JOIN THE CLUB: Guerilla yarns

A SECRET band of graffiti artists is enjoying the thrill of sneaking around at midnight covering items in a splash of colour.
The graffiti guerrillas like to revisit the scene of the apparnt crime to check the responses and reactions of passers-by.
Occasionally members emerge into daylight for a quick raid, transforming what they consider drab pieces of infrastructure into a riot of colour.
They they disappear again.
The group doesn’t have a website and keeps members identities secret, except for their graffiti tags that are known to other members – but they’re open to other like-minded artists joining them.
One of the ringleaders, Inger, has performed this particular style of graffiti art all over Australia and is even looking to go international.
“Sometimes I’ll do it on the spur of the moment – I always have material in the car and if I see something that I can cover I’ll nip out and sew it up,” Inger said.
“We’re always on the lookout for our next project. I did the Western Australian parliament at midnight once!”
Inger and fellow artist Tiesha are members of the Norlane Yarn Graffiti Group, which demands a lot of knitting before carrying out a raid.
They’re also known as guerrilla knits or yarn bombers and the phenomenon has exploded around the world in the past two or three years.
The group was responsible for knitted festive adornments that turned Lt Malop St Mall’s bare trunks into Christmas trees.
“We’ve done a number of projects around the region, out in Golden Plains and around Labuan Square in Norlane,” Inger said.
“I did one in Queenscliff but someone complained and the council removed it. But Geelong’s council has been good and has encouraged our work.”
As well as the Mall project, council also asked the group to yarn bomb a series of poles lining central Geelong’s Lt Ryrie St car park, simply for “the cost of our yarn and our coffee”.
The secret band often meets at Urban Bean community café where numbers have been growing organically.
Inger said preparing a large project took up to three months, with the objects carefully measured before the almost military-precision installation.
“We’re knitting or crocheting almost daily but we’ve had a lot of good feedback from our projects so far
“Our basic philosophy is to put a smile on someone’s face and colour into drabness. We will yarn bomb anything that stands still long enough.
“Yarn is easily removed and doesn’t damage what it is applied to but it adds colour and brightness. We love doing it.
“We’d like to be taken more seriously – we feel that we’re achieving some legitimacy as a form of textile art.”
Inger said anyone interested in becoming yarn bomber should start knitting and keep an eye peeled for the group’s next installation or ask around for a word-of-mouth introduction.