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HOLMBERG: The case of the Knitorious yarn bomber

Posted at 4:42 PM, Oct 18, 2013
and last updated 2013-10-18 16:58:38-04

“I started knitting at the start of 2009 and by the end of the year, me and the crew I was knitting with started yarn bombing.”

It’s an international, woolly, and clean form of graffiti that began eight years ago. The Knitorious M.E.G. is Richmond’s most ghostly practitioner.

“Some of my favorite areas of Richmond are the ones that are more decayed and neglected and I want to give it a little bit of fund.

Her identity remains a strictly guarded secret.

“Whenever you leave something on the street, you can never be sure how people are going to react, so I make sure to document it, “ she said. “Sometimes they are left up for years and sometimes  a day.”

She puts them up in the middle of the night, placing the final seams on a pre-knitted installation.

“I won’t cover over existing city signs,” she explained, “I pick naked poles.”

She began her “spread the love” campaign at the beginning of the year and has reached a total of 22 installations, with intent to keep going through the end of the year at least.

The police and other less colorful characters might be scratching their heads, but they are not diligently searching for the notorious yarn bomber.

“I definitely like the temporariness of it and that it doesn’t harm property,” she said.

She was careful not to leave any trails or tidbits, revealing only that she’s a newish mom who did not grow up in Richmond.

“The best part of the fun it being anonymous and people not knowing who to thank or to blame,” she explained. “Street art is subjective and some people are into it and some people aren’t.

But I’m Sherlock Holmberg—and I approve.