Abstract
This chapter turns its attention to the practice of yarn bombing. Beginning with an overview of the origins of yarn bombing, including some of the criticisms of the practice, the chapter then goes on to consider what motivates yarn bombers to do what they do. Drawing on interviews with ‘everyday’ yarn bombers, the chapter presents a thematic analysis of these motivations and, in doing so, demonstrates the intersections of the personal, community, and political logics of craftivism as they play out in the activities of yarn bombers.
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Notes
- 1.
While this claim has been cited by papers subsequent to Daly Goggin’s article, I am unable to find any other documented information about this particular yarn bomb.
- 2.
Some of the more well-known yarn bombing crews include London’s Knit the City (UK), Stockholm’s Masquerade (Sweden), Ohio’s JafaGirls (US), Whitstable’s Incogknito (UK) and Melbourne’s Twilight Taggers (Australia).
- 3.
- 4.
For example, in 2014 Murray Arts, a regional arts board, coordinated the yarn bombing of the HMAS Otway, a submarine memorial on display in the small coastal town of Holbrook, located near the border of Victoria and NSW, Australia. Featuring contributions of yellow knitted and crochet squares from around the globe, the ‘Yellow Submarine’ yarn bombing project aimed to pay tribute to the Beatles, as well as attract visitors to the regional town, which had suffered a downturn in tourism as a result of changing highway routes (Younger 2014).
- 5.
De Certeau drew his ideas from military discourse, which is interesting given that yarn bombers have similarly used military terminology to characterise the act, both in how it’s described (e.g. guerrilla knitting) and in the strategies that yarn bombers are encouraged to deploy in carrying out their installations (see Moore and Prain 2009).
- 6.
Wattle Day, symbolised by the wattle tree and which has occurred on 1 September each year since 1992, is an Australian celebration that has been linked to a whole host of causes, including ‘patriotism, a reminder of home for those fighting wars overseas and to fundraising for community causes’ (Wattle Day Association Inc., n.d.).
- 7.
350.org describes itself as ‘an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all’ (350.org, n.d.).
- 8.
The Cove is a 2009 Academy Award winning documentary about the dolphin drive hunting season in Japan, where dolphins and whales are captured and slaughtered for their meat (Oceanic Preservation Society 2019).
- 9.
Short for plastic yarn.
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McGovern, A. (2019). The Itch to Stitch: Yarn Bombers and Their Motivations. In: Craftivism and Yarn Bombing. Critical Criminological Perspectives. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57991-1_3
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