page_title: Knitta Please
section_title: Art
hierarchical_section_title: Knitta Please / Art
caption_attribution_description: English: Louis Bourgeois' Maman sculpture in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, covered in yarn by textile artist Magda Sayeg to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Roppongi Hills. The Roppongi Hills Mori Tower stands in the background. This was Sayeg's first large-scale art installation in Asia.
context_page_description: Knitta Please, also known as simply Knitta, is the group of artists who began the "knit graffiti" movement in Houston, Texas in 2005. They are known for wrapping public architecture—e.g. lampposts, parking meters, telephone poles, and signage—with knitted or crocheted material, a process known as "knit graffiti", "yarn storming" or "yarnbombing".
  The mission is to make street art "a little more warm and fuzzy."
  Knitta grew to eleven members by the end of 2007, but eventually dwindled down to its founder, Magda Sayeg, who continues to travel and knit graffiti. Internationally, as many as a dozen groups have followed Knitta's lead. Sayeg and the group have shown their art across the United States and around the world.
context_section_description: Usually tagging on Friday nights and Sunday mornings, Knitta taggers would leave a paper tag on each work, bearing the slogan "knitta please" or "whaddup knitta?". They tagged trees, lamp posts, railings, fire hydrants, monuments and other urban targets, 
  Another popular piece involved hanging knitted-bagged sneakers over aerial telephone cable. The crew would mark holidays by doing themed work, using, for example, pink yarn for Valentine's Day pieces and sparkly yarn for New Years. When Knitta was not working with a theme, they would work on projects, tagging specific targets or specific areas. 
  The group and their followers consider their graffiti "a method of beautifying public space". However, such work is considered vandalism in some U.S. States.
  In 2006 the group decided to visit New York City, where they did their first large scale piece. Later that year, using more than 50 feet (15 m) of knitted material donated by volunteers of the crew's mailing list, they wrapped the top half of a Seattle monorail column. Knitta also called on others across the U.S. to get tagging and send in their images.
  For another large project, the group tagged all 25 trees in the median of Allen Parkway in Houston for the annual Art Car parade in May 2006, wrapping them in blankets measuring two feet tall by two and a half feet long. A year later, they were invited to the Standard Hotel in Los Angeles, which caters to an edgy clientele, to tag a glass box featuring trendsetters' designs and concepts.
  To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Bergère de France, the first manufacturer of French yarn, the company invited Knitta to Paris to "revitalize urban landscapes with knitted pieces". While there, they also tagged the Notre Dame de Paris. Knitta's work has also been seen in London, Sydney, Rome, Milan, Prague, Sweden, Montreal, Mexico City, El Salvador, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and atop the Great Wall of China.
caption: Louis Bourgeois' Maman sculpture in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, covered in yarn by textile artist Magda Sayeg to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Roppongi Hills. The Roppongi Hills Mori Tower stands in the background. This was Sayeg's first large-scale art installation in Asia.