Terrorism has a new name: Yarn Bombing

Okay, so originally this blog was meant to be about Asians and knitting, as through discussion with one Tanyth Hellings I needed to prove myself wrong after saying, "Asians can't knit". Since I have really no idea about knitting (kind of proving my point), I decided to do a bit of research via Wikipedia. After typing in knitting and preparing myself for what would most likely be volumes of boring information on the many different facets of knitting culture I saw a picture of a knitted beanie, some knitting needles and a ball of yarn. Immediately my mind drew similarities between knitting apparatus and Asian eating utensils, as well as strings of yarn looking like some delicious udon noodles.

Still unsure of how I would fuse these two ideas in a hilarious blog-like fashion I decided to read on. As I continued to read I found myself absolutely fascinated (italics indicate sarcasm right?) by the various knitting structures, types, techniques, apparatus and so on and so forth. Just as my eyes began to glaze over, I came across the heading "graffiti". Now I'm sure most of us would never associate Knitting with Graffiti... so with my interest piqued I began to get the feeling that Asians and Knitting would have to be set aside for another time (my apologies Tanyth).

So this knitting graffiti thing is called "Yarn Bombing" (quite a creative name I think), and it started off in the US and has apparently spread worldwide. How is it done? Well to put it simply think Tea Cozies applied to public surroundings and if you still don't get it, look at the pictures below.











So if there is any confusion with the title of this blog and how I feel about Yarn Bombing I was simply trying to be creative, as I think that this new form of graffiti is AMAZING. And it is so much better because if you don't like it (you silly people out there :I) you don't have to spend a few hours using paint remover and a scrub brush, just a pair of scissors! It's also more about making an area look awesome rather than getting across a political view, tagging yo gangstas turf or learning to spell. Speaking of gangstas turf there also seems to be a few anonymous knitting "gangs" although only one group (or person) was mentioned in the wiki article, the "Midnight Knitter" (cool name right? RIGHT?!).

To conclude I'd just like to thank Tanyth for setting me out on this interesting journey... probably to her disliking as I haven't actually covered what she wanted me to blog, but hopefully she has found this more interesting. That being said, I may just become an ambassador for the Asian Knitting culture, as this whole yarn bombing thing is very appealing. Plus I want to make myself a scarf... and be part of a knitting gang (if you want to comment try and contribute a potential gang name). So until next time...

I'M LAME,
Phil