I’ll admit it, I’m still on a stripe kick. I’m quite enamored with textile artist Sara Noble’s Zebra Pole. Crochet out of plastic shopping bags, it has been hanging the south of England for a few weeks now:
Images courtesy of Sara Noble
Sara says: I walked out my flat last week trying to think where and what I could yarn bomb – and there it was, all down my road there are about five zebra crossings! All looking really slick with their black and white stripped lines and yellow flashing lights. My work is normally really brightly coloured, and this gave me a fresh approach. I stripped up plastic bags to make the yarn for the crochet because I thought wool would go all soggy in our current British rainy climate, also the plastic fits in with the shiny look of lamp post, making it more invisible. Watch out around East London – as more of these crop up!
Sara’s also been busy decorating the banks of the Thames:
I had been planning to do knitted graffiti as a way of getting my work back out into a bigger, site specific space, and was a amazed when a friend forwarded me the yarn bombing website, hence creating a sense of urgency to make something!
Thanks for sharing this with us Sara! We can’t wait to see what is next. To learn more about Sara, check out her website.
There has been lots of excitement in London lately – yarn bombing hero Magda Sayeg recently went tagging with a bunch of folks. Deadly Knitshade of Pearl Interrupted has a great story on her blog about bombing with Magda.
And, speaking of black and white, check out this awesome tutorial for spinning yarn out of newspaper. I’m really enthused about this – hence the groan-worthy title of this post. I’d love to know if anyone tries to y-bomb with this. It would probably work best in warm, dry places – not the Canadian rainforest that I reside in.
Tags: Magda Sayeg, Newspaper yarn, Pearl Interrupted, Sara Noble
Wow – the link to making newspaper yarn was fascinating – thanks. I have been making plarn for the last couple of months and then knitting with it (love the knit ups suing it!!) – I am so fond of recycling and remaking
Thanks for the link. Must keep an eye out for Sara’s knits. Maybe we’ll bump into each other.
How about a toque/scarf-a-thon in the downtown east side, with a crop of toques etc hanging merrily from the trees……and a sign giving permission for anyone in need to please take one. Temporary graffiti, but fun.
You could probably get Mike McCardell (sp?) from the news to come down and do a bit of a story.
I can knit only scarves, but let me know if you want to to this and I’ll help!
Kathryn : )
Hi Kathryn,
That is a great idea – the Ladies Fancywork Society in Denver did a similar project a few years back. We’re planning a few projects over the next few months – so I’ll definitely put you on our mailing list.
Leanne
I just finished a little knitted plastic bag piece with bottlecaps but it is so cold here in ohio not sure I will be able to put it up today arg. That newspaper yarn is really interesting.
cheers for the post! i may have a go at making newspaper yarn, i love working with paper too!!
sara
A newspaper article – front page!!! – alerted me to the fact of local yarnbombing and the Prain/Moore book. KIP’ing (Knitting in Public) and its expression (sweaters on trees; flowers on poles; crocheted bikes etc.) is alive and well in Victoria BC.
we love the zebra crossing piece, we featured this picture at part of the UKDIY exhibition and it was admired by many.
brilliant work.