First Anniversary Pom-Bomb, K1-D2, 2010

How did you get into knit graffiti?

My father passed away few months after we’d learned to knit and formed K1-D2 [Knit 1, Drink 2].  As a tribute, the other members secretly teamed up and knit a lovely prayer flag piece for my porch.  Not too long after this, one of our members underwent a serious surgery and so we all chipped in to make a tree cozy for a little cherry tree in her new yard (inspired by Carol Hummel’s library tree).  After that, there was no stopping us – quickly making yarnbombs for happier and more random occasions.

I often do solo pieces since I’ve never been one to play well with others.  So being in K1-D2 is good medicine for me like that…and I have enjoyed our collaborative work a lot.  This collection of ladies is definitely some of Richmond’s finest.

Tell us about your crew.

In January 2009, my friend (and K1-D2 co-captain) Purl Scout got 2 friends to take a knitting class with her.  I tried to sign up for the class but it was already full.  So instead I asked a mutual friend – and the only knitter I’d ever known – (K1-D2 lynchpin) Slip Yum Yum to teach me how to knit.  Yum Yum and I would get together and watch bad TV as she taught me the basics while picking up my dropped stitches.  After their class was over a few weeks later, the trio started meeting with us to knit…and K1-D2 was born.  Almost immediately, we were pushing knitting to our friends and soon brought in several new members and taught them to knit.

K1-D2 runs like a television show – starting in September and ending in June, 1 night a week.  And each season we have cast changes – keeping it friends of current members.  Season 1 we started with 5 members and had 13 by the end.  We’re nearing the end of Season 2 now – went from 13 members to 19 and ending with 16.  Season 3 we will be bringing in a little new blood.

Membership was halted when we hit 19 members, so we then started holding a monthly Newbie Nite.  This is where members can bring a friend and teach them to knit – or to add to the repertoire of a newer knitter.  It’s called The K1-D2 Underground and is held in the basement of our headquarters.  We didn’t want to let our maximum capacity to keep friends from learning how to knit.  There have been 2 Undergrounds so far – resulting in 8 new knitters around town, so we already consider it a success.

Where do you create your tags? What sort of materials do you work with?

Usually I knit from home but sometimes in miscellaneous places, too – like when I travel.  For example, I did a lot of ‘Purpole’ in the backseat of a Mini Cooper going to NYC.

My favorite thing to tag is something that once served a purpose but now doesn’t, like a signpost with no sign.  I will often use purple in my tags and I always hand-sew to attach.  I am not a fan of cable ties – that makes the pieces too easy to put up or to remove.  You should have to work a little for that part, I think.  Although, we do have an ambitious project planned for this winter that we will probably have to use cable ties for speediness.

How do you get your inspiration for tags?

Inspiration is the easy part – what’s difficult is having the time to make it all…

What parts of the world have you tagged? What is your craziest yarn graffiti fantasy?

I’ve only been yarnbombing since Summer 2009 and most of it has been in RVA, but I have left tags in both NYC and Savannah.  There is a K1-D2 cross-country road trip planned for this summer when a couple of us are going to help Slip Yum Yum with her move to Portland.  We’re gonna leave our mark across the US!

Does your family know you do this? Do your co-workers know?

Yes, but we keep it undercover in general because RVA cops don’t mess around.

What do you say when people ask you what you are knitting?

“A cowl-scarf thing.”

Have you ever been caught in the act yarn-bombing? What did you do?

I have had a few people go by, but no one has ever said anything to me.  I just keep busy and keep my head low.

What’s the best piece of knitting graffiti you’ve ever executed?

My favorite is ‘Purpole’ – but mostly for the story behind it.

Purpole, Knitorious M.E.G., 2010

Do you document your work?

Absolutely – especially since it usually disappears quickly. We just started to blog earlier this year: http://www.k1d2.com. And I’ll be launching my own website later this month: http://www.wontonpower.com.

Have you gotten feedback from your community on your work?

