International Yarn Bombing Day - 11 June 2011

Yarn bombing, aka yarn graffiti, has been around for a few years now. It seems to be better known in Europe and the USA than here in Australia, but I notice a few more fibre graffiti persons are leaving their knit tags around the place. And today has been adopted by yarnbombers as International Yarn Bombing Day.

 

I wanted to do my little bit to contribute to the event, so today I've nonchalantly wandered around my local area hanging crocheted spirals and fluffy pompoms in trees and popping on a knitted bollard sock here and there. I mean, why not?

What I love is when there's an engagement with a member of the public who bravely comes and asks "what are you doing, what's it for" and chuckles gleefully at the irony of knit graffiti.

I think it's these little bits of happiness that make it so much fun.
 

            

Spirals!

Developing this idea has been on my list of things to do for well over a year, and after a bit of experimenting, I've now got these colourful things hanging on my verandah. Will make many more 'cause I think these are going to be exactly what I want for International Yarnbombing Day on 11th June, 2011.

 I'm imagining public spaces festooned with bright coloured spirals.

The pattern for creating these corkscrew spirals can be found here. You're welcome to use them for fundraising purposes (they've sold quite well at fundraising stalls because they're so bright, and very different!).

Escaped Knitting

Well, goodness me but the knitting escaped - again! Today's yarnstrike was on one of dozens of nice green bollards on the north side of the Rockingham Civic Centre. I don't give it much of a chance of survival in that location, but what the heck, I know it prompted a smile in one or two passers by - so I achieved my goal.

The best part of my day was spent while in the waiting room of the adjacent medical centre, creating crochet spirals for the next yarnstrike, and engaging with some younger folk (okay, so these days everyone's younger than me) on the topic of yarn graffiti. I just love seeing their imaginations take off and potentially spark a creative bug which will awaken if not now, then at some later point in their lives.

Update 5 Apr, 2011: It was still there on Saturday, but it's gone now, hopefully to a better place :)

Yarnstrike!

A Google search will demonstrate that the terms "yarnbomb" and "yarnstorm" are well in use now. They have their definitions, references and examples of use.

I like the word "yarnbomb", but some have noted the sensitivities of a subsection of the word and the correlation with terrorism, probably more so in countries other than Australia. The word "yarnstorm" is being touted as a replacement here and there, but I don't think it's appropriate to describe the actual graffiti piece.

So, after tickling my two and a half brain cells, I think I've found an alternative which will describe both an act of yarn graffiti (so, it's a verb), and, at a push, the thing that is the piece of graffiti (a noun): 

Yarnstrike ! ^©



And it'll fit nicely on any tags I put on my yarnbombs. Would be good as the title of a yarnbombing book too! (Adds concept to list of projects to do later this year)

Here's the next bit of colour for a Yarnstrike on an unsuspecting bollard for this week. It would be fun to see if it gets moved around from suburb to suburb and where it ends up. Might have to set up a Yarnstrike Facething page so its peripatetic wanderings can be documented by enabling travellers. Now, that'd be something new!
 

Edit, 29 March: 2011
1. Installed it in the middle of the day yesterday, cnr Rockingham Beach Road/Patterson Road.

2. I stuffed up when I was trying to create the facething fan page - have given up for the moment - will re-address the concept when my energy returns.

3. Went to remove the dangly tag (which gave a suggestion of a Facebook page) on the yarnbomb at 9:00pm last night, but it was gone  - the whole yarnbomb, not just the dangly tag.  :(

Random Acts of Colour

 

This is an experiment for a forthcoming yarnbombing project. Don't know where for yet, or if I'll make modifications to the next ribbon of colour.

Note to self: each strip is 30 stitches wide, on 4.00mm needles and boringly dull garter stitch throughout. Not that the knitting garter stitch is boring, just the end result is very plain. There are no real challenges involved in the making of these. Year 3s could do this.

They're random acts of colour in yarn. I've knitted each end to be a casing, ie, they're threaded onto an old broom handle at the moment. The bottom casings haven't been put to use yet. I may well hang something soft and safe or small on each end. - maybe pompoms would be suitably silly!! Anything heavy and hard (was originally thinking of little brass bells) runs the risk of being blown around and may whack someone. So, in keeping with my Yarnbombing 101 guidelines, risk management is a consideration in even fun and farcical things like knit graffiti, aka, yarnbombs.

Pimple on a Post

There are a few terribly bland streetscapes around Rockingham. No-one's to blame, really - I'm not into that sort of game. It's just that they're drab, have no shade, no colour. They're only thoroughfares, so nothing's to be expected, really.

