For the second year in a row, DeafBlind Ontario is participating in a yarn bombing project and needs your help.
“Yarn bombing is really where objects in community spaces are decorated with knit or crocheted squares or sometimes also they’re wrapped in yarn,” said Samantha Marren, senior coordinator of communications at DeafBlind Ontario.
Last year the organization participated in the international initiative with more than 20 countries around the world to raise awareness for deafblindness.
“We really look at it as that connection, that each knit or crochet square is symbolizing the coming together of people in the field of deafblindness,” Marren said.
She said the tactile element of yarn bombing is a big part of the project.
“For someone who is deafblind, which is a combination of hearing and vision loss that’s really unique to each person, the sense of touch is a very important piece of communication for them,” she said. “So that tactile element means they can feel maybe how that yarn feels or maybe a square is knit or crocheted in a different pattern. They can feel that difference between each square and it really gives them a sense of what that art could look like in a visual sense.”
As part of this year’s yarn bombing, projects will be installed at community spaces throughout the province in June, which is Deafblind Awareness Month. These spaces will be covered in yarn pieces that are made collectively by community members, which is where you come in.
Knitters and crocheters are being called on to make squares that are 20 centimetres by 20 centimetres. They can be any colour, style, or pattern as long as they are that size.
The completed squares can be mailed or dropped off in person at DeafBlind Ontario’s Newmarket office, located at 17665 Leslie St., unit 15. They need to be sent in by May 13.
The team will then connect them all together and get them ready to be installed. Currently they are planning to yarn bomb the Jackson’s Point Parkette in Georgina and also the library in Innisfil.
A potential project installation is still in the works for Newmarket and more details, as well as information about other yarn bombing locations, is available on the organization's website.
Once the yarn bombing is up, members of the public will be able to go experience the squares and learn more about deafblindness.
