Who knew that knitters could be such gangstas? Knitta Please (http://www.knittaplease.com) is a team of eleven women and men from Houston who began tagging urban landscapes with remnants of their unfinished knitting projects in August 2005. Bike poles, street signs, door knobs, and other urban artifacts are all viewed as blank canvases waiting for snuggly and vibrant wraps. Over the past two years, the team has tagged the Great Wall of China, Notre Dame Cathedral, Harlem, Seattle, and most recently, Hollywood.
I love these knitting gangstas and their colorful bombing. Knitta Please is led by two women in their early thirties who go by the aliases AKrylik and PolyCotN. AKrylik admits that "there's really no message or point, it's not an ideological experiment or anything—just something we thought would be fun and funny at the same time." And that’s what I love—that there’s really no greater artistic meaning, it’s just simple and playful urban art. And unlike more traditional forms of graffiti, you can just unbutton it if you don’t like it. As AKryik describes, "We're taking graffiti and making it warm, fuzzy and more acceptable. I like the duality there. Also, I really think there can be a lot more to the new, alternative knitting craze than meeting at the local coffee shop every Sunday afternoon to make scarves together—not that I don't like to do that, too.” It’s as if Knitta Please has taken knitting, a craft that despite a recent revival is still somewhat synonymous with stale old ladies, and given it a breath of life and an element of danger. And that reminds me of my obsession with TPing in high school. My friends and I used to TP and candy cane everything in sight. Gotta love the rush. Anyways, I sure do hope that Knitta Please comes soon to bomb a city near me. Maybe when I learn to stitch and bitch, which I hope is very soon, I can join them. But first, I must think of the perfect alias.
I love these knitting gangstas and their colorful bombing. Knitta Please is led by two women in their early thirties who go by the aliases AKrylik and PolyCotN. AKrylik admits that "there's really no message or point, it's not an ideological experiment or anything—just something we thought would be fun and funny at the same time." And that’s what I love—that there’s really no greater artistic meaning, it’s just simple and playful urban art. And unlike more traditional forms of graffiti, you can just unbutton it if you don’t like it. As AKryik describes, "We're taking graffiti and making it warm, fuzzy and more acceptable. I like the duality there. Also, I really think there can be a lot more to the new, alternative knitting craze than meeting at the local coffee shop every Sunday afternoon to make scarves together—not that I don't like to do that, too.” It’s as if Knitta Please has taken knitting, a craft that despite a recent revival is still somewhat synonymous with stale old ladies, and given it a breath of life and an element of danger. And that reminds me of my obsession with TPing in high school. My friends and I used to TP and candy cane everything in sight. Gotta love the rush. Anyways, I sure do hope that Knitta Please comes soon to bomb a city near me. Maybe when I learn to stitch and bitch, which I hope is very soon, I can join them. But first, I must think of the perfect alias.
1 comment:
ah, TPing in high school. Those were the days. And that always reminds me of when you fell over that fence at Beth's, haha. Or sneaking out of Porps' house to candy cane. Or hanging eggs and getting into a car chase in Aw Yeah while you had the parking break on the whole time. Fun times!
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