Why she’s interesting … Hummel found an unusual way to spruce up the streets of Cleveland Heights with Knitscape, a temporary community public art project of colorful knitted and crocheted sheathes covering 185 parking meters, 50 trees and 15 light poles in the city and nearby Larchmere neighborhood.
Spin a yarn … Hummel used around 167,000 feet of macramé cord for Knitscape.
Helping hands … At least 100 people volunteered during knit-ins, and the whole project took approximately 1,300 hours to complete. “I had a core of eight to 10 men and women that really did put out a lot of pieces.”
Comfort vs. confinement … “It’s more of taking the bureaucracy and the rules and regulations of the parking meters and wrapping it in this cozy little thing to make the experience a little bit better.”
Sour grapes … “I put up a prototype back in May, and somebody cut it off a couple days later. We don’t know who did it, but we’ve never had another incident since.”
Trendsetter … “There’s a big movement in yarn right now called yarn bombing. It’s more like guerilla knitting. People will make the pieces at night and tag a pole and put them up. It’s a popular thing to cover things with yarn.”
What’s next … She’s been in contact with people from places as far away as Germany about the project. “This is the first place to do it, but hopefully other people will be inspired. Not that I have to do it, but I hope that it spreads.”
Beth Stallings
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by Jennifer Bowen
Meet your neighbors and the faces behind some of Cleveland's favorite haunts through the curious camera lens of the Cleveland Public Library's chief of special projects and collections. By John Skrtic
