Category: Yarn Bombing

Yarn Bombing, 2020!

21/9/2019

Yes, that is correct, Yarn Bombing 2020! I am hoping that we can make our yarn bombing event in 2020 easier for everyone, as well as bigger and better by starting our planning much earlier. To do this, I am looking for a group of volunteers who can help with the planning, organisation and administration of the event. My idea is to have different people take responsibility for different aspects. These would include publicity, social media, community group contacts, administration etc. I am hoping for this group to meet at the end of October and discuss what worked for 2019, what can be improved (early planning is one of these), who can help in which way. So, please let me know if you are interested in assisting with the early planning phases.

If you have any questions give me a call. But more importantly, please let me know if and how you can help.

Joy Shirley
0417 065 351

'Benalla Rugged Up' - Why Yarnbomb? Answering peoples' questions

5/8/2019

'Benalla Rugged Up' 2019 was installed by the Benalla Yarn Bombers on Friday 2nd August. There has been an overwhelmingly warm response on NEA's Facebook Page to posts we have shared, however we are aware that some people are perplexed, asking questions about the event and that the reception has been mixed on some social media sites.

The 'Benalla Rugged Up' planning portal on this website received a question through the contact us page ' '

"People have been asking why we are wrapping trees etc.
Can you email me the purpose of Yarn Bombing and what it is supporting please.
(Name Supplied)"

We asked Joy Shirley from Benalla Yarn Bombers to reply to our reader - here is Joy's reply:

'Benalla Rugged Up', an annual yarn bombing event, came about in 2018 when thinking about something that could involve the community at a quiet time of the year - winter. As the ideas developed, we realised that the end of winter meant that the streetscape had little colour and that yarn bombing could bring colour to the street.

There are a number of people in town who knit and crochet and this would give them an outlet for their creativity. As the ideas developed further, we found that homelessness week occured in August as well, so the thought of encouraging the community to be aware of homelessness in the north east while warming up our town also developed.

So the thoughts behind the event became warmlng/rugging up Benalla while encouraging awareness of the need to help to rug up people who are homeless."

The reasons underpinning yarnbombing events and the chosen sites vary. Bendigo yarn bombers yarn bomb a tram; while on the weekend of the Chiltern Jam Session festival in late July the pillars in the streets of Chiltern are yarn bombed with colourful squares containing music 'notes'.. In Benalla, trees and elements of the streetscape in the retail precinct are the focus of the yarnbombers' attention.

Would you like to read more:about yarn bombing?

'Knit one, Purl One - the mysteries of yarn bombing unravelled' Alyce McGovern, The Conversation

Bendigo Tramway = 'Yarn Bomb Tram'

'Yarn Bombing Lifts Spirits of Drought Hit Warwick '

Benalla is now 'Rugged Up'!

4/8/2019

Friday was a busy but successful day, “rugging up” Benalla. The majority of the installation was complete by around 3:30 on Friday. This included installations on trees and bollards along Mair, Nun and Carrier streets. Saturday a small group checked the installation and made adjustments and additions as available. This included some extra bollards covered in Carrier Street and a few repairs.

Thanks to everyone who contributed, and particularly to those who helped with installation activities. A special thank you to the ANZ bank volunteers who did so much of the installation work.

"Wandering around with her camera on Saturday I spoke with a few locals and visitors. In general everyone was positive. One gentleman even commented that it felt it warmed up the town. So good work to everyone." said Joy Shirley, Coordinator.

There are also some decorations outside Cooinda, the Uniting Churchand out in Swanpool. So get out and have a look around.

Over the next few weeks, we need to keep an eye on the installation and make repairs if necessary. We do not want things to start looking untidy – not a good look for our town. If you see a problem, and you cannot fix it yourself, send me a message and I will see what can be done to make sure all still looks good.

The removal of the work will take place on 31 August., coordinated by Chris Dunster will be co-ordinating . If you can helplet Joy know = Joy pass on your details to Chris.

