Graffiti knitting, yarnbombing, or yarnstorming is everywhere, but there are some folks doing it on a grand scale. And here's your chance to learn the ways of the yarnstorm from two of graffiti knitting's purly pioneers, at the UK's first ever Graffiti Knitting Boot Camp.
Two members of the London's infamous Knit the City stitched street art collective, Deadly Knitshade and The Fastener, are inviting yarn bombing wannabes to learn from the masters at the first ever weekend course of its kind.
After its humble beginnings in the city with Magda Sayeg's Knitta conjuring street furniture cosies and in the country with Dutch artists Jan ter Heide and Evelien Verkerk creating their mushrooms and flowers as Knitted Landscape, graffiti knitting took a quirkier turn in 2009 when the stitched stories of Knit the City's amigurumi art burst onto the scene.
Knit the City's themes, creatures, sense of humour and utterly bizarre handmade super hero back stories started graffiti knitting on a new purly path. Their first 'stitched story', the Web of Woe, a crocheted spider web filled with over 40 woolly creatures about to meet their end in the jaws of hungry handmade spider, did something new with the yarny street art.
It lead to the UK's first graffiti knitting book, Knit the City: A Whodunnknit Set in London by Deadly Knitshade, and commissions from the likes of Nintendo, knitwear designers John Smedley and London's Natural History Museum.
Now they're inviting a handful of handmade heroes to join them at their Yarnstorm Boot Camp on the wondrous Isle of Wight for a weekend of woolly madness.
You'll learn about:
- Creating your sneaky stitching superhero identity
- Choosing your yarnstorming target and designing for it
- Secrets of successful sneaky stitching, including photographing the final piece and showing it off online
- Solo graffiti knitting and how to deal with the authorities
- The fibre-flinging fun of working in a collective
All recruits will graduate from KTC Yarnstorm Boot Camp as a certified yarnstormer and get a photo opportunity with Plarchie, the world's most handsome crafty squid.
The weekend costs a bargain £395 and takes place from October 19-21. Included are:
- Passenger ferry to and from the Isle of Wight
- Transport during your stay
- Fabulous boutique-style seaside accommodation
- All meals from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch (with more cakes than you can handle)
- 3 workshops
- a trip around the fabulous beachside town of Ventnor
- a personal shopping evening (including a trip to the 'mega-stocked local haberdashery)
- two yarnstorms (one solo and one as a group)
- a graduation ceremony (including an official group photo, a badge, diploma and goodie bag)
- All your basic materials (though you're free to bring along anything you want to use too)
Book a place at Yarnstorm Boot Camp on the Wight Away website
Find out more about what's on offer on KTC's Boot Camp info page.
It's your chance to hang with Knit the City, learn their secrets and get some sun, sea and sand while learning the ways of the sneaky stitch. Places are limited so book while you can.
