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A Summary of the First Italian Survey of Hand-made Crochet Hook Christmas Trees

Compositions, Metà-verse

Between Dec. 22, 2023 and Jan. 6, 2024, the pibinko.org network, in collaboration with those who will collaborate, and the endorsement of those who will endorse, organized the First Italian survey of hand-made crochet hook Christmas trees. This was under the art direction of Jennifer the psychedelic reindeer, and the notary Maurizio Ascalzone.

The survey was partly conducted in the so-called real world, and partly in the pibinko.org metà-verse and led to:

  • identify sixteen trees across the country
  • an improved satisfaction of the work groups which in the previous months were busy creating the trees
  • a full page of a newspaper, plus a citation on a national radio station
  • various kudos and congratulation e-mails
  • another thread of mails and messages questioning our mental sanity etc.

Geographic distribution of the trees

The header image gives and overview of the diffusion of hand-made crochet hook Christmas trees in Italy, based on the current survey. These are the localities involved:

  • Bagno di Gavorrano, Grosseto, Tuscany
  • Braccagni, Grosseto, Tuscany
  • Castell’Azzara, Grosseto, Tuscany
  • Cerreto di Montignoso, Massa, Tuscany
  • Montemassi, Grosseto, Tuscany
  • Oliveto Sabino, Rieti, Latium
  • Reggello, Florence, Tuscany
  • Roccatederighi, Grosseto, Tuscany
  • Rocchetta Tanaro, Asti, Piedmont
  • Ruscio, Perugia, Umbria
  • San Piero Patti, Messina, Sicily
  • Scansano, Grosseto, Tuscany
  • Tatti, Grosseto, Tuscany (indoor)
  • Torniella, Grosseto, Tuscany (outdoor and indoor)
  • Viterbo, Latium

To review the articles where these cases have been reported, please see: https://www.pibinko.org/it/?s=natale+uncinetto (in Italian).

Methodology Notes

As a survey methodology, intentional web searches have been excluded. On the other hand, unrelated web searches were accepted (e.g.: you look for news on how to comb a camel, and you find a related article about a crochet hook tree..this happened to Sara Landi from Il Tirreno in the case of Castell’Azzara).

In addition to trees made by stitching together crochet hook “tiles”, following a consultation with our notary, Maurizio Ascalzone, we decided to accept also report of trees made in any material, excluding plutonium bars, and subsequently decorated with crochet hook balls and similar hand-made artifacts.

A Zoom on Tuscany

A zoom on Tusccany, including the portion of Corsica which can be seen at sunset from Tatti (this is where we are writing from) and other places with a similar position, when the sky is very clear, like yesterday.

Even a blind man will see that there are more trees in Southern Tuscany than in other parts of the region. For this reason we are calling for the immediate creation of the first Hand-made crochet hook national park. We are also strongly advocating the declaration of the hand-made crochet hook Christmas tree as UNNESCO heritage (Note: this is with two N’s – it is an organization based in central Italy concerned about people who are not going out)

The correlation between the presence of the Jug Band dalle Colline Metallifere and that of hand-made crochet hook Christmas trees is obvious.

We did not know that the territorial waters boundary was there.

Conclusions

  • There are different ways of spending time in the Christmas period.
  • Additional investigations are required to confirm the actual distribution of hand-made crochet hook Christmas trees in Italy, and other parts of the world.
  • It is possible that, by inviting the Jug Band dalle Colline Metallifere to perform at a given location, a hand-made crochet hook Christmas tree will grow. Also this finding requires additional field tests.

Did you like this story?

Jennifer the psychedelic reindeer, art directory of the survey

If you liked the story of the first national survey of hand-made crochet hook Christmas trees, please support the pibinko.org network buy sponsoring our upcoming initiatives: https://www.pibinko.org/support/

If you have other trees to report, either from the past season, or trees which might be in preparation for the next one, please write to micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

If you are curious about more investigations and spatial analyises by the pibinko.org network, please have a look at the “maps” section of our site, or contact us for specific inquiries: https://www.pibinko.org/contacts/

Closing theme

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all those who contributed by reporting trees, and/or promoting the survey. For the tree reports, more or less: Sonia, Cinzia, Luciano, Fabrizio, Sara, Eda, Gabriella, Giuseppe detto Milluzzo, Simona, Fausto.

