Girdafi went TRANSATLANTIC!

My sister is currently on a roadtip in the USA and mailed me these two photos from Florida:

She installed a mini-Girdafi that I made the evening before her journey.
OMG, in freaking Miami Downtown!!
Exactly here:

Größere Kartenansicht

Wow! I'm so excited! Not only that it's the first Girdafi outside of Europe, it's also the first one where I, the creator, wasn't even around while its installation. This is a very exciting point of the project I think. Now there isn't a single person in the world who has attended or seen all taggings in real life. The message is about to become independent from the head and hands that formed it - and I will support this development with my next step: Turning the Girdafi pattern open-source, so every knitter in the world can recreate it and make the message even stronger!

International Yarn Bombing Day

This is a bit Girdafi off-topic but June 11th is a big day for knitters and yarn bombers all over the world: International Yarn Bombing Day. YAY!

A huge numbre of gorgeous projects by awesome fibre artists will be installed. I already saw a couple nice pieces:

• a bus stop bench cozy by the Purl Gurls
• ShadowStitch's giraffe project and Yarnstory
• Australian Twilight Taggers' parking meter re-bomb
• Early morning yarn bombing in Stockholm (I just love the cat tail!!)

Unfortunately, as my hand still hurts, I couldn't prepare any knitting nor crocheting - but it would be too sad to spend Yarn Bominb Day without any yarnbombing. Therefor I planned some wool wrapping and threading on a basketball court nearby, a "Freigeist":

I got great help by my dear friends Carla and Heimo. Thank you soooooo much, guys!

Yup, I'm proud!

If you're in Vienna and want to visit the "Freigeist", it's located on the basketball court's fence on Gaudenzdorfer Gürtel crossing Schönbrunner Straße.

Gaddafi's Revenge: Tenosynovitis

After 3 months of consistent knitting I'm forced to take a break. My hand hurts of tenosynovitis. Probably some voodoo revenge act by Gaddafi. But I won't give up! As soon as my hand is fine again, I'll continue the Girdafi knitting. This summer will be full of crazy tagging!!

But keep visiting the blog in the meantime! I'll work out some free patterns for you to use to knit your own Girdafis and install them for the big mission wherever you are. 

Talk to you soon!
//Janis

Libyan embassy in Berlin: TAGGED!

The third Girdafi-installation at a Libyan embassy went well.

I found a perfect tree a couple of meters in front of the building. The embassy itself was guarded by two policemen, friendly guys who came over to ask some questions but actually seemed to like the urban knitting thing.

I returned to the spot 23 hours later to check if the Girdafi was still there - and it was! :)

Not only the policemen, even the ants were very interested in the Girdafi.

And one more thing: A great thank you to my new friend Strickgraffit!!! She's very good company, an awesome yarnbombing assistant and took good photos, as you can see here below:

See all the photos by Strickgraffiti on flickr!

Berlin is next!

Tonight I'm taking the train to Berlin. My friend who lives there invited me to her birthday party. And of course this occasion has to be combined with the next Libyan embassy to be tagged! :)


Größere Kartenansicht

One of the best things about Girdafi is that it's not locally bound and by nature meant about to spread and be communicated. I just love to explore new places and other cities. Just as I love the way how urban knitting changed my perception of the surrounding. But still, it's not only about places, it's also about reaching other people's minds and about communication. In this sense it's brilliant to have my friends scattered throughout Europe who I can visit in combination with my "Girdafi Missions" while my guerilla knitting also makes me meet new and interesting people. Yarnbombig definately is knitting together people!

But about Berlin: Tomorrow it will be a pleasure to meet my Berlin yarnbombing contact Strickgraffiti. She is so lovely to join and help me on my mission. And I'm already very thrilled to hear about her upcoming projects at our "after bomb beer".

So see you tomorrow evening when it's time for some Girdafi action in front of Podbielskyallee 42! ;)

HerzTerror / HeartTerror

Remember my heart pictures from May Day? That was HerzTerror!!

