Thursday, July 28, 2011

Combat Knitting And Yarn Bombing

"Did you not...clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit."
Job 10:11,12


The Combat Knitters are Navy nurses and doctors in a Nato hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  Some are on guard duty with an M16 and a ball of yarn. Dealing with 18 hour workdays in a colorless terrain, some wearing their combat knitting patches: two knitting needles crossed like swords over an outline of Afghanistan. Their weapon against all this stress is their knitting. It gives them color, shows that there is progress and a mission can be completed. They have already finished squares that make an American flag. The soothing click of the needles over the unsettling gunfire...


Now on to yarn bombing, the last two pictures show yarn bombing at it's best. Yarn bombing is like graffiti, only instead of defacing a building or object with paint, they hang knitted objects. No property damaged. It has been getting quite popular. On June 11, an international yarn bombing day was declared on Facebook.  A horse statue given knitted leg warmers and a blanket, a tree trunk wearing a sleeve, a park bench covered with a pretty slipcover. And these pictures: a local bar, yarn bombed with over 100 knit hearts. The bar's business has gone through the roof.Yarn bombers like to refer to their work as art, and say it really beautifies a thing. You might call it the grandmother's graffiti!


"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made..."
Psalm 139:13


I took all these pictures from the newspaper.

28 comments:

Regina said...

Well at least this is constructive and creative AND practical! I will come back for a better view as I'm only on my mobile..nicely chosen verse too~

Reanaclaire said...

Hello Ginny.. i m good in neither! :)
anyway, have a wonderful weekend ahead!~

Rose said...

I'm going to have to show Roger this....that gun to be specific. LOL

Annie Jeffries said...

These are awesome, G. My friend, Biene, knits caps etc. for military personnel. I'm sending her your link. She will love seeing this. Hugs, Annie.

Joanne said...

awww those poor soldiers! I think That yarn bombing is so cool!!!! I have never heard of it.
Blessings, Joanne

SquirrelQueen said...

Oh wow, yarn bombing is really cool! What a great activity for these folks. I love all those hearts in that one photo. Every time I imagine the horse statue in leg warmers I start laughing.

aspiritofsimplicity said...

that is pretty neat!! I can think of a few people I would like to yarn bomb with hearts!

Bobbie said...

Good morning Ginny. Never heard of yarn bombing before... Hope you have a beautiful weekend!

MadSnapper said...

i can't imagine sitting there in that heat with all that gear on and knitting. of course i can't imagine me knitting anyway, but this is incredible. i am sure it gives them a little joy while there. now yarn bombing over there where it is dry it might last a while, but yarn bombing here, what happens when it rains, you know what happens to knitted items when they get wet. thanks for sharing this story, it is a great one

From the Kitchen said...

I can always count on you to teach me something new. Before I met you, I was sure that I knew everything. Boy was I wrong.

Best,
Bonnie

pam said...

I LOVE the yarn bombing. It would be fun to cover a tree trunk...I've seen other pictures of that. Hope you have a grand weekend Ginny!

RoeH said...

Combat knitting.

Well - it had to happen. I think I like it better that the old form of grafitti.

Stephanie V said...

The combat knitting isn't too surprising. And it makes sense to want to create something where there is destruction.

But have to say I'm not a fan of yarn-bombing. I have seen some ugly knitting wrapped around beautiful trees. Must be my Scottish knitting ancestors' genes that are totally horrified by the waste.

Nikki (Sarah) said...

Take you're knit...this post really made me smile...have a great day out there Ginny...your posts are the best.

Mary Bergfeld said...

It certainly is an improvement on graffiti. I hope you have a great weekend. Blessings...Mary

Reena said...

Grandmother's graffiti ... LOL!

LV said...

Always a joy visiting your blog for so much inspiring thoughts. In my case, Chrysler had AC before cars.

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Funny! My mom loves to knit, but I don't know how.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginny, You sure do have surprising and nice posts here! Have a wonderful day today and stay cool!

photowannabe said...

Fascinating information and it truly warms the heart.
Really love this post Ginny.

S. Etole said...

You show us so many informative things.

George said...

This is the first I've heard of Combat Knitting and Yarn Bombing. I think both are pretty neat.

Ann said...

What a neat way for them to pass the time. You really got me wondering with your post title. Yarn bombing sounds pretty cool

Ruth Hiebert said...

That's the way to fight,with knitting.

Lynn said...

Ginny, You have the most interesting posts. I have not been in the loop for awhile, obviously, as I never heard of either item. I once knitted my baby daughter a scarf, simple but her scarf looked like a ruffle, all wavy. Should have saved it for today's ruffled scarves, lol. I really find these articles quite interesting. Think I will do more reserach into this is our area. Blessing and have a wonderful weekend. BTW my butterflys were metallic color, I painted them purple! Now they are much happier! lol. So am I. Thank you for the sweet comment.

Chatty Crone said...

Ginny - you amaze me - this knitting amazes me - and you you found this interesting information amazes me.

Fred Alton said...

Heartwarming!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue ι™ˆζ΄ι›ͺ said...

very artistic knitters. Would be quite difficult to knit the shape of the rifle.

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