Yesterday I woke up and decided “today is the day, I am finally going to yarn-bomb something.” This is something I have been wanting to do for years, but never really had the guts to do it. I have always been afraid that I might get arrested. Ha! Unfortunately I hardly ever have time for personal knitting…. so knitting for a yarn-bombing is something that wasn’t a high priority. But I looked through a box of swatches I had and found a few that would work. These were swatches that were submitted to books and magazines that I didn’t end up needing anymore.
So I drove around looking for a quiet little corner…. I didn’t go very far, two blocks away (I could have walked). So I took my little swatch a decided I was going to sew it onto this stop sign. So I start seaming… and I want a really good and strong mattress stitch, it’s gotta be perfect. All of a sudden this quiet little street corner becomes the most popular and buzzing corner in the world. What the hell?! I think about 50 people walked, biked, and drove by this corner in the 5-7 minutes it took me to stitch this piece. One lady in her car just stopped and stared at me- but I a was professional & focused bomber, I wasn’t going to look up. It was pretty awesome, and I felt like such a rebel with a cause. The cause of knitting! Here is my little stop sign covered in love.
If you are wondering which yarn I used, of course they have both been discontinued. The light green is Pagewood Farm Cheechako and the dark green is Noro Cash Iroha. That’s my little bit for earth day.
Then I went home (drove the two blocks back- happy earth day!) and felt such a rush. I wanted to do more. So Rory and I decided that he will be my lookout and I will bomb it up! Woohoo! First we decided to drive over to the historic Miracle Mile for inspiration where there was recently a bombing incident in front of the Craft & Folk Art Museum. Here are some photos of the bombing there.
After looking at these massive yarn-bombing pieces I felt empowered to bomb a big street… like Wilshire Blvd. So I took out a huge red swatch I had made years ago and found a spot near the lamp post that was crocheted and bombed a bike rack. At first I was thinking I might add to the original yarn-bombing but I didn’t want to show any disrespect and start a turf war. Here are a couple images of the bombing in progress. What a rush!!! Wilshire Blvd!!!
Remember, when yarn-bombing a good seam is very important! This was by far one of the coolest experiences ever. I didn’t get stopped by any cops or anyone… and way less people walked by here (even though I am right across the street from the Tar Pits Museum– as you can see behind me in the photo) than did on my quiet little street corner. Here is a photo of my yarn-bombing, the original bombers and LACMA in the background.
Then Rory and I were pretty hungry so we headed back in the direction of home over to Tacos Por Favor for some tacos! After lunch I was still feeling the high of bombing and wanted to bomb just one more thing. It just happened to workout that we were two blocks away from Wildfiber… I thought, “Lets go bomb in front of Wildfiber!”
I found the perfect place right in front of the shop- a neighborhood watch sign, how perfect is that?! So I pulled out another swatch, this time it was Noro Silk Garden – with cables… reversible ones in case someone lifts up the bombing to take a peek underneath. Here are a few photos of the bombing in progress.
After I got the piece sewn together I had to shimmy it up the pole and sew it in place so that no one moves it (I did the same with the first one on the stop-sign with the green hearts). This was a fun day and I think I will be doing much more of this when I can spare a little bit of time, and Rory really enjoyed it too. I have a few swatches on the needles for a future blog post… maybe they will become bombings in the near future!