But I see them as potential targets for a bit of brightening up, a bit of sneakery with the yarn graffiti.

So out came the circular needles and the op shop yarn scraps, and hey presto, a bit of silliness ensued.

This yarnbomb is a bit lost in the expanse of the drab streetscape, so it's not much more than a pimple on a post, but what the heck! Why not?!!

So many bollards in Rockingham, so much yarnbombing to do!

Car antenna sock - yarnbomb

This is the second car antenna sock I've done - a simple French spool knit, you know, the hollow cotton reel with the four nails in the top type thing and you wrap the yarn around and loop it over the nails and it forms a cord? Google it, you'll find something out there. You can get the little spool doll things in department stores such as Big W and K-Mart here in Australia and they're only about $5 or so.

This fun little project is a mix of yarnbombing (on my own old bomb of a car), and an aide-mémoire , ie, an Alzheimer's car antenna sock sort of thing. It means it's very, very easy to spot my car in a shopping centre car park! No stresses when I come out that supermarket door and try to remember where the heck the car is parked, let alone what my car looks like.

Memory is one of the things that gets pretty badly stuffed when you suffer from a depressive illness, so this is my fight back. And it works on all fronts.

On the more creative yarnbombing side, though, I'd just love to install a heap of bright coloured car antenna socks on a row of cars one day, maybe at a festival or some other excuse. I also think these would be fun for footy fanatics - can't you just see team colours flaunted on cars in the form of a knitted antenna sock!

Warnbro Beach Track Yarnbomb

Just a little rainbow coloured yarnbomb to brighten up a fugly sign pole, circ. 19cms. Note to self: all these type of metal poles are 19cms, which makes it easy to make a bunch of yarnbombs ready for installation all around the place as the whim takes me.

Yarnbombing 101

Been thinking about doing some more yarnbombing and getting some projects going in the near future, maybe for the upcoming Beaufort Street Festival on 27th Nov, 2010. And I've been thinking (probably too much) 'cause I jotted down some notes, which are the start of Yarnbombing 101.

Yarnbombing planning and guidelines:


1. Should not be a health or safety risk

2. Plan yarnbombing item to suit location and target; reference to a locality or event

3. Reccy the location for appropriate targets; measure and photograph for later reference

4. Consider the yarnbomb's colours: is there a corporate sponsorship element to be considered; is there a colour theme of an event/locality that could be referenced?

5. If yarnbomb is to be located at low height, keep in mind the dog pee factor

6. Is there tourism potential, ie The Tag’s Travels – pics of it at different sites

7. Tagging the yarnbomb is optional: laminate tag for durability, if desired; a message or quote could be added for whimsy or could be the sole purpose of the yarnbomb, ie, to deliver a message/theme

8. Sustainability:

• can the yarnbomb item have a second life? ie. can it be a useful item: mobile phone holder, scarf, hat, beanie, headband, cowl, pair of wrist warmers, cuffs, blanket, toy, flower? (Perhaps no balaclavas!) Can homeless folk get some use out of it?
• consider using upcycled yarn from repurposed knitted items, or get into decluttering and trash that yarn stash!

9. Aim to draw smiles, whether joyful, humorous or wry, and remember that art is not what it looks like but what it does for you.

Yarnbombing Rockingham

Thought I'd do my first yarnbombing installation on the Rockingham foreshore park this weekend. I didn't want to create yarn graffiti that could be used only once, and I didn't want to sew any seams. The blue/grey lighting bollards seemed to be a perfect target for a stripy sock thing, to keep them warm, of course, for the coming winter.

I measured up, didn't swatch (never do as I don't mind making mistakes, as long as I learn from them) and ended up with this acrylic bollard sock which should stand up to some rough and tumble for a little while. This one was done using the long tail cast on method for stretchiness, but with only 80sts and knit in a 2x2 rib, it was a bit of a snug fit. Next time I'll co 92 sts.

I've added a luggage tag which is a bit too big for my liking. Will have to refine that idea further. Anyway, it says "Life is empty without passion" on one side, and "I knit; therefore I am" (with apologies to Descartes). I've mentioned ravelry.com as being a site for obsessive knitter type people, but I haven't signed off as the creator of the bollard sock (yet) - might change my mind later.

Anyway, my idea of yarnbombing is that it should not harm the environment, it should be enough to raise a little smile (as opposed to a smirk, preferably), it should be re-usable, fun to do and on occasion, be aesthetically pleasing or at least quirky. I aimed for the re-usable category for this first one.

Update: three days later - it's gone :(