I saw this on Design Sponge over the weekend and was so wowed by it — both as a public art project and as a bit of DIY inspiration. It’s the brainchild of architect Tali Buchler, who describes herself on her blog like this: “I don’t design houses so much anymore. I use my design skills with my interest in kids’ creativity to design spaces and objects that ignite their imagination.” You should go read her whole post about the project (and also here), but the very very short version is that it’s one of several pieces she conceived as street art for an annual festival:

[Artist Noa Meir and I] both knew we wanted to do something with knitting. … Since Both our kids go to a Waldorf school where finger knitting is homework, we decided to use that as the basis of our work. After that it all fell into place. Long knitted ropes that will form a tent that will be hung from a tree somewhere in town. Not sure how exactly or where, but that was our adventure.

Why couldn’t I go to a school where finger knitting was homework?!

Anyway, they set it up as a free activity for kids at the community center, and they wound up with generations of people all finger knitting for three months. And the results are so delightful.

I hope she’ll follow through on this: “I gave … my entire spiel of how craft and art is vital to a healthy society, a society of makers versus consumers, etc (that can be a whole other post).” But meanwhile, I’m sort of floored that I never thought to use finger knitting in anything remotely like this fashion. I have need of a hanging of some kind to act as a privacy screen in our loft, and I’ve been thinking in terms of macramé, But finger knitted ropes would also be a fantastic alternative to a classic hippie beaded curtain in a doorway, wouldn’t they?

I love this on so many levels.

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