Knit the City: Yarnstorm the Eleventh

The world is such a strange and exciting place, and once in a while one happens across something one didn't know existed - but upon further reflection, one realizes that in a world as varied as ours, nearly everything must exist somewhere. What I am talking about today are knit sea creatures. Created by graffiti knitters.

A mysterious internet (interknit? Okay, okay. I'm tired, it's late, so I punned) knitting presence called Deadly Knitshade created an 8 meter long knitted squid made entirely from plastic bags. I've been sleepily trying to piece together this story, and what I thought at first would just be a brief squid mention is clearly far more wide-ranging. First, see Plarchie the knitted squid, with his new friend Charles Darwin:

But then I discover there's a whole slew of these mysterious knitters. They even have a self-titled book called Knit the City out next month (tragically, only in German). From Knit the City's website:

Knit the City have an ongoing mission to guerilla knit the city of London, and beyond that the world, and bring the art of the sneaky stitch to a world without wool.

They create what they call Yarnstorms, essentially guerilla art happenings centered around work they have knit. It's awesome. Plarchie was a part of Yarnstorm the Eleventh: Stitched Sealife Escapees, created for the London Museum of Natural History. Previous Yarnstorms have included Plunder of Pirates and Gate of Ghouls. They release their creations into the wild, and people take them, which they say is okay with them. In addition to Deadly Knitshade, their corp includes: Lady Loop, Shorn-a the Dead and The Fastener (a name that makes me laugh every time I read it), and they are quick to remind people that if they become obstreperous, they have pointy sticks.

According to their facebook page, there will be a new Yarnstorm pretty much any minute. So, all my London readers should keep their eyes open. Who knows where they will strike next?

For lots more information about Knit the City go here. The photo above belongs to Deadly Knitshade.