Well done to all!

Joy Shirley

Benalla Yarn Bombing Event in final stage of preparation

29/7/2019

Hello All

We are now in the final stage of preparation for the “Benalla Rugged Up” yarn bombing event. The last week has seen good progress, but there is always more that can be done.

Here is a summary of where we are at (updates from last week’s status information in green; effort still required in red):

We have submitted our Event application; Waminda Community House is again covering us for insurance. As a gesture of appreciation, it would be great if people could join Waminda as a member. This is not mandatory, but they are helping us, and this is one way that we can help them increase their membership numbers (this in turn helps them with grant applications). Let me know if you would like a membership application. It only costs $5. A number of us have already submitted our membership applications.
We have submitted a Community Sponsorship Grant application. We needed a not-for-profit incorporated organisation to sponsor this. This was not easy to find as many of the possibilities are already applying for a grant, and they can only apply for one per financial year – this was a reason for not asking Waminda to sponsor the grant application. The Gliding Club of Victoria have undertaken this role. Our application has been successful and this money will assist us in meeting some of the costs of the event.
We have received a large quantity of material (yarn, strips and squares) donations from the community, including Cooinda and Estia Health.
Bollard covers and beanies have been allocated, although we have received a couple of new donations, and will have a look at how these could be used.
With the strips and squares we have received, we have almost completed the sewing together of as much as we can in the timeframe. Further donations have arrived this week and have assisted in finishing allocation to trees in Bridge Street. There is now a considerable amount of material to start work on trees in Mair, Nunn and Carrier Streets.
Identified bunting for six pergolas; decorations for the One Wild Apple laneway vines.
We have started sewing flowers (we have around 300) to ribbon for decorating the bridge – we will only have sufficient to do part of the bridge, and will concentrate on the town end. We still have a number of flowers that need to be sewn on to the ribbon
We have a number of volunteers from ANZ bank to assist with the installation on Friday. BUT we need more community volunteers for Saturday to finalise the work.
Some community organisations are also planning to decorate trees/poles in their own property, for example Cooinda and the Uniting Church.
Cleared bins at Library, Millers, West End Post Office, NEA

The outstanding tasks are:

Finish sewing flowers to ribbons for the bridge
Review wraps for seats/bicycle racks
Assess remaining material as to where it can be used
Allocate volunteers to the various areas for installation
Finalise plans for the installation
Final organisation of the material so that it is easy to provide the installers with the correct items
Move to and set up the Visitor Information Centre as our Installation headquarters on Thursday after 4:00pm

As you can see there is still some work to do. The fun part of actually producing the material has been great. To date the hard work of organisation has been done by a small group of people. Further assistance from people who are available on Saturday, 3 August to help with the installation would be of great help.

We will be meeting on Wednesday, 31 July at 10:00 to review and finalise the plans for the installation on 2/3 August (that is the coming Friday and Saturday!). Everyone is welcome to come to this meeting. We will be meeting in our “work room” at the Gliding Club. Call me if you have trouble finding the work room (0417 065 351).

If you can help with the finishing work on the material (mainly sorting and sewing) or with the installation on either Friday or Saturday, please come along on Wednesday or call me on 0417 065 351. I have cancelled all my other commitments this week apart from Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon, so I should be available to talk with you if you have any questions. And you can always send me an email.

I hope you have enjoyed any part you have played in the journey to get us to this point, and even if you cannot help with the installation, come along and say hello to those who are working on this essential part of the event. After all, this was the goal for the work we have all undertaken.

Thank you all

Joy
0417 065 351

'Benalla Rugged Up' Update

20/7/2019

Hello all

Here is the latest update around the progress towards our yarn bombing event – Benalla Rugged Up.

