Yarn bombing (or yarnbombing) is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk. It is also called wool bombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting, or graffiti knitting.
While other forms of graffiti may be expressive, decorative, territorial, socio-political commentary, advertising or vandalism, yarn bombing was initially almost exclusively about reclaiming and personalizing sterile or cold public places. [1] It has since developed with groups graffiti knitting and crocheting worldwide, each with their own agendas and public graffiti knitting projects being run. [2]
According to Manuela Farinosi and Leopoldina Fortunati, yarn bombing has become synonymous with the current feminist movement due in part to the reclamation of the traditionally feminine arts of knitting and crocheting to partake in the traditionally masculine and male-dominated graffiti scene. [3] The women and girls who make up the yarn bombing subculture are diverse in race, age, sexuality, class, etc., and create space for themselves and their art everywhere from college campuses to public parks. This creation and preservation of space is what motivates some of the participants, some of whom have never been able to access a political art space before. In her article about yarn bombing, Joanna Mann explains the balance between the art and politics, "Yarn bombing, I argue, does more than feminise the city, for the whimsy with which it is imbued has the capacity to increase our attentiveness to habitual worlds in a series of micro-political gestures." [4] McGovern finds that yarn bombing may also be used to contradict the idea of women as homemaker by bringing such traditionally feminine art into public space. [5]
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. [6] [1] [7]
The start of this movement has been attributed to Magda Sayeg, from Houston, who says she first got the idea in 2005 when she covered the door handle of her boutique with a custom-made cozy. [8]
Houston artist Bill Davenport was creating and exhibiting crochet-covered objects in Houston in the 1990s, and the Houston Press stated that "Bill Davenport could be called the grand old man of Houston crocheted sculpture." [9] Artist Shanon Schollian was knitting stump cozies in 2002 for clear cuts in Oregon. [10] The Knit Knot Tree by the Jafagirls [11] in Yellow Springs, Ohio, gained international attention in 2008.
The movement moved on from simple 'cozies' with the innovation of the 'stitched story'. The concept has been attributed to Lauren O'Farrell [12] (who creates her street art under the graffiti knitting name Deadly Knitshade), from London, UK, who founded the city's first graffiti knitting collective Knit the City. The 'stitched story concept' uses handmade amigurumi creatures, characters, and items to tell a narrative or show a theme. This was first recorded with the Knit the City collective's "Web of Woe" installation [13] in August 2009.
The Knit the City collective were also the first to use O'Farrell's term yarnstorming to describe their graffiti knitting, as an alternative to the more popular term yarnbombing. [14] [15]
Yarn bombing's popularity has spread throughout the world. In Oklahoma City the Collected Thread store yarn bombed the Plaza District of the city on 9 September 2011 to celebrate their three-year anniversary as a functioning shop. [16] and in Australia a group called the Twilight Taggers refer to themselves as 'fibre artists'. [17] Joann Matvichuk of Lethbridge, Alberta founded International Yarnbombing Day, which was first observed on 11 June 2011. [18]
Although yarnbomb installations are typically found in urban areas, Stephen Duneier, aka Yarnbomber, was the first to introduce it into the wilderness with numerous permitted projects in Los Padres National Forest beginning in 2012. [19]
The Craft Club Yarnbombers (Emma Curley, Helen Thomas, Gabby Atkins, Claire Whitehead and Rebecca Burton) in Essex became Guinness World Record holders in 2014 for the largest display of crochet sculptures, when they yarnbombed a children's hospice with 13,388 crocheted items. [20] (The record has since been broken, in 2018 by a feminist crochet group based in India. [21] ) That December, they brought yarnbombing to their community with their postbox yarnbombs. [22]
Yarn Bombing Los Angeles (YBLA) is a yarn bombing collective located in Los Angeles, California. The collective describe themselves as a group of guerrilla knitters who have been collaborating since 2010. They hold monthly meetings to develop plans for events, share techniques, develop their collective community, etc. They currently have 10+ projects in progress throughout the Los Angeles and nearby communities. [23]
In Inverclyde, "The Wee Crafty Yarnbombers" bollard covers in 2019 were followed by pillarbox yarnbombing by FiddlieDee Crafts [24] in the 2020 festive season. [25]
