This weeks blog post is a follow up on a community yarn bombing project that I have been following on Bruny Island Tasmania. These colourful knitted and crocheted, yarn bombs where produced by a group of highly talented crafters, who are part of an elderly citizens respite group called BIRCH. This talented group have been yarn bombing the Jane Finn community room at the Alonnah Health Centre on Bruny Island, an Island in the Southern Ocean, off the coast of Southern Tasmania in Australia.
The ladies from Bruny Island Respite House BIRCH have been doing some great yarn bombing in the Jane Finn room at the Bruny Island Health Centre in Alonnah on Bruny Island, Tasmania. I slipped in on my day off and snapped some photographs. The ladies at the reception where very accommodating when I asked to take a peek.
Sunflower yarn bomb at the Bruny Island Health Centre
What a great community project done by some great elderly citizens. What wonderful projects people can undertake when they get together over a cup of tea and a biscuit.
Lovely crochet butterflies
The ladies have been knitting and crocheting up a storm & I will be keeping track of their efforts so watch this space for more photographs soon.
I’ve been posting pictures and sharing tales of yarn bombing on this blog for nearly 2 years now. During the last 3 years I have been involved in a series of community yarn bombing projects and I have published a short ebook on the subject. Today I would like to give a brief refresher course on what yarn bombing is and how it has changed over the past few years.
Yarn bombing also known as knit graffiti is a form of anarchic craft that melds traditional knitting & crochet skills with street art. Yarn bombing is the art of adorning inanimate & often pedestrian objects in colourful knitting or crochet. Poles, lamp posts, street signs & tree’s are often wrapped in lengths of knitted wool or acrylic yarn.
Yarn bombing has become a strong craft movement across the world. Once upon a time yarn bombing was an obscure art form, that began with a single shop door handle in Canada being covered in knitting, to keep customers hands from getting cold when opening the door.
Now there is an annual world yarn bombing day, there are books and knitting and crochet patterns on the subject. Yarn bombers are from all walks of life and come in all ages, sizes and genders, they share a love of knitting and crochet and a sense of fun. Yarn bombers will tackle just about anything from chain link fences, to bike racks, tree’s and even vehicles such as city buses, cars and even the odd army tank.
Recently a yarn bombed forest was featured in a television commercial for a big name, international chain of stores. When I first began yarn bombing it was a little more obscure and generally involved my friends and I covering tree’s in our front yards or getting together to cover an old bike.
Yarn bombing bicycles is a creative niche that has sparked the imagination of many crafters. Each year there is an entire street art exhibition dedicated to yarn bombed bikes in Adelaide South Australia. Which was designed to promote bicycling as a smart alternative to driving around the city.
Anything that can be wrapped in yarn is fair game to a yarn bomber. Picnic benches, chairs, toys, picket fences & traffic crossings are just a few examples of everyday objects that can & have been warmed up with crochet granny squares & knitted scarves.
Yarn bombing is not only surprising & beautiful to look at but it is also tactile & people seem to want to stop & touch it when they see it in the street.
See you all next week when I will be posting pictures of my latest yarn bombing projects. In the meantime I will keep my needles clicking and my mind open to new yarntastic ideas.
KNITTING YARN TEA CAKES. THE YARN BOMBERS CHOICE
Yarn bombing is simply the art and craft of covering inanimate objects in knitting or crochet. You can sew your knitted pieces to poles or you can attach it with cable ties.
Knitting and crochet has had a renaissance in popularity recently. I’ve even spotted people knitting at the pub and on the train.
In the light of day yarn bombing is bright colourful and vibrant in the sun but at night you’ve got to shine a light on it. 
A lot of yarn bombing happens at night. You can yarn bomb at night with a light on your head or a pocket torch. If you’re headed to a rave party afterward you could crack open your glow stick.
Or you can yarn bomb by the pale yellow of street lights and the headlights of passing cars  and buses.
You won’t miss any street crossings in the night where yarn bombers have been at work.
Be careful not to put your wooly scarf down when yarn bombers are near or it could get stitched to a pole.
In the dark things can look a bit fuzzy and you don’t want to drop your sewing needle.
Wearing your fluorescent jackets or vests while yarn bombing will make you look like an official council worker and therefore people are less likely to ask you what on earth you are doing.
It’s always fun to go back to the scene of the yarn bombing in the light of day to take a look at how it looks in the sun and to check out if passers by are admiring you’re anonymous street art.
Often the little things such as a miniature hat on the top of a post can have a great impact because the finer details always make any craft project.
The great thing about yarn bombing is that you can yarn bomb anything.
You can use knitting or crochet for yarn bombing a bike, a toy horse or a flamingo.
Yarn bombing is a great subject for fun photography with it’s vibrancy and texture.
Friday night a mysterious group of ladies was spotted yarn bombing Port Adelaide. They started with this vibrant park bench.
This bike rack was yarn bombed by two ladies who disappeared into the night.
Even the tree’s were targeted by yarn bombers.
Ladders were seen against alleyway walls suspiciously near yarn bombed light poles
The traffic lights look great in multi coloured crochet.
This bollard has been yarn bombed with local football colours.
Keep your eye on this space! tomorrow I plan to get a lot of day time photographs of yarn bomb craft in Port Adelaide.
YARN BOMBING 