.  So swiftly I swooped in and tied it on,  I wanted a picture, needed one, but didn't want to risk giving up my identity.

The next day after work, figuring it would have been cut off, I drove down town, only to see it still there.  I had forgotten my camera and decided I didn't feel like going all the way back home and back here again, it most likely will still be there one more day.

Thursday rolls around, and again, I smile inwardly as I walked up to the Leaky with my camera to snap a shot.  A friend of mine, had just pulled up right behind me.  He was also on his way to check out "The Hippie Hooker's" handy work he had heard so much about. (That seemed like a lot of H words in that sentence!)  On our way back to our cars, we celebrated the two days of it's existence in this world with a high five!

Tonight is a bar night, and I wonder if it will make it through the onslot of college drunks.  Will they notice my pretty tendrils of Blue Lagoon? Will they like Leaky? Will they take pictures of Leaky and say that she is lovely? Or will they yank on her tendrils and the Leaky? Will it make Leaky cry real water (her tendrils could still be wet, it did rain!)? Who will comfort Leaky? Who knows?  

The bombs are never meant to be permanent.  It has been a joy to see it last this long.  So come the morning if it is gone, I will have at least have shared some of The Hippie Hookers artistic abilities with the world. 

For now, I will continue to hook on in the only legal way I know how... 

Until the next bomb goes off...... 

The H.H.

How the Hippie Hooker came to be!

You may wonder who I am.  And how I came to be.  My name is the Hippie Hooker.  I come from a parents who are crafty, artistic, theatrical, great gardeners, hard workers,  fixers of all that is broken, alternative, quirky, goofy, silly, fun, and most of all, loving.

You probably are wondering how they feel to have a daughter named the Hippie Hooker.  Well, this wasn't given to me by them.  Nope, it is my code name, my super duper amazing alter ego, wearing tie die and wielding a bomb and hook! Look out world, this hippie is out to get you!

I am a yarn bomber.  I confess.  I love to bomb things.  With yarn.  A lot.  

For those of you who do not know what yarn bombing is, it is the art of knit and crochet graffiti.  Yes, you read this right.  Yarn Graffiti. 

Many times these two arts (knitting and crocheting) get overlooked and brushed off as something meaningless and non artistic at all. Something for those who have a lot of time on their hands. Some think of little ladies knitting in their rocking chair. (I do have a very famous chair I like to sit in... a story for another day!) Or the infamous GRANNY SQUARES!  Neither one of these two scenarios applies, I don't knit in a rocking chair, and I hate granny squares. HATE them.

There has been a group of knit and crochet artists who decided to defy this age old thinking, and show the world just how artistic knitting and crocheting can be. These people are out there to show the world a tiny bit of their ability, in hopes of making them smile.  I am one of them.  

What's In A Name?

The typical bombers or bombing group's name is a bit funny or risque but always refers to the craft in some way.  I pondered for a bit about my alter ego.  I created a long list of things that defined who I was. Here is why I chose "The Hippie Hooker"

So why I feel I am a hippie, well- my tendencies to be fairly earth friendly, love of  my tie die sarong,  artsy fartsyness,  wacky creativity, organic garden at the community garden in town, love of volunteering, slight disdain for "The Man", adoration of all farmers markets, willingness to shop second hand and have a ball, and the love of animals (I could be the next Crazy Cat Lady, if only they would leave my yarn alone when I am hooking!)

And now the hooker portion of my name.  For those of you not familiar with knitting and crocheting terms, I will explain in brief detail.  Knitters use two needles, typically they have a stopper on the end preventing the yarn from coming off. The needles are pointed and vary in thickness for the size of yarn used and stitch you desire.  Crocheters on the other hand use a single needle, only it is much shorter than most knitting needles.  (I do have some afghan crocheters that are long)  Crochet needles also vary in thickness for the size of stitch and yarn you are using, only this needle has a hook on the end that you work with.  Thus the "Hooker" portion of my name.  

I must say that I owe this facination of yarn bombing to a local yarn store in this town, who posted another blog on their Facebook page.  The day I read that, I spent hours sifting through blog after blog of other bombing groups and individuals.