Yarn Art Attacks in the Bay Area

Yarn Attack, downtown Berkeley

While driving around Berkeley, Albany and Oakland lately, I noticed many stop sign poles and other public sign posts were recently adorned in cute little sweaters. Custom knit to fit the poles, they are colorful and strange oddities. Found a little note on one crediting "Streetcolor" , an anonymous knitter who documents his or her work on the Streecolor blog. A little web research reveals these yarn attacks are known as yarn bombing...


From Wikipedia - Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, graffiti knitting or yarnstorming is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk. While yarn installations – called yarn bombs or knit bombs – may last for years, they are considered non-permanent, and, unlike graffiti, can be easily removed if necessary. The practice is believed to have originated in the U.S. with Texas knitters trying to find a creative way to use their leftover and unfinished knitting projects, but it has since spread worldwide.


There is a wealth of weird yarn bombing pix here at Yarn bombing. It has become a worldwide movement that aims to “improve the urban landscape one stitch at at time”.

Albany yarn bombing