Two Words I Never Expected To Put Together: Guerilla Knitters

Quirky news via Jezebel this afternoon. Australian Denise Litchfield is street artist. Only she isn’t using spray paint, she’s using—wait for it—yarn. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Litchfield is part of a growing global movement of guerilla knitters, who stitch their work onto public property. Her goal is to knit cozies for fire hydrants.

“It redefines street art and is also a reference to graffiti,” she said. “It’s absurd and feminine and fun.” Maybe so, but I bet it’s also really, really gross after it rains.

Let’s take a moment to discuss the term “guerilla knitters.” The word “guerilla” is defined by my dictionary widget as  “a member of a small, independent group taking part in irregular fighting.” Who are the guerilla knitters fighting against? The Sydney Morning Herald interviewed Emily Howes, an expert from University of Technology, Sydney, and author of a Ph .D. thesis on “indie craft.” She claims that guerilla knitters “see craft as a subversive and politically motivated act—a way of jolting people out of their comfortable reverie.”

Because, really, a fire hydrant wearing a sweater is what’s going to wake me up and make me start caring about global economics and poverty and homelessness.

PW and Guardian readers will recall former Philly Weekly A&E editor Steven Wells’ hatred for knitting and the shit-tons of criticism he received from Philly  knitters. They’ve proven to be a strong (and outspoken) community.

So what we wanna know: Are there guerilla knitters in Philadelphia? And if so, are they plotting against Steven Wells as we speak?