This weekend my family took the ferry to Lopez Island for some rest and relaxation. If you want to check out pics from our trip check out my Instagram. While there, I worked on my knitted lampshade cover which is almost complete. When I told my in-laws what I was doing they all laughed. Then my brother-in-law admitted to me that he had knitted a cover for the frame of his bike where it was getting dinged when he locked it up. I told him that the he had no room to laugh about what I was doing to my lamp. It’ll be Fall in a few months and my lamp is going to get cold. I’m doing it a favor!
This conversation prompted one from my 18 year old niece who asked if I’d ever heard of yarn bombing. What-the-what? Apparently I’ve been living under a rock because I had never heard of such a thing. Have you? If you’re one of those readers who is in the know please feel free to move on. If you’re like me-someone who thinks you have your pulse on the hot trends, but really you’re always one step behind-read on.
According to yarnbombing.com, Yarn Bombing is “The art of knit and crochet graffiti”. If you think about the impact that a flash mob makes in public, this is a similar concept. The difference is that yarn bombing is done incognito and is mostly illegal. It started in 2005 as a way to “reclaim and personalize sterile or cold public places”(Wikipedia). It has since become a movement in which groups of knitters and crocheters come together to “bomb” a predetermined site.
If you’re a knitter you know that in order to get these tubes on the trees you’ll need to sew them on when you get there. Hmmm….sewing a giant tube-in public-in the middle of the night- without getting caught-sounds like something I’ll leave up to the artists and college students.
These colorful stairs are really cool. I wonder what it would be like to walk up those stairs knowing that you created this splash of color in what looks like a once drab throughway.
If I was going to participate in the yarn bombing revolution the bombs above and below would be more my speed.
I’ll leave you with one more yarn bombing image that was done by an artist in Mexico City. I’m thinking that these panels are machine knit. What do you think? 
creative.com
Now that you know what Yarn Bombing is all about are you ready to knit a cute pair of mittens for your local statue or crocheted leaves for the trees in your nearby park? If so, I want proof.
Have a great week.
LISA
I love this idea! So many times you see people wearing black and grey suits walking through grey city-scapes, they could all do with a pop of colour to liven things up!
I have never heard of this. Too funny. I’m the world’s slowest knitter so I could never make this happen!
Well Lisa, I was sipping coffee next to you under the same rock hahaha! I LOVE THIS CONCEPT, and have to keep an ear open to see when/if it happens in NY. Though, I may have to buy the yarn flower puffs already done or else I will get BUSTER in the morning still strying to knit
Kinda weird! But pretty for some of the images. I know my niece is going to love this so I’m going to forward your post to her…she knits and crochets extremely well and she’s probably heard of it. I too have never heard of it but then I’m not usually oohing and ahhing over knitting…sorry
Yeaahhh….Well, my experience with knitting/crocheting is this. When I was in high school my mom tried to teach them to me. I found it terribly frustrating! I told her I’d rather play piano in my spare time. She said “What are you going to do when you get old?!?!” I told her “When I get old if my fingers are too stiff to play piano, I probably can’t knit or crochet either!” That was the last time she tried to make me knit or crochet! LOL! But then I had to learn to knit for a part in a play I was acting in during college. All I got done was a badly done big yellow square! Everyone laughed at my attempt and then we all took it apart. I did much better with my acting and singing 
Much cooler than actual graffiti. It does seem like a real challenge to get it installed incognito.
Definitely, a cool thing! Have you had a chance to visit that yarn installation in Redmond? We pass it every weekend when we are there for sports, but I always remember it too late. Hopefully it is still there the next time we are up there.
No, I haven’t seen it. I’ll have to check it out if it’s still around.