HerzTerror (HeartTerror) is a lovely crafty project by a bunch of creative people under the name "silo". It was also mentioned yesterday in "An einen Haushalt", the radio show that I guested, and I really think it worth reading and sharing their manifesto.

Yup, I'm glad that my Girdafi May Flower has such a good neighbour tree :)

Knitting-wise off-topic but on air tonight!

Tonight I will guest An einen Haushalt, a monthly radio show on Vienna's independant community radio. As one of the hosts is a passionate knitter and can't make it tonight, we won't be allowed to talk much about knitting, so the other host and I will pick up my second favourite topic: Terrorism! We will listen to songs ralating to this issue from the pop side, talk about matters like Obama and Osama and of course also mention Gaddafi and Girdafi anyway.

An einen Haushalt will be aired 23:00 tonight. Listen to it at UKW 94.0 ( in and around Vienna) or in the internet at http:/o94.at.

(c) Mona Hermann. From An einem Haushalt's facebook page.

Bruno Kreisky Girdafi by Daylight

Still there! Still looking good!

And I just love to watch elderly people taking a close look at it. Some of them even greeted the statue showing their deep respect for their favourite politician Kreisky. OK, they obviously don't understand the meaning of Girdafi, but at least they seem to like it anyway :)

Two May Day Girdafis

First of May, the day after Gaddafi's youngest son and three of his grand children died. While the rebels were performing celebration dances, I wasn't glad at all. My aunt once lost her son due to an act of terrorism. Now Gaddafi lost his son in a war. The calculation of an eye for an eye just doesn't work out. You never can measure violence with violence.

So that's why I installed a little flower granny square on a tree in the huge Prater forests. In silent memory of all victims of violence and war.

Or well, maybe it wasn't that silent there today because a bunch of nature loving people organised a Tanz durch den Tag party. DJs, techno music, mojitos, tightrobe walkers and some fellow yarnbombers!

First of May, holiday and Labour Day, traditionally celebrated by Social Democrats in Austria. One of the most renowned Social Democratic politicians was Bruno Kreisky - but besides all his achievements his not so splendid connection to Gaddafi should not be forgotten.

Reason enough to seize May Day for adding a kaffiyeh-style scarf to his statue in a park here in Vienna.

Girdafi placement at Essl Museum

"Festival Of Animals" is the title of a nice and refreshing exhibition at the Essl Museum in Klosterneuburg.

I understand it to be the result of an experiment by the museum's team of art educators. They worked with children to develop a fun way of presenting contemporary art that speaks to all senses. It's really fun! As a visitor you read funny fantasy stories about paintings and sculptures, you search for art in a dark room with a torch and you simply don't feel bad about approaching art in a not so over-serious way.

But the best thing comes at the end of the exhibition: Contribute your own art to the collection!

And so I did. But as they didn't have any yarn or needles there I had to improvise with crayons and covered my favorite animal drawing on the wall with a girdafi pattern.

More photos on Facebook!

More photos on the Girdafi facebook page!

Girdafi also has a page on facebook. Go there to check out some more photos from yesterday!

Link: The whole album on facebook

Girdafi is Out Of Order, too!

Today I added a Girdafi to Out Of Order's graffiti next to Donaukanal. It's an approximately 1,5 meters high yarnbomb with some yarn wrapped around the ballustrade next to it, building some kind of a frame. If you pass by and look through that Girdafi-frame it looks like that not only Gaddafi's system is out of order but that he's also behind bars :)

Your system is OUT OF ORDER!

My friend Herbalizer told me about an anti-Gaddafi-graffiti by out of order. It's located next to the Donaukanal close to Schwedenplatz, a true hot-spot for street art in Vienna.

Oh, I really loved that graffiti when I saw it today and felt very inspired to add a little girdafi. So let's just hope that I'll finish my knitting before the whole masterpiece on the wall will be crossed ;)

More photos from yesterday's Girdafi action

My dear sister Jill takes great photos with her girdafi-red pentax camera. I'm very happy that she joined me yesterday to document the installment of my second girdafi-yarnbomb:

Check out more of her photos on flickr! ;)