Yarn Bomb: Annoying Graffiti or Way to Pretty up Downtown?

Yarn bombers say they are just trying to pretty up the urban landscape. The co-owners of the thought the recent act of guerilla art committed just outside their restaurant was "pretty cool."

They were happy to have yarn wrapped, like a 5-foot-long tube sock,  around a city light pole just outside their door. Customers remarked on it. 

"Apparently it's huge in Europe," said Kevin Weinberg, one of the co-owners of the restaurant at Bonanza and Locust streets. "It's making its headway in the U.S. It's much nicer than paint graffiti. I'm told it's popping up a lot in Berkeley."

Weinberg's partner, Ellen McCarty, regarded the multi-colored, multi-layered work as a feminine and friendly touch. The artist or artists remain a mystery, though they left a "tag" in the form of a heart-shaped Valentine's card signed "DRNKN knitters wuz here," attached to their work. 

The city's position is that the yarn bomb is graffiti and a public nuisance that needs to be removed, and city workers took it down Thursday morning. Heather Ballenger, the public works director, told the Contra Costa Times she didn't like to be "the grinch" but that the city doesn't want any artist, however well-meaning, to think he or she can decorate public property without permission. 

According to the website, Yarn Bombing, artists create knitted or crocheted works that range from cherry blossoms to bees to strings of words on public signs, benches, parking meters and telephone poles.