We have submitted our Event application; Waminda Community House is again covering us for insurance. As a gesture of appreciation, it would be great if people could join Waminda as a member. This is not mandatory, but they are helping us, and this is one way that we can help them increase their membership numbers (this in turn helps them with grant applications). Let me know if you would like a membership application. It only costs $5.
We have submitted a Community Sponsorship Grant application. We needed a not-for-profit incorporated organisation to sponsor this. This was not easy to find as many of the possibilities are already applying for a grant, and they can only apply for one per financial year – this was a reason for not asking Waminda to sponsor the grant application. The Gliding Club of Victoria have undertaken this role.
We have received a large quantity of donations from the community, including Cooinda and Estia Health.
Bollard covers and beanies have been allocated, although we have received a couple of new donations, and may have a look at how these could be used.
With the strips and squares we have received, we have almost completed the sewing together of as much as we can in the timeframe – perhaps the remainder can be put aside for next year
We have started sewing flowers (we have over 250) to ribbon for decorating the bridge – we will only have sufficient to do part of the bridge, and will concentrate on the town end.
We have a number of volunteers from ANZ bank to assist with the installation.
Some community organisations are also planning to decorate trees/poles in their own property, for example Cooinda and the Uniting Church.

The outstanding tasks are:

Finish sewing flowers to ribbons for the bridge
Allocate the material we have to the trees
Allocate volunteers to the various areas for installation

If you can help with any of these tasks, let me know. We are still working out of the Gliding Club building, but have moved to a ground floor room – actually we have three rooms. I plan to be there Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and Friday afternoon this week. The building is open form around 9:00 to 3:00 Monday-Wednesday and Friday. I can also arrange to be there on Monday afternoon and part of Thursday, or even later afternoon, early evenings on any day if anyone can help at those times. Just give me a call on 0417 065 351.

Our major priority now though is to identify extra volunteers to assist with the installation process. Without volunteers to help with the installation, all the effort to get us to this stage will not be successful.

Please contact me as a matter of urgency if you can assist with the installation on either Friday 2 August or Saturday 3 August. An hour or two on either day is all that we ask, or more if you are available. Just let me know what time/s you can help so I can set up a roster.

We are near the end, and with the material that we have received, we are quite excited about being able to achieve more than last year. Our town will be brightly coloured for August.

Joy
0417 065 351

'Yarn Bombing' update

12/7/2019

Hello All

We have just under three weeks before the installation days on 2/3 August. This is just a brief update around the progress to date for our Benalla Rugged Up yarn bombing event.

We are hoping to get a small grant form the council to assist with the costs. If we are unsuccessful, nice to have items like coffee vouchers for volunteers may need to be dropped while we concentrate on covering the necessary costs around cable ties etc.
The Event application should be submitted during the coming week, once we confirm that we have public liability insurance covered by a local organisation. We have spoken with the Council and it looks like everything else is covered.
There is still some work to do preparing the material, but there is also a lot that has been done. The biggest jobs outstanding are to finalise the allocation of the prepared material to trees, seats, bollards etc, and to sew flowers onto ribbon for placing along the bridge.

For those who are able to help with some of this, the Gliding Club room will generally be available from 9:00 to 3:00 Monday to Wednesday and on Friday while the office is open. Please let Rhonda in the office know if you are there. I will be there:

From 1:00 until around 4:00 Monday
From 10:00 until around 12:00 on Tuesday and Wednesday
From 1:00 until around 4:00 on Friday

If anyone is only able to help on Thursday, please call me so we can work out if there is a time that I can be there – at the moment I am not planning to be there as I have another commitment, but may be able to work around this.

Joy Shirley
0417 065 351

Yarn Bombing Update - a call for people to assist with our preparation

4/7/2019

"Hi

First an update – we have unpacked all the material from last year, and it is now in the room at the Gliding Club that we will be using for our preparation.

It would be great if a few more people could assist with some of the upcoming work. To this end, I will be there from 1:00pm on Friday afternoon. To start, we will need to discuss the steps necessary to be ready for the installation on 2-3 August. Then we can continue sorting the material, and working out what actual knitting/crochet needs to be completed. Hope to see you then.

