PERFECT USE OF MEDIUM

WOW

Ugh, guys, don’t do this, never do this, some person or people yarn bomb periodically all over my fucking neighborhood and never come back and check on their shit and now there’s just faded, raveling, mouldering yarn clumps on lampposts and fenceposts and trees that mostly looked just fine before being “reclaimed” and it makes me embarrassed about how grungy and derelict, say, the lot on my corner, or the sidewalk up the block, now seems

(also, the posts and poles used to be available for posters and fliers and now aren’t because guess what you can’t tape a show or sale poster to the fucking gross mildewed yarn things, so you’ve actually decreased useful community space, thanks so much)

never not reblogging yarn bombing hate

who the fuck can even afford to abandon that much yarn, yarn is like one of the less cheap craft supplies, to me yarnbombing is a form of conspicuous consumption like lawns and truffle fries (except not like truffle fries because truffle fries are fucking cool)

literally never not reblogging yarn bombing hate/this is another really really good point, even if this is like lion’s brand acrylic that adds up a lot for one of those trees much less all of them

i loathe yarn bombing, so +1. 

in australia a lot of yarn bombing takes place on private property, so i wonder if that contributes to the fact that i haven’t seen any gross decaying yarn bombs?

I’ve seen plenty of decaying yarnbombing around the northern end of Coburg.  It’s gross and wasteful.  And, to reiterate, bad for trees.

FURTHER THOUGHTS REGARDING MY HATRED OF YARN BOMBING, because I just angrily ate my breakfast and remembered this: 

So, Moreland City Council sponsored a yarn bombing thing outside the Coburg Library last year.  (Yarn bombing is soooooooooooooooooooo subversive, you guys!)  Some of the stuff, like knitted flowers loosely tied to tree branches, was really cool. 

Most of it was … not.  You had your trees wearing legwarmers, which messes up the lives of the organisms living in or on the trunk, and can cause rot if the wool is left to get damp and mildewy.  It also interferes with photosynthesis in some species. 

Then there were the gross, mildewed layers of wool on the bike racks.  I wasn’t a cyclist at the time, but I saw a lot of people going out of their way to avoid those racks.  And parking places for bikes are finite!  Not to mention that most of the posts around the library were also wearing blankets. 

Most annoying of all, for me, was the fact that all the seating provided for the elderly and disabled — and there are a lot of elderly people in that suburb — was covered in wet, mouldy wool.  Sucks if you’re in poor health and need a nice sit!  

I mean, I was only mildly annoyed at the time, but right now, being in the middle of a nasty rheumatoid/fibro flare-up, I’d be ropeable if the only options for resting were (a) covered in wet wool or (b) owned by businesses that expect you, not unreasonably, to buy their products in exchange for using their chairs. 

…I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations on writing angry letters to council? 

IN CONCLUSION, I hate yarn bombing.  It is bad and people shouldn’t do it.  It’s also so very tied up in gentrification that I feel like an actually subversive application of knitting skills would be to make blankets and knitwear for homeless people, or refugees, or poor people.  

And this is all a pretty damning counterargument to all the people who say they like yarn bombing more than typical graffitti because it’s less damaging/permanent. They like it because it’s associated with nice, non threatening middle class establishment types. 

What I don’t get about councils paying for it: why not just paint those things? I don’t know how trees feel about being painted(*) but poles and benches and stuff could often do with some nice cheery colours, and it wouldn’t interfere with their usefulness. 

(*) googling “painting trees” was unhelpful haha

I hate yarn-bombing because the first time I saw it was in a park next to the downtown courthouse and across from Seattle’s busiest (and sketchiest) homeless shelter. That park is full of homeless people, all day every day. If the shelter is at capacity, people sleep in that park. So, the first time I saw yarn-bombing, I saw people sleeping under trees that were better dressed than they were. And fuck that.

Yup.

I was invited to help yarn bomb something, brought this up and was uninvited for harshing their yarn squee.

plus, the types of people who do yarn bombing (i can only assume white and middle to upper class) aren’t gonna get caught doing it and probably wouldn’t suffer very harsh consequences even if they did.  it’s kind of a form of appropriation (maybe?) because think about who graffiti/street art is associated with and how much trouble they get in when they get caught

fascinating and important commentary

wow this is really eye-opening

i want to add also that yarn-bombing usually uses cheap ass acrylic yarn which is, yknow, a synthetic fiber made of plastic. hence the word “acrylic”. it will not biodegrade in any reasonable timeframe. so it’s littering. it’s putting fucking plastic on and around trees, exactly the same as tying a fucking shopping bag to them, and walking away. fuck you.

there are so many charities in need of blankets!! if you are interested in crochet or knitting, please consider helping instead of bombing!

Charities in need of Yarn

One alternative I’ve seen is organizing a yarn-bombing event that brings together many knitters to create pieces that will be taken down within a day or two and converted into blankets to be donated.

Things I never thought about but that really needed to be pointed out!

File Under: I Learned Something Today