Everyone we’ve heard from has responded positively.  The park we pom-bombed on our first anniversary actually emailed us to say that they hope we hit them again sometime.

Often times, we won’t leave our name or any sort of identification on the bombs.  We’ve poked around and found a few local blogs who had seen these yarnbombs and were like, ‘What is this all about???’  We’re finding that a lot of Richmonders have not heard of knit graffiti before and K1-D2 is enjoying giving them an introduction.

Knitted tag, cloth boxing gloves and a playdoh flag

From the very first time I peeked at their blog, Deeply Superficial People inspired me. A marriage of knit graffiti and other textiles, stitching vigilantes SewJaBoy and Owl_or_Nothing’s unique pieces have been spotted around San Francisco and Sacramento. From tags shaped like boxing gloves and bear traps, to flags placed in trees to celebrate the love of PlayDoh, to simple knitted cozies – the work of these not-so superficial peeps will definitely bring a smile to your face.

Tell us about yourself.

SewJaBoy: I am 25, originally from Kentucky, but am now situated in Sacramento California (USA) and I presently make money as an environmental consultant. (not the most creative job ever)

Owl_or_Nothing: I’m 30 and was raised primarily in Sacramento, California I now reside in San Francisco, California while attending law school.

How did you get into textile graffiti?

SewJaBoy: Well, I guess we were influenced by Knitta and beer, plus our myriad of random ideas.

Owl_or_Nothing: I think that SewJaBoy sent me an email with a link to Knitta and I really liked the idea, I brainstormed a couple sketches and then one day over beer we talked about how the idea was really cool. It just kinda took off from there. I think that we both wanted to do a project that

How did you two meet each other?

SewJaBoy: We’ve been crafting since 8-8-08, and met in the cube farm at my current job. I’m not sure how we really began talking, but our art collaboration began with her taking photos and me modeling. Apparently I’m not model quality, lucky I don’t embarrass too easily.

Owl_or_Nothing: Actually, he’s not that bad of a model, mostly because of the fact that he will comply with all my random requests (like the time I had him wear a life vest and told him to pretend swimming in a office complex hallway) and he is game to go along with all the random ideas that we come up with.

What sort of materials do you work with?

SewJaBoy: Mostly yarn and fabric, she’s been doing the knitting, and I’ve been sewing, but times are changing, we’ve got all sorts of ideas involving cardboard, paper, electric fans, etc. When we started we didn’t want to limit ourselves to one specific type of media, so we settled under the broad term “Craft Graffiti”, but time will tell. We might turn into a 2 piece string quartet. That doesn’t even make sense.

Owl_or_Nothing: To date I’ve done mostly yarn, but did my first sewing graffiti project a couple of weeks back. I’ve got some ideas for new sewing projects as well as other media including popsicle sticks, recycled CDs, and paper.

Wind sock for a traffic light, cloth bear trap on bike rack

What are your favorite objects to tag? Do you have a signature style? How do you attach your tags?

SewJaBoy: I wouldn’t say we have a style yet, our venture is still young and we have plenty of work to do. I don’t even know if I want a style. I had an art teacher tell our class that if you make the same thing over and over again your whole career, chances are you’ll get famous, but I think I’d get bored. Well, I guess that worked for Thomas Kinkade, but I hate that guy, hopefully he’s bored. Then again, he’s rich so whatever.

Owl_or_Nothing: I agree that we haven’t hit our stride yet or developed a real style. To date we’ve primarily attached our projects to objects with zip-ties or by buttons and buttonholes and used tags that we use an old school typewriter that SewJaBoy has to write our name on.

How often do you tag?

SewJaBoy: We attempt and tag once a month, we would like to accomplish more, but it’s tough with other projects/work/school/travel, oh and being lazy. There’s a lot of that on my part.

How do you get your inspiration for tags? What inspires you?

SewJaBoy: Daydreaming at work. Well in truth I try and think of something completely random and yet easy enough for an amateur sewer like me can do. I just started sewing, only made one item before this project. Things have been working out for the most part. Now I’m coming up with more intricate designs. I really think our projects are going to start getting pretty cool if we actually sit down and work on them.