In February 2024, activists in Montrose, Texas protested city plans to remove mature oak trees lining Montrose Boulevard by wrapping the trees in knitted and crocheted yarn graffiti. [26]
While yarn installations – called yarn bombs or yarnstorms – may last for years, they are considered non-permanent, and, unlike other forms of graffiti, can be easily removed if necessary. Nonetheless, the practice is still technically illegal in some jurisdictions, though it is not often prosecuted vigorously. [6] Alyce McGovern highlights that a possible reason for this is that yarn bombing is often done by white, middle-class, women and it is seen as harmless fun; it is deemed more as street art and less as graffiti (which is enforced much more strictly). [27]
Yarn bombing has been under some scrutiny for the potential negative environmental impact that the yarn can have when placed on plant life. Yarn can restrict sap production on trees and constrict growth. [28] The knitted material requires removal and cleaning up; if left behind, installations become soggy and any synthetic fibers litter the environment.[ citation needed ]
The street artist Olek (Agata Oleksiak) has yarn bombed New York City icons such as the Wall Street bull and the Astor Place Cube. [29] They faced legal trouble after their unauthorized installation in an underwater museum allegedly damaged marine life, the very cause they were attempting to raise awareness for. [30] Olek also makes public statements with their work, such as blanketing a women's homeless shelter in Delhi in 2015 [31] or installing an underwater cozy at the Cancun Underwater Museum. [30]
By demonstrating on yarnbombed tricycles, the Knit Your Revolt Tricycle Gang in Queensland protests "anti-bikie" laws that outlaw motorcycle gangs. [32]
Advertising campaigns have capitalized on the yarnbombing trend: Knit the City was commissioned by Toyota to create a 2013 installation in London. [33] London Kaye creates yarnbomb graffiti and, in addition to her art installations, creates advertisement yarnbombs for brands like Valentino and Miller Lite. [34] [29] Kaye has received backlash for her installations when they are hung in public unauthorized, and one installation in Bushwick called "Moonshine Kingdom" was met with arguments that spray graffiti is prosecuted as illicit, while white trendy yarn graffiti is not criminalized. [35] Public outcry concerning the installation labeled this type of graffiti a symbol of gentrification, [35] although an article by The New York Times claims a double standard in criticism of yarnbombing, and that women's work is seen as "cutesy" and inherently less valuable. [34]
Crochet is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term crochet, which means 'hook'. Hooks can be made from different materials, sizes, and types. The key difference between crochet and knitting, beyond the implements used for their production, is that each stitch in crochet is completed before you begin the next one, while knitting keeps many stitches open at a time. Some variant forms of crochet, such as Tunisian crochet and Broomstick lace, do keep multiple crochet stitches open at a time.
Knitting is a method for production of textile fabrics by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Knitting is the process of using two or more needles to pull and loop yarn into a series of interconnected loops in order to create a finished garment or some other type of fabric. The word is derived from knot, thought to originate from the Dutch verb knutten, which is similar to the Old English cnyttan, "to knot". Its origins lie in the basic human need for clothing for protection against the elements. More recently, hand knitting has become less a necessary skill and more of a hobby.
The Revolutionary Knitting Circle (RKC) is an international activist group that engages in craftivism, focusing on knitting and textile handicrafts to promote social change. Established in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, by Grant Neufeld in 2000. The group uses knitting to contrast with the ideas that protests are violent and the ways in which police handle the protests. The movement has expanded, with groups forming in various regions of the United States and Europe.
Craftivism is a form of activism, typically incorporating elements of anti-capitalism, environmentalism, solidarity, or third-wave feminism, that is centered on practices of craft - or what has traditionally been referred to as "domestic arts". Craftivism includes, but is not limited to, various forms of needlework including yarn-bombing or cross-stitch. Craftivism is a social process of collective empowerment, action, expression and negotiation. In craftivism, engaging in the social and critical discourse around the work is central to its production and dissemination. Practitioners are known as craftivists. The word 'craftivism' is a portmanteau of the words craft and activism.
