My musings on yarn bombing

Yarn bombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, knitted graffiti - call it what you will... it seems to be popping up all over the place. 

Like most things in life, I'm very ambivalent about yarn bombing.  The knitter and the rebel in me is strangely drawn to the idea of knitting random, beautiful objects and securing them in the dead of night for the world to discover the following morning.  There's something very exciting about strangers finding your offerings the following morning and possibly wondering how it got there...

But there's a very boring, nature loving pragmatist inside of me that cannot help but feel an awful lot of yarn bombing is a waste of time, effort and beautiful yarn.  I hate seeing a tree wrapped tightly with yarn around it, I just cannot see the point and I worry about the effect on the local wildlife.  A tree is already beautiful. 

Or a park bench covered in wet soggy acrylic after the first downpour - surely this is a form of vandalism and makes the bench unfit for its very useful purpose. Boring I know, sorry!

I love knitting and knitted things and I love to see them around me and a good yarn bombing project done well can lift the spirits of everyone that see it.

Ecouterre

The whole of the nation was talking about the Saltburn Yarn Bomber/s who created an incredible Olympic tableau and attached it to the pier railings.  It lifted the nation's spirits and the mystery of who had carried it out got everybody talking.

Later that/those same knitter/s produced another beautiful tribute to Queen for her Jubilee -

Cool Kitty Musings

Whoever created it went to an awful lot of effort and are very talented.  It brought a boost in tourism to Saltburn, which can only be a good thing.

However the vast majority of yarn bombing I've seen is hastily knitted and crudely attached (some with cable ties!) and seems to be just about 'stamping your mark' like the tag of a graffiti artist.

I'm finding myself being drawn more to the interior 'yarn bombing' that knitters are carrying out in their own homes - away from the rain, mud and wildlife.  Some of these truly are works of art and, as they are not intended to be temporary, are filled with love and passion for knitting as an art form.

Take these chairs for instance -

Econesting

Econesting

Or this deer head

Rachel Denny

But then again, some yarn bombings are harmless, well executed and just serve to make you smile -

Stop sign flower

You see, I'm still undecided! 

I may well be found one evening, creeping out in the dead of night with my textile creation secreted about my person - but it will have been made with love and the intention of making a random passerby smile.

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