Thursday, October 7, 2010

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 blogA little web research reveals these yarn attacks are known as yarn bombing...


From WikipediaYarn bombingyarnbombinggraffiti 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