How I Yarnbombed My Town

Have you ever seen something that left such a strong impression on you, you knew you had to take part in it? No matter how long it took or what it required, you just had to do something to bring it to life?

That was yarnbombing for me.

A few colorful flower squares I contributed to the yarnbomb project.

Why did I want to yarnbomb my town?

When I began crocheting in 2014, I saw some of the beautiful examples of yarnbombing out in the world and my imagination went wild. The time was not right then, and two years later I was a full-time student, returning to college at 26 to complete my Bachelor's Degree. Fast forward to this year, as I am coming up on my fourth year since graduation, crochet has become my favorite artistic expression. With that passion and enthusiasm reignited, it was time to revisit my adoration for the idea of yarnbombing.

What did it take?

The start of this particular journey began in July of this year. I had been struggling with feelings of loneliness while crafting alone in my house. I tried a few solutions to this, including social media and the r/crochet Discord, but it didn't feel the same. So I decided to start a group!

We met for the first time in July and it was wonderful. I found so many other people who crochet, knit, and embroider in my little bubble of Central Florida! The meetings are twice a month and still going strong! In fact, in August, I asked this group of wonderful people if they would like to help me yarnbomb our quaint town of Mount Dora. I wouldn't be here writing this if they hadn't said yes!

The first mockup that I drew up to get approval and illustrate my idea to the group.

I checked with the members of the group to see what dates felt the most achievable. I had a couple of ideas in mind, but the best themed idea seemed to be the Annual Plant and Garden Fair that takes over one of the parks in town. The park in question has a gazebo-like structure in front of it. I drew a mockup of what I thought it might look like if we covered it, and made sure to take it to the city for approval. The only problem was... the Fair was the first weekend of November. We were just beginning our planning in August and only had three months to get it done!

The final collection of the submitted crochet items, mostly sewn together.

And get it done we did!

What was the inspiration?

The Fair itself was the biggest inspiration for the theme of the project, but I have been crocheting flowers and floral designs for a long time! One of my favorite types of crochet is anything in the round, and that happens to lend itself well to flowers of all kinds. The way I saw it, we could cover some of the posts of the gazebo with flowery and colorful squares of crocheted or knitted or embroidered fabric. The other posts could be wrapped with vines that had flowers attached. And since it was the Plant and Garden Fair, they would all fit right in!

How did it turn out?

After three months of ten people working off-and-on to complete as many squares, wind spinners, vines, and flowers, this is how it turned out:

It has been great!

So many people have enjoyed seeing our project! It has been one of the most rewarding things I have contributed to, and it makes me so happy that it was such a success!

Can you (the reader) do the same thing?

Of course you can! Here's a short list of the steps you can take to yarnbomb your own town:

1. Decide on your project. This will help you find the scale at which you will be decorating. If it is a small project, or if you are not working on a deadline like we were, you may be able to create all of it yourself!

2. Create a mockup. I highly recommend taking this step. Whether it is taking a photograph and doodling over it like I did, or drawing a sketch of what it might look like, or writing a detailed description of your vision, this will help you see potential issues or give you additional inspiration.

3. Recruit other fiber artists. If you will be yarnbombing a larger structure, see if you can find some local artists who can help. Maybe this is achieved by making a Facebook group or posting flyers at local craft spaces. Or, you can do like I did and host your own interest group. No matter how you do it, make sure of one thing: that you can communicate your ideas clearly with the people who want to help!

4. Make sure to get approval. This goes for privately owned buildings and structures maintained by your city government. Mount Dora is very supportive of the arts and so the city was happy to support our project. But yarnbombing can be considered a type of graffiti and getting approval ahead of time will prevent your hard work from being torn down!

5. Set realistic expectations. Projects like these don't always turn out the way we were thinking they would. Remember to take deep breaths if there are challenges along the way. Think through some potential problems and what their solutions might be before they happen. And remember that you and your contributors are going to end up with a beautiful work of art, no matter what happens.

6. Zip ties! These wonderful little bits of plastic made our lives so much easier when hanging the yarn. They can be extended fairly easily by fastening multiple zip ties together. They don't harm the yarn while holding it in place. The clean up is simple. You could also stitch the finished pieces together on the structure, but be prepared to cut your fastening in order to remove the piece.

7. Take care of your art. If you see the yarnbomb is beginning to degrade, be responsible and take it down. Be aware of the structure beneath your yarnbomb as well. If you are planning on leaving it for a long period of time, be cognizant of things such as weathering, sun bleaching of both the yarn and the structure, water damage, and structural degradation of the yarn itself. Consider taking it down at intervals and giving it a nice wash to keep the yarn free of debris and the colors vibrant.

8. Use acrylic yarn. In general, these types of yarn will hold their color and structure better than plant fibers such as cotton. Wool and other animal fiber should be reserved for projects where their worth will be better appreciated. Acrylic yarn will also hold up better to heat and moisture.

If this helps inspire you to yarnbomb your town, I want to know about it! Feel free to tag me on Tumblr or Instagram, as those are the platforms I am most active on. See you next time, and stay creative!