If you have trouble finding us please call me on 0417 065 351 after 1:00pm on Friday.

Joy"

Planning is now well underway for 'Benalla Rugged Up' 2019!

18/6/2019

Planning is now well underway for 'Benalla Rugged Up' in August. A number of planning meetings have already been held, with the next meeting to be held on Friday 21st June at 1 pm in Gallery 2 at NEA.

"We will be looking at the progress we have made, and planning our next steps. To be successful, we do need people to assist with the steps needed to be able to stage the event.' Joy Shirley

Progress to date includes planning tasks such as setting up a time line from 'go' to 'whoa'; commencing the process of seeking approvals from VicRoads; commencing the Council Event Application; investigating a Community Sponsorship Grant process to assist with costs; contacting Waminda re insurance coverage for volunteers during installation and removal; and more.

Collection bins and some posters have now been distributed, and some posters.

The group is looking for help from volunteers to assist with organisational details and planning; distribute more of the posters; market the event; prepare finished products ready for installation and assist with the installation.

The preparation of products ready for installation will commence from 1 July at the Gliding Club at the airfield.

If you would like to assist with the organisation of 'Benalla Rugged Up', your attendance at the planning meeting at NEA at 1 pm on Friday 21 would be most welcome.

For further information - Contact Joy Shirley 0417 065 351

Benalla Rugged Up... 'we're back to nude trees'... until 2019!

2/9/2018

Taking Down 'Benalla Rugged Up' - Saturday September 1pm outside Coles

24/8/2018

"Many hands make light work. We are looking for volunteers to assist in taking down the inaugural yarnbomb creations in Bridge Street East. We will meet outside Coles in Carrier Street (on Rettkes Butcher side) at 1pm on Saturday 1 September. The more people who can help the quicker the job will get done.

We will store them for next year and add to the mix so we extend the coverage. (Those which may not have faired as well will be donated to other causes eg animal shelters.)

As we’ve sat knitting or crocheting, there’s been talk of how great it’s been having a common purpose over the last few months and what a fantastic activity it’s been across all generations. Ideas are already percolating for the next install!

It’s also highlighted how passionate, caring people working together can make a real difference in creating a kinder, more connected community. When good people come together with a common purpose anything is possible.

Thank you Benalla. Let’s continue to pay it forward."
.

Source: Benalla Yarn Bombers Facebook Page - Event Information.

Congratulations to all involved in 'Benalla Rugged Up'!

21/8/2018

Congratulations to Benalla Yarnbombers on the 2018 Yarn Bombing Event - 'Benalla Rugged Up'.

From small beginnings, a dedicated and inspired group of potential yarnbombers took up the challenge, learning about yarnbombing and possible designs along the way. The planning group included NEA members Annie Longmuir, Maggie Hollins, Sally Wallace, Jennifer Gill and Mary Kennedy. As the deadline for contributions neared, photos began to be shared on FB of the collected knitting and crochet contributions building up on tables in the Uniting Church Hall. The cane collection baskets at NEA began to fill to overflowing. Heart warming creations began to appear in Bridge Street, with one of the trees outside NEA featuring Mary Kennedy's hula skirt and Annie's colourful knitted, crocheted and flowered swathed creation hugging the tree just outside NEA's front door. Wonderful bollard creations include Jennifer's daisy flowered crocheted chains which loop between the bollards outside Millers' store. The inaugural installation has proven to be beyond expectations both in volume and design.

NEA was listed as a venue for planning sessions; knitting sessions at the Red Road Cafe and as a collection point, NEA's role also included providing the requested option of website within the NEA website. A 'Planning Portal' prepared by Bev and Maggie provided an early point of contact and 'referral on'; however the Yarn Bombers FB site, email list and Mailchimp newsletter were clearly used more effectively as communication strategies during the busy period in the weeks leading up to and during the installation.

