‘Guerillas' getting ready to yarn bomb Mullingar

Don’t get alarmed, but Mullingar’s town centre is to be bombed on Friday September 20 – and those planning to undertake the bombing are a crew of ‘guerilla knitters’.

Yarn bombing is an arts idea, in which knitters, crocheters, or other textile makers and crafters cover things such as trees, street furniture or sculpture in knitwork or crochet, and it has never happened in Westmeath before.

The guerillas, working to make sure Mullingar sees an explosion – of colour – are doing so for Culture Night, which is on September 20.

French native, Claire Delabre, of the Handmade Design Studio, on Mount Street, is behind the initiative.

“There’s about eight people knitting, and crocheting,” she said, explaining that they’ve been meeting every second Monday to develop the idea, and to do some communal crafting.

Not just that, but a further 12 or so crafters – some not even from Westmeath – have made donations of knitted and crocheted pieces to include in the project.

The group has targeted a number of items in Mullingar that they will wrap with their creations.

“We have different items in mind for wrapping, and we’re going to organise a little trail, and each of the pieces is going to be titled,” she explains.

They are more than happy to accept donations of knitted/crocheted or felted squares from others who would like to get involved in the project as well, and the only requirement is that the pieces measure at least 10cm by 10cm. They can be of any colour – or mix of colours – and of any design.

“In fact, the more variety the better,” says Claire, who is an interior designer and a textiles crafter.

Claire intends that the pieces can be left in place over the entire weekend following Culture Night.

“Hopefully, people won’t damage them or anything, but we hope to have them there for the whole weekend, just to give a chance for people who only come in to town at the weekends to see them.”

When the project ends, they will retrieve the knitted pieces, and make them available to arts classes in other schools, if they are interested in taking them, or they can be made available to other groups around the country carrying out yarn bombing projects.