Nattering knitters craft-bomb Crosshaven

A scenic harbour town was bombed last night — craft bombed that is — by a group of knitting enthusiasts.

The people of Crosshaven in Co Cork woke up to find their village decorated with hundreds of multi- coloured knitted and crocheted items.

Giant scarves were wrapped around tree trunks, pom-poms were hung from branches, and bunting was slung all over the square.

The top-secret mission was executed under the cover of darkness by members of the local Knit and Natter group to mark Voluntary Arts Week — an initiative running across Britain and Ireland until May 19 designed to promote arts and crafts.

Knit and Natter co-ordinator Caroline Burgess said the group, which was set up about 18-months ago, was meeting in Cronin’s Pub once a fortnight until recently.

“But we have been meeting once a week for the last three months in preparation for this project. It is our first major project together and it was great because we were all working towards the same thing. People have been coming in to the pub wondering what we were doing in the corner with huge bags of wool. But it was all top-secret until last night.”

The 20-strong group created dozens of 2m-long tree scarves, hundreds of pom-poms and over 60m of knitted bunting. They spent several hours last night creeping around the town decorating the area.

“Craft bombing is about making a fairly ordinary area in to something that’s exciting, bright, and textiled,” said Ms Burgess.

The project was undertaken with local community council support and Ms Burgess said the group’s members would remove all the materials next week.

The New Zealand native encouraged anyone who would like to get involved in the group to check out their Facebook page, by searching for Knit and Natter night.

“It is a great way to meet new people who have the same interests,” she said.