Yarn bombing to get us started: #icelandfieldschool

One of dozens of yarn bombed lamp posts that mark the route to Knitting Festival sites such as the Textile Centre and the Blönduós Hotel (to the right, out of frame). Knit by locals, these dressings were stitched into place by an enthusiastic cohort of Concordia students. Photo: Kathleen Vaughan, 2018.

On Sunday, June 3, the Concordia contingent in Blönduós had our first opportunity to work together in response to a local knitting group’s request: come and help us decorate the town’s lamp posts for the Knitting Festival (June 8-10, 2018)! Each summer since 2015, dozens of lamp posts are dressed up in local knitting, a version of yarn bombing that has become the town’s international signature.

Local yarn bomber Berglind Björnsdóttir shows off the knitted lengths that have been created by locals over the past three years, which this year the students helped whip stitch to lamp posts in local decoration. Photo: Kathleen Vaughan, 2018.

Students worked singly and in pairs, making an afternoon’s work of an installation project that normally would take the core group of yarn bombers a week or so to put in place. The Blönduósi were grateful for our help and we had so much fun! Even the weather cooperated, being reportedly the warmest, driest installation date in memory. (Local trick: if it’s really cold, use a plastic rather than a metal yarn needle, since the plastic won’t freeze your fingers!)