The mermaid in Vancouver’s Stanley Park keeps warm. Photo courtesy of Mary Alice Elcock.
While we’ve been having so much fun working with Historic Joy Kogawa House and putting together their knitted cherry tree, my in-box has been filling up with worthwhile yarn bombing causes. While I promise to post more cherry blossom photos soon, today’s post is dedicated to other projects that you may want to consider getting involved with.
Calling knitters in East Vancouver
I received an email from Craig who is calling guerilla knitters to help save some historic East Vancouver elm trees. He’s hoping to find some interested crafters who would be willing to yarn bomb the trees. He says:
When signs went up along East Sixth Avenue notifying residents of imminent tree removal, the overwhelming sentiment in the area suddenly became akin to a “Nightmare on Elm Street”. Thirty magnificent Siberian Elms, which for over 70 years have defined the character of this East Vancouver neighbourhood, are slated to be fallen. In fact, historic street trees such as these are recognized by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation as one of the city’s top 10 endangered sites. With little consultation by the City to date, residents are calling on the public for support.
Guerilla knitters, you can get involved! Although a second arborist consultation to determine the level of safety and disease of the trees is still impending, meaning the tree trunks and branches cannot be covered entirely, knitters can create locks and chains to adorn the trees, symbolizing that they are not going anywhere anytime soon.
The trees in question are between the 1500 and 2200 block of East Sixth Avenue, between Grandview Highway and Nanaimo. Of the roughly 150 trees present, the 30 speculated for removal are mostly found between Commercial and Victoria drives.
For more information about the cause, visit: http://saveourelms.wordpress.com or http://www.facebook.com/saveourelms
Space is available on a first come first serve basis. We will keep accepting new applications as long as space remains available. A map of reserved sites can be found on http://yarnbombing18th.weebly.com/gallery.html. We’ll hold monthly stitch ‘n bitch gatherings every 3rd Saturday of the month at the 18th Street Arts Center. Interested parties may claim available spots and propose a site specific project during these meetings. We encourage the participants to share work in progress and exchange ideas, techniques, materials during these meetings.
Out of town/ international applicants – Due to the site specific nature of the work, local participants should visit the space at least once before submitting a proposal. But exceptions can be made for highly enthusiastic parties who live outside of Southern California but would like to work out a way to participate. We would like the proposal to include a digital image of the location/item you want to tag and a brief paragraph describing your idea. You may visit http://yarnbombing18th.weebly.com/gallery.htmlto view some images of the space for inspiration.
Contact information: Yarnbombing 18th Street, 1653 18th Street, Studio #5
Santa Monica, CA 9040
Email: yarnbombing18@gmail.com Website: http://yarnbombing18th.weebly.com/
Support International Yarn Bombing Day!
Whew, time to get out the needles and hooks and get to work!
