Yarnbombing Charlotte, North Carolina

I was walking around Charlotte with my brother looking for yarnbombing sites. My brother is not a yarnbomber but he got interested in looking at various poles and bike racks. I was  seeing a lot of detail about Charlotte that I had never noticed before. All the street signs were perched on strips or bent metal so they were no good. When I come to a new city I always bring a lot of knitting-I bring a large plastic bag full of different sizes of yarnbombs to try and prepare for whatever I might find. I also bring a lot of knitting to calm my frayed nerves after I have been sneaking around putting yarnbombs up.

We walked past The Discovery Museum and I noticed a bike rack that was really cute. We walked past it again and my brother pointed it out and said  “That’s a good rack”.  I walked past it with my 7 year old nephew and he pointed to it and said I should yarnbomb it. So I did.

There were really interesting bike racks in front of  The Bank Of America Head quarters. They had a U shaped pole suspended in between 2 wide ridged” park your horse here” type  poles.  Unfortunately they also had multitudes of police men standing in front of them guarding them and The Bank Of America Head quarters. I try to be very bold but I’m not an idiot so I moved down the street.

I like the library in Charlotte , it had a fountain, lots of books and nice racks. I liked that men would sort of sit lean on this rack, so I made it more comfortable.

All this yarnbombing was nerve racking so I retired to my hotel and sat in the lobby on a sofa and had a cup of tea. I nagged everyone I saw to bring me a cookie and finally the man at the front desk brought some on a glass pedestal. I ate my cookie and finished knitting my final yarnbomb.
I had picked out a bike rack in front of Coco’s restaurant. This is my nephews’ favorite joint so I wanted to appreciate it. Mercifully it had gotten dark and there was a nice line of waiting taxis to hide behind. I sat comfortably on the ground and sewed. When I finished a man came up excitedly and said ” Oh I have seen this on the Internet, people knit all over everything. What is it called?”

“Yarnbombing” I said.

Yarnbombing And Obsession

Here are 7 yarnbombs I am taking with me to North Carolina where I will yarnbomb Charlotte, Asheville and Gatlinberg, Tenn. And learn how to make glass beads!

Yes- Yarnbombs and Obsession. I do love everything about yarnbombing.

When I am interested in something I do it very intensely. I live by these 3 quotes ;

1. You can’t spend too much on art materials.

2. If a little of something is good, more is better.

3. It never hurts to be enthusiastic!

I’ve actually already been through one round already of obsessing about knitting and spinning in which I recklessly bought needles, spindles, spinning wheel and yarn. I spend 10,000 dollars on knitting stuff that year, I seem to recall. There-now don’t you feel better ?

I love the process of being bad at something and steadily getting better. Many people hate the being bad to start so much that they don’t want to learn new skills. But you can’t get better if you don’t start kind of bad.

Ok- So obsession. If you adore something and do it gleefully all the time is it obsession? Or addition? Or passion? I’ve always wanted to spend almost all my time making art.  I do get anxious and  whiny if I don’t get to knit and spin, so maybe it is an addiction.

I thought you might like to see some of the yarn I use.  You can see that it  has that tender look of handspun.

I would like to mention that besides yarnbombing I am also obsessed with Lindt dark chocolate with a hint of sea salt, Project Runway , Jim Butcher ‘s Harry Dresden novels,the chocolate covered almonds at The Cheeseboard, Squeak Carnwath, chocolate pudding, yoga and Frank Stella.

I can’t wait to get up in the morning.

Here is a fun story of  a yarnbombing. Here is another picture.

Yarnbombing, Bike Racks and Cranky Bikers

I enjoyed reading The Berkeleyside article about this bike rack. I was surprised-there were a lot of comments. The internet is always the place to go for a refreshing little argument. I wanted to squeeze in and give all my opinions too but I thought I might lose my air of dignity. But now I must comment.

Some people were worried that the pieces would get old and icky. One person announced that the knitting would disintegrate in just a few days. { I’d kind of like to see if that was possible} Some people are tired of yarnbombing . And flash mobs.But it’s was the bikers who commented the most. They were very interested in the Question- “Yarnbombing -Does it  really make a better bike rack? Yes or No? “

There was some disagreement.

