Knit the City Interview

Urban knitting and yarnstorming has been sweeping across London for a little while now and has already taken Leake Street tunnel, some churches and a few phoneboxes by storm! We recently caught up with a few of the Yarn Corp girls and spun and few questions at them with some amusing replies….

How did you stumble into the art of amigurumi?

Purple Purler: a Totoro came to me in a dream and made me make lifesize yarny replicas for his clone army…

Deadly Knitshade: Ancient Japanese gods instilled us with awesome and mysterious knitting and crochet powers after Knit the City overdosed on sushi one evening.

Were you surprised by the turnout of knitting mastery at Leake street?

Deadly Knitshade: Our Knit the City spy pigeons are everywhere. There are no surprises.

Purple Purler: Err, where?
Bluestocking Stitcher: Not really, as we had planned to be there ;-P

Does it sadden you that some of the knitted graffiti you weave is very temporary?

Purple Purler: As long as they’re loved, I don’t mind. We can’t expect it to be there forever!

Bluestocking Stitcher: I am hard-hearted and freely abandon my creations by the side of the road. As long as someone appreciates it for a while. That’s all that matters.

Shorn-a the Dead: Not at all – I love that they go on to lead secret lives somewhere else.

Deadly Knitshade: It breaks my tiny knitted heart to leave them there. Their beady eyes watching me go. But once they’re released into the wild it’s up to them. If you love something set it free…

How does the long arm of the law take to your knitting antics?

Purple Purler: They seem to like it…one copper took pictures of the phonebox, although he did decline to be in the photo himself…

How did you fall in with the mysterious ladies at knit the city?

Deadly Knitshade: The great Blue Whale in the Natural History Museum, utterly outraged by my first knitblast at the Whale Room, charged me to use my yarnstorming skills for good and not evil, and to gather an army to do so. Since that day I have ‘recruited’ similar souls. They all have their stories. Cider is generally involved.

Purple Purler: I was at home, quietly knitting and lamenting the use of acrylic, when I was knocked out cold. When I woke up, I was in the Knit the City Secret Bunker. They made me knit panels and squares for dastardly deeds. I’m only allowed to leave for yarnstorming or pear cider purposes!

Bluestocking Stitcher: A small hooded figure beckoned me from a darkened doorway as I was putting up some flowers. It said it liked what I was doing and though there were some people I should meet. This figure led me to a small pub, with cider filled tables. This lot were around the table.

What is the reasoning behind yarnstorming and does it relate closely to the idea of beautifying the city like some graffiti artwork?

Deadly Knitshade: Yarnstorming is a form sneaky stitching that takes knitting and crochet and drags it kicking and screaming out onto the streets. We each have different reasons for our woolly crimes, but through them all run common threads: a love of London, a love of the stitch (be it knit or crochet), a whirlwind of woolly visions that need to get out, a
distinctly daft sense of humour and a desire to do the dastardly.

What are your future knitting plans anymore patterns for phone boxes knocking about?

Purple Purler: I have a few things up my sleeve…needless to say, they look nothing like a phonebox…

Bluestocking Stitcher: No more phone boxes. *twitches* But we do have some other big things lined up for the future as a group. For my own, I am looking at more butterflies and possibly literary themed pieces.

Deadly Knitshade: More phoneboxes? Nah. You’ve yarnstormed one phonebox, you’ve yarnstormed them all. Just watch this stitching space. We can’t give anything away. We’d have to kill you if we told you. But rest assured we always have more plans. Something wicked and woolly this way comes. Mwaha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa!

Below are the latest photos taken from the knitthecity.com flickr stream. You can find out more about the Yarn Corps antics by checking out their website at www.knitthecity.com