Sunday 13 August 2017

Yarn Bombing

After visiting the white horse of Kilburn on Wednesday, which you can read about in my Horsing Around post, we decided to visit the nearby market town of Thirsk. You may know Thirsk as the home of Alf White, or James Herriott as he became known.


We had a little wander to the Cod Beck River. It looked rather muddy to say the least.


Back in 2015 when the Tour de Yorkshire was coming through Thirsk, a local lady put a message out on Facebook asking for volunteers to help decorate the town with knitting and crochet. On a dark, cold April night a week before the race, the Yarnbombers of Thirsk, wearing dark clothing and balaclavas, 'bombed' the town. Since then, the group have gone on to decorate a carriage on a Grand Central train at Kings Cross Station in London, been on the Welcome to Yorkshire stand at The Great Yorkshire Show and 'bombed' an articulated lorry and a tractor. The Market Place at Thirsk has also been decorated a few times now. We didn't realise that there was yarn bombing in place when we decided to visit Thirsk, but the Market Place is yet again adorned in knitting and crochet celebrating Yorkshire Day, which was on the 1st of August. I thought you might like to see some of the decorations.


The white horse of Kilburn and a mouse representing Robert Thompson, a furniture maker from Kilburn, who carved a mouse into the furniture he made.


Yorkshire air ambulance.


A good old Yorkshire breakfast, complete with a pot of Yorkshire tea.


I believe this chap is the Yorkshire cricketer, Jonny Bairstow.


A block of Wensleydale cheese, direct from the creamery at Hawes.


Afternoon tea at Bettys, complete with a Fat Rascal and macaroons.


I believe this may represent the animals at Cannon Hall Farm in Barnsley.

There were a few decorations which I liked but I'm not sure what they've got to do with Yorkshire, perhaps someone else knows.




My personal favourite, but yet again, not sure what it's got to do with Yorkshire. Flies round errrrrr.


These were just a few of the decorations, there were many more and if you're in the area, it's definitely worth a trip to see them.

40 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing, I find yarn bombing fascinating

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    1. It always makes me smile when I come across any yarn bombing.

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  2. How absolutely beautiful. It's great community spirit.

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    1. I love how so many people have come together and joined in the yarn bombing, their creations make so many people smile.

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  3. Gosh, these are clever, Jo. Not too fond of the last one but maybe that's just me! :o)

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    1. There's certainly some talented people in Thirsk. The last one is my favourite, I think those flies are so cute.

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  4. It never ceases to amaze me what some people manage to create with yarn. There's a lot of talent in that town. X

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    1. They come up with some wonderful ideas and they have the talent to see them come to fuition. They've put on a great display.

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  5. Delightful post and pictures. xx

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    1. I was glad I suggested going to Thirk when I realised there was a yarn bombing display on, we were lucky that we dropped on it.

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  6. Some talented "bombers", liked the horse and mouse and Wensleydale cheese.

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    1. There's some fabulous creations, these were just a small selection of them. I thought the Wensleydale cheese was good too.

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  7. Wow - the people who knit those have some serious talent! They are like works of art - what an experience it must have been. What happens to all of these pieces when they are taken down? Hopefully they go to a charity or something along those lines.

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    1. I always enjoy looking at creations made from yarn, as you say, there's some serious talent out there. I'm not sure what happens to the display afterwards, it would be nice to think it has another life elsewhere.

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  8. They are brilliant.. got to admire a bit of yarn bombing. When we had a wool/craft shop in our nearest small town, they used to have a bicycle sitting outside all covered in knitting/crocheting, it looked fantastic! :o)

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    1. It used to be quite a rare sight to see a place yarn bombed, it's becoming more common now but I still like to stumble upon a display.

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  9. Just brightens up a day, doesn't it?

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    1. It certainly does. It must put a smile on the faces of those who live in a place which has been yarn bombed, it's lovely to see towns and villages decorated in this way.

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  10. As soon as I saw that first photo, I thought, ah, Thirsk. And I was right. The yarn bombing is a hoot, & I'd love to see it for real. They are all great & I relate to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance one, as we used to watch the TV show about it, but alas, it hasn't been on here for a long while. Maybe a couple that don't relate to the county are just a bit of whimsey from someone's imagination. Thanks & take care.

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    1. Yarn bombing seems to be popping up all over the place these days but it's good to see such a great display as this one. The dad of one of Eleanor's friends was on the air ambulance programme when he was involved in a motorbike crash, they provide a wonderful service.

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  11. The mouse I would think is for Robert Thompson aka Mouseman.

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    1. Duh, I connected the mouse with the white horse but seeing a mouse on its own didn't click. Ha ha.

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  12. I never knew Herriott had another name. What an amazing "exhibition" to see - incredible talent! I'd drive for miles to visit something like that!

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    1. James Herriott was Alf White's pen name. Yarn bombing has become rather popular over here, we often stumble across across a yarny display, in fact, there's one in my own little town at the moment too.

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  13. That's an awesome and interesting place to visit.

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    1. It's a lovely little town and the yarn bombing gives it an added interest.

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  14. Looks like a lovely place, I would love to see the yarn bombing, I've never seen any in real life. A lot of hard work has gone into making all those pieces, they're wonderful.

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    1. I think yarn bombing really brightens a place up. The display was wonderful, I'm so pleased we decided to visit Thirsk.

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  15. How wonderful, I love to see yarn bombing, to see the creativity. Those flies were rather funny xx

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    1. They come up with some wonderful ideas. I rather liked the flies too, they made me chuckle.

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  16. Just wonderful. Love the teapot and the wheel of cheese. Such a great thing to do for the community.
    Lisa x

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    1. There's some great creations. They certainly brighten up the market square.

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  17. Yarn bombing??? Who knew??? Utterly fabulous! Just loved all of these creations.xxx

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    1. Yarn bombing is a growing trend, we see lots of it about on our days out here and there.

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  18. What a great sight to see. We saw some at Saltburn on the pier once.

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    1. I read about the yarn bombing at Saltburn so we had a day out there last year but we were too late, it had all been removed by the time we visited.

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  19. I just love things like this.
    From yarn bombing to scarecrow festivals, lawn mower and pram races ...always something going on!
    Great selection of pictures Jo, thanks.

    All the best Jan

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    1. It's lovely when a community comes together in this way, it puts a smile on everyone's face.

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