Street artists replace tagging with knit and purl

There's a lovely article in the New York Times about the rise in "yarn-bombing." In essence, women are taking to the streets to add their own commentary with knitting needles, making the world a warmer, fuzzier place. Malia Wollan (woolen?) writes:

It is a global phenomenon, with yarn bombers taking their brightly colored fuzzy work to Europe, Asia and beyond. In Paris, a yarn culprit has filled sidewalk cracks with colorful knots of yarn. In Denver, a group called Ladies Fancywork Society has crocheted tree trunks, park benches and public telephones. Seattle has the YarnCore collective ("Hardcore Chicks With Sharp Sticks") and Stockholm has the knit crew Masquerade. In London, Knit the City has "yarnstormed" fountains and fences. And in Melbourne, Australia, a woman known as Bali conjures up cozies for bike racks and bus stops.

To record their ephemeral works (the fragile pieces begin to fray within weeks), yarn bombers photograph and videotape their creations and upload them to blogs, social networks and Web sites for all the world to see.

Sometimes called grandma graffiti, the movement got a boost, and a manifesto, in 2009 with the publication of the book "Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti," by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain, knitters from Vancouver, Canada. It is part coffee-table book, with color photographs of creative bombs, and part tutorial, with tips like wearing "ninja" black to avoid capture.

Grandma graffiti artists dressed in ninja black - I love it!

Check out this video of yarn artist Olek as she wraps the bull of Wall Street into his own little knit cozy.

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