Knitting public art

I don’t knit. I’ve tried, but even when I’ve attempted a scarf, it ends up weird shaped. Anna knits. She’s waxed poetic about it in a post about the pleasures of knitting and travel. Here’s another reason to grab some knitting needles and yarn.

While leafing through a back copy of Reader’s Digest at my in-laws this weekend, I saw a snippet on women in Houston, Texas who are turning their scraps of unfinished scarves and other knitted items into public art. They are wrapping park benches, fire hydrants, bike racks–anything that can use a bit of color and dressing up. The group is called Knitta and has been doing their thing since 2005.

They aren’t the only ones. Knitters in the Midwest are also prettying up the world with their craft. There’s a woman in Yellow Springs, Ohio, one of those incredibly artsy, literary towns that I adore, who has dressed a tree with help from others. With as gloomy as Ohio can look in the winter, what a great idea for making folks smile.

If you happen to pass by some knitted art, and you might–the women in Houston have knitted art in El Salvador, Paris and at the Great Wall of China– maybe you’ll get some inspiration to knit some art yourself.