Knit happens: Thirroul wrapped in fibre art ahead of Seaside Festival

As you drive into Thirroul for the Seaside & Arts Festival you might notice a bit of ‘graffiti’. This graffiti takes the form of ‘yarn bombing’, a form of street art where swathes of wildly coloured knitted and crocheted fabrics wrap around the trunks of trees and sewn bunting flutters in the wind.

Yarn bombing is thought to have originated in Houston, Texas in 2005 when Magda Sayeg put a knitted piece of fabric on the door handle of her shop. After receiving a huge positive reaction, Magda did what any self-respecting yarn lover would do next: she went on to wrap the local stop sign pole in knits and purls. Like graffiti, this form of street art is illegal in some areas, hence why it often pops up and then disappears just as quickly.

Now, while I would love to think the local yarn-bombing was done by a team of knitting ninjas in the middle of the night, the Seaside Festival volunteers have been hard at work while also keeping themselves on the right side of the law. 

“We were unable to get permission from the electricity company to put wraps around the electricity poles,” explained Tess McMaugh, a member of the festival’s volunteer art team and chief wrapper, “but the council gave us permission to put them around the local trees and fences.”

This is the second year that the fibre-based artworks have graced Thirroul, with the idea coming to Tess after she saw something similar on her travels. 

“We constantly are trying to think of new ways to advertise for the festival and I saw what a wonderful job Berry had done to advertise for the McGrath Foundation. They use pink wraps around trees and are really a wonderful sight,” she said. 

I wandered Lawrence Hargrave Drive and around King Street to get a closer look and I have to say, as eye-catching and vibrant the bombing looks as you drive past, there’s a whole other dimension to these artworks when you get up close and personal.

You can see the work put into these wraps, the stitches made by human hands with knitting needles and crochet hooks. And while some fibre artists use yarn-bombing as a form of activism, many see it as a way to simply re-humanise urban spaces. And it’s a lot of work.

Tess said: “Even though I have collected a huge amount of textiles, I did request help from the local community to get more material and wool and a few locals were happy to knit a few wraps.

“I made over 80 for the festival last year, both knitted and sewn. My daughter’s mother-in-law, Karen McLeod, is an amazing crocheter and created the lovely wraps around the library’s courtyard trees.”

As for next year, Tess says she hopes that the wraps spark some excitement in locals, gets them in the festival mood and some even join in by creating wraps themselves.

"It would be great to have more people making similar items; whatever takes their fancy!"

Have a wander along Lawrence Hargrave Drive to appreciate all the textile-bombing on offer but for those short of time, the Library and W.F. Jackson Park are must-sees