Jan. 20, 2024 – Roccalbegna (Tuscany) – Ci.r.co.l.a.re Project Presentation feat. Jack O’Malley with music & territory

Events

Folllowing the events on Aug. 19 in Magliano in Toscana (link in Italian) and on Oct. 16 in Montemerano (link in Italia) -with a Dec. 21 addendum- we are glad to announce the next collaboration of the Jug Band Colline Metallifere with the Ci.r.co.l.a.re. project:

On this round, we will have Andrea Giacomelli, in his Jack O’Malley avatar, providing musical+territorial entertainment (if you move the cursor in the picture you will have a preview of these two faces).

  • To take part in the hike, and to eat your “Girotapas” please book on +393713434447
  • For more information about the portion of the event curated by the Jug Band Colline Metallifere: http://www.jugbandcm.it, micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

Dance casting for the next Jug Band Colline Metallifere video (deadline: Feb. 9, 2024)

Announcements

In a nutshell: if you know how to twist and you would like to be part (from home) of the next Jug Band Colline Metallifere video, send a clip of your best twist dancing to +393317539228 (Whatsapp or Telegram). For more context, read on…

1. Introduction

A moment of the Nov. ’23 “forestudio session”.

On Nov. 1, 2023, with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere we recorded six tracks in the “forestudio” (one of our mobile studios in Southern Tuscany. The post-production has been completed, and we considered that it would be cool for one of these tracks to have a video.

The song is called Tatti Twist. The lyrics are in English, and they tell the story of a foreign guy who likes Tuscany, and eventually relocates…you guess…in Tatti, our home base. In this video it would be nice to see some of you folks dancing: so, we decided to launch a casting for dancers. Namely, we are looking for guys or gals who will provide some twist moves.

2. To be part of the casting

2.1 Shoot a video where you are dancing some twist. Maximum duration: 15 seconds. If you have any doubts, see this page for technicalities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_(dance)). PLEASE NOTE – THE SONG IN THIS VIDEO IS NOT THE ONE YOU WILL BE DANCING ON FOR OUR VIDEO, BUT THE GROOVE IS THE SAME:

2.2 Send the video to the Jug Band Colline Metallifere casting team

Together with the video, please also send a few lines of presentation about who you are, where you live, and why you would like to be in our video.

3. Deadline

The deadline to submit you material is February 9 (CET).

4. What happens after?

4.1 By February 23 you will be re-contacted by our casting team. If you have been selected, you will also received the instructions to be part of the video. The production will take place roughly bettween Feb. 24, and May 5, 2024.

4.2 At the end of the production phase, all the selected participants will receive a nice JBCM gift, in addition to credits in the video, which will have international visibility (to give you an idea, please consider https://www.pibinko.org/in-the-media/, in addition to a netowkr of contacts of a few tens of thousands of people in our social networks).

5. Miscellanea

5.1 Please note that Wolfgang, our one-string bass player, has been participating to Twist contests in the Sixties, and that we collaborate with various dance professionals.

5.2 Depending on the nature of the “dance company” that we will assemble, this casting might be used to develop ideas for other events and initiatives with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere, the pibinko.org network, Tattistampa, Il Casino Booking, and other partnering organizations.

5.3 If you are intetested to sponsor the production of the video, please contact micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

5.4 The participation to the video will not require you to move from your home.

6. For more information

Foto di testa: fonte Wikipedia

Countries from which pibinko.org Network stories have been followed in 2023

Compositions

Following the publication of the full list of articles from 2023 (see link) and our year by images (see this other link), in preparation for our upcoming initiatives we are giving you a few more statistics on our web presence. Here you can see as a list (or in the header image as a map) an overview of the countries from which somebody have seen at least once of our blog posts over the past twelve months (the country list is in Italian as this is the default language for our reporting system):

Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaigian, Belgio, Bolivia, Bosnia ed Erzegovina, Brasile, Bulgaria, Cambogia, Camerun, Canada, Cechia, Cile, Cina, Città del Vaticano, Colombia, Corea del Sud, Croazia, Danimarca, Egitto, El Salvador, Emirati Arabi Uniti,
Estonia, Etiopia, Filippine, Finlandia, Francia, Georgia, Germania, Giappone, Grecia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Irlanda, Isole Salomone, Israele, Kenya, Kosovo, Lettonia, Libano, Libia,
Lituania, Lussemburgo, Malaysia, Marocco, Messico, Moldavia, Montenegro, Nigeria, Norvegia,
Nuova Zelanda, Paesi Bassi, Pakistan, Panamá, Perù, Polonia, Portogallo, RAS di Hong Kong,
Regno Unito, Romania, Ruanda, Russia, Samoa americane, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore,
Slovacchia, Slovenia, Somalia, Spagna, Sri Lanka, Stati Uniti, Sud Sudan, Sudafrica, Svezia,
Svizzera, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad e Tobago, Tunisia, Turchia, Uganda, Ungheria,
Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam.

If we extend the analysis to all of our logs (which start from 2019, even though the web site is on since 2006), to date in the world there are only a dozen countries from which our stories have not been seen.

For more information: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

Naples 2019: Going Back

Photos
Enoteca Trocchia, in via Milano, in 2019

After the first mission to Naples (Dec. 30, 2006-Jan. 2, 2007 – see this video), pibinko decided to go back at the very beginning of 2019 (the departure from Tuscany was with a night train from Grosseto around 2AM on Jan 1).

The mission ended on Jan. 3, 2019, and for this reason we are publishing a selection of shots today.

The pibinko.org Network + Jug Band Colline Metallifere’year in Review (photo version)

Compositions

After the list of the articles published during 2023 (click here) for the lovers of verbosityDopo la lista degli articoli pubblicati durante il 2023 (in effetti al 20-12- clicca qui), here we go with a more compact view of our past 12 months. The initial idea was to select six shots per month, out of 6101 photos we have, and then make a 72-second video with a laid back folk-blues soundtrack. Then, since it’s late, we preferred to make a simpler montage:

To see a larger image, do what you will…

With this we wish you the best closing for this 2023 and we will send you an update tomorrow. For more information and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228.

Passing it on to…

Don’t worry bout me | non preoccuparti per me
I’ll find a way | troverò una strada
I’ll find a way
Oh, I’ll find a way

Always have trouble | sempre problemi
Trouble each day | problemi tutti i giorni
But I left it all behind | ma me li sono lasciati dietro
No more to stay | non ci saranno più
That road I still ride | la strada su cui viaggio
The wind in my hair | il vento nei capelli
It blows away the trouble | porta via i problemi
For which I don’t care | di cui non mi curo

Come every Sunday | ogni domenica
That ol’ preacher would say | quel vecchio predicatore diceva
No joy will you know | non conoscerete alcuna gioia
’til your find your way | fino a che non troverete la vostra strada
And I spent many years | e ho passato molto anni
Waiting to be free | aspettando di essere libero
‘Til I found the great emancipator was me! | fino a che non ho scoperto che il grande liberatore ero io!

Well there’s rock in the mountain | be’ ci sono rocce sui monti
There’s fish in the sea | ci sono pesci nel mare
There’s no love left in my |non c’è amore per me
Girls heart for me | nel cuore della mia ragazza
And the bricks in the road | e il mattoni sulla strada
Come from clay in the hills | vengono dall’argilla nei monti
Well the end of my girl | be’ la fine della mia ragazza
aint the end of my thrill, Oh | non è la fine delle mie emozioni
Don’t worry bout me
I’ll find a way
I’ll find a way
Oh, I’ll find a way

Taking no mercy | Trattando tutti male
I would lie, I would cheat | mentirei, sarei un falso
I leave all my victims | lascio le mie vittime
Just laying at my feet | stese ai miei piedi
And the dark side of life | e la parte buia della vita
Is leading me out | mi sta portando fuori strada
But I saw the light | ma ho visto la luce
Now those shadows are gone | ora quelle ombre sono sparite

Winter Fest

Projects

This is an interdisciplinary format we created in 2016. To date, four editions of the festival have been organized, all in Southern Tuscany:

  • 2016 – Farma Valley + Grosseto
  • 2017 – Farma Valley
  • 2018 – Farma Valley + Tatti
  • 2023 – Travelling festival from Follonica to Pomonte

To see articles about the festival (in Italian):

For more information and festivals : micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228