My interest is this -  how the knitting looks so jazzy and surprising on that long wave. I ‘m interested in how  the cold metal feels with the soft yielding wool.  I like the surprise of such a big colorful piece of knitting on the street. I like how it makes people stop  and stand and look.

Bikes are very cool looking machines. I really really like how the complex bikes look against the patterned knitting. The world looks so amazing when you’re open.

Our first bike rack at CCA. With bikes.

It’s  all one sculpture-bike rack with yarnbomb and bikes.

Here is The Sf. Gate blog with comments.

The Yarnbomb Supreme and The Love of Berkeley

So I was finally ready to sew up my 30 ft yarnbomb.  The Russian agreed to help me which was truly kind of her because she is sort of sick and also working 10 hour days. For people who actually pay her! We decided to sew starting at 2 on Saturday. I needed to make a date with somebody  in order to get out of the house and stop knitting.

I met The Russian at the bike rack across from Earthly Goods.  She was a little delirious. It was sunny ,warm and crowded. It was just what I wanted.

People rarely say anything until a lot of the knitting is sewn up and they can see what it is we are doing. We started taking pictures as we sewed.

People began to ease over to speak with us . It was the most amazing thing. Everyone was pouring love on us . It was like  being  in a bridal reception line.

“Thank you so much for what you’ve done for this town .”

“We’re so glad to meet you after seeing all your work.”

“Is some one paying you to do this? No?  Adorable.”

“I love the knitting you did on the T.”

“No!  We didn’t do that one!”

We did all this yarnbombing in Berkeley because we love it. And we got loved back.

Of course now I have to make a small list.

How To Get Love

1. Go to where the love is. We were out at 2 in the afternoon in our favorite spot.

2. Be patient. We have been installing 10 months.

3. Be relaxed. I am much warmer with people when I  am sewing with The Russian then when I am alone.

4. Sit  lower than everyone else. I think people like  looking down on us.

5.  Be open to being loved.

To me this was The Yarn Bomb Supreme.

An article in Berkeleyside  on this squiggly rack. here

Tips For Aspiring Yarnbombers

So I hear you’re thinking of becoming a yarnbomber.  And you would like some tips. I’ve been thinking  a lot about my early adventures and here is my advice;

1 Start close to home. Look at every pole and rack near by and imagine them covered with knitting. A lot of what is fun about making art is day dreaming and picturing what you want to do.

2. Also- starting close to home will let you keep an eye on your work. You will want to run out the door every morning to see how it looks. And if it is still there.

3. Measure your pole or rack. Actually -start carrying a measuring tape at all times .

You never know when you might want to measure something.

4.Knit the work so it will fit tightly.I have been plagued by saggy yarnbombs.

5.Decide if you want to sneak around by yourself or sneak in a group. Are you yarnbomber type A-The Single Sneaker or Y arnbomber type B- A  Group Sneaker.

6.Buy a little pair of scissors and a tapestry needle to sew your pieces onto poles.

No-buy 25 tapestry needles because they will disappear as fast as you can unwrap them.

7.Get your hands on a digital camera and take lots and lots of pictures. You might not get to see that piece again.

8.Knit big.

9.Be bold.

10.Make it beautiful. You are in everyone’s space-it’s only polite.

And remember -you never know if this is legal or not. Start discretely and work your way up.

It’s  fun , isn’t it.

This yarnbomb was for CCA and was knit by the fabulous Russian.It’s on Broadway in Oakland if you want to see it.

Here is another fun blog link about our yarnbomb in PT. Reyes here.

Get cracking!

Where’s The Yarnbombing? What’s Taking So Long?

I’ve been very busy with my knitting and my coughing. And my very important thoughts. I have knit 30 ft  to go over a long waving bike rack across the street from The Cheese board.That’s 3 weeks of knitting and spinning for one bike rack and I have seriously doubted my sanity. Even more than usual. But I have a real eye hunger for that curving metal to be covered with color. And all that knitting helps me think.

Here’s What I Thought About;

1 The  Berkeley Yarnbombs are getting pretty faded and beat up. When should I take them down?

2.Should I take them down and put up new ones in the same places?

3.We made an installation all over Berkeley and got lots of fun articles, blogs and attention. What else can we do new?

4.What do my eyes long to see?

5.What do I long to make?

The unsuspecting bike racks in the Gourmet Ghetto.

Tell me what you think.