Owl_or_Nothing: Most of my knitting projects don’t have much forethought to them. I went out and measured a bunch of objects so I know approximate diameters of many of the poles around town. Usually I just pull a skein of yarn out of the huge garbage bag of free yarn that was given to me and start knitting. I have ideas for some more intricate projects, but need to buy a larger set of knitting needles so that I can whip them up more quickly. I’ve got some ideas for some larger projects that have come from looking at objects and daydreaming about things that could be done with them.

Do you have any other words of wisdom for other Yarn Bombers out there?

Owl_or_Nothing: Go out and have fun. It’s a great way to bring a little piece of art to a boring urban environment.

Owl_or_Nothing (top), SewJaBoy (bottom)

VaChickWithSticks sent in these photographs of the snowy streets of Columbus, Ohio getting a little bit warmer. I think each of these trees definitely looks warmer with a sweater.

It has been a busy day for Yarn Bombing news in the UK. Both the Telegraph UK and The Sun had little features.

Tomorrow Mandy and I will be on the Early Edition of CBC radio to discuss our Yarn Bombing book that will be out in September and chat about all the great artists we’ve been able to connect with over the last year. If you’re in British Columbia and want to listen, tune into CBC Radio 1 at 7:45 am.

This past weekend, we interviewed Edie of the Ladies Fancywork Society. The Ladies Fancywork Society began in Denver, but now has members in Chicago, Denver and Amsterdam!

Like the Micro-Fiber Militia, The Ladies Fancywork Society tags with crochet – but that is where the similarity ends. While MFM’s work is very street-orientated, the Ladies Fancywork Society is interested in reviving the grandmotherly arts and bringing all the ruffles and lace work that crochet has to offer. This group doesn’t say bombing or tagging, they say that they are ‘putting skirts on the world’. Crew meetings have been known to been supplemented with cupcakes and vintage movies

Their code names are just as girlie. The ladies have monikers such as Vivian, Edie, The Twins, Ester, Jeanne Lois, and Lady Magdalena Pompelwaite. With ten members ranging in age from 22-30, they’ve managed to hit places as far apart as Amsterdam, Syracuse, Athens and New York. Some projects are individual, and others are group collaborations. They even joined forces last Valentine’s Day when Ladies Fancywork teamed up with another street art group, the Magnet Mafia, to distribute crocheted hearts on magnets around Denver.

Their work is just as sweet and delicious as you would expect – flouncy, lacy and pretty – though sometimes adorned with skulls or rocket ships.

Check out their website at http://www.ladiesfancyworksociety.com

or their myspace page at: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=266252743.

I wish I lived in Denver so I could join up with them for a night of crafting and cupcakes!

Another exciting interview is in the can! You may think I exaggerate when I call the interviews “exciting”, but it really has been cool and fascinating to talk to all of these different graffiti artists. Although the groups have some similarities, we have been struck by just how diverse the people are who are drawn to yarn graffiti.

This weekend Leanne and I talked to Kristin from the Chicago-based Micro-Fiber Militia. MFM is the first group we’ve talked to that works primarily in crochet; the rest of the taggers we’ve interviewed have been knitters. This choice may help to account for the impressive size of some of the MFM tags; the speed of crochet makes pieces like the fantastic bike rack cover above more feasible than they would be if they were knitted.

The members of this group work fairly independently, producing their tags separately and then contributing their photos to the group’s blog and Flickr stream.

We talked with Kristin about how her crocheted graffiti fits into her art practice. We queried her about her most over-the-top fantasy yarn graffiti projects, and about her sources of both inspiration and yarn. I particularly enjoyed hearing her talk about this spectacular piece by MFM member Timeline, which can be seen outside her favourite yarn shop, Loopy Yarns.

As any knitter or crocheter knows, something like this takes quite a lot of time to produce, and this piece discusses the time that passed and the things that happened while it was in progress. I am intrigued by its beautiful colour work, and by the glimpses of embroidery that are visible in the photo. I wish I could see it in person!

