Only in New England: The Yarn Bombers
In downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, there’s one tree that looks particularly well prepared for winter. A colorful stockinette sweater hugs its trunk, with holes carefully placed to accommodate its branches. A yarn monkey dangles from one of the boughs.
Around the base of the tree are three twentysomething women knitting furiously. Brie, Rachel, and Katie comprise Riot Prrl, a yarn-bombing collective. Yarn bombing is a fairly new phenomenon that sprang from the rising popularity of knitting among the younger generation. As these new knitters progressed in skill, they eventually encountered the same conundrum that has stumped yarn lovers for centuries: At some point you just don’t need any more scarves. But instead of slowing down, they’ve turned their hobby out into the street, producing the happiest, politest graffiti in history.
“It gets boring making a scarf and then making a hat and then making the same exact hat but in a different color,” Rachel says, looking up from her work. “But when you’re doing the yarn bombing, every piece can be so different.”
Different indeed: If an item can be found in a public space, odds are that somewhere a yarn bomber has already measured it for a custom sweater. Trees, statues, and even rocks have gotten the knitted treatment. It’s believed that the trend started in Houston, Texas (where they really don’t need scarves), in 2005 and has since swept the world, with bombers spread from Australia to Finland. New England, naturally, is well represented in this new knitting underground.
As the young women work, a parking monitor spots them and hurries over. “Is this your handiwork I see all over town?” she asks. They hesitate for a moment before saying yes. Yarn bombing, though nondestructive, is still technically illegal. “I love it,” the monitor explains. “I see them all along my meters, and I think, Huh, that looks better than a plain pole!”
Rachel says they hear that a lot, though at first they weren’t sure how people would react. “For a while we’d tag only under the cover of night,” she says. When they installed their first major piece, a 46-foot-long rainbow cover for a metal railing, they went so far as to wear knitted mustaches. “We thought we should have a little bit of a disguise,” Brie chimes in, “but it didn’t work out.” “I kept getting yarn in my mouth,” Rachel adds.
Now they do most of their work in the daytime, and the worst they ever encounter is the occasional odd look. They say their only agenda is to spread a sense of whimsy through the city and maybe elicit an occasional smile. As to whether they’re artists or vandals or fiber-craft rebels, they seem happy to let others decide. Katie recalls meeting one woman who was so excited to see her putting up a piece by her home that she came out and took her picture: “She called me ‘a joy-bringing leprechaun.’” As far as tags go, that’s a pretty good one.
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I love it. I’m from Northampton and would love to see the tree. It’s nice to see people with a sense of humor having fun these days. I wish knitters in Saint Petersburg would bomb some things. They could start with parking meters.
Though it’s a novel idea and gives color to other mundane things..it seems to me that knitting for a charity or preemies or those less fortunate would be a better use for the yarn and these ladies would know that they were doing a service to those less fortunate in the world. Is this suppose to be a green thing..because I think it’s wasteful.
Yes – it wouldn’t hurt to ‘yarn-bomb’ the homeless shelter with hats and scarves…..
Not to be a spoil-sport, but yarn bombing should not include trees. When the yarn gets wet, it will retain the moisture close to the bark and could cause rot damage.
An alternative? Knigg scarves, hats and mittens, and hang them on a tree at a level within reach of people who need them. It may be more temporary, but is greener and helpful to others.
*Knitting
Stupid typing.
as a crochet teacher at a local senior center i think this is a great idea and a lot of fun. we make hats for all of the local schools in the fall, make chemo hats for the local hospitals, lap robes and afghans for the local hospitals and do a bear blanket project for the hospital with ill children. this would be fun but we would not give up our project .
I agree it’s fun , colorful and a nice visual distraction for the cold gray winter landscape. But I worry about the trees too. And I think the hats & mittens on a tree is more attractive and meaningful. Needless to say , using up all our extra yarn for school hats, chemo hats, lap robes and afghans and bear blankets are much more of a GOOD idea. I even helped make some caps for our servicemen, organized here in Durham , CT!
Keep on knitting and crocheting! Happy Mardi Gras! Laissez les bontemps rouler!
Not only in New England! A group in my hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio has been doing in for years. Not realizing it was referred to as yarn-bombing, I called it putting dresses on trees.
Does it cause rot to all trees? I’d think the acryclic-type yarns would drain and dry in the sun pretty well. The trees in Yellow Springs seem okay. (But what do I know.)
I wonder if any crocheters have done something like this!!!
What a hoot! I live in Hillsborough, NH and my sense of humor loves this……hmmmm. The idea of Hat Bombing where homeless people can reach out and grab one now that’s creative. Keep your eyes peeled on the Capitol……………….:)