The Crafting Takeover

I don't know if it's just because I only started crafting about 3 years ago, but it feels as if more and more people are crafting these days, or at least that crafting is receiving more attention than it ever has before.
With the first International Yarn Bombing Day just two weeks behind us and Ravelry sporting over 1 million knit and crochet members, it feels as if the crafting bug is catching, and like communities are sitting up and taking notice.

(I think Laura Marsden's street signs in Vancouver may be my favorite yarn bombing project ever; copyright for these street sign photos belongs to her)

Growing up in New York City, throughout the years I have seen a lot of outdoor art projects - many of them interconnected and scattered around the city. If you live in New York, you probably remember the New York City Cow Parade from 11 years ago, which featured hundreds of cows painted by different artists and placed in parts of the city.

I really liked Starry Night Cow, copyright cowparade.com

The funny thing is, even with all those hundreds of cows, not a single one was covered in knitting or crochet. This was in 2000 and I certainly wasn't knitting yet, and I think I might be right in saying that fiber art really didn't make it into the forefront until now. It can't just be a Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, can it?
Well, New York now has a pop-up piano art installation filling its streets, with 88 pianos on display through this Saturday, and low and behold! There is a piano covered in crochet, designed by a woman named Olek from Poland.

(Phoebe Zheng/The Epoch Times)

How cute is she in her crocheted top? She likens crochet to 'painting with thread' and apparently works so fast that if she looks at her hands while she's crocheting, she gets dizzy. That's some serious crocheting.
The organization behind the pop-up pianos installation is Sing For Hope, a non-profit organization that encourages artists to bring their work to communities and participate in programs that benefit schools and hospitals.

I think it's pretty amazing that right now there are pianos plopped down all over the city where people can sit and play. With all the traffic and people noise you hear everyday, it's pretty surreal to think you might hear a piece of live Brahms wafting from around a corner in Central Park.
The program culminates on Saturday with a free concert at Lincoln Center from 11-2pm.

(Phoebe Zheng/The Epoch Times)

For more information on the installation, click through the pictures.

Side note: Why can't Mayor Bloomberg smile without looking like a lizard? Thanks for the Highline, Bloomsie, but seriously, you need to take the A King's Speech version of smile lessons.