Finnish Yarn Bombing

Yesterday was Marc's birthday, so the girls and I set out to find him a birthday dessert. In Vermont we would have just gone to the grocery store to pick up a cake, but here it's a little different.

We left our apartment and walked to the Tampereen Kauppahalli which is an indoor market hall that's over 100 years old. It's full of all different types of little shops that line three aisles. Here one can find delicious meats and fish, fresh vegetables, wonderful breads, cheeses and pastries. There are even flower shops, shoe shops and a barber. We found some delicious deserts to sample from the Brander Bakery.
While we were out walking, I noticed a man in front of us peering curiously at an iron gate. It looked like an ordinary gate to me, so I wondered what it was that had caught his attention. After a moment, he walked away and we approached the gate.It was my first yarn bombing encounter! This unobstrusive little Italian flag-like piece with pom poms had clearly been there for a while - it looked a bit weathered! I'd walked by this gate at least 5 times in the past week and I'd never noticed it.

It's no wonder... here it is with Helen for scale (it's just above her head to the right): I love how it's there, but it's not IN YOUR FACE there. There is a tag attached to this one that says knitsea.blogspot.com, so of course I came right home and checked out her blog (which is conveniently in Finnish AND English!) Apparently she lives here and leaves a lot of these little "signs" around town. I think I've found the Tampere's official yarn bomber! This is a map of places in town that she's hit: I live just down at the bottom of the river where it meets the lake, and I've walked by almost all of these places. I went through her blog and it looks like this little piece was installed in April of 2010, so it's been hanging around for 15 months now.

From now on I will be keeping my eyes open just a bit wider!