KnittaPlease tags New York

 The image of a knitter is often perceived as an elderly woman in a rocking chair. This image is one that is extremely distorted and was challenged by KnittaPlease, a crew of knit artists led by Magda Sayeg.

The crew is taking over cities with colorful knit projects, covering objects from parking meters on the street to entire buses with the colorful yarn. The group was created out of frustration from individuals beginning knit projects and never completing them, leaving leftover knit pieces with no purpose.

Graffiti tagging on public spaces created a huge debate about whether the work was done out of positivity or just to deface property. Colorful pieces of artist names, portraits and murals done with spray paint paved the way for graffiti artists, but tagging with knit projects has become the friendly approach. It was August of 2005 that KnittaPlease was born. 

KnittaPlease projects were seen in numerous cities like New York, Hollywood, Seattle, Mexico and London. The crew created a name for their tags, "yarn bombing," and have done exactly that.. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sayeg said, "It all began in 2005 when I was sitting at my desk at my clothing boutique in Texas, looking at this steel and glass facade across the road that was really gray and hard and I thought, ‘That would look so much nicer wrapped in a bit of colorful knitting.'" Her first yarn bombs caught a lot of attention from Texas locals.

This sparked their interest and people started to donate unfinished knit projects to Sayeg to help beautify the city. "It's pretty amazing the way people have responded," Sayeg says. "I've got kids in California who tag their cars and old ladies who tell me they have tagged their best friend's mailbox. One woman emailed me to say that her and her granddaughter were so charmed by what I was doing that they were going to knit pieces and tag their neighborhood," she said according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

KnittaPlease has gone from small door handles in Texas to monumental pieces worldwide. Some of the outstanding pieces KnittaPlease include yarn bombs outside The Standard Hotel, a sculpture in Paris, the Great Wall of China and a bus in Mexico City.

The yarn bombs outside of The Standard Hotel in New York were done for this year's Fashion Week. The installation was available to the public from Sept. 9-17.

The yarn bomb in Mexico City covered an entire bus. According to the Qantas Travel Insider Sayeg stated, "I wanted to do something big; something larger than I'd ever done before. So, when a sponsor contacted me offering to supply an old vehicle I jumped at the chance to wrap a bus. It still is parked at the Plaza Luis Cabrera in Mexico City's Roma neighbourhood. It took a crew of five people about five days to complete the project, which used around 20 deconstructed knitted blankets."

Wanda Ward, a junior at the University, began knitting when she was a junior in high school and found herself knitting "24/7." Ward expressed that "younger people knit and I feel like the misconceptions are being shattered. Knitting is becoming popular." When informed of KnittaPlease, Ward added, "a crew of knitters are tight, original."

Knitting became an extremely popular hobby with a variety of ages partaking in the activity. KnittaPlease is shedding light on how knitting became a modern art. Their eye catching knit projects has caught the attention of people worldwide.