Fabricadabra's Blog

yarn bombed bike

yard bombed house

Okay, I admit that I was a bit slow to learn about this creative, festive trend that is happening on the streets in cities and towns around the world. I first stumbled upon a few pictures back about six months ago while looking at Google images. I was completely enamored with what I saw. People had taken the mundane and age-old domestic skills of knitting and crocheting and reapplied them to the unlikeliest of products- trees, bicycles, phone booths, furniture and public fixtures. Explosions of color and cleverness.  It was just about three months ago when I learned the term for this and it is referred to as yarn bombing.

Street graffiti artists have typically been predominantly male, so this trend really resonates with me since knitting is most commonly a craft performed by women.  I love the idea of a bunch of renegade female knitters sneaking into public parks late at night to cover statues and tree trunks in pretty knitted cloaks. And, let’s face it, knitting, crocheting and sewing were dying crafts until recent years when 20 something year olds began to embrace the crafts again. So, yarn bombing in such an in-you-face way to coerce people to once again embrace these crafts.

Check out some of these impressive works of art.

I was listening to NPR one day last week and heard the end of an interview with an author of a book about yarn bombing.

Operation C.H.A.I.R. from Colorful Senses

yarn bombed trees