One Sunday recently I was reading The Washington Post and they had one of those “wacky things about Baltimore” articles. Well, the quirky sites were typical, such as some oft mentioned shopping and dining sites. But, I stopped dead when I saw a mention for something called “the sweater tree”. Even more amazing, it was only a few blocks from my home, in front of the LovelyYarns shop. She collected abandoned knitting projects from the people who frequent her shop and then stitched them around the trunk. Apparently they also knitted meter cozies but they were quickly removed.
Apparently this is a part of a trend called urban knitting, or even guerilla knitting. Most famous is the Knitta please project began in 2005 as some of the members agonized about what to do with their abandoned knitting projects. Somehow this led to them surreptitiously attaching knitting to mailboxes and street signs in the middle of the night.
They call it “graffiti”, only using knitting materials. Since then, knitters have attached their knitwear to any available public place. Largely this consists of trees and light poles, but like in the case of Finish and Swedish knitters, it can extend to moorings, handrails, and whatnot. Surprisingly, this trend is visible in urban cities all over the world, even if it is not as prevalent as other art forms. Some cities, such as Yellow Springs, Ohio, led an organized effort to beautify their communities with “tree cozies”.
I’ve heard rumors of another sweater tree on 31st between St. Paul and Charles, so I will investigate that soon.
Resources
"Urban Knitting: The World's Most Inoffensive Graffiti" by deputydog
"A Sweater for a Tree" (AP story)
knittaplease.com
Posts
2 comments:
OUr jafagirl group has been doing knit graff on poles and benches too (knit knot tree is not there but is coming back in the fall) in our little village in ohio.
People seem to get a kick out of them and it brightens up the street.
fun :)
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