A really cool piece done to a statue
So, when I first started this project for Research and Resources I wanted to do the blog and thus my interviews, and literature review on modern knitting. What I didn’t realize then was that there are SO SO many modern things going on with knitting. The first one that really interested me and the one I’ll be sticking to for the remainder of my research will be Yarn Bombing, also known as guerrilla knitting, yarn graffiti, yarn storming and graffiti knitting. This new form of graffiti really is interesting and brings so many opportunities to liven up boring street signs, bike racks, statues and really anything.
I’m extremely excited to be interviewing some of these Yarn Bombing enthusiasts soon! Streetcolor has a really interesting blog that documents her tags, gives insight to why people yarn bomb, has links to articles about her and her work and has comments showing people’s reactions. I’ll also be interviewing a member of the Knitta Please team about their Yarn Bombing work and about Magda Sayeg, the leader and founder of the group, who has played a huge role in the Yarn Bombing movement.
What started for me as a small infatuation with knitting has turned into an extremely information rich adventure. We’ll be finding out where Yarn Bombing is going, if its growing or becoming a passing fad. We’ll find out what drives people to do this, what draws people in, how to go about starting, and how much like graffiti it really is (how illegal it is too). Hopefully this research project turns into something much bigger and really tells people what they want to know about Yarn Bombing.
If Yarn Bombing seems interesting to you I’d encourage you to pick up some knitting needles go to youtube or other sites like Lion Brand Yarn to learn how to knit. You could become a part of the Yarn Bombing street art and help it grow or at least get into it before its gone.
A bicycle rack done by Streetcolor