Yarn Corner Stitches Up City Square

Part of my contribution to the project

Not long after Yarn Corner had formed last year, and we'd been bitten by the bug of yarn bombing in groups and how fun it can be and how much you can get done, we were sitting around at a cafe and someone had the idea of doing a tree, but I wanted to go further and do lots of trees! I wanted IMPACT! So why couldn't we yarn bomb all the trees in City Square? Surely it couldn't be that hard? Oh my, I had no idea!

That's me sewing up the first tree. You wouldn't think from this angle, but I'm seriously high up!

I think ducks might be becoming my signature yarn bomb as everyone loved them last year and they were a hit again this year.

6 months in the making became Yarn Corner Stitches Up City Square. It was about 4 months of asking the City of Melbourne Council if this type of idea was even possible and waiting for them to go to different departments to get permission for a whole range of things. Then submitting examples of other trees that had been yarn bombed and how they weren't damaged. And a meeting with the Tree Planning department about their Urban Forest Strategy. Then a mountain of paperwork to get through, and all this was even before they accepted our proposal! Then of course we had to find yarn bombers that were interested in our project.

When we realised just how much yarn we were going to need and how much money it would take to put on such a massive event, I knew we would need sponsorship. So I sent emails around to yarn stores/suppliers and to my surprise the donations came flooding in! Lots of yarn donations, but the one that took the cake was $15,000 worth of yarn from a very small family run business in Coburg called Yarn Barn. We were over the moon!

 We had to hire a scissor lift so that we could get to the tops of the trees as they were so high! 

Nice job Grace!

Pebble hugging her awesome hexagon tree.

While it was nice to get yarn donations we knew we needed money aswell. Australian Country Spinners came on board with $1200 and combined with some fundraising between YC members, we managed to get what we needed for the installation day and workshop day.

 We've had a small film crew running around after us for a few weeks now, filming how we've put together this event. 

That's Louis our camera man, Tracy, Jacqui, Lyndel and Grace working on tree 11.

Everyone had such different pieces. Our only theme/color guide was that it had to be rainbow - but rainbow means something different to everyone. This is Lyndel's tree.

Installation Day came and went with out too much trouble. We had more than enough material [too much in actual fact] and helping hands. We got done an hour before the scissor lift needed to be picked up. And apart from a few burnt noses [it's Summer in Australia] we all did really well. I was so proud of everyone pitching in together to get such a large event installed.

 Me mucking around in front of Jaguar's tree with the cute clouds and pot of gold.

Yarn Corner is made up of 207 members worldwide. This tree piece was done by Stacie from Yarn Revolt in the US who has been a part of every YC project so far even though she lives a world away.

The next day was the workshop day where we held classes for Kids Learn To Knit, [Adults] Learn To Knit, Learn To Crochet and Learn To Yarn Bomb. The lovely Andrea from CCCK yarn store came down to help with the workshops and Spotlight kindly provided the contents needed for the Learn To Yarn Bomb kits. [If you are interested in a kit, then we have some left. You need to join Yarn Corner on facebook - search under facebook groups - and reserve your kit.] 

Again, it's interesting to see what kind of pieces people came up with. That's Grace's on the bottom and Katie's on the top.

Back up on the lift. I think we overestimated exactly how much material we would end up with. I guess we were all eager to yarn bomb!

Sunday morning we also had a photo shoot for Moreland Leader who continue to support Yarn Corner and our yarn bombing efforts.

 Photo from the Moreland Leader newspaper article

Pebble, myself, Jaguar, Emilienne and Jacqui.

http://moreland-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/brunswick-craft-group-shares-a-yarn/ 

 Overall this event has been a resounding success and I'm extremely proud of all the Yarn Corner members and what we've managed to do.

Lots more photos can be seen on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/yarncorner
or flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/twilight_taggers/sets/72157627243779461/

Luv Bali.