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<\/a>\n The statue outside Ottawa’s Library and Archives Canada building, after falling prey to a yarn bomber’s craft.<\/p>\n
Known as yarn bombing, it\u2019s the global movement that looks to soften the harsh city landscapes with wool and yarn installations. From bright, tea-cozy-like knitted pieces on lamp posts and bike racks to statues with their own sweaters and scarves, yarn bombing contrasts the gray concrete of the urban jungle with wool\u2019s vivid colours and designs. Unlike paint on brick, yarn bombing can be removed from any fixture with little to no trouble, using just a pair of scissors.<\/p>\n
It all started in the winter of 2005 when 37-year-old Magda Sayeg wanted to bring a little warmth to her Houston, Texas, neighbourhood by knitting a little cozy for the doorknob of her boutique. Sayeg then began masking other things like lamp posts and stop signs, and even started a yarn bombing group called \u201cKnitta Please.\u201d Now considered the mother of yarn bombing, Sayeg came to attention when photos of her handiwork popped up on the Internet, inspiring other knitters to go drape in public. Since then, knitted and crocheted installations have cropped up all over the world in many different shapes and sizes. Sayeg has even been commissioned to yarn bomb Mini-Coopers, motorcycles and office air ducts. \u201cI didn’t intend for it to become this global movement,\u201d said Sayeg in an e-mail. \u201cSo, it\u2019s become an an exciting and unexpected journey for the last six years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yarn gone viral<\/span><\/p>\n ‘Police have better things to do than arrest people for putting dollies on lamp posts.’ \u2014 yarn bomber Joann Matvichuk<\/p>\n This past summer, Canadian Joann Matvichuk, 45, declared June 11th as \u201cInternational Yarn Bombing Day\u201d on Facebook. The Lethbridge, Alta., mother of two, is a regular yarn\u00a0 bomber, covering lamp posts, bus benches, crosswalk buttons and fences. She says she came up with the idea at 3 a.m. one night, invited some of her friends to document their own work in group but didn\u2019t expect it to catch on.<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought it would be a neat idea if everybody that did this did it at the same time and how many people would notice? Would they notice?\u201d Matvichuk said over the phone. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect it to be as big as it turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n Her Facebook group amassed just over 4,500 \u201clikes\u201d and dozens of photo contributions from yarn bombing fans all around the world. The group documents a yarn-covered bench in Spain, a giant skateboard monument in California, an eye patch for one statue in Italy, pom-poms hanging on trees in Australia… The list goes on. This kind of digital mobilization has helped the yarn bombing community grow.<\/p>\n \u201cPhotographs of what we do totally inspire people,\u201d said Matvichuk. \u201cYou look at at it and go, \u2018Why didn\u2019t I think of that?\u2019 Or, \u2018I could do that and put it on this, instead.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n