Guinevere Turner is a Content Creator in the Content Engine network.

I do a thing that is commonly called Yarn Bombing.  (And by “commonly called” I mean that no one has ever heard of it, but those who have call it Yarn Bombing).   It is the simple act of putting creations made of yarn onto objects outside – sweaters for trees are popular, cozies for bike racks, and people seem to be drawn to adorning newspaper boxes.   The aesthetic is generally one of grandma-gone-hippie-gone mad:  a mish mosh of yarns made into something cute and sewn around the trunk of a tree in the middle of the night by a girl in Portland with a tribal tattoo.   In actual fact, my Los Angeles yarn bombing group is anything but that – it is a multi ethnic and aged group of women (and one man!) who are mostly not hipster at all, and who can crochet internal organs and knit hundreds of hummingbirds.

I myself am partial to making scarves, sweaters, vests and hoodies for a statue of a bear in Griffith Park.    It’s work that takes a lot of measuring, planning, time and a little bit of stealth.   I certainly wouldn’t call it “bombing”.   That implies that I throw a bunch of yarn and run, and it’s far more complicated than that.   It’s street art – it takes skill and some amount of cajones.  It is illegal.   OK, but not crazy illegal – it’s technically not vandalism, it’s just littering.    But when you are putting bunny ears on the statue of a bear at 6 am on Easter Morning, at the very least you run the risk of people yelling at you from cars.   Mostly it’s honks of approval, and one guy walked up to me and said,  “Why are you doing that?” in the tone someone might say,  “Get a job.”  Next up for me:  keep an eye on the hedges that adorn the entrance to Royce Hall on the UCLA campus on October 15^th.    Oh and if you see me, please call me Captain Hook.  That’s my street art name.   And if my face is blurred and my voice is distorted, don’t take it personally.