Operation: Pre-Historic First in Flight

Last month Kitty Knitter and family took a vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  We played in the sand, soaked up the sun, and made some fantastic margaritas.  We also visited the Wright Brothers memorial in Kitty Hawk.  They had quite an impressive monument and a very nice exhibit, but they have it all wrong.  We Bombshells know the first flight took place long before Wilbur and Orville gave it a try. 

We decided to celebrate this year’s International Yarn Bombing Day by doing what we do best, the impossible.  We've had our eye on the Woolly Mammoth sculptures at Cincinnati Museum Center’s Geier Collections & Research Center for quite awhile.  We've been planning something extra special for this family of pachyderms.  With only about 2 weeks to design and execute, we decided it was time to create a scene from Disney’s Dumbo.  This installation was the dream of Bombshell, Miss Boo Radley.  She spearheaded (Can you really say that when speaking about Woolly Mammoths?) this massive undertaking and inspired us all to think big. 

Mammoths 2013 B.B. (Before Bombshells)

We had our choice when it came to the size of the project we wanted to create: small, medium, large, or (you guessed it) mammoth.  This Kitty opted for small and ended up with a 25”x 40” piece of Mrs. Jumbo’s blanket (Mrs. Jumbo = Dumbo’s mama).  Yep, that’s roughly the size of a baby blanket. Small is relative when it’s done on a Woolly Mammoth scale.  This girl can really crank out some knitting, but it typically takes me a couple of months to finish a blankie for my friends’ little kittens.  I think an unspoken rule of being a Bombshell is biting off more than you can chew and miraculously making it work.  Thanks to a few very late nights and Miss Boo swooping in for the big finish, my piece was completed along with all our other elements of yarn bombing magic. 

On Thursday June 6th, a handful of Bombshells along with some much appreciated guests installed our pieces on the mammoth sculptures. Yes, this was a couple days before the official IYBD, but it’s never too early to celebrate.   “The List” from WCPO was on hand to record our bombing.      You can click here to view the footage.  We created Mrs. Jumbo, little Dumbo, Timothy the mouse, and a few other elephants from Dumbo.  All in a day’s (er, 2 jam packed weeks of frantic) work for a group of fanatically dedicated fiber artists. 

Until Next Time.

Hugs & Stitches,

Kitty Knitter

Bombshells (and friends) to the rescue

Adding Mrs. Jumbo's hat

Stitching Mrs. Jumbo's shawl 

Stitching on Dumbo's hat

Making sure the ears are just right

Dressing a "mean" elephant

Mama and baby

Our Dumbo scene

 

Bombshells, friends, and Mrs. Jumbo

Dumbo and Timothy

  

Timothy