Yarnbombing at Bloom

I’m a bit behind on my blog posts (as usual). A steady stream of sunshine (very rare), visitors (the odd one) and events (usual), have played havoc with my making and blogging time. I’ve a lot of catching up to do!!

Last Saturday was International Yarnbombing Day. And I missed it.
I wish I hadnt, I had planned on doing something, but I just didn’t get the chance. I did, however, partake of a lovely little yarnbombing project a week or so ago, as part of Bloom.

Bloom is a huge gardening show that takes place in Phoenix Park, Dublin. As you may already know, I’m quite partial to a spot of gardening, community projects, and yarnbombing. When I heard a call out for volunteers through Twitter, from Dee of Greenside Up for yarnbombers, I had to sign up! Dee is part of  Community Garden Network, a new network of Community Gardens  in Ireland. They were selected to design a postcard garden at this years Bloom. A few years back, I spent some time hanging out in Shanakill/Rahoonane Community Organic Garden, in Tralee. I've seen first hand the community spirit that grows through projects such as this.

I won’t go into too many details. To read about the project, you must visit the wonderful blog posts about the project by Roisin Markham. A fellow maker and community activist extraordinaire! Roisin co-ordinated the yarnbombing for the project, and she’s written some quite insightful blog posts about the social media/crowd-sourcing aspect of the project.

Heres an excerpt from Roisins blog ,as I feel I couldnt say it better:


The title of the garden is “All Part of the Pattern”.

Theme: Community gardens knit together individuals to form communities; combating isolation, food poverty and waste. We are all – however different – part of the pattern of our community.

Primary message: A Postcard Garden reflecting the ideals and focus of community gardening in Ireland – social inclusion,improved nutrition, building community, sharing skills and knowledge. Community gardens knit together individuals to form communities; combating isolation, food poverty and waste. We are all – however different – part of the pattern of our community.
The lone tree could be isolated, but the yarn bombing (covering the tree with pieces of knitted material) is representative of social inclusion – the individual knitted pieces come together around the tree and the garden tools. The garden fork and trug are also partly yarn bombed – this ties in the work with the social aspect.
The yarn bombing also represents the wide range of other activities that community gardens host – it's not just about the gardening! Each knitted piece is contributed by community gardeners from around the country. Each piece is unique (like our member gardens) but they share a common purpose, and together make something beautiful.

Roisin asked me to make a twitter bird, to represent the social media aspect of the garden, and of community networking. I ended up making 2, because I wasn’t that mad about the first one. But, also, because I’m on a mission to try to use and promote lacemaking in every project I do.

The first one I made was amigurumi style. It was fine, but didnt quite do it for me, so I decided to make a second. The lace bird pictured above, which thankfully, got full approval from the girls!