While on holiday, we drove through the Dales town of Hawes, the home of the Wensleydale cheese factory, a favourite of the Aardman animation characters Wallace and Gromit. Hawes was packed with people as we drove through the marketplace and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted these life-sized knitted characters, I had to stop and take a picture.
It was only as I walked around the marketplace that I spotted a whole range of knitted characters from the Wallace and Gromit films, the town had been Yarn Bombed. This isn’t the first time that I have seen this happening, I was in Thirsk, I think that it was last summer and all the bollards, the pillar box, and even the rubbish bins had been coated in knitwear. According to my source (Google) Yarn Bombing is a recent phenomenon, and like a lot of these things, started its life in the US, what I think is fascinating, is that the creations, while they are more than capable of lasting for years, are only meant to be temporary.
My mum would have been in her element and would have loved seeing these creations, at her height, she could knit for England, garments would be created, then my brother and I would grow, as children have a habit of doing. Nothing was thrown away; my mum would pull back the jumper that she had lovingly knit. I can still remember sitting with outstretched arms while my mum wound wool around them and would then tie them in hanks. She would then set about knitting the next jumper, and I guess that at the time, I never appreciated the effort that went into her masterpieces, on the wonder of wool as a resource. Over time, the same wool that we had worn as jumpers would become hats and scarves, or woolly mittens, she never seemed to attempt gloves, maybe they were too fiddly, but fifty years later, some of those garments still have a corner of my memory.
It is only as I look back now, that I start to understand that my mum was recycling, long before recycling was a thing. For her it was possibly a necessity, we were never poor, like some, but times were hard, my parents lived through the war, and everything had a value, some things over and over and over again. I am one of those people that Likes things to stay the same, if I had thought that the wonderful, knitted characters in Hawes would still be there on my next visit, I might have simply driven past. They are there for a season, maybe just a week, and then they’ll be gone, that is the point of yarn bombing, otherwise it might be considered in the same way as graffiti, so I had to stop and capture it, seize the moment.
I think that life is a bit like my mums knitted garments, we have things for a season, while they have a purpose, and we move on to something new. Maybe that is where the Church is at? There are times when I find it hard to let go of things that no longer work for a multitude of reasons, it can be hard work seeking out new ways, being relevant to the age we live in and trying, failing, and succeeding. Keep your eyes out for the yarn bombers, I guess that we will see more of this in the coming months and years. Enjoy and appreciate!