Mystery cylinders to yarn bomb

Since moving to the South Loop, I have been perplexed by these little cylinders on some poles in the area. Were they for mail? Some other kind of storage? At any rate, they seemed completely abandoned and decrepit.

My curiosity turned into a conviction to yarn bomb them into something more sightly. I thought about cylinder shapes for a while and could only come up with pop cans and Tootsie rolls.

Then it hit me - planters!

I started with the one at Dearborn and Polk, making a sleeve for the cylinder, some violets from 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet, and some leaves from Planet June's violet pattern.

Violet planter at Dearborn and Polk

I quickly found another one by Curry House Chicago in Dearborn Park; I decided to do another planter, again inspired with Planet June's patterns, but this time the cactus collection.

Cactus planter at 9th and Plymouth

This is a lot of people's favorites. I have to admit, it is pretty cute.

At this point I had run out of cylinders I knew about, so I put out a call on the Hello South Loop page, and two more were found for me! I decided to do a bright little scene with a gnome, snail, and mushroom from a booklet I own, More Cute Little Animals to Crochet.

This yarn bomb was interrupted by the looting in my neighborhood. I completed it in time to install on Sunday, May 31, but looting on Saturday, May 30 destroyed many shops in my area. Instead of installing, I helped sweep up glass and pick up litter all morning.

By Tuesday, I was recovered enough mentally to participate in a little joy again, and based on social media reactions, other people got joy, too.

Gnome planter at 14th and Indiana

A neighbor alerted me to one not far from my loft, which I had missed because it is located relatively high up on the pole.

Blue tit nest and eggs at Congress and Plymouth

I have been dreading to make this bird for years; it uses more colorwork and shaping than I'm used to with knitting (normally I prefer to crochet something like that), but in the end I got him down OK. He is a Blue Tit from the book 75 Birds, Butterflies and Little Beasties to Knit and Crochet.

He looks right at home here in the city, even though apparently he is native to the UK! I like this view of him hanging out with the Harold Washington Library looming in the distance.

The nest and daisies are improvised by me (both crochet), but I made the eggs based on this pattern for tiny eggs.

I've got one more coming, but I don't know when I'll be able to finish him, so I'm going to drop this post. Plus I might find even more as the summer goes on!