Debbie Stoller is a New York Times best-selling American author, publisher, feminist commentator and knitting expert whose work includes magazines as well as books. She lives in Brooklyn, New York City. Stoller is the co-founder, co-owner and editor-in-chief of the culture magazine BUST, which she and Marcelle Karp launched in 1993.
The term "gauge" is used in knitting to describe the fineness size of knitting machines. It is used in both hand knitting and machine knitting. The phrase in both instances refers to the number of stitches per inch rather than the size of the finished article of clothing. The gauge is calculated by counting the stitches or needles across a number of inches, then dividing by the sample's width in inches.
The "sweater curse" or "curse of the love sweater" is a term used by knitters and crocheters to describe the belief that if a knitter or crocheter gives a hand-knit sweater to a significant other, it will lead to the recipient breaking up with the knitter. In an alternative formulation, the relationship will end before the sweater is even completed. The belief is widely discussed in knitting publications, and some knitters claim to have experienced it. In a 2005 poll, 15% of active knitters said that they had experienced the sweater curse firsthand, and 41% considered it a possibility that should be taken seriously.
A knitting club is a social group in which knitting and crochet enthusiasts gather to do needlework together. They are a feature of the 21st-century revival of hand knitting which began in America and has spread to most of Europe. Despite the name, knitting clubs are not limited to knitting; both crochet-centered and knit-centered clubs are collectively called "knitting clubs." While knitting has never gone away completely, this latest reincarnation is less about the make-do and mend of the 1940s and 1950s, and more about making a statement about individuality and developing a sense of community.
Knitta Please, also known as simply Knitta, is the group of artists who began the "knit graffiti" movement in Houston, Texas in 2005. They are known for wrapping public architecture—e.g. lampposts, parking meters, telephone poles, and signage—with knitted or crocheted material, a process known as "knit graffiti", "yarn storming" or "yarnbombing". The mission is to make street art "a little more warm and fuzzy."
Hand knitting is a form of knitting, in which the knitted fabric is produced by hand using needles.
I Knit London is a knitting organisation based in London, England, UK, comprising a knitting group, knitting shop and knitting events. I Knit London was formed in December 2005, and is run, by Gerard Allt and Craig Carruthers.
Agata Oleksiak, known as Olek, is a Polish artist who is based in New York City. Their works include sculptures, installations such as crocheted bicycles, inflatables, performance pieces, and fiber art. They have covered buildings, sculptures, people, and an apartment with crochet and have exhibited in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, France, Italy, Poland, and Costa Rica.
Knit the City is a group of "graffiti knitting and crochet" street artists founded in London, England in 2009. The collective is credited with being the first to go beyond the simple 'cosies' of early graffiti knitting to tell 'stitched stories', using knitted and crochet amigurumi creatures and objects in their public installations. This practice has been taken up by groups internationally.
Illusion knitting or shadow knitting is a form of textile art, in which the knitting is viewed as simply narrow stripes from one angle, and as an image when viewed from another angle. Illusion knitting has been recognised as an art form since 2010, largely due to the advances made by Steve Plummer who has created several large and detailed pieces. Similar effects occur in Tunisian crochet.
Lauren O'Farrell, also known as Deadly Knitshade, is an English author and artist. She is best known for playing a major part in the beginnings of the UK graffiti knitting street art scene, creating the Stitch London craft community and founding graffiti knitting and craft collective Knit the City.
Yarnbombing Los Angeles (YBLA) is a group of guerrilla knitters that have been collaborating since 2010. They are based at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, California. YBLA stages public installation art and performances to help expand the definition of public art to embrace street art, Urban Interventionism and ephemera. Collaborative art making, community building, public outreach, blurring boundaries between contemporary art practices, graffiti and craft are integral components to YBLA's practice.
A knitting pattern is a set of written instructions on how to construct items using knitting.
A post box topper is a crochet or knitted hat or bonnet for a pillar box designed as a tribute, commemoration, or for public enjoyment. In the United Kingdom they have been used to pay tribute to NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic, for Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, and in September 2022 as a tribute upon her death.
The largest display of crochet sculptures consists of 13,388 crocheted sculptures and was achieved by The Craft Club (UK) in Thundersley, Essex, UK, on 24 August 2014.