No Hope But Home

I met Matthew walking through Penn Station last week. He has several tattoos, and shared this one with me:


On his right arm, this traditional nautical star has been embellished with several design elements that personalize the tattoo.

The banner "No Hope but Home" refers to lyrics from a song by a New Jersey band called Scream Hello.

The nautical star is accompanied by a knitting needle and a fountain pen. These two objects refer to his parents. The knitting needle speaks to his mother who is a homemaker and also knits as a hobby. The fountain pen alludes to his father, who is a writer professionally, and also
writes for pleasure.

The nautical star, traditionally worn by sailors to serve as a talisman to find a way home, serves a figurative purpose here, pointing toward, while also emphasizing the hopefulness of home, but also the importance of Matthew's parents in his life.

This cool tattoo was inked by John Reardon at Saved Tattoo, in Brooklyn. Work from Saved has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Matthew for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Great Balls of Yarn!

A week ago, I met Hobart, who has 14 tattoos. He offered up this interesting piece for Tattoosday readers:


Seems like your everyday run-of-the-mill pentagram tattoo. But it's not.

Hobart is a knitter and he and his friends often attended "Stitch 'n Bitch" sessions where a group of knitters would get together and practice their craft. Hobart said they grew tired of the "normal middle-age ladies" sitting around talking about sex, so he and his friends formed a group that challenged the image of the group of conservative knitters.

They developed the logo above, made it "as gangland as possible" and called themselves "Satani-stitch".

The pentagram is comprised of knitting needles arranged in the star formation, just below the "gang" name and two balls of yarn, which are engulfed in flames, for effect. Below the pentagram are the Roman numerals V I VI, representing the 516 area code of Nassau County, Long Island.

This creative tattoo was inked at Lone Wolf Tattoo in Bellmore, Long Island. Work from that shop has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

For another cool yarn-based piece, check out this previous Tattoosday post, featuring my friend Eryn.

Hobart also shared his knuckle tattoos with me, to be seen at a future date over on KnuckleTattoos.com.

Thanks to Hobart for sharing his knitting-themed tattoo!