The Joy of Public Crafts
Monday, April 16th, 2012By Twistie
(Illustration via Yarnbombing where you can see this amazing Olympics-themed installation in all its glory)
A couple weeks ago, Mr. Twistie and I were hurrying to a nightclub in Oakland to see a band we know and love perform. We were looking forward to an evening of good music, good fun, and all kinds of happy times. But since we were running late, I was also feeling a little stressed. After all, I learned at my mother’s knee that if you aren’t early by a goodly margin, then you’re late. It’s made me a little neurotic about time management ever since and then I went and married the guy who I fully expect to be at least an hour late to his own funeral.
Yeah. Issues. I’ve got them, too.
So there I was a little stressed and trying to hurry through an unfamiliar neighborhood (we’d never been to this club before) in the gathering dark, and have I mentioned I have night blindness? Because I do. So the sun setting rapidly in the West was definitely not helping my anxiety, and I was worried I was going to trip over some oddity in the pavement and fall flat on my face, which is not my favorite way to spend even a nanosecond, when suddenly I saw it: yarnbombing!
Someone had knitted a brightly colored striped cosy for the traffic light on one corner. More than that, someone had festooned the streetlamp next to it with a frilly knitted garter.
The light was still fading. In a few minutes, I wouldn’t be able to see anything at all. The neighborhood was still unfamiliar. The sidewalk was still in need of repair. We were still running late.
But you know what? I suddenly didn’t care so much about any of those things. Someone had made a frilly garter for a streetlamp and that made me happy in ways I cannot even begin to describe. I relaxed.
For some reason, seeing people do crafts in public, or seeing their crafts displayed out in the open gives me a peaceful feeling. It grounds and enchants me. It reminds me that there’s value to doing things simply because they add to the beauty or the whimsey of the world.
And that’s not at all a bad reminder to get when running late in the dark in an unfamiliar place.
Oh, by the way, the concert rocked!