The New Graffiti: Yarn Bombing

Now your grandmother can be a vandal
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2011 3:27 PM CDT
The New Graffiti: Yarn Bombing
A yarn-bombed tricycle.   (Flickr)

Graffiti’s latest trend stems from a grandmotherly tradition—and it’s more likely to prompt laughter than arrests, proponents say. Yarn bombers knit sweaters and cozies for public objects from lampposts to cars to mailboxes, the New York Times reports. Victims have included the iconic Wall Street bull and the statue of Rocky outside Philadelphia’s Museum of Art. “Street art and graffiti are usually so male dominated,” says one yarn bomber. “Yarn bombing is more feminine. It’s like graffiti with grandma sweaters.”

From its roots in Houston, yarn bombing has spread worldwide, from Vancouver to Paris. It all started when Texan Magda Sayeg, considered the movement’s founder, knitted a cover for the door handle at her boutique. From there, she began knitting over objects across the city. Now, she’s getting work from Smart Car and Etsy.com; Toyota paid her to make a sweater for a Prius. Want a piece of the action? June 11th has been declared International Yarn Bombing Day. (More yarn stories.)

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