Websites can, however, provide a repository function which FB and Mailchimp are perhaps less suited for. They can come up in search engines for people researching Benalla's yarn bombing event and be a useful source of information for media releases. The Planning Portal has been retained in the Projects area of the NEA website for now. Updating the Gallery tab in the Planning Portal with images of the 2018 Yarnbomb would be worthwhile; as would retaining its links to the FB page, and also links to all news posts categorized under Benalla Yarn Bomb. Next year, it could be used again or it could form a base from which to begin discussing the development of the Yarn Bombing event's own website.

Benalla's inaugural yarn bomb has been memorable, There is a substantial resource base on which to build next year - both in terms of knitted and crocheted works and knowledge of patterns, installation, and more. The event has considerable capacity to continue to reach out to the community in unanticipated and engaging ways such as happened this year with the joining in from knitters from Estia Health; volunteer support by regional ANZ staff using their 'community bank' hours to help with the installation; and many other examples of unanticipated contributions by the community. More recently, the Yarn Bombing group has received a request from Benalla P-12 college for speakers to enable them to find out more about what is involved as they are hoping to motivate their 5/6 classes to become involved with the YB project next year.

Congratulations, Benalla Yarn Bombers!

An Occasional BLog

Celebration and debrief for the inaugural Benalla Yarnbomb Installation

21/8/2018

A message from Catherine McMillan - "Many thanks again for being part of the inaugural Benalla Yarnbomb installation. Hope you're all feeling suitably chuffed at the results - which look fantastic and seem to be holding up very well (touch wood!) A couple of hats have met untimely ends, but the trees and pergolas looks great".

Catherine has planned a light celebration lunch followed by a debrief (what worked, things to improve and other ideas and suggestions; also take down logistics, on Thursday 23rd August at the Library (Pat Claridge Room) from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. RSVP's closed on the 20th for catering purposes, however if you are keen to go to report back, it may be possible to attend after the lunch to share stories and provide input .

Final tweaks, yarn bombing raids and the publicity net widens!

30/7/2018

Saturday 28: Final tweaks and sewing together in the Pat Claridge room of the library, then the last of the yarn 'bombing raids'!

Sunday 29: 'wouldn't you just know it' ... it rained! (Perhaps watching rain gods wanted to say 'great work'!)

Monday 30: An item appears about the event in Victoria's High Country News - www.victoriashighcountry.com.au/listing/benalla-rugged-up-benalla/

Benalla yarnbombers - final tweaks and a huge thanks to the ANZ 'volunteer bank' staff and other members of Friday's installation crew!

28/7/2018

'Benalla Rugged Up' - Benalla's winter yarn bomb - a celebration of winter

28/7/2018

Congratulations to NEA's Annie Longmuir, Mary Kennedy, Sally Wallace and all @benallayarnbombers volunteers involved in yesterday's installation of the colourful knitting and crocheted panels now hugging the trees in Benalla's CBD. 'Benalla Rugged Up' is a colourful celebration of what has so far been a very cold winter.

Benalla's Winter Yarn Bomb Installation - Friday 27 July 9.30 am or 1.30 pm

27/7/2018

Yarn Bombers Update - Final Yarnbomb pre-Installation meeting for those who can make it - Serendipity Cafe, Tues 24 July, 11 am.

23/7/2018

Location: - Serendipity Cafe

When: - Tuesday, 24 July 2018 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Description:

Location of CBD base for Friday & Sat? - & who's manning it?
Equipment required for installers to pack into bags - cable ties, scissors, map, phone. nos of organisers if any issues, indemnity forms, do's and don'ts for where to place items- fluoro vests),
Insurance forms
Maps & locations - Plan
Bollards - where to be delivered by Depot 5. Shopping trolleys?

