Yarn bombing activity in the South Loop

Well, I have been busy yarning up my neighborhood.

First up in January was to start finishing the bike rack I started in November. I completed most of the rack, but there was a bit left naked on each end that I wanted to finish up. What's more, someone parked their bike on one of the naked sections and has left it there for two months solid. It's a pretty nice bike, too, so I have trouble imagining that they left it out deliberately. Whatever.

I decided I had to move forward and complete it anyway, so I figured out a way to start sewing up the sleeve, then push it down through the lock and connect it to the other section. Technically the owner of the bike could still get the bike out without cutting any yarn.

Bike rack on Dearborn between Harrison and Polk

Well, technically they didn't get off totally scot-free, because I did yarn bomb the bike a bit as punishment. My cousin says if I cover the whole thing it becomes mine. Let's see where this goes.

Cozied up the bike a bit

Next, I used up some long-suffering chunky yarn to make a pretty cabled sleeve for a smaller bike rack in front of my building. While I was installing this one, I got some really funny comments. One guy followed me on Instagram, and another lady thanked me. Everyone has been much more positive and excited than I expected. Here I am installing stuff at 6 a.m. in the dark to avoid attention, and apparently people love the sleeves.

Bike rack in front of Sandmeyer's Bookstore on Dearborn

Now for the tiny scraps. I have had the good fortune to make many beautiful shawls, ponchos, and cowls in fingering weight yarn in the last few years, and I have been unable to figure out what to do with the scraps. Well, now it seems that yarn bombing Chicago is the solution.

Next up on the scraps is this cute little pipe sleeve on Plymouth; I was looking for something to remind us that summer...well, that summer will eventually be here again.

Cute little butterfly on S. Plymouth Court behind Grace Lutheran Church

That little butterfly is a pattern from a cute little book on butterflies, bugs, and other things to crochet and knit. I'm sure I'll be using other patterns from it as I continue these projects.

The next project I had in mind was to decorate a small post in Dearborn Park. I don't really know what the post is, but it looked forlorn and naked.

I used some big remaining scrap skeins of vaguely matching colors to crochet in shell stitch pattern about 18 inches wide for the post's shaft. It reminded me of my grandma, so I'll do a little tribute to her on my social media accounts. She made a shell stitch afghan in a variegated brown and white yarn (VERY '70s) that my dad loved for years.

On the way out this morning to install the project, I noticed I was wearing the gloves I made from one of the yarns, a Dragonfly Fibers brown variegated fingering weight yarn I bought in Silver Spring, MD. Some of the other yarns were Dream in Color and MadelineTosh. (I told you I had enjoyed some lovely yarns.)

Gauntlets in Dragonfly Fibers

I installed the shell project on the post this morning, with Dave as lookout, since the sheltered residents of Dearborn Park may think I'm casing the joint. Only one person walked by while I was installing, actually, and they crossed the street to avoid us. Haha.

Post in Dearborn Park One on Plymouth Court south of 9th Street

I think it turned out pretty nice! It was a little too wide, but I tried to sew it up tighter by overlapping the ends. This was a lesson in the stretchiness of yarn.

My next project is already underway for some pipes in Printers Row on Polk, and then I'm not sure. I'd like to put some pizza slices on a sleeve and sew it onto a pole in front of a pizza joint, or maybe breakfast foods (eggs, bacon, pancakes) and sew onto a pole on front of White Palace Diner in the South Loop. It's good to have plans.