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Before I get into this recap I want to tell you it is different than other recaps. This is a story of perfection. Not the kind of perfect I thought I wanted but the kind of perfect that can only happen when things fall in place as they are meant to be and the real magic happens. Thank you Red Heart Yarn for supporting this undertaking. Thank you Naomi Rag for teaching me more than I can imagine and being who you are. Thank you Stitch Up Brooklyn attendees for being part of this and allowing me to do this job. This is a story and experience I will never forget. I am so humbled to have been part of this.

I was so beyond excited when Red Heart Yarn wanted to sponsor the Yarn Bomb Community Project led by myself & Naomi Rag for the first Stitch Up Brooklyn. LIKE STOKED LEVELS OF EXCITED! Naomi and I brainstormed and had initially thought to do a giant flower - which is her signature piece and in various shades of pink - which is my (and Kristy’s) signature color. It was going to be an awesome expression of pink. This was certainly an ambitious undertaking on a short timeline but we had faith it would be perfect. Through a series of errors including my poor time management, the pattern not coming together quite as envisioned, the permit being denied, and a variety (and comedy) of other challenges it became clear that we needed a new plan. It was in fact perfect - and it was 100% different than anything we initially planned!

And that - made it Stitch Up Brooklyn Perfect!

Challenge One: Location

Almost by design, the evening after receiving the email that our permit was denied I was walking back to the hotel thinking up ideas because we NEEDED a location and the event was a day away! A DAY AWAY!

And then suddenly - there it was: The most perfect canvas.

Walking back to the hotel, I came upon two artists, Thayne Thoden & Michael Minahan doing a mural installation for Greenpoint Open Studios on the same street as our hotel. And next to their masterpiece in action was this perfect wall… a blank canvas. I got to talking to Michael & Thayne and they welcomed out piece to be on the back end of theirs to compliment each other and share in the wall.

Looking back - there was no other place for our installation to go. It was ALWAYS meant to be there. Challenge one SOLVED!

Challenge Two: The design

Naomi and I went back and forth on the design and were fairly confident in the plan. A beautiful flower using all the shades of pink yarn yarn Red Heart generously gave us for the event. We selected a variety of types of yarn as well so that it would truly give so much texture and depth to each piece of the flower.

Through texts and emails and sketches and planning the shape was coming together. But I was short on time and failed miserably at getting the patterns done to my standards or even fully completed. So we went with plan B which was to really make use of the creativity of everyone at Stitch Up Brooklyn and make shapes. There were patterns if you wished to follow but the beauty was to “make your mark” in the many shades of pink and varieties of yarn Red Heart generously provided.

It was incredible to see everyone working on small pieces of what would become a single larger collaboration. And the beauty of the design was that people could socialize and not have to worry about dropped stitches, or gauge. Every level and everyone was able to participate. Every piece was PERFECT!

As the pieces started to come together Naomi and I started hatching our New Plan! Thankfully she is a go with the flow kind of gal and understood the nature of the event. Though the official event ended at 9pm so many of us stayed past the wee morning hours to assemble the frame of what would become our heart. We laughed, we stitched and we truly created the frame of something special.

Though I think we may still have been thinking “flower” it was so clear that a heart was taking shape all on its own. As if by design.

We got the frame work up and while Stitch Up Brooklyn continued with our Saturday activities, Naomi added a few finishing touches to fill in the center of the frame with a beautiful rainbow.

The design, no longer ours but everyone’s was taking shape.

The next night a few of us stayed up way too late once again to put the finishing touches on the heart and instantly - we knew it was done and it was in fact: PERFECT!

The finished heart is magnificent. It is what Stitch Up Events are about:

FIBER LOVE.
FIBER COMMUNITY.

It’s why the tag line is Building Community One Stitch At A Time.

I am so grateful to Red Heart for supporting this community and sponsoring Stitch Up Brooklyn. Like I said when this story started: It is a story about perfection. Not as planned but even better. Thank you Naomi Rag for leading the way and all who left their mark and attended Stitch Up Brooklyn. This is something more special than a blog post can even say!