K2TOG has briefed a top-secret army to undertake a soft midnight blitz of the city, as knitted graffiti explodes onto the streets. Craft and street art join forces to completely transform Melbourne's experience of trams, Flinders St Station, Federation Square and St Paul's Cathedral.
Yarra Trams is proud to support this art initiative as part of its sponsorship of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2008.
In keeping with the time of year, the past few months have seen over 180 knitters from across Victoria in a football-knitting-frenzy! Assigned a top secret knitting assignment - and sworn to secrecy – women and men from as far as Shepparton, Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong have created beautiful and surprising pieces of art, in every colour of the Australian Rules football teams. Made by Victorians aged 5 to 85, over 500 knitted pieces will warm up the Melbourne's cold streets, combating any lurking winter blues.
"K2TOG has brought together a fabulous diversity of people from all over Victoria - from young women who have just arrived in Australia and are learning to knit for the first time, to seasoned practitioners now in their sixtieth year of whipping through a garter stitch. I can't wait for someone to grab that tram handle as they do every other day of the year, and for it to be totally knitted up in a gorgeous and personally hand-crafted cover!" - Emily Sexton, Creative Producer
"K2TOG has been a different take on knitting to what most crafters expect - this ain't no 8 ply brown cardigan, but a chance to show how a craft can create change." - Kylie Gussett, Lead Artist
Thanks to the internet, various knitting blogs sharing patterns and success stories have resulted in new generation of passionate knitters. Melbourne Fringe used sites such as Ravelry, Kniterati and Stitch and Bitch Melbourne to contact knitters from all over Melbourne and Victoria, and marshall them into 'FRINGE KNITFEST', held on August 2nd at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild in Carlton.
Each knitted item contains a tag signed personally by the maker.