You can see blog entries about these tags (including larger versions of the photos) at the Micro-Fiber Militia site, here and here.

This post is long overdue – how did it get to be July already? The past few weeks have been spent tagging Vancouver (photographs coming soon, I promise), writing parts of the book, transcribing interviews, making our final pattern selections (still pending publisher’s approval – we will have those emails out shortly) and taking a few vacation days out to enjoy the summer. It is (finally) sunny here in this rainy part of the world.

Two weeks ago, Mandy and I had the great pleasure to interview Jan and Evelien of Knitted Landscape. As Jan and Evelien live in the Netherlands, we had to transverse a nine hour time change. We were just starting our days they were just entering Friday night. They were kind enough to talk to us about their artistic backgrounds, knitting techniques and what inspires them.

I’ve been a huge fan of Knitted Landscape since I stumbled across their website a year ago. Their tags resemble organic forms. Wooly mushrooms, knit flowers and fuzzy rocks: some of these pieces look so natural that you have to look twice to ensure yourself that the work has actually been made by a person.

Jan described the act of tagging as having the ability to change your surroundings – to make the world look different to others and different to yourself. Take a look at their photographs, and I think that you’ll agree that their pieces achieve this

Knitted Landscape has also gone public – having several art shows in the Netherlands. Evelein told us that for one of their shows they knitted traffic signs to direct people to the gallery. You can see their recent work at this link: http://www.knittedlandscape.com/knittedlandscapenews.html. Check out the waterlilies in the pond. They are so beautiful.

Tagging, as Jan and Evelien describe it, is about creating something that is purely about delight. Often they embark on a tagging mission without knowing their destination – they just leave their pieces where it feels right, and where it will be a welcome surprise to pedestrians.

Jan and Evelein post photographs of their own tags and encourage others to contribute images. Visit the Knitted Landscape website and consider joining their project.

Photograph courtesy of Knit Girl

It has been an exciting week – last tuesday, Mandy and I met up with local tagger Knit Girl in Chinatown for coffee. We talked about tattoos, day jobs, kids, knitting, tagging, getting caught, and everything in between.

Knit Girl has been bombing Vancouver’s east side for a couple of years. Her neighbourhood, Strathcona, is one of the oldest in the city. Heritage houses are rapidly being developed into multi-million dollar properties thanks to Vancouver’s ever expanding real estate bubble. While Strathcona may becoming popular for developers, it exists within one of Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods the Downtown Eastside – which has its struggles with homelessness, drug addiction, and prostitution.

Nicknaming her work “Strath Cozies”, Knit Girl’s creates tags that give a nod to other local street artists, and strives to bring some warmth and beauty to the streets. While we’ve been joking about the idea of ‘world yarn domination’, it was inspiring to meet someone who knits mostly for the community she lives in. With a determination to bring joy to her neighbourhood, Knit Girl is trying to change things one tag at a time.

Check out Knit Girl’s flickr page to see more of her work. It was great to meet her in person, and we’re so happy to include her work in our book.

It has been a cold and rainy week here in Vancouver. The sun came out for a few brief hours yesterday, and I managed to tag a crosswalk buzzer near St. Paul’s Hospital on Davie and Thurlow. Just as we had the camera ready – this woman came along with a pink shirt and pushed the button. She matched my tag perfectly. I love moments like this.

Mandy and I were lucky enough to talk to Magda Sayeg, the founder of Knitta, on Friday afternoon. Magda was about to open a bookstore in Austin, Texas – but managed to chat to us in the busy hours before her grand opening. We talked about many things; including how knit graffiti has spread throughout the world, the workshops that Magda now runs, and how Knitta crew has evolved. The interview will be a great addition to our book. Magda was very generous with her opinions and her time. She is an inspiration. I can’t wait to see what she gets up to next.

I am so excited! Mandy and I have an interview with the founder of KnittaPlease today – the original knit graffiti crew.