Thanksgiving is the heaviest on food of all our national holidays, and perhaps the lightest emotionally -- coincidence? Not sure, but for the Ojai Valley News, here's a fun story that I think fits the occasion, about the latest in organic chic -- yarn bombs. Other descriptors: Yarn bombers. Guerilla knitting. Yarnstorming properties. Guerilla granies,
Here's an example of this form of woolen public art, which depends on a lack of permits:
Here's the lede:
Anonymous knitters, working late at night, have wrapped dozens of poles in Ojai with brightly-colored yarn in the past few weeks, as well as cloaking local landmarks — including the metal horse in Rotary Park at the edge of town, the condor at the museum and the statue of the boy reading at the library — in impromptu woolen outfits.
And the wrap-up, quoting an anonymous knitter who likened herself to "Deep Throat," and concluded with a nice story about being out early after a big wave of yarn bombing to see if there would be any reaction. She was at Cluff Park downtown looking at an installation on an abstract statue when a big CalTrans truck pulled up. She and her guerilla friend were worried that he had come to take down the woolen outfit they had put on the statue, as if to keep it warm.
A leading member of one of the guerilla knitters group, who did not want to be identified, said that three separate groups of knitters are responsible, but don’t know each other well.
“That’s kind of the fun part, the anonymity,” she said. “It’s not that organized. We all have our own ideas. It was my idea to put a yarn bomb on the pole outside the voting booth at Chaparral for voting day. It was red white and blue, with all these criss-crossing flags. I think it made quite a statement. It’s still there, although the flags are gone.”
Three weeks ago her group hit several landmarks around town, including artist Ted Gall’s iron horse in Rotary Park, which was given leg warmers, and the statue in Cluff Park. Early the next morning the knitter was with a friend and saw a CalTrans truck stop at the site. She was afraid he had come to take the knitting down, but instead he took a camera out of his truck and took a picture of the “yarn bomb.”
When she asked him about it, he said he was taking the picture for his daughter, who had heard about the trend and liked it.
“Some towns have drive-by shootings,” he told her. “In Ojai, we have drive-by knittings."
