Snowmass adorns trees around town with colorful knits

If you have traveled into Snowmass Town Park in the past month, you’ve surely seen the trees wrapped with brightly-colored yarn. Yarn bombing, where a sweet and cozy tradition meets street art and activism, has taken over Snowmass Town Park.

It’s like grandma graffitiing, only instead of a spray can, she’s armed with knitting needles and yarn.

While some guerrilla knitting movements have targeted statues or even tanks to make a statement, the yarn art you’ll spot locally exists simply to build community and make you smile. You’ll find colorful butterflies, spiders, and even snowflakes wrapped around trees and other stationary objects throughout Snowmass.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a while, for a few reasons,” said Rose Abello, director of Snowmass Tourism, and a beginner knitter, thanks ot YouTube. “The creativity that has come out of it is really spectacular. It’s fun and beautiful to look at and enjoyable, and it’s a really great community builder.”

The project began promoting a sense of community in late spring, as Betsy Crum, a knitter who also happens to be the housing director of Snowmass Village, began talking about it with Helen Leeke, who lives part time in Snowmass and had been searching for a knitting group. In Leeke’s hometown of Houston, health clubs, yarn stores, and even yoga classes host a variety of knitting groups.

While several knitting groups do meet regularly in the valley, she hadn’t found one in Snowmass, though that’s likely about to change as Leeke and Crum collaborate.

Groups help participants knit better by sharing unique, inspiring patterns and ideas, Leeke said, point out that knitting also builds neural pathways, due to complex patterns and repetition. In addition, groups promote conversation and a sense of calm.

“It has a very rhythmic, soothing quality. You put your heart into it, and everything is engaged in the process of knitting. It’s a very meditative thing, too, and god knows we’re so busy these days, that having something that’s soothing and meditative is great,” Crum said, adding that she and her best friend gather to knit and “it gives us both endless joy.”

Both she and Leeke learned to knit or crochet as young girls. They view it as a “magnet” for conversation, whether that’s in an airport (Leeke used to be one of the last passengers to arrive, always rushing, before she started leisurely knitting in airports) or in dedicated knitting groups.

“It opens the door for communication, and, especially today, we need that,” Leeke said.

It also unites younger and older generations and people from various walks of life, particularly as social media promotes the yarn art.

“You bring your projects to a knitting group, and you bring problems you’re having. It branches into: What’s going on in our lives, what’s going on with husbands or boyfriends and children and our health,” Crum said. “It’s something women have been doing for centuries — using knitting and crocheting as a way of connecting and creating garments that are beautiful and practical and come from their hands. A lot of us want to create something special, so when knitting hits the press (or social media), people get excited.”

Local enthusiasm for yarn art became obvious when Snowmass Tourism sent out a call for knitters to participate in the yarn bomb, including a request to Snowmass Arts Advisory Board (SAAB), which supports the cause. It resulted in knitters claiming about 45 sites.

Crum chose six trees to showcase her knitted columbines, mandala, hearts, totem pole, sweater, mittens, mountain scene, and snowflakes. Some of her pieces extend five feet tall and three feet wide to encircle the tree.

Abello knitted a different color stripe every day while recovering from a knee injury. Bands of the colored strips show how much she knitted each day on her piece, titled “Condolence.”

Leeke created butterflies and a caterpillar climbing up a tree, based on one of her grandchildren’s favorite books, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” as well as a spider for a joint project involving a web.

Members of the SAAB who don’t knit simply braided wide swaths of yarn, which wrap around the tree. Each installation includes artists’ names and bios.

“I hope it makes people laugh, and I hope it inspires people to take up crocheting and knitting,” Leeke said. “I’m all about getting people outside and having them see this beautiful, whimsical. and fun stuff.”

Editor’s note: A version of this story appears in the Summer in Aspen and Snowmass magazine on newsstands now.