KNIT THE BRIDGE HOOKS UP WITH GA/GI FEST

It's a project of the Fiberarts Guild, which is a member guild of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. It's also funded by Sprout. Those things in and of themselves are good enough,but add the support of several local officials, and hundreds of people with nimble fingers working months at a creative craft and you've got a recipe for successful community project called "Knit The Bridge."  

Said the project's lead artist--Amanda Gross--no stranger to GA/GI Fest, "This is not only the celebration of a traditional art form, it's about reclaiming spaces and rebuilding communities."

Gross who began the project last summer in earnest also pointed out that "yarn bombing" grew out the guerrilla arts in much the same way as any graffiti. "But yarn bombing does no permanent damage; so it's more widely accepted." The end result is so beautiful, the task of knitting bridges has become quite a global trend and is particularly popular in Australia, where wool is plentiful, to show off one of their main exports.

And just because the word "knit" is used in the description, this is not to say crochet is not part of the process. "We like the way 'knit the bridge' sounds. But make no mistake: Over half the work is actually done by crochet. It's a whole lot faster."

She'll be organizing a Meet-n-Make session at GA/GI (details to come) at ARTica Gallery, 5110 Penn Avenue, on April 5th, so start gathering your balls of extra yarn. Knit The Bridge can use any donations before the panels go up sometime over the summer.  And speaking of donations: The panels used to cover the bridge will be taken apart when the project is over and given to homeless shelters as blankets, bringing the whole community sharing, recycling, and caring theme full circle.