First Avenue was yarn bombed last week.
Downtown shoppers and merchants were greeted with colourful pieces of yarn work on light posts and bus stops from Horne Street to Grand Street Wednesday morning. There were also gnomes hidden in flower pots and butterflies wrapped around some posts.
The items, it seems, were specifically created for certain stores. For example, a small fish was hanging from a hook outside Belle Sports and a colourful blue wrap with pink cherry blossoms and a cup of tea was found in front of the Sweet Spot.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the work, and the only clue as to who did it is a tag that says ” A Place Near Home <nirvYARNah.blogspot.ca>”
NirvYARNah is a blog belonging to Crow Shade. There are photos of the yarn work and locations of where they are placed.
In ta recent post dated June 11, Crow Shade wrote it took two hours to put up the yarn art downtown and the team worried about what would happen to the seven gnomes in the planters when the watering truck came by.
Many people have assumed the owner of the new yarn store Trendy or What Knot on First Avenue is responsible for the yarn storm, but Mady Pechler told The Record it wasn’t her.
Pechler said she began noticing the work around the community almost two months ago.
The movement, she explained, started in the USA, where instead of graffiti, people started wrapping poles and stairs with yarn.
“They’re objects of art, usually to beautify a space.”
Some people consider this graffiti, said Pechler, who understands why the person behind the work may not want to be identified.
“For me, it brings a smile to my face.”
Mission RCMP have not received any complaints about the yarn art work.
