Yarnbombing at the Helsinki Cathedral

In 2011, the Martha Association and the Textile Teachers Association attempted to set a record and gather one thousand blankets which would be donated to the Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters.
They met their goal and then immediately surpassed it by gathering 7,800 blankets. Three thousand eight hundred of these afghans were then spread across the steps of the Helsinki Cathedral and photographed.

The urchins by Jin Choi and Thomas Shine architects

 

The Urchins were created Jin Choi and Thomas Shine in response to a call for art for the 2017 iLight Marina Bay, Singapore, which had the theme for the festival of Biomimicry and sustainability. 

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This project is inspired by sea urchin shells, which are enclosed yet light weight, delicate and open.  Their textured and permeable surface interacting with light creates openness, while the pattern’s mathematical repetition brings visual rhythm and harmony.  Against light, the sea urchin natural form reveals one of the most spectacular patterns found in nature.

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The project mimics this orderly, repetitive pattern and soft forms, achieving a visual harmony from the contrast between nature and the man-made environment, and between the firmly grounded masculine skyscrapers and the hovering feminine object.

The Urchin is a hand crochet fabric shell held in tension over an aluminum frame that is suspended from Dyneema cables.  The cables fasten to steel trusses holding the Urchins in place.  Because the structure is light weight, the suspending cables are thin, and barely visible during the day.

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The crochet fabric shell is constructed of 3mm white double braided polyester chord, illuminated by multiple white spot lights, creating the illusion of an evenly glowing structure.  Each Urchins skin is use about 17.000 meters of polyester cord, with each urchin weighing about 100kg. 

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The Urchins were designed for simple installation, and are composed of 20 segmented panels, which are joined to a series of metal ribs at ground level at the site, and later fastened to a top and bottom ring once suspended.  Once assembled, the Urchins are hoisted to the final display height and secured in place.

The development of the project took about two and a half months. It included the development of the lace design and the support structure for the construction. Most of the original lace designs come from Dilmond's Needlepoint Made Lace published in 1890 and modified by Jin Choi to use the crochet as a lace instead of embroidery needle. For the construction and assembly of the crochet project in the support structure, 50 people from all over the world needed to work intensively for another two and a half months. 

 

Source: http://choishine.com/UrchinsFabrication.html , http://choishine.com/urchins.html

Yarn bombing

According to Wikipedia, yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk.

The practice is believed to have originated in the U.S. with Texas knitters trying to find a creative way to use their leftover and unfinished knitting projects, but it has since spread worldwide.
The start of this movement has been attributed to Magda Sayeg, 37, from Houston, who says she first got the idea in 2005 when she covered the door handle of her boutique with a custom-made cozy.

 

blossoms 

Dallas Winspear Opera House

Yarnbombing by Jessie Hemmons

 Paris yarn bombing 

Yarn bombing in Seattle 

Yarn bombing in Chicago. 

 Heart Yarn Bomb