Yarnbombing On International Yarnbombing Day – A Torrent of Knitting

I was standing on the Bart platform at 10.30 waiting for the train to come so I  could yarnbomb it. The night was balmy and  dark , everything looked vivid , bright and shiny. I was in that jittery ,  hyper acute state I get in before I yarnbomb . This is  state I treasure and also dread. I had knit a slipcover for a Bart seat for International Yarnbombing Day.

I had been riding the Bart train to no where a lot lately , measuring the seats repeatedly , making little drawings, taking pictures , draping bits of knitting here and there  . A  knitted cover for a Bart seat had seemed like a brilliant idea 4 weeks ago-such a witty comment on the collapsing state of the Bart seats .  How hard could it be ?

I had been knitting furiously all day and all month  .  I had knit relentlessly all through our vacation much to my partners surprise  . I had knit all the pieces when I noticed they were all curling up into little snails . Knitting curling at the edges  ! I knew about this but I had forgotten because I sew everything I   knit onto poles. So I had to very determinedly knit flat borders all around each piece .  And figure how the heck to make round corners.

  As I sat knitting and spinning all day for the last month trying to get this yarnbomb made by June 11 I often thought how ridiculous it was to be doing this . But I knew at a very young age that almost everything we do is just something someone made up to do – almost every thing we do is to entertain ourselves. We are all just trying to have  a good and happy life.

I like to yarnbomb.

So here it was Sat. June 11 and I had to get this yarnbomb on that train before midnight  .  Having to knit and sew seams so fast was making me much more confident and aggressive . This is an excellent reason to take on big projects. And there – I was done !

So we are back at the Bart station and the train comes along and I get on. I open up my little purple backpack and pull out this  big voluptuous piece of knitting .  Half way through knitting the slipcover I had realized  that I really liked it and wanted to keep it . Usually it is a mark of yarnbombing flair and confidence that you put up a piece and let it be taken down immediately if the fates decree .  But I couldn’t stand the idea of the knitting being up for only an hour and being thrown away.  So I had made a slipcover that I could put on and remove .  I took it out of my bag and slipped it on the seat.

” That’s a good idea  ” said the woman next to me. ” The seats are dirty ! “

‘I know ” I said ” This is my little artistic comment on the problem “

Everyone else very politely ignored us. I too k pictures and then folded the  cover back up to use in future yarnbombing adventures.

I want to mention that I was inspired to do this by Ish knits yarnbombing  The Blue Line in Philadelphia .  I like the idea of artists commenting on each others work .  I also want to thank The Russian and Brenda Loreman for helping me knit this.

I was in Time magazine this week here.

You should also see all the amazing yarnbombing that was done all over the world here.

Tags: getting good by taking on big projects, International yarnbombing day, knitted cover for the Bart seats, the dirty bart seats, yarnbombombing The Bart Train