Look out, they say, for the cherry bombs. And the atomic bombs. The greens and the blues. The pink pieces on the Avenue of the People.
On Saturday, all of this will materialize, suddenly, as International Yarn Bombing Day descends on downtown Sequim and Port Angeles for the first time.
“It’s like graffiti. A core group of us decided to organize to bomb in a big way,” said Chrysalis Carter, one of the Fiber Arts Bombardiers, or FAB, headquartered in Sequim.
Yarn bombing, yarn storming: We’re speaking about explosions small and large, cherry to atomic, around the world.
Knitters, felters and crochet agents already have hit Sequim’s Sunshine Cafe, Bank of America Park and other downtown targets, and they plan to bomb more Saturday after recruiting more troops at the Sequim Open Aire Market.
In Port Angeles, the new Cabled Fiber Studio, 106 N. Laurel St., has its own detail of knitter-bombers.
They’re to be deployed Saturday among the Avenue of the People sculptures, those rusty figures on Laurel Street between Railroad Avenue and First Street.
Fifteen fiber artists will adorn the People with crocheted and knitted apparel, predicted Cabled Fiber owner MarySue French.
But why? Why spend untold hours knitting, weaving and crocheting, only to leave the articles out in the rain and wind and available to sticky-fingered passers-by?
“I would say: I’m a fiber artist, and this is what I do,” is French’s reply.
The Manifesto, penned by the FAB of Sequim, offers further illumination.
“We believe that the hard edges of ordinary life can be softened by adding generous doses of color and whimsy,” it reads.
“We make our marks in a medium that is cozy, non-permanent, and non-destructive.
“Call what we do ‘graffiti’ or call it . . . Transformation.”
The Manifesto ends with an invitation: “Join our adventure,” it says, “as we pursue our playful type of global warming!”
The FAB women and men mean that; Carter encourages potential bombardiers to stop by the yarn-bombing booth at the Open Aire Market, between 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday on Cedar Street between Second and Sequim avenues.
FAB has about a dozen crew leaders, Carter said. Since their operations are covert, they use phony monikers such as Brick House, Loop, Lilac and No Knot.
Photographs of the slightly disguised Sequim Fiber Arts Bombardiers may, however, be found on Facebook.
The Cabled Fiber Studio in Port Angeles, meantime, has a yarn-bombing page at www.CabledFiberStudio.com. The store is a gathering place for knitters and other fiber artists of all levels, with classes, knitting night every Thursday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. and a product line that ranges from wools, silks and cottons to bison down and yarn made with nettles.
It’s hard to say where all of this fibrous guerilla action will go.
But Carter, who has conducted much research on the worldwide phenomenon, believes the possibilities to be limitless.
Just one of her inspirations: a gigantic pink bunny, made of yarn, in a pasture in Italy. Aerial photographs of it can be found on the social media site www.Pinterest.com.
“We want to just give a little sunshine to the community,” Carter added.
“This is so not serious.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