Catherine Macmillan

Yarn Bombers update--meeting today now at Holy Trinity Hall, Arundel St

20/7/2018

Setting up 'Yarn Bombing Central'!

14/7/2018

Benalla Yarn Bombers - latest planning message from Annie

14/7/2018

Attached is an informal report from a meeting Susan and I had with the council on Wednesday 11th July in the afternoon. Quite a few safety considerations were raised re installation We will also have some helpers from the ANZ bank on the 27th July at 9am.

Today we have laid out all donated items in the Holy Trinity Church Hall. There are signs on the door and fence posts. This is our "Yarn Bombing Central" for the next 2 weeks so we can piece together donated items into tree wraps and bollard covers.

Susan has the key and will have the hall open 1 to 3pm (or later if we're on a roll) on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday for the next 2 weeks. BYO scissors, darning needles and hooks. Wear warm clothes as it is quite chilly in the hall.

Please pass this on to anyone else who you think may be interested.

Cheers

Annie

Annie's notes on planning meeting with Council on Wed 11 June

Benallayarnbombers - help needed Friday lunchtime Anglican Church hall

11/7/2018

The use of a hall at the Anglican Church has been secured for the exclusive use for the yarn bombers. We are needing to set up trestle tables in the hall and spread out all the donated made bits for the yarn bombing, so we can begin to sew them together so they are in "wrappable" bits.

We are needing helpers this Friday (13) at lunchtime to set up the tables (if you are able and lay out all the made items that we have.

The hall is located on the right side of the church, towards the rectory on the church grounds.

If you know of anyone else who may be interested in helping, please let them know.

Annie

Benalla Yarn Bombers Planning Portal on NEA's website

12/6/2018

The Benalla Yarn Bombers, keen to lighten up Benalla in a late winter yarn bombing event, decided it would be useful to have a website to share news about the event, both for planning and marketing purposes. The group decided to ask Bev from NEA for advice and possible help. Maggie was prepared to be involved in developing and updating the website. Chatting around the table, it seemed that developing an free version for the event might not work, so it was decided to try to work within the NEA site. With approval to go ahead from the committee, Maggie's input, and some ideas from Bev about setting it up as a 'planning portal' with a menu on the side (as NEA's menu needed to stay on the top) the Yarn Bombers Planning Portal is now available as a support to the Yarn Bombing Event. If you would like to check it out, you can go to Events on the NEA website menu, or simply go to http://www.northeastartisans.org/benallas-winter-yarn-bomb.html

Yarn Bombing Map of Sites now available!

4/6/2018

Benalla's Winter Yarn Bomb event - get those knitting needles out!

26/5/2018

Annie Longmuir's knitting and crochet class at NEA on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 7.30pm ($8 including coffee, tea) is a rallying point for Benalla's Winter Yarn Bomb - Annie can help to work out suitable patterns, show you how to knit or crochet flowers to decorate the plainer strips and squares and more.

Community members can also add to some knitted coloured strips while enjoying a coffee or chai at the Red Road Cafe. Cornelia Selover and Mary Kennedy joined in while on the volunteer roster during the week. The fact that knitting is supposed to be therapeutic seems to be true - they both look so calm in the photos below. .

You might also find someone to give you a lesson at NEA if you can't knit, as Seamus did this week. He proved to be a fast learner, taking on board Bev's grandmother's memory jogger 'In, Over, Through and Off'! with aplomb. He also looks quite serene, don't you think...

Annie and other NEA artisans, volunteers and friends are also involved in the Benalla Winter Yarn Bomb event's planning group which met on Friday 25th May at NEA, We'll continue to share news of their progress on our website.

Finally... North East Artisans is one of a number of venues at which knitted, crocheted other suitable textile work or balls of yarn can be left to feed into the late winter 'yarn bombing' of Benalla! Here's a link to a downloadable pdf flier for the event.

Benalla's Winter Yarn Bomb - Download flier here

An occasional BLog...