A hopeful yarn: the knitters using their hobby to spread joy

In a time that has caused great sorrow and suffering, a group has put their new-found creative hobbies to positive use. 

Small towns and villages often have a great sense of community spirit, it’s what draws so many people out of the city and into the suburbs. They crave a feeling of security, some fresh air and green spaces and in so many cases better schools and services.  Many of these smaller tight knit communities, however, have really felt the impact of the pandemic and the numerous lockdowns that have resulted from it.

Events that usually would have been written into the calendar have been postponed and cancelled which has led to many members of the community feeling isolated. Flower shows, dogs shows and village fetes have all been scrapped.

Members of the community have particularly felt that children have lost out on key elements of their childhood and have suffered immensely from these turbulent times. They haven’t been able to see or interact with their peers. 

As we entered into spring and the lockdown restrictions were easing, allowing children to go back into schools: a group called the ‘yarn bombers’ decided to commemorate the new feeling of hope and add to the feeling of joy that was building by festooning the village.

Yarn bombing is a type of graffiti or street art that uses colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre: It is allows people to put use too old and new hobbies that have developed during the numerous lockdowns.

This group decided to start an initiative off to tackle an unfinished project and additionally make the village seem more aesthetically pleasing to those passing by.

A care home for the elderly was built last year, just past the centre of the village; as a result of this new infrastructure and the health and safety precautions it had to follow, a wall was built running along the centre to separate the care home and the village.

One of the residents of the village Laura Fodrey stated: “According to plans, this wall was always supposed to be covered in greenery and flowers.”

This however never happened, and the wall remained a grey eyesore in the centre of the village. With the approach of spring on the horizon and little joy in the air, some members of the community decided to solve this issue themselves. Fodrey continued: “Marie Cavanaugh organised the yarn bombing to celebrate the children returning to school.”

Little by little, the wall was starting to be covered by knitted creations from flowers and banners to dolls. 

But the yarn bombers did not stop at this wall. Recognising the joy and spark it was adding back into the community they decided to further their endeavours. Reaching out to more of the community to join ‘the yarn bombers’ and to reach further afield with their creations so more people would experience their effort.

Posters were placed in the village to encourage people to join in.  At Easter, a post box in the centre of the village was fully covered in knitted ducklings.

These ‘yarn bombers’ have also been suspected by some local community members to have left knitted gifts in more unique areas such as a child’s grave who has recently passed away. The mother Rebecca Gaskell posted onto the local community Facebook group stating: “If it is someone from your group please know that you completely warm my heart.”

Although from an outside perspective this small village group might seem insignificant and meaningless, to those inside the village it has added an invaluable sense of joy and happiness that had been severely lacking this past year and has amounted to a greater level or purpose and recognition for many.

It is the little things that often mean the most, and this small group are taking any action possible to retain the sense of community that this village, like many others, thrive on.