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(♪ Light Music ♪)
Hi, I'm Sally Ackerman.
I'm also known by my yarn-bombing name
of "K Witta," which stands for "knit-witta."
Yarn bombing is a type of public art
that features displays of knitting or crocheting
on ordinary objects in the community.
In honor of the 2nd annual International Yarn Bombing Day,
Michaels is providing creative inspiration
to show you how you can create your own yarn bomb.
Today I'm going to give you a few tips and tricks to yarn bombing.
Let's take a look at this letter I picked up at Michaels.
It looks like an M-shaped tube was knitted, but I didn't do that.
I knit a flat rectangle
and whipstitched it to the back of the M,
creating this form-fitting shape.
The whipstitch is really the yarn bomber's best friend.
I have a few more tips for you.
To find materials to yarn bomb with,
you can just look around your house.
All knitters and crocheters have what I like to call "UFOs,"
which is unfinished objects like this sleeve.
And you can take a sleeve,
that you're never gonna finish that sweater and you know it,
and put it around a stool, for instance,
or a vase, or whatever you have around the house
that you would like to yarn bomb.
Another possible material you could use is old crochet pieces.
Crochet works very, very well in yarn bombing
because you can cut it and it still will leave a nice edge.
You can cut it to shape.
For instance,
say I need this crochet piece to be a little bit shorter
and I want the orange to be my edge,
I'm just going to cut into the pink,
ahead of the orange,
and cut along until I get to the end,
and then you can just frog out all of those fibers
and you will have a nice, finished edge there
to use in your yarn bombing.
I used the word "frog" it out.
A lot of knitters and crocheters use that word
because of the "rippit," you know, to rip it out,
so we call it "frog."
Anyway, that gives you a nice crocheted edge
that you can then sew onto shapes or to forms.
And so crochet works really great when you're yarn bombing.
I have more tips.
Sometimes the whipstitch fails us yarn bombers
and we need to think of something a little bit different.
For instance, when I was yarn bombing my bicycle,
when it came to the fenders, if I had sewn around the fenders,
the tire would no longer go through,
so what I used was the handy-dandy Velcro tape.
Now you don't need the soft side of the Velcro tape.
You just need the kind of this prickly side.
And you can just lay that down
on your surface that you're yarn bombing.
Put your piece on top and it sticks--no worries!
Another tip for yarn bombing something large,
or tall and thin, for instance,
you're yarn bombing the lamppost in front of your house.
And you can wrap your piece around your lamppost
and use your knitting needles as straight pins,
and they'll give you a nice clean edge to sew
and they'll end up even.
Anyone can create their own yarn bomb,
using these techniques,
even if you don't know how to knit or crochet.
Simply find an old afghan or another knitted item
that's no longer used and you're set.
We would love to see what you create
on Michaels' Facebook page.